THE LIFE AND

TIMES OF 
NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE 
Showed the world that physicality and other
appearance traits hardly matter , what matters is your
personality leadership and your wit , the best example
is Napoleon Bonaparte , he was a short man and was
made fun of still he  conquered a large part  of the
world just with his brains and his leadership skills . 
Early life 

• Born on 15 august 1769 in Corsica in France , he was fourth and second surviving child of Carlo
Bonaparte and wife Letizia Ramolino . He had an elder brother Joseph and younger sibling
Louise , Pauline , Caroline , Jerome . He was a bapstised catholic ,  after he ruled  ,he
distributed kingdoms to siblings as gifts . 
• France had a troubled history , first the Greek dominated then the British then kingdoms of
monarch different houses of rulers .
• His father was an attorney who went to be named Corsica's representative in court of Louis XVI
in 1777.
• Napoleon had a  dominant influence of his mother whose firm discipline restrained a
rambunctious child .  
• As a child he was shy ,moody and soft
spoken . His parents had high hopes he was
routinely bullied by his peers for his accent
and his stature and mannerism and inability
to speak French . Bonaparte became
reserved and melancholy apllying himself to
reading . 
• When he turned 9 years old he moved to
french mainland and enrolled in a religious
school in Autun in January 1779 , in may he
transferred with a scholarship to military
academy at Brienne le chateau he studied
for five years before moving to military
academy in Paris . 
• In 1785 while napoleon was at the academy
, his father died of stomach cancer , this
propelled napoleon to take reins as head of
family and graduating early from military
academy Napoleon returned as lieutenant
of Artillery in Corsica in 1786 . 
FRENCH
REVOLUTION 
• Basic sense was that by this time  1789 America had
gained independence from British , and the French
state under autocratic rule of king louis XVI was in
great economic depression , king was living an exotic
and extravagant life while the common citizens were
leading a frugal existence so tough that prices of
bread sky rocketed and there were lines to buy
breads . 
• With the slogan of liberty , fraternity and equality
began the French revolution , in 1789 created
opportunity for rulers like Napoleon , 3 years after
France was declared a republic , louis was executed
and the  civil war started . 
• Ultimately led to rise of Maximilan de Robespierre
who became the head of dictatorship of committee
of public safety .
• During Civil war The years of 1793
and 1794 became to be known as
reign of terror as many as 40,000
people were killed and eventually
Jacobians fell from power and
Robespierre was executed . 
• Bonaparte was appointed artillery
commander of republican forces
and the siege of Toloun began . 
• He adopted a plan to capture a hill
where republican guns could
dominate the  citys harbour and
force British to evacuate. 
• In 1795 a directory came into place
and ruled the counry until 1799 .
Napoleon was promoted to
brigadier general at age of 24 ,
catching the attention of committee
of public safety he was put in charge
of artillery of France army of Italy .
• Army was just 30,000 strong disgruntled and underfed was soon turned around by
Napoleon , he was romantically involved with Jospehine de Beauharnais the former
mistresss of Barassa , the couple married on 9 march 1976 in a civil ceremony . 
• Under his directions the rebuilt army won numerous crucial victories against the
auustrians  graetly expanded the French empire and squashed an internal threat by loyalist
who wished to return France to a monarchy , all this made napoleon a big military star .
Rise to power 
• Two days after marriage he left Paris to
take command of the army of Italy . he
immediately went on offensive hoping to
defeat the forces of piedmont before
their Austrian allies could intervene , the
decisive French triumph at Rivoli in jan
1979 led to collapse of Austrian empire ,
at Rivoili the Austrians lost up to 14,000
men French lost 5000 , a peace treaty
was signed .
• Treaty of leoben followed by treaty of
campo formio gave France control of
most northern Italy and low countries  . 
• Napoleon had a unique strategy , he
would attack from the centre and then
on the flanks . if he could not use his
favourite Envelopment strategy , he
would then attack two cooperating
forces at their hinge and swing round to
fight until one fled then turn to face
another .
• In Italian campaign , Bonpartes's army captured 1,50,000 prisoners , 540 cannons , 170 standards and the
french army fought 67 actions and won 18 pitched battles through superior artillery technology and
bonapartes's tactics . 
• The royalsist attaked Bonaparte for looing Italy and warned he might become a dictator ,  all said and done
Napoleon's forces extracted 45 million in funds from Italy during the campaign there and another 12 million in
precious metals and jewels and atop this forces confiscated more that 300 priceless painting and sculptures . 
• Bonaparte returned to france and as a hero and began to plan for invasion of Britain .
Napoleon then Decided not to attack straight on Britain rather he planned to  go through
Egypt . 

