Talk:Napoleon I of France

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[edit] Archives

The link to Napoleon's portrait at the beginning of this article is a broken link. Please fix. Thank you.



[edit] Neutrality, please!

This following passage is can isn't exactly neutral in its tone: "After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars, perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost. And it was all such a great waste, for when the self-proclaimed tête d'armée was done, France's "losses were permanent" and she "began to slip from her position as the leading power in Europe to second-class status—that was Bonaparte's true legacy."[10]".... Please remove.... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.216.170.200 (talk • contribs) 08:07 UTC, November 2, 2006.

  • Please sign your talk posts; and please place new threads at the bottom of the page.
  • As to your comment, it is a direct quotation, and therefore not suppposed to be neutral; after all, it is in a section of the article that describes conflicting views about Napoleon. It is an accurate portrayal of one of those conflicting points of view. --Russ (talk) 13:55, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
Ah, yes, but we probably need a quotation from another view that conflicts it. Would anyone be able to find one? Aran|heru|nar 15:16, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Some comments regarding France's utter defeat in the Napoleonic Wars should be part of the article, nonetheless. The fact that France slipped from being the top European power to a secondary level, clearly below Britain's and soon also below Germany's and even Austria's, is hardly contentious. It must be remembered that the Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars came hard on the heels of what appeared to Europe's intellectuals as Britain's final, unavoiding loss of great power status, following the independence of the U.S. (just six years before the assault on the Bastille) Aussiesta 18:49, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Actually France was the dominate continental power until the Franco-Prussian war and remains a great power to this day. Carl Logan 19:57, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
I must respectfully disagree with this latest assertion, since France was smaller in size and less influential than both Austria and Russia before the Prussian war. Even if one were to concede that it was the main "continental" power, that would imply a loss of status - before the Napoleonic Wars, it was the main European power, including Britain, and had beaten combined enemy armies time and time again. As for keeping great power status to this day, I'm sure that that should come as great surprise to the French, humiliated by Nazi occupation and resolutely defeated both in Vietnam and Algeria. Now, it's true they can veto stuff in the UN - just like the (then) underdeveloped island of Taiwan did until 1973, for whatever that's worth. Aussiesta

[edit] Presentation of pictures to improve the article

François-René de Chateaubriand, painting by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, beginning of 19th century.
François-René de Chateaubriand, painting by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, beginning of 19th century.

Generally, I have been taught (by my British professor of English, Mr. Frank Latham of the University of Maryland ;) ) that the subjects of pictures should face inward towards the article, not towards the margins.

For example this portrait is correctly placed to the right as the subject is facing left. Some of you may think this is petty, but I think presentation matters.

There are many pictures of Bonaparte in the article that are facing the margins, looking off the page. Consider swapping two of his head shots at the top of the article and other pictures through the article, including battle scenes with regard to the direction of the action.

I base this not only off of my professor's teachings but my knowledge as a broadcast journalist of 10 years experince with videography. ;-) I believe 100% percent it would look much better with these changes.Sean 15:30 CET 05JAN2007 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 206.39.15.2 (talk • contribs).

[edit] "Whiff of Grapeshot"

In the 13 Vendémiaire article, the quote "whiff of grapeshot" is attributed to Thomas Carlyle, while in the Napoleon I of France article it is credited to Napoleon himself. Does anyone here have proof either way? Gyrvalcon 01:19, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

History in Quotations by Cohen and Major attributes it to Carlyle. --Bryson 01:48, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Napoleons' Height

The remarks regarding 'Misconceptions about Napoleon's Height' and the 'Napoleon's Height' entry in the larger article are /not/ by any means universally agreed to be accurate or entirely immune to careful scrutiny.

The most important fact to remember is that Napoleon was in British naval custody, on the British owned island of St. Helena, when he died. He was measured, after death, by an officer of the British navy and it was that officer who gave his height at '5'2' for the official historical record and that height has been recorded as Napoleon's height. This is very important to remember: Napoleon died in British custody, years after the end of French Revolution, and was measured by the British navy after his death.

While the information regarding the difference between French Revolutionary and Imperial measures are correct, it is important to remember that the British navy would not have used French revolutionary measures when measuring Napoleon's corpse. It's highly unlikely that the British navy even would have had access to a French yardstick. This is a common sense issue which is often forgotten in the excitement over the facts of the differences between French Revolutionary and British Imperial measures.

I'd strongly suggest either outright removal of the section in question or at least modification with the statement that scholars do not universally accept the 'debunking' of Napoleon's height and that it's open to debate.

