The Life and Death of Napoleon Bonaparte

Introduction

Napoleon Bonaparte is described to be an ambitious french military general, warrior, despot and the first emperor of France.He would rule over 70 million people at his peak and would change the face of Europe in his lifetime. Napoleon revolutionized military organization and training, sponsored the Napoleonic Code, Established the long-lived concordat with the papacy and reorganized education in France.

Childhood

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in the island of Corsica. He began his education at a boys school in Ajaccio and at age 10 he entered the most prestigious military school in France, the College of Autun in Burgundy. He later transferred to the College of Brienne, another military school. As a child he was bullied for his caste and for speaking in Spanish as he did not know how to speak French fluently. His childhood experiences held a lasting impression on his character as he grew older.

In 1875 Napoleon is assigned as a second lieutenant in the artillery. This position proved to be perfect for him as he became an expert in maneuvering field guns and commanding detachments. He was especially great at using cannons in warfare against armies. In his youth he took part in a power struggle between Pasquale Paoli(1725-1807), a leader in the fight for Corsican independence and those supporting the French. After Paoli was victorious he turned on Napoleon and his family and they were forced to flee to France. Napoleon earned a promotion by defeating the British at Toulon and expanding Frances territory upon his return.

The French Revolution began in 1789 and Napoleon was there to witness it. A movement to overthrow King Louis XVI and establish a republic had begun. One of the great debates of the age came to light, monarchy against democracy. On one hand sat the privileged few, noblemen and aristocracy that enjoyed the lap of luxury for decades, completely indifferent to the suffering of their people, and on the other the poor and suffering majority, those who died of starvation yet fuelled by the ideas of philosophers spreading radical new ideas on human rights and rallying around the cry “Liberty,Equality,Fraternity”. Napoleon embraces the ideals of the revolution but he is no anarchist. On August 10, 1792 the tension and blood-thirst bubbles over and the mob invades the house of King Louis XVI with help from the Paris national guard. Napoleon watches as the King's personal swiss guard try to defend the palace but as they are outnumbered and outgunned the mob washes over them and generations of hatred are released on their corpses as the mob mutilated their bodies by cutting off their ears and genitals. Napoleon is horrified, and for the rest of his life crowds will terrify him.

Napoleon was imprisoned for ten days on suspicion of treason and for refusing an assignment to lead the army of the west. He then worked for the map department in the French war office. Napoleon's career almost ended if not for the Kings attempt to regain power in Paris in 1795. Napoleon stopped the uprising and was appointed commander of the Army of the Interior.

Josephine de Beauharnais was the only woman that truly captured Napoleon's heart. Josephine loved Napoleon dearly too and in 1796 against the advice of her lawyer, who thought Napoleon had nothing to offer they wedded. Their marriage did not begin well. Napoleon was three hours late for his own wedding and during their wedding night he was bitten in the leg by her lapdog.

Two days after their wedding Napoleon left Josephine to assist in the war against Italians and Austrians. Napoleon arrives in Italy to find an army of 37,000 French men in tatters, they were greatly outnumbered, poorly provisioned and completely demoralized. Their first impressions of him were not favourable, Napoleon was barely 5 feet 2 inches tall but he wasn’t short on bravado and brains. He boosted their morale by telling them that great provinces will be in their power and that glory and riches would await them upon their return to their homeland if Austria was defeated. The French armies lack of supplies allowed them to travel much faster through Italy. Napoleon adapted an unconventional strategy where he would strike the first blow at the enemy's center and then attack its flanks. He gained the nickname “Little Corporal” due to his success and talent for leadership. In village after village on their path to victory Napoleon plants trees of liberty, living symbols of their revolution taking root throughout Europe. By April 1797 Napoleon had driven the Austrians back to within 75 miles of Vienna and secured an armistice. The peace treaty he negotiated gave France control of thousands of miles of territory from Belgium to Greece. He had defeated an empire and changed the map of Europe rising to the top of Frances ranks. All that was left to conquer was Great Britain. However as the royal navy was in control of the english channel. Napoleon approached this task cautiously and he decided to invade Britain indirectly. In july 1798 35,000 soldiers sail not for England but for Egypt as Egypt was the center of Britain's mediterranean trade at the time and was situated close to India.As he gazed upon the wonders of ancient Egypt Napoleon told his troops to remember “you have 40 centuries looking down on you”. To the ottoman turks who ruled Egypt the French were considered infidels. As the french invade their homeland they declare a holy war. But their outdated tactics are no match for Napoleons well disciplined army and tactics.

