napoleon
Napoleon Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, and was given the name Napoleone Buonaperte. He was the second of eight children of Carlo and Letizia Buonaperte, both of the Corsican-Italian gentry. Before Napoleone, no Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. His father Carlo, was a lawyer who had fought for Corsican independence, but after the French occupied the island in 1768, he served as a prosecutor and a judge and entered the French aristocracy as a count. Through his father's influence, Napoleone was educated at the expense of King Louis XVI, at Brienne and the Ecole Militaire, in Paris. Napoleone graduated in 1785, at the age of 16, and joined the artillery as a second lieutenant. After the revolution began in France, he became a lieutenant colonel (1791) in the Corsican National Guard. However, when Corsica declared independence in 1793, Buonaperte, a Republican, and a French patriot, fled to France with his family. He was assigned, as captain, to an army besieging Toulon, a naval base that was aided by a British fleet, while in revolt against the republic. It was here that Napoleone Buonaperte officially changed his name to Napoleon Bonaparte, feeling that it looked "more French". It was here
too that Napoleon replaced a wounded artillery general, and seized ground where his guns could drive the British fleet from the harbor, and Toulon fell. As a result of his accomplishments, Bonapatre was promoted to brigadier general at the age of 24. In 1795, he saved the revolutionary government by dispersing an insurgent mob in Paris. Then in 1796 he married Josephine de Beauharnais, the mother of two children and the widow of an aristocrat guillotined in the Revolution. Early in his life Napoleon was showing signs of militaristic geniuses and knowledge for formidable strategy. It was through the application of his skills, and a revolutionary style of spontaneous fighting styles than gave Napoleon the opportunities, which he jumped at, making his the great military leader he is known as today. Latter in1796, Napoleon became commander of the French army in Italy. He defeated four Austrian generals in succession, each at impossible odds, and forced Austria and it's allies to make peace. The Treaty of Campo Formio provided that France keep most of its conquests. In northern Italy he founded the Cisalpine Republic, and straightened his position in France by sending millions of francs worth of treasure to the government. In 1798, to strike at British trade with the East, he led an expedition to Turkish-ruled Egypt, which he conquered. His fleet, however, was destroyed by the British admiral Horatio Nelson, leaving him stranded. Undaunted, he reformed the Egyptian government and law, abolishing serfdom and feudalism and guaranteeing basic rights. The French scholars he had brought with him began the scientific study of ancient Egyptian history. In 1799 he failed to capture Syria, but won a smashing victory over the Turks at Abu Qir. France, meanwhile, faced a new threat, the coalition of Austria, Russia, and the lesser powers allied with Britain. Bonaparte, being no modest soul, decided to leave his army and return to save France. In Paris, he joined a conspiracy against the government. In the coup d'etat of November 9th -10th , 1799, he and his colleagues seized power and established a new regime-the Consulate. Under its construction, Bonaparte, as his first consul, had almost dictatorial powers. The constitution was revised in 1802 to make Napoleon consul for life and in 1804, it made him emperor. Each of these changes received overwhelming assent of the electorate. In 1800, he assured his power by crossing the Alps and defeating the Austrians at Marengo. He also concluded an agreement with the pope, which contributed to French domestic tranquillity and ended the quarrel with the Roman Catholic church that had arisen during the Revolution. In France, the administration was reorganized, the court system was simplified, and all schools were put under centralized control. French law was standardized in the Code Napoleon, (the civil code) and six other codes. They all guaranteed the rights and liberties won in the Revolution, which included equality before the law and freedom of religion. Considering Napoleon, being the greatest general of his time, with the intentions of France in mind it is clear how the French people respected him, held him in high regard, and even praised him. With that same clarity that we can see how those "enemies of the state", and others not living in France feared Napoleon, and saw him as a power hungry mad man. Opposing generals fueled by hate attempted on many occasion to stop the momentum that Bonaparte and his French empire was gaining. The view by others that he was a ruthless and sadistic leader, who created war for his personal gain was well expressed by Guillamme de Prosper-Barante, "He never wished to be justified. He killed, he killed according to Corsican traditions, and if he sometimes regretted this mistake, he never understood this as a crime" (I, pg.38). Another feeling of resentment towards Bonap
Some topics in this essay:
Code Napoleon,
French Napoleon,
Bonaparte French,
French Revolutionary,
Thereafter Europe,
Warsaw Napoleon,
France Paris,
Revolution France,
Austria Napoleon,
Horatio Nelson,
code napoleon,
revolution france,
peninsular war,
joseph king,
napoleon france,
position france,
life napoleon,
marie louise,
unorganized sloppy,
napoleone buonaperte,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 2604
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
More Essays on napoleon Professional Papers: |
CUSTOMER SERVICES
|
|
Saved Papers
You haven't saved any papers.
|