76.4.214.108 19:18, 12 January 2007 (UTC) Chris Richards 76.4.214.108 19:18, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree, Connelly makes note of this in his book on Napoleon. I added this to the main article: "However, other historians claim it is unlikely that Napoleon was measured with a French yardstick after his death, Napoleon was under British control on St.Helena, and was almost certainly measured with a British yardstick. [Connelly, O. p.7]" - Connelly, O. Blundering to Glory: Napoleon’s Military Campaigns. Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2006. 3rd ed. --Bryson 19:49, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
That is an excellent addition, however, after reading it myself it seems quite confusing. Perhaps the heading should be changed, or more modification should be done to the first paragraph. It begins attempting to make the reader believe that Napoleon was closer to 5 foot six inches due to a disparity between French and English units of measure, but then the (as we see now) more correct statement was that that belief is disputed and hardly agreed upon. As a reader, it really struck me as odd and inconsistent, and as an editor I believe something more can be done about it. I don't feel well-versed enough in how to go about this, but felt some input would be helpful. Mattygabe 21:48, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
I agree, a bit confusing. I re-worded the whole section.--Bryson 21:00, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
Something that occurred to me; 5'6" would have been above average for the average man of the time ("... in one canton on the Ligurian coast 72% of the recruits in 1792-9 were less than 1.50 metres (5 ft. 2 in.) tall", writes Eric Hobsbawm in "The Age of Revolution"), but the officer class weren't average men. They were relatively wealthy men, well-nourished, often from generations of well-nourished types, etc. Hey, here's a snippet from a New Yorker article, about some of John Komlos's research:

... [Komlos] analyzed the heights of thirty-eight thousand French soldiers from the late seventeen-hundreds. Peasant conscripts were nearly three inches shorter than their well-bred officers ...

Sorry about citing that article, damn but it's awful, but I couldn't find better. Elsewhere in the article, it's claimed that urbanites of the time would've been shorter again than the peasantry. What I'm getting at is that it's possible that Napoleon was tall for a Frenchman, but short for a French officer. I don't know if that makes any difference, given the petit thing, but just thought I'd add it. Kfor 23:47, 31 January 2007 (UTC) (How does one blockquote properly?)
"tall for a Frenchman of the time, but short for a French officer of the time" - Yes you may have a point there Connelly states that one other reason Napoleon was assigned as an Artillery officer was, he was not particularly tall. Infantry and cavalry officers were considered to require commanding figures. (Connelly, O. Blundering to Glory: Napoleon’s Military Campaigns. Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2006. 3rd ed. p.7) --Bryson 00:37, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

My mental image of Napoléon I is quite similar to Ian Holm when he was younger. (Please note that Ian is still alive.) The two had the same relative height, build and shape of their faces. That means the exact distances between the features of their faces where the same. They had the same hair colour and even the same eyes. Their noses had the same shape but Napoléon’s nose was shorter. His lips was also thinner and his chin completely different: protruding with a large cleft. Ian is very light-skinned even for being a European. That was not true for Napoléon whose skin was probably beige. His hair was also strait not wavy as Ian’s. The last 19 years of his life Napoléon suffered from chronically ill stomach that made his belly to protrude. (His stomach always pained more or less which is why he is so often portrayed with one hand on his belly.) That image is mostly built on this painting:

http://www.napoleon.org/en/essential_napoleon/key_painting/files/delaroche_napo_fontainebleau.asp

It is said that it was painted after his death. Nevertheless, it gives an impression of lacking any intentional beautification. So if he was not the model of the final painting he most have been to the studies. Anyway, it is not detailed enough to show his eye colour. Different eyewitness (!) describe his eyes as ether blue or grey. If they where blue-grey people with different mental categories may have considered them ether blue or grey. The shape of his chin and nose have been mentally modified to match his death mask:

http://www.grand-illusions.com/napoleon/napol2.htm

I have heard that Swedish soldiers of that time where 163 centimetres (5 feet 2) on average. If one decimetre more or less considered normal “5 feet 2” would have been average height regardless if measured in French or British units. (I don’t like the words “emperor”, “empire” or “imperial” so I only use them when necessary. But that is George Lucas’ fault!) There is a drawing of Napoléon on Saint Helena. It shows him leaning against a spade in the garden of Longwood House. We don’t know who made the drawing or exactly when: it might have been any time between 1815 and 1818. By measuring how large portion of his height the head took I estimated his height to 136 – 148 centimetres (4 feet 6 to 4 feet 10). Yes, I did take into account that he was leaning forwards! To depict things in a way that looks real you must have keen sense of proportions. I have it myself but I don’t have the training to depict things this way. I would never underestimate the height of a person I met with as much as two or three decimetres! Sure, his bodyguards where from a part of the army that was reserved for tall men. If you see a man of average height surrounded by tall men you may well mistake him for short. But if you walk up to him to say hello that illusion would scatter. (At least if you have a keen sense of the proportions of things.) I don’t think the drawing is a caricature ether. He does not look silly and nothing seems intentionally exaggerated. There is two ways to convince me that he was 168 centimetres as the “debunkers” claim. One way is if his grave in the Invalides in Paris was opened. If his mummy turns out to have different body proportions then the portraits show I will accept that he was taller. However, this is not very likely to happen. I first heard of this proposal in 2001 and yet it have not happened. The other way is giving credible explanation for why he was PORTRAID much shorter than PRECIVED. Until any of those two happen I will maintain that he was short.