While in Egypt Napoleon had a secret agenda.500 artists, engineers and scientists set out to discover and record all they can of the treasures of ancient Egypt, among them, the rosetta stone, the priceless key to deciphering hieroglyphics and the history of the ancient pharaohs. But despite its considerable allure Egypt proves to be a deadly trap. 4 months after Napoleon's arrival, in August 1798 the British defeated the French with an outstanding victory in the Battle of the Nile, cutting the French from their homeland. Napoleon left the army under the command of General Jean Klebér and returned to France with a handful of officers. The French soldiers that were devastated, homesick and riddled with bubonic plague were stranded on the desert for another year.

Affairs

While he was away at battle rumours of Josephine having an affair began to surface. Worse still, letters to his brother Joseph about the affair were leaked to the British press making him a laughing stock. When Napoleon returned home in 1799 he refused to see his wife. After Josephine begs him to take her back, he concedes. From then on he began to have many mistresses. Napoleon's first love Désirée Clary met him secretly on his return home from Egypt. But she never forgave him for not marrying her, and instead wedded one of his archenemies.The famous soprano Giuseppina Maria Camilla wooed napoleon with her voice and carried his portrait wherever she went. Pauline Fourès was known as Napoleon's Cleopatra, he ordered her husband, one of his lieutenants back to Europe so that he could live with her in Cairo. Marie Walewska a polish countess would disguise herself as a peasant to meet him, at first a reluctant mistress, she would finally bear him a child, his first born son.

Leadership

Political turmoil began tearing France apart. Napoleon's old allies including his brother Lucien, staged a coup. Backed by Napoleon's troops they seize control of the government without firing a single shot. Within a month the ideals of the French revolution will be swept away, and the leadership of france will burden the shoulders of one man. Napoleon would gain the position of first consul and almost unlimited powers after the battle of Marengo.

In February 1800 the dictatorship of Napoleon began, after years of war and regimes riddled with corruption and incompetence Napoleon's first task is to restore order. He streamlined the government turning it into an efficient military machine and straightens out the country's finances by creating the national bank of France, he simplifies the legal system with a new set of civil laws, the code napoleon regulates nearly every aspect of life in France. He reopened the Roman catholic churches banned during the revolution although he himself wasn't a believer. Restoring ties between the Roman catholic church and the government.

Although the French wanted peace, Austria and England believing them to be a threat initiated the battle of Marengo in 1800. Napoleon leads an army into Italy and defeated the Austrians, he paid a dear price for his victory losing almost half his army. Poor reconnaissance and an ambush lead to the French barely escaping defeat. Sources state that Napoleon acknowledged this battle a crushing victory although it is far from the truth. The Treaty of Amiens ends the war and grants France hundreds of miles of land. This lead to the grateful nation appointing him the head of state for life.

Coronation

In 1804 he changes his title to emperor. On December 2, 1804 at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris the coronation is held. Dressed in royal attire, Napoleon had brought Pope Pius VII to coronate him, but at the crucial moment Napoleon astounds the pope by taking the crown out of his hands and placing it on his own head. Then the emperor of france made Josephine his empress,but not everyone is happy, his mother refused to attend the coronation. Beethoven, a long time admirer scratched Napoleon's name from the dedication to his third symphony. The self styled roman emperor is master of all of france, but beyond the borders his plots against him begin to form.

Before Napoleon's coronation France was at war, his old enemies Austria and Russia were forging a new alliance backed by British gold. Napoleon ordered 200,000 troops massed along the French coast in 1804. Napoleon had dreamt of a cross channel invasion for years, his aim was to get past the formidable British navy. He considered tunneling under the channel or using hot air balloons to transport his troops. He was willing to lose 20,000 men during the crossing but once ashore the English would be no match for his army. The British alarmed by the threat of an invasion, England's prime minister William Pitt the Younger encourages Napoleon's enemies to converge on the Rhine. In 1805 the British destroyed the French naval power in the Battle of Trafalgar. Austria and Russia advance on France but are defeated in the Battle of Austerlitz where he cuts off the Austrians and Russians coalition by surrounding the town of Poole and capturing 57,000 men without firing a weapon. Although the French are tired and demoralized Napoleon lured his foes into a decisive Battle near Austerlitz where he sets a trap. He uses the environment to his advantage by evacuating Austerlitz and the surrounding plateau at dawn. During this as it was his first anniversary as Emperor his troops hold a celebration for him and he walked from outpost to outpost greeting his troops by name and making jokes, raising their morale.

The next morning a thick mist conceals the opening scene of Napoleon's drama, the Russians see the French leaving as daybreak approaches. Believing they are in retreat 25,000 Russian Grenadiers charged in pursuit. In front of them lies a hill which masks the main body of Napoleon's army. As soon as the Russians hit the flats Napoleon unleashed his troops cutting his bewildered enemy in two.

