Napoleon's christening name was Italian: Napoleon Bonaparte. He was born on the island of Corsica one year after it became French property. As a boy, Napoleon hated the French. Still, he attended the Paris Military Academy, and became a French lieutenant at age 16.
Napoleon was in Paris during the French revolution, and when France became a Republic on 10 August 1792, he was promoted to the rank of Captain. After defeating the Italian armies in 1796 and the Austrians in 1797, he was made General. In November 1799, he overthrew the French Directory to become First Consul of the government. He called himself Napoleon I. In 1804, 12 years after the monarchy was disposed of in the French Revolution, Napoleon secured a vote to change France from a consulate to an empire. Napoleon became Emperor of France.
In Napoleon's life he was in many battles and one of his greatest victories was the battle of Austerlitz.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries...
Napoleon's tomb at Les InvalidesIt took place near the village of Austerlitz which is now Slavkov, Czech Republic on December 2, 1805, between a French army of about 73,200 men and 139 artillery pieces and an Austro-Russian army of about 85,400 men and 278 artillery pieces. It is sometimes called the Battle of the Three Emperors because Napoleon, Francis I of Austria, and Alexander I of Russia were all part of this battle.
Napoleon won this battle by out smarting Austro-Russian army by Tricking his opponents into thinking he was weaker than he actually was, and then calling in nearby reinforcements.
Austerlitz was the battle that established Napoleon's reputation: a classic example of the general's masterly use of deception to lure his enemy into a carefully devised trap.(David G Chandler)
After much hard fighting the French crushed the Allies. Thousands of fleeing troops drowned when a frozen...