2007-02-13 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

"His stomach always pained more or less which is why he is so often portrayed with one hand on his belly" - Not true, the hand in his coat, was a common pose at the time. I don’t really understand your point. Napoleon was actually measured after his death, he was at least 5 ft 2 in tall. --Bryson 18:35, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

My point is that contemporary portraits and written sources are incompatible with each other. To hold a hand in your coat may not have been uncommon. But people typically held it further up: close to the heart. Napoléon held his hand right on the place where his stomach should be. A paining stomach is the explanation I have heard for that pose. When I see an image of someone holding his/her hand like that I always interpret it as “my stomach is paining and I can't do anything about it”.

2007-02-15 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Yet contemporary portraits of Napoleon show him as being a similar height as those around him, only contemporary caricatures, show Napoleon as being short (and the purpose of these was to poke fun of Napoleon). Also what documents suggest he was short? There is the autopsy that shows he was at least 5 ft. 2 in tall.--Bryson 21:17, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps we make a new page whose sole purpose is discussions of Napoleon's Height? -Gomm 18:32, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
. I think there used to be one called 'Misconceptions about Napoleon's Height' , but it might not be a bad idea. --Bryson 18:37, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, most contemporary portraits show him as being of average height. However, they also show much beautification: minimizing the “yaw” part of his face (typical for the beautification of that time), changing the shape of his chin, enlarging his lips, and sometimes also enlarging his eyes. If a man is relatively short and you want to beautify him why not make him look taller? The portraits I used to calculate his height are those showing the smallest degree of beautification. If they where caricatures you would expect the features of his face to be exaggerated but they are not. His body proportions are odd but not medically impossible for an adult man. Please note that I never claimed him to have been a dwarf. There is an overlapping in height of at least two decimetres (eight inches) between dwarves and non-dwarves. People of that size might be hard to find in the Western World today. But 200 years ago people seldom grew to the height their genes allowed. Malnutrition during upbringing makes people shorter as well as severe infections. So non-dwarves measuring only 130 – 150 centimetres (4 feet 3 to 4 feet 11) were much more common then.

2007-02-16 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Since Napoleon came from minor nobility, I doubt he would have been malnourished. Also calculating his height from a drawing does not sound scientific. Since the ‘smallest degree of beatification’ is really an objective matter. There was no photography, no one really knows what he looked like. Also how do you explain the autopsy report? Which I have mentioned several times.--Bryson 04:02, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

You are right in that Napoléon probably never had to starve. But as I pointed out severe infections have the same effect. That people where shorter then was due to a combination of widespread malnutrition and abundant infectious diseases. Consequently, the rich where taller than the poor and people from the countryside taller than townspeople. Yet, rich people where noticeably shorter than their present-day decedents. The Westerners have never been as filthy as they where in the 18th century! Many people almost never washed themselves with water: they just rubbed off the worst dirt with dry towels and changed underwear! The upper classes used enormous amounts of perfume to cover their stench. The Buonaparte family was probably no exception. Maria Letizia Buonaparte gave birth to 12 living children out of which eight reached adulthood. Perhaps it says something about the hygiene in that household...

I don’t agree about the possibility to know how he looked. The death mask shows his shape of face and how his chin, lips, and nose looked. Most contemporary portraits depict him with small eyes, light beige skin and black, straight hair. (I have already explained what I get my idea of his eye colour from.) People who met him described him as a tiny, little man. I know he often complained about a paining stomach. On a lot of portraits show his lance as noticeably wider than that of other men. This can be explained as a way to understate what might have been his largest bodily defect: a protruding belly. The first occurrence of this trait is visible on an painted drawing depicting an event that happened in 1802. So I think he suffered from a chronically ill stomach for at least since that year.

2007-02-18 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

[edit] Trivia

I would like to add that this section (regardless of accuracy) should really be classified as Napoleon Trivia or Little Known facts about Napoleon.

I say this not out of disrespect, but because, it would allow for others (like myself) to include a broader range of Napoleon trivia such as the fact that he was a Left hander.

Grammaticus 06:36, 22 March 2007 Grammaticus. Adelaide : South Australia. 21st March 2007

You seem to have misunderstood the propose of this page. It is a discussion of the content of Wikipedia’s article on Napoléon I. If he was left-handed how do you explain this portrait?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Jean_Auguste_Dominique_Ingres_016.jpg

There is so many misconceptions about Napoléon. Please save me from debunking them!

