Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte was possibly Frances greatest military mind ever. He was promoted through the ranks by hardwork, dedication and his ability to think quickly. He eventually worked his way up to become the Emperor ofFrance. Napoleon was born on August 15, in the year of 1769. He was born at Ajaccio, Corsica. This was a small island offthe coast of North Africa.
Napoleons parents Letizia and Carlo Bonaparte reserved Napoleon a spot at a Frenchmilitary school, and when Napoleon became old enough his parents sent him away to the school which was inBrienne France. Napoleon was not well excepted by the other students at the school. They felt he was a foreignerand Napoleon became a loner devoting all of his time to his studies. After Napoleons graduation he continued hismilitary schooling by going on to attend the Cole Military Academy in Paris. Napoleon spent one year there beforehe was assigned to an infantry unit as a second lieutenant.
His unit did not see much action in its fist few years, butNapoleon still managed to show his leadership qualities. In 1789 the French Revolution began. Napoleon look forward to the revolution, and supported it. In 1793 at thesiege of Toulon, loyalist leaders and British troops clashed in fearsome battle.
Napoleon fought heroically and theBritish were driven out. As Napoleons reward he was given a promotion to general and his own infantry unit. Ufortunitly Napoleon ran into some bad luck, the leader of the French Revolution Maximilien Robespierre becamepower hungry and lost control. His own men mutinized against him and executed him. Bonapart was also capturedand briefly imprisoned because he was a member of Robspierres faction. Napoleon was freed just two months later.
In 1795 a revolt began in Paris over a new constitution that was presented by the National Convention, the NationalConvention was name the of the new government that had taken power in France. Napoleon received orders fromFrances military leader to defend the convention, and control the situation. Upon his arrival Napoleon realized thatthe crowd had turned into an ugly mob. Napoleon was able to take control of the situation, disperse the mob andrestore peace. Paul Barras who was in control of the French military was so impressed with Napoleon he promotedhim to commander. Napoleons next duty was to carry out a series of operations in Italy that would ideally divide and conquer theSardinian and Austrian armies in Italy.
Napoleons plan was to divide the opposing force into two parts. He wouldthen throw his force at one half before the other half had time to rejoin them. Using this tactic Napoleon destroyedthe Sardinian armies. Napoleon could not be stopped. The King of Sardinia started talking of peace but Napoleondid not listen, he continued his path of terror and completely wiped out the Sardinians. Now Napoleon wasdetermined to defeat the Austrians.
Napoleon first attacked a large Austrian army in Mantua. The Austrians sent four separate brigades ofreinforcements to help hold off Napoleons army but it wasnt enough. Napoleons army still defeated the Austriansat Mantua. Napoleon continued to forge his way through the country.
In 1797 when he came with in eighty miles ofVienna, the Austrians knew they were defeated and surrendered. . After the surrender Napoleon negotiated the treatywith the Austrians, which obviously greatly favored France. Napoleon in total had won 14 pitched battles and 70combats. Also whenever Napoleon took over a rich lands he used those lands to feed and pay his army, and then therest would be sent back to France. This greatly helped their poor economy.
When Napoleon returned to France he received a heroes welcome. Napoleon was overwhelmed with the support hegot from the people. He knew that this would be the perfect time to pursue an office in politics. Napole.
. . . . on haddreams of being the next Alexander the great. He asked the government if he could take a large army to Egypt.
Napoleon thought that if he conquered Egypt he could attack the English by surprise and cut off their trading routes. Napoleon brought 35,000 troops with him to Egypt. He
