Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica and died on May 5, 1821 in
St. Helena (Godechot). It is said that his being French was only by accident, considering France gained Corsica from Genoa only the year before his birth (History.com). During his childhood, he only spoke the Corsican dialect and Italian (Roberts). For the early part of his life, he felt, and was treated, like an outsider (IWonder). Napoleon had a very different and interesting childhood that was filled with simultaneous joys and sorrows.
Napoleon was the fourth and second surviving child in his family (Godechot). His parents were Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino (Godechot). He had a total of seven siblings:
Joseph, Louis, Pauline, Jerome, Lucien, Caroline, and Elisa (Napoleon). His parents are said to
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His family was part of the middle class, or bourgeoisie, and considered to be well off, but they were not wealthy (IWonder).
His father was a member of Pasquale Paoli’s party that resisted the occupation of Corsica by the
French (Godechot). Later, his father came to terms with the French and was appointed assessor for the judicial district of Ajaccio in 1771 (Godechot). In February of 1785, Napoleon’s father died of stomach cancer (Godechot). At the age of only 15 and not even being the oldest,
Napoleon became the head of his family (Godechot)(Roberts). Napoleon had a very interesting family life.
At the age of nine, he was educated in France and learned French, even though he was still a foreigner to the French customs and traditions (History.com)(IWonder). Thanks to his dad being appointed as assessor, he and his brother Joseph gained admission to the Collége d’Autun in 1778, which he attended for a brief time (Godechot). He then went to the military college