Napoleon Bonaparte Research Paper

“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. Wise people create opportunities for themselves and make everything possible...” ~Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon did just this when he decided he wanted to become leader of France. He was born on August 15, 1769 to a minor Corsican nobility despite his family being unwealthy. He and his family changed their Italian last name, Buonaparte, to the French spelling- Bonaparte- because the French had taken control of Corsica. Ironically, Napoleon became military leader of the very same French army. Even more ironic than that, he became a political leader and France’s first emperor before his death in 1821. Growing up, Napoleon went to school in mainland France where he learned French.

Defeated, Austria signs the Treaty of Campo Formio, and no sooner than the next year, Napoleon is on to the next. Deciding to indirectly attack the British, Napoleon takes his army to destroy their trade routes with India in Egypt. He wins, but finds himself stranded when British forces come in and take out his naval fleet in the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Next, Napoleon failed an invasion in Syria and decided it was time to abandon his army and go back to France. With this return, Napoleon walks right into a major conflict and goes where the power is. He joins a three-member Consulate and overthrows the Directory. Since he was First Consul, he is the leading political figure. Under his power, his armies drive Austria back out of Italy and get Britain to sign a peace treaty, although it didn’t

Napoleon certainly didn’t interrupt the guards he snuck past, nor did he interrupt the British ship that almost caught him. He and 1,000 supporters snuck out of Elba and back into France where he was greeted by cheering crowds. The new king fled and Napoleon moved back into the Tuileries marking the beginning of what is known as the Hundred Days campaign. When word came around to the coalitions about Napoleon’s return to power, they prepared for more war, but Napoleon had already begun. He tried to individually take out each country before they could unite and attack him all at once. An invasion in Belgium proved victorious for Napoleon when he defeated the Prussians but when it was found out that the British were coming, it was far too late for Napoleon to react. His army was completely crushed by the British and Prussians, and Napoleon was once again being exiled.

Napoleon tried to have his son crowned emperor in the hopes that he could prolong his dynasty, but the coalition, fearing that history would repeat itself, rejected this idea. Once and for all, the British sailed Napoleon off to Saint Helena- an island in the South Pacific- where he could never return