Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte is regarded as one of the greatest military and political masterminds in the history of man. Napoleon's brilliance led him through extremely successful Italian campaigns, major battles against the Third Coalition and helped him rule politically to keep the gains of the revolution. Napoleon, through his military conquests and political alterations, made France a great nation.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15th, 1769 in small town of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. He had seven siblings, and his father was a lawyer whose family stemmed from the Florentine nobility. In 1779, Napoleon went to school at Brienne in France. There he took a great interest in history, especially in the lives of great ancient generals. Napoleon was often badly treated at Brienne because he was not as wealthy as his fellow classmates were, and being short for his age did not help. Along with those shortcomings he did not speak French well,