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"My business is to succeed, and I’m good at it. I create my Iliad by my actions, create it

day by day."1 This quote, declared by Napoleon during a conversation with Pope Pius VII,

illustrates his belief in himself and the great ruler he had become. Napoleon was one of the

greatest leaders in the world. He quickly rose from a low position in his battalion to become the

emperor of France. He was also a great political leader. Napoleon also held several other titles

such as ruler of France as First Consul of the French republic, king of Italy, Mediator of the

Swiss Confederation, and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. Although he was

eventually forced to relinquish the throne, he had a major impact on modern European history

and created the Napoleonic Code, which was the basis for France as it is today.

Napoleon’s childhood greatly contributed to his success as a military leader. He

was born Napoleone di Buonaparte on August 15, 1768 in the town of Ajaccio on the island of

Corsica. Napoleon had seven siblings. He had one older brother named Joseph. His younger

siblings were named Lucien, Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline, and Jerome. The primary influence

of Napoleon during his childhood was his mother Maria Letizia Ramolino. Her unyielding

discipline helped “restrain the rambunctious Napoleon, nicknamed Rabullione (the "meddler" or

"disrupter").”2 At the age of nine, Napoleon was admitted to a French military school at

Brienne-le- Château. He had to learn French before he could attend and he spoke with a

noticeable Italian accent. After he graduated from Brienne, he was accepted into the exclusive

École Royale Militaire. He completed the two year program in one year. One of his teachers

considered him “very applied [to the study of] abstract sciences, little curious as to the others;

[having] a thorough knowledge of mathematics and geography ...”3 He had originally wanted to

study naval sciences, but instead he studied artillery. Napoleon’s achievements in his education

helped him to become one of the greatest military leaders in the world.
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Napoleon’s early military career was incredibly successful upon his graduation from

École Royale Militaire. At the age of sixteen, Napoleon was given the position of second

lieutenant in La Fère artillery brigade. He served in this position in Valence and Auxonne until

after the beginning of the Revolution in 1789. He spent most of the next few years on the island

of Corsica, where there was a struggle between royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican

nationalists. He supported the Jacobin faction and earned the standing of lieutenant-colonel of a

group of volunteers. After running into conflict with the nationalist leader Pasquale Paoli,

Bonaparte and his family left Corsica and fled to the French mainland in June 1793. Napoleon

was chosen as artillery commander in the French forces that were attacking Toulon, which was

occupied by British troops. He was then promoted to chef de bataillion, which was the position

of commander major. He was convinced that “the key to Toulon lay in capturing the fort

protecting Point l’Eguillete, a promontory commanding the outer harbour”4 He then captured

Point l’Eguillete and used this position to threaten British ships, which forced them to evacuate.

“He placed guns at Point l’Eguillete, threatening the British ships in the harbour, forcing them to

evacuate.”5 Within a day of the battle, all of the British infantries had left Toulon. Toulon was

once again in French control.

During this time, he became a close friend of Augustin Robespierre, who was the

younger brother of the French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre. As a compensation

for his assistance, Napoleon was promoted to Brigadier-General when he was only 24 years old.

He later became senior gunner to General Dumerbion’s army in Italy, which was the most

important of attacks against the Austrians. Because of Napoleon’s thorough planning the French

captured both Loano and the area known as ‘the Barricades’. After the fall of the revolutionary

leader Maximilien Robespierre, Napoleon was temporarily imprisoned in the Château d’Antibes.
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He was wrongly accused of treason and was released within two weeks.

On March 27, 1796, Napoleon took command of the French “Army of Italy” and led it on

a successful invasion of Italy. He then traveled to Lombardy with his soldiers and drove out the

Austrians that had occupied that region before. He also defeated the army of the Papal States. In

early 1797, Bonaparte drove his army into Austria and commanded the Austrians to sue for

peace. The result of this was the Treaty of Campo Formia, which gave control of northern Italy,

the Low Countries, and Rhineland to France. There was also a secret clause in the treaty that

gave Venice to Austria. After the treaty was signed, Napoleon marched on to Venice and forced

them to surrender, which ended over 1,000 years of independence. After this, Napoleon

organized many of the territories in Italy that were under French control into the Cisalpine

Republic.

