Napoleon french revolution biography

1769-1821

Latest News: Napoleon Movie in Theaters Now

Legendary French General Napoleon Bonaparte has been the subject of many movies, and the latest is director Ridley Scott’s new biopic simply titled Napoleon. The movie, now in theaters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby as his wife Josephine. In addition to depicting the famed military leader’s rise to French emperor, the movie focuses heavily on Napoleon and Josephine’s tumultuous relationship.

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Napoleon has received some flack for its historical inaccuracies, such as showing the titular character shooting at pyramids. “If you want to really understand Napoleon, then you should probably do your own studying and reading,” Phoenix previously told Empire magazine. “Because if you see this film, it’s this experience told through Ridley’s eyes... What we were after was something that would capture the feeling of this man.”

Who Was Napoleon Bonaparte?

French General Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the world’s greatest military leaders who became the first emperor of France, from 1804 to 1815. Born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, he attended military schools in France and eventually embraced his adopted home. Bonaparte steadily rose to power in the tumult of the French Revolution before seizing power in a 1799 coup. He was elected consul for life in 1802, then proclaimed the French emperor two years later. As a political leader, Bonaparte broadly transformed French society, most notably ushering in the Napoleonic Code that still serves as the basis of civil codes around the world today. During the Napoleonic Wars, the famed military tactician expanded France’s footprint before a string of critical losses forced him into exile. Bonaparte spent the final years of his life on the remote island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821 at age 51.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Napoleon Bonaparte
BORN: August 15, 1769
DIED: May 5, 1821
BIRTHPLACE: Ajaccio,

Napoleon’s Education and Early Military Career

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. He was the second of eight surviving children born to Carlo Buonaparte (1746-1785), a lawyer, and Letizia Romalino Buonaparte (1750-1836). Although his parents were members of the minor Corsican nobility, the family was not wealthy. The year before Napoleon’s birth, France acquired Corsica from the city-state of Genoa, Italy. Napoleon later adopted a French spelling of his last name.

As a boy, Napoleon attended school in mainland France, where he learned the French language, and went on to graduate from a French military academy in 1785. He then became a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment of the French army. The French Revolution began in 1789, and within three years revolutionaries had overthrown the monarchy and proclaimed a French republic. During the early years of the revolution, Napoleon was largely on leave from the military and home in Corsica, where he became affiliated with the Jacobins, a pro-democracy political group. In 1793, following a clash with the nationalist Corsican governor, Pasquale Paoli (1725-1807), the Bonaparte family fled their native island for mainland France, where Napoleon returned to military duty.

In France, Napoleon became associated with Augustin Robespierre (1763-1794), the brother of revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), a Jacobin who was a key force behind the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a period of violence against enemies of the revolution. During this time, Napoleon was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the army. However, after Robespierre fell from power and was guillotined (along with Augustin) in July 1794, Napoleon was briefly put under house arrest for his ties to the brothers.

In 1795, Napoleon helped suppress a royalist insurrection against the revolutionary government in Paris and was promoted

Of all the “historical” biographies of Napoleon, the one most often forgotten but one which played an important part in the creation of the Napoleonic legend was Sir Walter Scott's nine-volume 'Life of Napoleon Buonaparte'.
 
After his success as a writer of fiction (who can forget Ivanhoe or Quentin Durward, not to mention Waverley, Rob Roy and the Bride of Lammermoor, famously made into an opera by Donizetti?), Scott (1771-1832) was approached in May 1825 by the publisher Archibald Constable  to write a book of history. Constable's idea was to publish a series of cheap books for the middle classes, under the title “Constable's Miscellany”, and Scott's (initially four-volume) “Napoleon” was to be one of the first titles. Publication of the work was promised in June of the same year, whetting the reading public's appetite. But in 1826 Constable's business was forced to close and Scott (whose affairs were often linked to those to his publishers) declared bankruptcy as a result. Compounding his (and indeed his wife's) misfortunes, in May of 1826 Scott's wife died. In the period of financial and emotional instability, Scott soldiered on. And though he was assisted in his research, he also undertook some himself, visiting London and Paris in the October of 1826 (the British government gave him special access to papers relating to the St Helena episode). Wellington was said to have provided Scott with a first-hand account of Napoleon's Russian Campaign.

Scott then returned to Scotland to compile his notes, completing the nine-volume, supposedly one-million-word opus magnum on 7 June, 1827, with volume one coming out in the same month, published jointly by Cadell in Edinburgh and Lon

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most successful generals of the French revolutionary armies. He was emperor of France from 1804-14, and in 1815.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1768-1821) is regarded as one of history’s greatest military leaders. Born on 15 August 1769, Napoleon was educated at military school in France. He then joined the army where, following the outbreak of the French Revolution, he rapidly rose through the ranks.

Taking power

By 1796 he was commander of the French army and, in an attempt to disrupt British trade routes with India, he conquered Ottoman-ruled Egypt in 1798, despite the fact the British destroyed the fleet from which he had just landed his forces, in the action called the Battle of the Nile. 

Returning to France a heroic leader in 1799, Napoleon became the country’s ‘first consul’, going on to become Emperor in 1804.

In 1800, at the Battle of Marengo, Napoleon defeated the Austrians, thus establishing France’s power over continental Europe. His sole opponent was Britain.

Peace of Amiens

The Peace of Amiens was signed in 1802, marking the end of the French Revolutionary War. Britain, isolated from her allies, agreed to return territorial conquests to France, Spain and Holland. But by May 1803 the treaty had collapsed because Britain refused to evacuate Malta and Napoleon failed to guarantee Dutch independence. Britain again declared war on France, later followed by Austria and Russia.

British invasion

Napoleon planned an ambitious scheme to invade England in 1804. He stationed 150,000 men and 2000 vessels at Boulogne with the intention of crossing the English Channel. Part of the plan involved distracting the British Navy by encouraging them to chase the French fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Villeneuve, from Toulon to the West Indies, then back to France, thus clearing the Channel for invasion.

The British got wind of the plan and attacked the returning Villeneuve off Cape Finisterre. Altho