Napoleon Bonaparte: the Long and Short of his Life This essay about Napoleon Bonaparte. I will use reliable internet sources and my textbook for factual research information about his life from when he was born to his time as an emperor. My objective with this essay is to show some of his greatest achievements and his worst mistake. Born on August 15, 1769, on the island of Corsica, Napoleon was the second surviving child out of eight. His family was considered only minor nobility nor were they very wealthy (Napoleon, 2015). Napoleon was educated in French schools since Corsica was annexed by France in 1768 (Kagan, 585). In 1785, after attending a military academy he was commissioned as a second lieutenant with the La Fère artillery
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Carlo, his father died and Napoleon took over as head of the household. He joined a Corsican Jacobins Club where he became the president and made speeches concerning the constitutional monarchy which opposed the beliefs of Paoli (Napoleon I, 2015). Pasquale Paoli, a nationalist leader, tried to separate Corsica from France thus causing a civil war. To which the whole Buonaparte family fled/relocated to France (Napoleon, 2015). Napoleon adopted the French spelling of his name as Bonaparte. His second domestic achievement was the pamphlet he wrote while still in the French Army titled “Le Souper de Beaucaire” in 1793, it was his cry/plea to end the civil war (Napoleon I, 2015). Speaking of the military, let’s look at a couple of his military and or diplomatic …show more content…
In fact, many countries in Europe and some former French colonies still use a form of the Napoleonic Code, today (Napoleon, 2015). Followed by his worst blunder was when he chased the Russian Army in the summer of 1812. The Russian Army must have heard Napoleon’s quote, “You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.” For the Russian army retreated further and further into Russia but did not engage much with Napoleon’s troops until the Battle of Borodino. However, despite suffering major losses, Napoleon pushed onto Moscow only to find the city was burning and abandoned. Napoleon’s troops were not prepared for winter in Russia, to which they fought the vicious Russian Army at every turn of their retreat (Napoleon,
Carlo, his father died and Napoleon took over as head of the household. He joined a Corsican Jacobins Club where he became the president and made speeches concerning the constitutional monarchy which opposed the beliefs of Paoli (Napoleon I, 2015). Pasquale Paoli, a nationalist leader, tried to separate Corsica from France thus causing a civil war. To which the whole Buonaparte family fled/relocated to France (Napoleon, 2015). Napoleon adopted the French spelling of his name as Bonaparte. His second domestic achievement was the pamphlet he wrote while still in the French Army titled “Le Souper de Beaucaire” in 1793, it was his cry/plea to end the civil war (Napoleon I, 2015). Speaking of the military, let’s look at a couple of his military and or diplomatic …show more content…
In fact, many countries in Europe and some former French colonies still use a form of the Napoleonic Code, today (Napoleon, 2015). Followed by his worst blunder was when he chased the Russian Army in the summer of 1812. The Russian Army must have heard Napoleon’s quote, “You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.” For the Russian army retreated further and further into Russia but did not engage much with Napoleon’s troops until the Battle of Borodino. However, despite suffering major losses, Napoleon pushed onto Moscow only to find the city was burning and abandoned. Napoleon’s troops were not prepared for winter in Russia, to which they fought the vicious Russian Army at every turn of their retreat (Napoleon,