Napoleon crushed a formidable army and a dangerous alliance with one of the most brilliant manoeuvres in military history, but in a letter to Josephine he was uncharacteristically humble. “I have defeated the Russian and Austrian army commanded by two emperors” he wrote, “ I am a little tired”. Six weeks earlier off the Spanish coast at Cape Trafalgar Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked the French fleet knocking half their ships out of commission. Nelson paid for his victory with his life, but in doing so ended Napoleon’s dream of invading England, he will have to settle for the continent. The French empire now stretches 1500 miles from the Atlantic ocean to Central Europe, ruling it becomes a family business. His brother joseph is crowned king of Naples and later king of Spain, Louie king of Holland and Jerome king of Westphalia in Germany. Each takes napoleon as his last name, proof of their loyalty to their emperor. Only England remains unconquered. In 1807 Napoleon devises another plan to ruin his neighbour. He puts an embargo on all british goods introducing the Continental System a blockade that would prevent British trade from entering Europe, his goal was to force the British to make peace with his terms but he needs Russia to make it work. Napoleon meets the young Czar on a raft in the middle of a river, they charmed each other and after dinner they drank tea and discussed politics and philosophy, Napoleon left convinced he made a friend, but enforcing their treaty will now take Napoleon into the very heart of Czarist Russia.

By age 40 Napoleon Bonaparte's empire had reached its zenith, he controls the destiny of 70 million people by force of will and personality, but without an heir his empire would be doomed, his only son by Marie Walewska is illegitimate. His marriage to Josephine has spawned countless rumors of infidelity but no offspring. Ironically, after 13 years she loves him more than ever, but after a terrible fall from a balcony years earlier she's unable to bear children. One evening in the autumn of 1809 Josephine arrives at Fontainebleau to discover the door between her bedroom and her husbands walled up. Josephine was devastated. “I still love you” he says “But politics has no heart”. Josephine was Napoleon's lucky charm, with her replacement, the great niece of Marie Antoinette, his luck will turn. In april 1810 napoleon married Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma,the 18 year old daughter of his previous enemy the Emperor Francis II of Austria. Within a year she gives birth to a son, overjoyed his father dubs him the king of Rome.His birthright would be a capital worthy of an empire. Paris, Napoleon believed, will be something fabulous and unprecedented, he commissions three new bridges and two new monuments. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel commemorates the heroic achievements of his Grande Armee, the Louvre Museum houses all of the art treasures amassed during all of his campaigns. While Paris glitters, Napoleons own lustere is fading. In a series of paintings Francisco Goya documents the horrors of french occupation in pain.

In paris discontent is grew, feeding Napoleon's ambitions had cost France untold millions and an appalling number of lives. Now, many believed the price was too high, after several assassination attempts the pressure is mounting. For napoleon winning becomes an obsession, when he plays chess with his friends he cheats. Convinced that he's infallible he made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

Defeat

In 1808 the Peninsular War in which opposition tried to place Napoleon’s brother Joseph on the throne occupied the French until 1814. The British backed Spain in it’s ordeal ensuring it’s safety. The Continental System fell due to Alexander I backing out of his agreement to blockade England. Napoleon plans to dictate terms of a new deal on the battlefield. On June 23, 1812 Napoleon leads the largest army ever assembled in Europe across the Niemen River into Russia. 70 miles from Moscow near the village of Borodino the Russian army digs in and waits, at dawn on September 7, 130,00 French troops smash into the Russians. The russians withdraw eventually but Napoleon lost 30,000 men and 10 generals, his chief surgeon performs 200 amputations in 24 hours, the price was high but the road to Moscow opened. When napoleon arrives he finds the city deserted. The next day fire breaks out, 2/3rds of Moscow is destroyed by arsonists, for 5 weeks Napoleon waits for the Czar to surrender, but Alexander has a cunning scheme of his own, the Russian winter was approaching. His food supplies dwindling Napoleon orders the long march home, now the russians launch their cruelest attack.They hound the French forcing them back down the road to Borodino past the bloated corpses of their comrades, temperatures plummet, food runs out, stragglers freeze and die. While Napoleon rides comfortably in his carriage eating 3 meals a day. For the French he campaign becomes a race to the Berezina river to poland and safety, but the Russians get there first. Napoleon will go home the architect of one of the worst disasters in military history, his once grand army is in ruins. His empire is crumbling, his old enemies declare war.

The allied forces of 5 nations; Britain,Prussia,Austria and Sweden marched into Paris. Napoleon's fate is sealed. “Life is unbearable for me” he tells a comrade. In his darkest hour he contemplates suicide and asks his doctor to concoct a poison, the poison is strong enough to kill two men, but his body rejects it. Napoleon had wanted to leave life but now instead he must leave France. Napoleon stepped down in April, Louis XVIII was placed on the French throne instead.