Napoleon’s extraordinary military achievements all happened due to his excellent

knowledge of ordinary military tactics. An example of this is his use of artillery strategies to

support his infantry. He often described it as “I have fought sixty battles and I have learned

nothing which I did not know at the beginning.”6 He was also an expert on intelligence and also

deception and always knew when to strike. He often won battles by using spies to collect

information about his enemies and by disguising his own troops. In the Italian campaign,

Napoleon’s army took “160,000 prisoners, 2,000 cannons, and 170 standards.”7 Almost all the

phases of war had been included in this year-long expedition and at the end “Bonaparte’s

apprenticeship was over. The Eagle had found wings, beak, and talons.”8

In his next military expedition, Napoleon wanted to seize Egypt, which was a

province of the Ottoman Empire. He hoped to protect French trade interests and challenge

Britain’s access to India. The Directory was distressed by the idea but they agreed, hoping that
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Napoleon would fail and he would lose power. Napoleon was thrilled and started to plan his

expedition right away. Years after this expedition, Napoleon wrote his inspirations as follows:

“In Egypt I found myself freed from the obstacles of an irksome civilization. I was full of

dreams. I saw myself founding a religion, marching into Asia, riding an elephant a turban on my

head and in my hand a new Koran that I would have composed to suit my need. The time in I

spent in Egypt was the most beautiful of my life because it was the most ideal.”9 In May of

1798, Napoleon was chosen as a member of the French Academy of Sciences. His Egyptian

expedition team included a group of 167 scientists including mathematicians, naturalists,

chemists, and mapmakers. One of their findings was the Rosetta Stone.

Hoping to gain the support of the Egyptian peoples, Napoleon claimed that he was “a

liberator of the people from Ottoman oppression, and praising the precepts of Islam.”10 Napoleon

successfully captured Malta from the Knights of Saint John and then arrived at Alexandria,

briefly avoiding chase by the British Royal Navy. When he arrived, he fought the Battle of the

Pyramids against an old power in the Middle East, the Mamelukes. Napoleon’s forces were

greatly outnumbered but in the end, 300 French and about 6,000 Egyptians were killed and Cairo

was successfully captured by the French. Even though the French were successful on land, they

weren’t so successful at sea. All the ships that Napoleon and his troops had used to sail to Egypt

had returned to France except for some that stayed to support the army on the coast. The British

troops under Horatio Nelson fought the French in the Battle of the Nile. All of the remaining

French ships were either destroyed or captured except for two. The French troops were land-

bound and Napoleon was unable to strengthen the French position in the Mediterranean Sea.

In early 1799, Napoleon led his troops into Syria and conquered many advanced

Ottoman forces in several battles but his troops were greatly weakened by diseases - the bubonic
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plague mostly - and mediocre supplies. Napoleon then led 13,000 French soldiers and they

defeated the coastal towns of El Arish, Gaza, Jaffa, and Haifa. The attack against Jaffa was

extremely vicious. About 2,000 soldiers of Jaffa who were trying to surrender were bayoneted.

The French soldiers then turned to the town and started killing the residents of Jaffa. “Men,

women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days, and the massacre ended with

even more bloodshed, as Napoleon ordered 3,000 more Turkish prisoners executed”11 who

Napoleon “claimed had broken parole granted in earlier operations.”12 Later, many of

Napoleon’s troops were greatly weakened by the plague and they were unable to diminish the

fortress of Acre and so he and all of his troops returned to Egypt. Along the way, Napoleon

killed prisoners and soldiers who were infected with the plague so they could travel faster. When

they were back in Egypt, Napoleon defeated an Ottoman invasion by sea at Abukir. Napoleon

then returned to France, leaving his army under General Kleber.

1
“Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes,” Military Quotes,” < http://www.military-quotes.com/Napoleon.htm> (17 December 2007).

2
“Early Life,” Napoleon I of France, December 18, 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Napoleon _I _ of France> (18

December 2007).

3
“Early Life,” Napoleon I of France, December 18, 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Napoleon _I _ of _ France> (18

December 2007).

4
David G. Chandler, Napoleon (Great Britain: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001), 21.

5
“Early Military Career,” Napoleon I of France, December 18, 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Napoleon _I _ of _

France> (18 December 2007).

6
“First Italian Campaign,” Napoleon I of France, December 18, 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Napoleon _I _ of _

France> (19 December 2007).

7
“First Italian Campaign,” Napoleon I of France, December 18, 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Napoleon _I _ of _

France> (19 December 2007).

8
David G. Chandler, Napoleon (Great Britain: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001), 40.

9
David G. Chandler, Napoleon (Great Britain: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001), 41.

10
“Egyptian Expedition,” Napoleon I of France, December 18, 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Napoleon _I _ of _

France> (19 December 2007).

11
“Egyptian Expedition,” Napoleon I of France, December 18, 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Napoleon _I _ of _
France> (19 December 2007).
12
David G. Chandler, Napoleon (Great Britain: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001), 46.