2007-03-27 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

[edit] selection of images

Overall, I think we have a pretty good selection of images, but could we perhaps have one or two of Napoleon in battle? This is a page about a noted military leader after all. -Gomm 05:25, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Good idea, but I am not sure where to find space, every heading seams to have a pic or two. Check-out Wikipedia Commons. There are lots of images, if you find a good one, and can find space to fit it in, by all means. --Bryson 03:15, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Coalitions against Napoleon

The sentences "By 1805 Britain was reluctantly drawn into a Third Coalition against Napoleon" sounds a bit strange when one reads just above (last sentence of "interlude of peace") that "The dispute over Malta ended up with Britain declaring war on France in 1803 to support French royalists." (Britain was already at war against France in 1805) and knows that Britain's diplomacy (and money!) was the main architect of the Third Coaltion. I would even say that Britain was relieved to have (at last) allies on the continent to fight against the French. 155.232.128.10 12:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC) Stephane

The entire article is biased against the Napoleon... thus Britain can organize a war to invade a country in order to restore a monarchy and protect the rights of nobility, and does so only reluctantly because Britain has never had any militant or imperialistic ambitions. The British empire got so large because Britain reluctantly intervened world-wide in the internal affairs of other countries and continents because of the inherent evil in the world that only Britain was willing to reluctantly fight.

Good points. Feel free to fix them. -Gomm 04:09, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Napoleon's school experiences

I read a biography and it stated that while he was a child in military school in France, the other children called him "Straw-in-the-Nose" since, in French, the name Napoleon sounds similar. Also, I remember reading something about him saying in response,"I'm going to make you French pay!" I don't know why the edit function is disabled on the main Napoleon page, but someone might want to edit that in. Faustus Tacitus 02:46, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Not in French ("foin dans le nez" is not only something very strange to call a person but also sounds nothing like napoleon). Maybe in Corsican but then why would he refer to them as French? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.35.31.33 (talk) 12:36, 31 January 2007 (UTC).

It s not 'foin dans le nez' but 'la paille au nez', i read it too Legitor 12:05, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What Allies?

I admit to ignorance of the period (which is why I was reading this article), but I am confused by the following line at the start of the article. "Following the Russian campaign and the defeat at Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies invaded France, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814." Who were the Allies, why are they not mentioned before in the article, and how did this alliance get created when the previous sentence says that the allainces were with France, not against them? TIA, CodeCarpenter 18:37, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

After the Russian campaign, the Sixth Coalition was formed. see main article on the War of the Sixth Coalition. --Bryson 19:30, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
Ah. I think I will change the wording to "the Sixth Coalition invaded France". When I see the Allies with a capital A, it implies WW I and WW II to me, which is not the intent of the comment. CodeCarpenter 20:53, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Napoleons' Death.

"The cause of Napoleon's death has been disputed on numerous occasions, and the controversy remains to this day. Francesco Antommarchi, Napoleon's personal physician, gave stomach cancer as a reason for Napoleon's death in his death certificate."

It was confirmed that napolean did die of stomach cancer. Scientists did an autopsy of his body with promision from the French government.

Here is a link to BBC news confirming this information.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070116/sc_livescience/mysteryofnapoleonsdeathsaidsolved

Catherine the Great does not deserve her title 00:02, 31 January 2007 (UTC)Catherine the Great does not deserver her title, January, 30

The article only says Napoleon's trousers were examined. What autopsy?--Bryson 03:12, 31 January 2007 (UTC)


Bryson http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070116/sc_livescience/mysteryofnapoleonsdeathsaidsolved hereCatherine the Great does not deserve her title

By "autopsy reports" they mean the autopsy done after Napoleon died, the original report was recently (2004 or 2005?) discovered.--Bryson 00:21, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

ah, well still, autopsy reports don't lie. 8)Catherine the Great does not deserve her title


According to the Finnish Wikipedia the granite used on Napoleon`s tomb was not, dispite popular belief, from Finland.88.114.223.46 16:47, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Napoleon vs Napoléon

I see this has already been touched on (briefly) in the Talk Archives. Someone mentioned that one should use the common English variant, i.e. without the accent. If so, perhaps the "Napoléon" variant could be used when quoting (for example) his name-change and official names of portraits, and the English variant could be used otherwise? Also, perhaps a note could be made early on that the English variant (and hence rest of the article) does not often include the acute accent? Currently, there appears to be quite a few exceptions to this, especially later in the article. -postglock 12:32, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

The linguistically correct spelling is ether “Napoleone” or “Napoléon”. However, E and É are not considered different letters in French. So the spelling “Napoleon” is also acceptable.

