Aleksandra Bojović
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Publishing House PČELICA Kolubarska 4, Čačak, Serbia office@pcelica.rs www.pcelica.rs
H
e was the most powerful man of his time and one of the most successful military leaders in history. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte and this is the story of his greatest triumphs and ultimately his greatest failures.
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Napoleon Bonaparte
A Powerful Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte was a famous, successful French military
general, the Emperor of France and the King of Italy. He was born in 1769 in Corsica, which was at the time a part of the French territory. He went to war against almost all of Europe, and for a while he managed to conquer the most of its territories. His legacy is the modern civil code that most countries still use. He reformed education, renovated the sewage and water system in Paris, and perfected and modernised warfare. However, driven by an extraordinary desire to conquer the whole world and prove that nothing is impossible, he also brought about a great deal of misery to many parts of Europe. Due to the numerous wars he waged, he spent nearly all of his life fighting and was responsible for the deaths of about six million people. France itself went bankrupt1 and lost its colonies2. To go bankrupt means to be left without any money. A colony is a dependent territory governed by another country. Its natural resources are exploited by the country governing it.
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The Italian Influence In 1768, only a year after Napoleon was born, France bought
the Island of Corsica, which remains part of its territories even today. Before that, Corsica changed owners, and, as a result, multiple cultural influences are evident: Italian, Carthaginian1, Moorish2, French.
Due to the strong Italian influence, the Constitution of Corsica was written in Italian, the language which was used in everyday communication. Napoleon had to learn French so that he could enrol in a military school. It is believed that he never learned it well and his pronunciation was always with a strong Italian accent.
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Carthage was once a powerful country in northern Africa. The Moors are Muslim people from North Africa.
Napoleon was the second of the eight children his parents had. The fact, since the family belonged to lower nobility and was modestly wealthy, meant that their children could have a careless childhood and a decent education, which most Corsicans could not afford. Thoughts on Equality The best way to make every one poor is to insist on equality of wealth. Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon’s ancestors were not originally from Corsica, so Napoleon was never emotionally attached to his place of birth. His ancestors came from Tuscany1. From there they moved to Genoa2, but they had to move again, so they finally settled on Corsica. Tuscany is a region in central Italy. Genoa is the largest seaport in Italy. It is located in the Genoa Bay, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
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A Mischievous Boy Napoleon’s father, Carlo Bonaparte, was a lawyer and the
Corsican Representative in the French Court. Even as a child Napoleon demonstrated his arbitrary and belligerent nature. As a result, his mother, Maria Letizia Ramolino, found it very difficult to discipline and control him.
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A Sixteen-Year-Old Lieutenant At the age of nine, Napoleon’s parents enrolled him in a French military school. After that, he continued his education at the elite Royal Military Academy in Paris. As he grew up on an island, he was passionate about the sea, which is why he originally wanted a naval education. However, he was ultimately selected for artillery1 training. Thoughts on Independence If you want anything done well, do it yourself. Napoleon Bonaparte
He achieved excellent results and in one year completed two full grades. He was only sixteen when he graduated from the Academy, obtaining the rank of a Second Lieutenant of the artillery. 1
Artillery is the military which uses large-caliber guns.
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Aleksandra Bojović
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Publishing House PČELICA Kolubarska 4, Čačak, Serbia office@pcelica.rs www.pcelica.rs