Napoleon conquered europe and for nearly two decades and ruled it with an iron fist. Now his enemies will accept nothing less than unconditional surrender. On april 6th 1814 a humiliated Emperor abdicates. Two weeks later Napoleon leaves Fontainebleau for the last time. Six hundred loyal troops and four cannons will follow him into exile. He was exiled to Elba not far from his native land of Corsica. There he will be mocked as emperor and sovereign. Napoleon's departure signalled a return to monarchy and the dark days before the revolution.

Return

With the stroke of a pen Louie the 18th restored France to its former borders and abolishes the empire. But for some there’s no turning back. After 10 months on the 38 square mile island of scrub covered islands, Napoleon got word that much of France, including the military, would cheer his return, although it was a long shot Napoleon cant resist the opportunity to recover his old glory, in march he escapes from Elba aboard a boat disguised as an English brig and makes a dash to Paris.

Along the way every regiment sent by the king to arrest him, joins him. When the news reaches the palace Louie flees. Now the people openly embraced their former emperor. Napoleon promised to save France, to roll back the calendar to the days of the revolution; to restore liberty, equality and fraternity. Meanwhile in Vienna Napoleon's enemies have been busy carving up his empire. When news of his return reaches them they officially declare him an outlaw, immediately the duke of wellington heads for Belgium to join up with field Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and the Prussians. Although they outnumber Napoleon almost two to one Wellington is too smart to underestimate his opponent. Napoleon has 2 choices, stand and defend paris or head east and drive a wedge between the English and the Prussians. On june 15th 1815 he marches into Belgium, the next day Napoleon attacks the Prussians on two fronts.

For hours he pounds the enemy but with his army thinned out he cannot clinch a victory. Only a last-ditch assault by the elite French Guard drives the Prussians to retreat. That night they head north to join Wellington near the village of Waterloo. Soon the French and the British face each other along a 3 mile ridge. Napoleon's plan is simple and familiar, open with a bombardement and then attack Wellingtons center.

He arranges 4 divisions on the right wing and another 3 on the left, Wellington took the high ground, drawing up his forces along the crest of Mesangium, he left his left flank open expecting the Prussians to arrive and reinforce him, at 11.30am gunfire signals the beginning of the Battle of Waterloo. Two hours later Napoleon launches the main attack. But his men line up in an outdated formation that presents Wellington with the perfect target. 5000 are quickly cut down but meanwhile the prussians are getting closer and closer. Napoleon has no choice but to hurl every last man at Wellington before they arrive, the first assault fails but his commanders order a cavalry charge. The British form into twenty squares interspersed with cannons. For the next two hours waves of French cavalry break and die. When the first group of Prussians arrive later in the afternoon they attack Napoleon's right flank with fury, still the french fight bravely on, even breaking through Wellingtons line before they're repulsed. Then a second group of Prussians appear, as if on cue Wellington charges down the hill to meet them. Stunned and terrified Napoleon's army collapses, it cost Wellington 20,000 men to win the Battle of Waterloo but it cost Napoleon twice as many to lose it. A month later he surrendered to the British navy for his second and final journey into exile. To prevent a second escape the Emperor is taken to St. Helena, an island in the Atlantic a thousand miles away in the middle of nowhere.

Napoleon did not like Longwood, his home on St. Helena the small wooden house converted from a cattle shed sat on a plateau where it could be watched from a nearby military camp. Patrols constantly criss cross the island. Napoleon cut spyholes in the shutters, so he could see without being seen. He complained to his jailers that he was an emperor not a prisoner of war, but the British refuse to acknowledge his title.

Death

To pass the time he writes his memoirs to his own advantage, he says of his renowned military genius, “I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing that i did not know in the beginning”. In the spring of his sixth year on St. Helena, wracked by razor sharp pains in his stomach, he dictated his last will and testament. In it he expresses his wish to be buried in the banks of the Seine amid the french people he loved so well. He died on may 5, 182. According to the autopsy he died of cancer, but rumour has it he was poisoned by his British servants. Napoleon was buried in a valley on St. Helena his aides fought over the inscription and in the end it was left blank. Nineteen years after Napoleon's death, King Louis Philippe petitioned England to return his remains to France.

Today he lies in Les Invalides in Paris, a fitting tribute to an extraordinary man. He rose from obscurity to become perhaps the greatest military genius of all time. He marched an army of half a million men a million miles and conquered a continent, he dragged a beleaguered nation out of revolution and transformed it into an empire. Passionate, ambitious and egocentric, he was also a visionary, a hero and a conqueror.He was Napoleon Bonaparte.