On July 1 1978 he traveled to middle east to undermine the great Britains empire by

occupying Egypt and disrupting British trade route to India , here he started battle of pyramids
against the local tribes for occupying their lands , his military campaign proved disastrous . 

On august 1 1978 admiral Horatio Nelsons fleet decimated the Napoleons forces on battle of
Nile . Napoleons image was greatly harmed by loss and in a show of new found confidence
against the commander Britain ,Austria, Russia and turkey formed an alliance against France .
• In spring of 1799 French army were defeated in Italy forcing france to give up much of the peninsula  . in
October napoleon returned to France . 
• He decided o a military expidition to undermine India and to seize the trade routes against the British , he
wished to estabilish French presence in the middle east , inking a deal with Tipu Sultan the muslim enemy of
british empire in india .  
SUPEREME
COMMANDER 
• While in Egypt he stayed informed of the
European affairs . he learned that France had
suffered a series of defeats in war of second
coalition. 
• The republic was however bankrupt and
ineffective directory was unpopular with the
population the directory discussed Napoleon
Bonapartes dissertion but was too weak to
punish him. 
• He overthrew the directory by a coup de
tat  on 19 nov 1999 his power was confirmed
by the new constitutional year viii the
constitution preserved the appearance of
public rule but in reality was a dictatorship .
He drafted that constitution of year viii and secured his own election as first consul taking up residence at
tuileries . 

After decades of constant warfare britain and  France signed the treaty of amiens ,march 1802  bringing
revolutionary wars to an end , with Europe at peace and economy recovering Napoleons popularity
soared to highest levels under consulate both domestically and internationally . 

Napoleons coronation took place in 2 december 1804 he created 18 marshals of the empire amongst his
top generals to secure allegiance to the army on 18 march 1804 the offcial  start of the  empire 

 He did a mistake dring the coronation he wore the crown on his own by taking the crown from pope, it
was considered   as  bad omen .
Napoleonic
wars 
• Under his direction  Napoleon turned his reforms
to country ,economy ,legal and education system
and even the church as he reinstated roman
catholicism and state religion ,on march 21 1804
Napoleon instituted napeoleonic code otherwise
known as French civil code . 
• Napeolonic wars were a series of wars starting
from 1803 to the abdication of throne in 1815 
• Great Britain broke the treaty on aimes and
declared war on france , Russia joined a coalition
with the british , austria which had been recently
defeated by the french wanted revenge and
they later they also joined the coalition . 
In 1803 in part to raise funds for the war napoleon
sold a part of France the north american Louisiana
territory for 15 million a transaction known as
louisiana purchase , Napoleon returned to war
with Britain Russia and Austria . 

In 1805 British registed an important victory

against the French at the battle of Trafalgar which
led to napoleon to scrap his plan to invade Britain
instead he set his eyes on Russia and Austria and
beat both militaries in the battle of Austerlitz ,
other victories soon followed allowing Napoleon to
expand the French empire .
 Battle of ulm had just 2000 french casualties Napoleon had managed to capture a total of 60,000 austrian
soldiers through rapid marching 

After the battle of ulm , French forces captured Vienna and it proved to be a big boost as they captured
1,00,000 muskets and 5,000 cannons and intact bridges across the Dunbe . 

At the battle of Austerlitz in Moravia on 2 december 1805 he deployed French army below the pratzen heights
and deliberately weakened his right flank enticing allies to launch a major attack there in a hope of filling
whole French lines . 

France and austria agreed to peace and treaty of Pressburg was signed on 26 december treay confirmed loss
of Austria lands to France in Italy and Bavaria and the lands in Germany .
He embodied the ambition of 30 million Frenchman and continued to entertain
a grand scheme to estabilish a French presence in middle east to put pressure
on British and Russia and perhaps the Ottoman empire . 

In feb 1806 Ottoman  empire selim iii finally recognized Napoleon as emperor

and also opted for an alliance with France ‘ OUR SINCERE AND NATURAL ALLY’
when frace and Russia formed an alliance 

in the end no affective alliance was made in middle east .