2007-02-14 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

[edit] Facts about Napoleon that should be included

The greatest French Emperor of all time was born with the name of Napoleone Buonaparte on August 15, 1769. He was the fourth child and second son to Carlo and Letizia Buonaparte, who were lesser nobles living in the French territory of Corsica. Napoleone had thirteen siblings, eight of which would survive past childhood. He later said that he inherited his charisma and esprit from his mother and that he owed all of his success to her. He was sent to France to be educated at the age of seven. He was an outsider, ridiculed for his Italian accent, Corsican heritage, and small stature. One of his favorite books was The Sorrows of Young Werther because he could relate to its lonely protagonist. As a means of concealing his Corsican citizenship, he dropped the “e” at the end of his name. At that time, Corsica was thought to be a land of wild savages and unruly people. Though he was unhappy and lonesome, he was a brilliant scholar. He excelled especially in mathematics and geography, very beneficial skills for a future military genius to possess. When he was fifteen he was accepted into the prestigious Royal Military School and commissioned as a First Lieutenant. Artillery was his forte, his sheer brilliance quickly moved him up the ranks, and he ended up graduating in half the time needed. Napoleon was ill at ease in French social events so he returned to Corsica after graduation. At that time, the French Revolution was in its height, and Napoleon strongly defended its ideas. Much of his time during the Revolution was spent in Corsica, but a few times he went to Paris on military command. He was a steadfast Jacobin and one of Robespierre’s supporters, and after the fall of Robespierre he was briefly imprisoned. The Bonaparte family ended up being banished from Corsica because of Napoleon’s brother Lucien’s attempts to overthrow Paoli, the Corsican leader. At the Siege of Toulon, Napoleon’s battalion was losing miserably due to poor leadership. Napoleon put forth brilliant ideas that caused his division to win the port city. He was then promoted to brigadier-general. After meeting Paul Barras, a powerful Directory member, he knew that their friendship would give him an advantage for his rise to power. The “Whiff of Grapeshot” was the astounding victory that promoted Napoleon up to the position of commander of the Army of Italy, and he was nicknamed “The Little Corporal.” His tactical ideas, built around artillery fire, put down the counter-revolutionaries that were threatening the Directory. But beneath the veneer of pride and triumph, Napoleon was insecure. He had fallen in love with Josephine de Beauharnais, who was six years older than he. Her previous husband had been one of the French Revolution’s leaders and was guillotined due to the Reign of Terror. At first, she seemed nonchalant to Napoleon’s fawning, but soon they developed a relationship. Josephine later said that she was only interested in him because she thought he was rich. Napoleon believed that the marriage would make him seem more French and less Corsican. At the marriage on March 9, 1796, Josephine lowered her age to 29 and he raised his to 28 to make the union seem more natural. Napoleon was two hours late for his own wedding, but still he was much more attached to her than she was to him. When he was away he sent many passionate letters to her, and few were returned. Two days after the wedding, Napoleon was reluctantly sent out to Italy for the Italian Campaign ordered by the Directory as a means to help conquer Austria and Germany. His army was demoralized, starving, and ill-equipped. He was also highly outnumbered and up against four Austrian generals. Through his brilliant tactics and his inspiration of his soldiers with promise of honor, glory, and riches, he launched many surprise attacks on the unsuspecting Austrians. He emerged victorious and forced the Peace of Campio Formio. Now all of Northern Italy was his! Napoleon, being interested in art, also ran off with famous Italian masterpieces to take back to Paris. He was given orders to dethrone the Pope, but decided not to. His next move was through the Egyptian Campaign in 1798. After easily conquering Cairo he felt that victory was certain, but soon he faced the disastrous naval battle of Alexandria. Artillery was his strongpoint, navy his weakness. The French fleet was utterly destroyed by Horatio Nelson. Abandoning his army in Egypt, he marched back to Paris claiming that he was victorious. He was the victor on land, but now that Britain had control of the seas, he couldn’t move. The Directory had sent for his return after a series of military defeats. Now France was bankrupt and the Directory was more unpopular than ever. Two Directors and a few more important people pleaded him into joining a coup to overthrow the constitution. Napoleon led them into doing so and set up a Consulate system through his new constitution, naming himself First Consul and making Sieyès and Ducos Second and Third Consuls. Napoleon, now the most powerful person in France, named himself a Consul for life. He enjoyed his power, setting up a Concordat of 1801 that put the Church under control of the state. His Napoleonic Code, built upon the principles of the French Revolution, made laws for all of France to follow without exemption. This was the first time that all of France had to follow the same laws; before this the laws varied by district. The laws became much more unambiguous, and it prohibited ex post facto. Promotion and job opportunities were based on aptitude, not social class. He returned land rights to peasants and middle class that were seized by the wealthy. He advocated religious freedom. Napoleon valued order and stability over individual rights, however, and many rights of women that were a byproduct of the French Revolution were taken away. During this time he also sold the Louisiana Purchase to the United States after he realized it would be indefensible from the British. Though he was perfectly content with being First Consul, his growing ego desired even more power. His vote into being Emperor was nearly unanimous, 3,572,329 to 2,569. During the coronation ceremony on December 2, 1804, he took the crown from the Pope’s hands and crowned himself. Many believe that Napoleon did so to defy the Pope, but in advance it had been agreed on. As Emperor, Napoleon made it perfectly clear that his intentions weren’t just about taking over France, he had insisted on all of Europe as well. Napoleon was a strong Nepotist, placing his relatives on the thrones of Europe to ensure loyalty. He was later crowned King of Italy on May 26, 1805. The nations of