Napoleon Bonaparte, who is also known as the "little Corsican", was born on August 15,1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica. His family had moved there from Italy in the 16th
century. His original name was Napoleone. He had 7 brothers and sisters. His original nationality was Corsican-Italian. He also despised the French.
He thought they were oppressors of his native land. His father was a lawyer, and was also anti-French. One
reason Napoleon may have been such a great leader and revolutionary because was he was raised in a family of radicals. When Napoleon was nine, his father sent him to
Brienne, a French military government school in Paris. While there he was constantly teased by the French students.
Because of this Napoleon started having dreams of
personal glory and triumph. From 1784 to 1785 Napoleon attended the Ecole
Militaire in
Paris. It was there that he received his military training. He studied to
be an artillery
man and an officer.
He finished his training and he joined the French army
when he was just
16 years old. His father died after that and he had to provide for his
entire family.
Napoleon was stationed in Paris in 1792. After the French monarchy was
overthrown in
August of that year, Napoleon started to make a name for himself and
become a well
known military leader.
In 1792 Napoleon was promoted to captain. In 1793 he was chosen to direct
the
artillery against the siege in Toulon. Soon after that Toulon fell and
Napoleon was
promoted to brigadier general. Napoleon was made commander of the French
army in
Italy. He defeated many Austrian Generals. Soon after this Austria and
France made
peace. Afterwards Napoleon was relieved of his command. He had been
suspected of
treason. In 1795 he broke up a revolt and...