INVASION OF RUSSIA 
• Beginning in 1806 napoleon started to wage a large scale economic war
against Britain , he wished establish  so called continental system of
European port blockades against British trade . 
• In 1807 following Napoleons defeat of the Russians in Prussia , Alexander
1 was forced to sign a peace settlement  the treaty of Tilsit .
• By this time  power had corrupted the mind , lust for victory resulted in
acting like a  maniac 
•  In 1809 french defeated the austrians at Battle of Wagram  resulting in
further gain for Napoleon . 
• In 1810 Russia withdrew from the continentals system and in retaliation
napoleon launched a massive army into russia and in 1812 rather than
attacking French forces Russia adopted a strategy to retreat whenever
napoleon attempted to attack , as a result napoleon trekked deeper into
Russia despite being ill prepped for and extended campaign .
Napoleon made the same mistake as Hitler did decades later , he failed to
understand the weather of Russia and as he went further temperature dropped
and to his bewilder ment the cities had been vacated , he started to put
everything he saw in route on fire . 

In September in battle of Borodino in Moscow both sides suffered heavy

casualties and he discovered all cities were  retreating . 

After the wait of Russian surrender which they never did faced with onset of
winters which forced his army to starvation and exhaustion they had to march out
of Moscow 
During the dangerous retreat his army suffered continuous harrsament from a
suddenly aggresive and merciless Russian army of napoleon out of 6,00,000 troop
only 1,00,000 make it out of Russia . 

At the same time of Russian war the Spanish forces engaged in the peninsular
war and resulted in  Spanish and Portugese with help of the British empire driving
the French out of the Iberuian peninsula 

This loss was followed by 1813 by battle of liepzig also known as battle of nations
in which Napoleons forces were defeated by a coalition of forces that included
Austrian , Prussian , Russian and swedish troops . 

Napoleon then retreated to France and in march 1814 ,  coalition forces captured
paris. 
DOWNFALL 
• On April 6 1814 Napoleon then in mid 40s was
forced to abdicate the throne , with the treaty of
fontainbleau he was exiled to Elba a mediteranean
island , off the coast of Italy . He was give
soveregntiy over island while his wife and son fled
to Austria . 
• Napoleons obsession with power caused his
downfall . 
• On feb 26 1815 less than a year after exile,
napoleon escaped elba and sailed to French
mainland with a group of 1000 supportes 
•  On march 20 he entered Paris where he was
welcomed by cheering crowds , the new king louis
xviii fled and napoleon began what came to be
known as 100 day campaign . king louis sent his
personal guard to kill napoleon but they chaged
side and joined napoleon and rallied for his cause .
napoleon decided to revive the glory and change
the history of France 
Upon Napoleons return to France ,the coalition forces Austrian British
Persians , Russians who considered French emperor as enemy began to
prepare for war . 

Napoleon raised a new army and planned to strike pre emptively ,

defeating the allied forces one by one before they could launch a united
attack against him , he planned to attack and dominate and then negotiate
for peace from a position of strength 

In June 1815 his forces invaded Belgium , where British and prusssian
troops were stationed , on June 16 Napoleon  troops defeated Austrians as
battle of ligny . however 2 days later on June 18 at battle of waterloo the
French were crushed by the British army with assistance of the allies 
BATTLE OF
WATERLOO 
• Napoleon attacked Netherlands , he attempted to cut the joining lines
between the allied armies and then decapitate them separately . the
two enemies in question are the armies of duke of wellington and the
Prussian army under gen. Blucher , they decide to retreat to a town
called waterloo , there they agree to join forces to counter napoleon ,
they choose the battlefield carefully , it is a ridgy area that gives them
some protection , on a bright Sunday morning napoleon begins the
attack at 11 am , then begins a series of attacks and counter attacks ,
the allied army puts up a brave fight , the tide seems to turn in
Napoleons favour but its then that the Prussian help arrives and they
mount a attack , they together wreak havoc on the French causing them
to retreat the battlefield . the allied forces win , prince blucher and duke
of wellington congratulate each other in the words of duke “the battle
was damned  near run thing ” it was also one of the bloodiest 50,000
killed or wounded who ultimately died to unavailable medical
assistance 
• Whole Europe rejoiced when napoleon lost the war Napoleon showed
the world what one man could do .
 • In 1815 Napoleon was then sent to St.Helena a
British held island in south Atlantic ocean 
• He died there on may 5 1821 at age 51 most likely
DEATH  from  stomach cancer . 
• Napoleon was buried on the island despite the
request to buried along the  seine among the
french people he loved so much .  
LESSONS TO LEARN
FRON NAPOLEON 
• If short wear a big hat , its not the size of the dog in
the fight but the size of the fight in the dog that
matters 
• Own your otherness 
• Believe in your destiny
• Find and master your niche 
• Study voraciously and employ what you’ve learned 
• Keep good company
• Show appreciation ; a soldier will fight long and hard
for a piece of colored ribbon 
• Become a sovereign individual . he shows the
revolution is over , I am the revolution .