Austria, Russia, and the United Kingdom formed a coalition against Napoleon. They were monarchies and feared that Napoleon’s ideas would spread to their countries. He was also a phenomenal general and wanted to take their land. Napoleon desired desperately to defeat the British, since it was the only region in Europe that wasn’t somewhat under his control or his ally. He knew that he could invade England if he could just keep British ships out of the English Channel for six hours, but he couldn’t find a way. The naval battle of Trafalgar had been disastrous for him, and he couldn’t cross the English Channel without being destroyed by the British fleet. With this he temporarily decided to give up the invasion of Britain due to the excellence of their navy, so he focused more on Austria and Russia. At Austerlitz, Napoleon met his greatest triumph. He divided his Grande Armée into a corps system with seven parts for better maneuvering. The corps system allowed them to communicate and assist each other. Deceptive Napoleon gave an impression to Austria and Russia that his army was weak and that he desired peace. He predicted the enemies’ movements, knowing that they would strike first. Napoleon moved quickly and isolated specific parts of the allied army. Using the terrain to his advantage, he sent out snipers and set up the artillery to his advantage. After nearly nine hours of fighting, Napoleon was triumphant after his victory. Austria ceded him land, and he set up the Confederation of the Rhine in place of the Holy Roman Empire. After that he forced Russia to sign the Treaty of Tilsit, which forbade it to trade with England. He also set up the Duchy of Warsaw to ally with France. The boycott of England was commonly referred to as the “Continental System.” Portugal and England depended on each other for trade, so it wouldn’t succumb to the Continental System. After hearing this, Napoleon invaded it and Spain, who disagreed also. Napoleon’s brother Joseph, who was placed onto the throne by Napoleon, was in danger of being overthrown, also. Napoleon’s battles in Spain were mostly guerrilla warfare. The Spanish relied on hit-and-run attacks, and the British came to help them out. Napoleon relied on mass executions since he couldn’t fight an organized battle with an army that hid and attacked. Once again, Napoleon triumphed, and Portugal and Spain became forced allies. Napoleon’s future, at this point, was looking very bright. To his enemies, he appeared to be invincible.He divorced Josephine in 1810 to marry the 18-year-old Austrian princess Marie Louise. The divorce was heartbreaking for both of them, but it had to be done to keep the Austrian alliance. Still, he kept writing Josephine passionate letters. Marie bore him a son in 1811, Napoleon II, who was entitled King of Rome at birth. Marie Louise was so afraid of hurting the child that she wouldn’t hold him. In 1812 Russia broke the alliance with France by trading with England. Trade with England, for them, was an economic necessity. Czar Alezander I also believed that Napoleon’s marriage to Marie Louise was an alliance that threatened Russia. Napoleon expanded his Grande Armée in 1812 to not only French but also the troops of his many different allies. This was very difficult because they all spoke different languages and a large army was slow and difficult to command. In his anger he decided to invade Russia. Guiding his army through the scalding Russian heat, he decided to take Moscow, Russia’s emotional center. The Russian troops decided to burn everything that Napoleon could use, making his supply lines become longer and longer. Napoleon did end up conquering Moscow. Unfortunately, the Russians set it ablaze. With nothing more to do, Napoleon led his troops back to Russia in a thousand-mile retreat in the bitter cold. His troops were dying out rapidly, and the Russians hit and run as they fled. It wasn’t the Russians that were killing off his troops, it was the brutal winter. Napoleon lost thousands of soldiers and horses to cold, starvation, and frostbite, and his allies who previously feared him found that he wasn’t invincible after all. A new alliance was formed against him: Prussia, Britain, Austria, and Russia. They soon met up at Leipzig in 1813. Napoleon was outnumbered and decided to fight each one individually. It started out working, but the bridge detonated while soldiers were still on it, killing thousands and leaving some still on the other side. With this defeat, Napoleon was sent into exile on the island of Elba off the coast of Italy. He was named Emperor of Elba and given 2 million francs from France. After creating reforms to improve life on the tiny island and throwing extravagant parties, Napoleon became bored with the tiny island and enveloped himself in memories of his former glory. Ruling over 600 people didn’t satisfy him… his ego desired his former status of nearly taking over all of Europe. He returned to France after a mere 9 months and 21 days of exile with a small army of about a thousand people. He used an indirect route through the Alps to Paris, directly avoiding royalist areas. At the town of Laffrey he came across troops ordered by Louis XVIII to kill him. Napoleon took a risk, walking in front of the soldiers and gaining their support, reminding them of the time when Napoleon was their commander. His “inspiration of the common soldier” ended up saving Napoleon’s life. Rumors about Napoleon’s return circulated throughout France, and Louis XVIII fled for fear of being guillotined. Though Napoleon had been defeated, he was still popular. His magnetism and charisma won back the hearts of the people of France, and he returned to Paris without firing a shot. Portraying himself as the embodiment of the French Revolution, he pledged to turn the clock back to 1792. Attempting to make peace with the other European leaders, he wrote them letters, asking for their forgiveness. Meanwhile, the Congress of Vienna was planning to take Napoleon down. Little did he know that he would only be emperor for one hundred days. At the Battle of Waterloo, the new coalition of England, Netherlands, Russia, Austria, and Prussia planned to strike together. Napoleon wanted to fight them individually, but it didn’t turn out that way. It had rained heavily and he decided to wait for the ground to dry before he attacked. This hesitance allowed the Prussians to merge with the British. Heavily outnumbered, Napoleon loses and is exiled. St. Helena, a tiny island 1000 miles off the coast of Africa, becomes his home. Constantly being watched, he was definitely less than happy. On May 5, 1821 he died of stomach cancer and was buried on the island. Later, however, he was reburied in Paris and there was a huge ceremony held in his honor.


