Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was born in the town of Ajaccio, on the island of Corsica, France, on August 15th, 1769. On May 15th, 1779, at nine years old, Napoleon was applied to a French military school at Brienne-le-ChÐ"Ñžteau, a small town near Troyes. Napoleon and his family had it made well on their home island. His father, Carlo Buonaparte, was an attorney, his mother, Letizia Ramolino, was lucky enough not to have to work, so she was there for Napoleon during most of his childhood. They were able to pay for the best schooling for Napoleon and because of it he was a brilliant man. He had to learn French before entering the school, but he spoke with an Italian accent throughout his life and never learned to spell properly. At graduation from Brienne in 1784, Bonaparte was admitted to the elite Ð"‰cole Royale Militaire in Paris, where he completed the two-year course of study in only one year. Although he had sought a naval career, he studied artillery at the Ð"‰cole Militaire. Upon graduation in September 1785, he was promoted as a second lieutenant of artillery on January 1786, at the age of 16.

Napoleon was appointed as artillery commander in the French forces, which had risen in revolt against the republican government and was occupied by British troops. He made a successful plan: he placed guns at Point 'Eguillete, threatening the British ships in the harbor, forcing them to retreat. A successful assault, but Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh during it, led to the capture of the city again and a promotion to brigadier-general for Napoleon. His remarkable wins were a result of his ability to apply his knowledge of military thought to real-world situations, as demonstrated by his creative use of artillery tactics, using it as a mobile force to support his infantry. Napoleon often said: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning."

In March 1798, Bonaparte proposed a military seize of Egypt, then a province of the Ottoman Empire, seeking to protect French trade routes. After landing on the coast of Egypt, he fought the Battle of the Pyramids against the Mamelukes, a power in the Middle East, four miles from the pyramids. Bonaparte's forces were greatly outnumbered by the Mamelukes cavalry, 20,000 to 60,000, but Bonaparte formed hollow squares, keeping cannons and supplies safely on the inside. In all, only 300 French were killed, but approximately 6,000 Egyptians were also killed. But Napoleon’s army was weakened by disease, mostly bubonic plague, and poor supplies. Napoleon led 13,000 French soldiers to the conquest of the coastal towns of El Arish, Gaza, Jaffa, and Haifa. The storming of Jaffa was brutal. Although the French took control of the city within a few hours after the attack began, the French soldiers bayoneted approximately 2,000 Turkish soldiers who were trying to surrender. Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days, and the massacre ended with even more bloodshed, as Napoleon ordered 3,000 additional Turkish prisoners be killed. After his army was weakened by the plague, Napoleon was unable to reduce the fortress of Acre, and was forced to return to Egypt in May. In order to speed up the retreat, Bonaparte killed prisoners and plague-stricken men along the way.

Bonaparte made several lasting reforms, including higher education, a tax system, a central bank, law codes, and road and sewer systems. His set of civil laws, the Napoleonic Code or Civil Code, has importance to this day in many countries. The Code was prepared by legal experts under Jean Jacques RÐ"©gis de CambacÐ"©rÐ"Ёs, who held the office Second Consul from 1799 to 1804; Bonaparte, however, participated in the sessions of the Council of State that revised the drafts. Other codes were made by Bonaparte to hide criminal and commerce law. In 1808, a Code of Criminal Instruction was published, which introduced specific rules of judicial procedure. Although standards say this only was beneficial to the prosecution, when they made it they tried to preserve personal freedoms and to stop the abuses of prosecution in European courts.

During Napoleon’s rule he found out about an assassination plan on him. The Bourbons were planning to kill him, this forced Napoleon to do something. He then made a hurried trial to accuse The Bourbons and have them executed. After the execution, on December 2, 1804, at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon decided to crown himself emperor of France literally. During the ceremony,