Your description is filled with errors:

1. Napoléon had only 11 siblings of witch seven survived until adulthood.

2. He was not sent to a boarding school until he was ten. How do think a seven-year-old boy brought up in Italian could have managed in a boarding school with French as language?

3. He was born within the borders of France and as such had French citizenship from start. However, he belonged to an ethnic minority calling themselves Corsicans. He could not had kept this a secret because of the accent he had throughout his life. I don't think he even attempted and probably preferred to speak Italian with everyone who could.

4. He graduated in 1785: four years before the outbreak of the French Revolution. Furthermore, he was one of the worst students graduating that year. He probably studied on the limit of his ability possibly because he knew how ill his father was and wanted to graduate before he died.

5. Napoléon lacked any ideological dedication. It was his brother Lucien who strongly supported the ideas of the French Revolution. It was also he who supported Maximilien de Robespierre and was briefly imprisoned after his fall.

6. Pasquale Paoli was not any kind of Corsican ruler at the time of the French Revolution. Corsica had been a part of France since 1768: seven years before Lucien was born!

7. Maria Letizia Buonaparte moved with her children to mainland France in 1785 following the death of her husband. I don't know why but I see no reason for banishment.

8. He married Joséphine de Beauharnais because he had fallen in love with her. Otherwise he could as well have married his previous girlfriend Désirée Clary: she was equally French.

9. The Napoleonic Code was a mix of liberalism and conservatism. As I previously wrote Napoléon had no ideological dedication. The original ideas of the French Revolution had been fast stressed to death. By 1804 I doubt that there was much more left other then freedom of religion and rule of law.

10. The referendum to make him an emperor was almost certainly faked.

11. In those days battles could not be controlled in detail. This is what Swedish historian Peter Englund called “the myth of the warlord”.

12. The divorce of Napoléon and Joséphine was mainly because she was sterile. He wanted to remarry so that he could have legitimate children.

13. He wanted to invade Russia because he believed it to be the key to the Far East. The expanded Grand Army was mobilized after that decision.

14. It is unclear what caused the Moscow fire. Napoléon claimed afterwards that he burned it but that would have been a questionable honour.

15. He abdicated for the first time in 1814 and was given Elba as a sole remain of his empire.

16. His return in 1815 later was probably communicated in the fastest manner possible at the time: optical telegraph!

17. He did not die from stomach cancer. He become increasingly ill for five years. After that long time cancer can only kill though metastases and no such was found. I don't think he suffered from cancer at al: the supposed tumour was described as a hole the size of a finger. He died from Gosio's disease (slow arsenic poisoning). However, the source of the arsenic is still discussed.

What did you get those “facts” from? I am glad that Wikipedia does not contain much of such claims!

2007-02-15 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Addendum-

1. There is not one mention in this entire article about Napoleon's passion for chicken or his fear of cats. What is this, the encyclopedia of boring knowledge?


It is insolent to make changes IN an other person's contribution. If you are the one complaining about the article being boring I gave an answar to that today.

2007-02-24 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Napoléon was no food entusiast so I don’t think he was more found of chicken then any other meat. It is possible that he was afraid of cats but it might as well be a roumor. I realy don’t know.

2007-02-27 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

At a second thought I don’t think that Napoléon and Joséphine lied about their ages when they married. In order to marry her he had to stop his engagement with Désirée Clary. That was probably enough of a scandal. The acceptance they would have got from lying about their ages would have been small and the chance of exposure was overhanging. Napoléon’s mother Maria Letizia was still alive – in fact she survived her most (in)famous son by 15 years! Furthermore he had seven living siblings which might not even have lived in the same city. Joséphine had two teenage children form a previous marriage. There are too many cases when the people claiming a fraud widely overestimate the possibility to keep something a secret!

2007-03-16 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

[edit] Boring

This article is pretty boring. While the history in it is very useful, there's not much about his personality. ~ Rollo44 14:01, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Maybe I can help? I don’t admire Napoléon but I know more about him then most of his fans. His mother tongue was Italian. (After his death the Corsicans defined their dialect as a language of it's own by creating an own system of spelling.) In the 18th century French was the international language of the Western World. All noblemen in Europe learned French at school. Unfortunately, he had dyslexia: a hereditary lack of language talent. It leads to difficulties to learn to read and write as well as to learn a foreign language. However, many undiscovered dyslectics manage through the school system by simply devoting much more of their time to studies. Many dyslectics also develop a very good memory and his memory was excellent. An other mark of his dyslexia was a noticeable motor clumsiness. His movements have been misunderstood as nervous and a fellow soldier said that he looked like a boy riding his father’s horse. I don’t deny that he was a military genius, but like all real world humans he had his weak sides too. As adult he spoke flouting French through noticeably slowly and with an accent typical for a Corsican. Good food was not important to him. As long as it did not taste bad he did not care. He was very found of his old mother, Maria Letizia, and seven surviving siblings. (His father Carlo died when he was 16 and they may not have had much emotional contact.) He had a high level of sexual drive. Together with being much away from his wife that made him prone to infidelity. It is said that he had many mistresses. However, only two are known to have got pregnant with him: Louise de la Plaigne and Maria Walewska. They each gave birth to an illegitimate son: Charles Léon and Alexandre Walewski. On the other hand, his need for sleep was very low and he may not have slept more than five out of every 24 hours. He easily got angry and could then become violent. Worse, he suffered from a mental disease that gave him a bad conscience from being human. To avoid that feeling he tried to be completely egoistic. (He can’t have been a psychopath since they are unable to have any bad conscience at all.) I don’t know when this mental illness begun but it might have been in the late 1790s. Are there any experts who can tell me if I am wrong? Please note that the human mind consist of many systems: one for language, one of logical thinking, one for sympathy, one for predicting the reactions of others, and so on. A flaw in one system does not necessary mean that any other is flawed. However, if one system is stronger it can be used to compensate an other flawed one to some degree. So I don’t contradict myself in any way.

2007-02-24 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

[edit] DI Buonaparte?

This is the only passage where I have seen his name written as ”Napoleone di Buonaparte”. If that had been his original name it would have been “translated” to “Napoléon de Bonaparte” like Caterina di Medici was “translated” to Cathérine de Medicis. All his siblings are written without the prefix: Giuseppe Napoleone Buonaparte, Luciano Buonaparte, Maria Anna Elisa Buonaparte, and so on. This is also true for his parents. I don’t speak ether Italian or French. But I know a lot of names in both languages. Together with my language talent this was enough to make the “translations”.

2007-02-12 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

[edit] Possible illegitemate children

If there is no source as to who gave birth to Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire how could we know the identity of the father? How can we know the father of someone but not the mother? The only possible way would be if the father toke care of a child and called it his own, after wich the sources about the mother was destroyed. (Maybe by a younger half-sibling...) This is probably not the case: Napoléon had two other illegitemate children but he did not take care of them. I have only heard of four children in his nuclear famlily: Eugène, Hortense, Stéphanie and Napoléon François. Eugène and Hortense were Joséphine de Beauharnais' children from a pevious marrige. Stéphanie was a first cousin Joséphine had care of when she married Napoléon. Napoléon François was his son with his second wife Marie-Louise von Habsburg. Ether we kow who Jules' mother was and that she had the opputunity to have sex with him at the aproximate time of conception. Or his fatherhood is mere rumour and he should be removed from the list of possible children.

2007-02-24 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.208.93.34 (talk) 18:31, 24 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Arm inside his jacket

Napoleon is famous for portraits always depicting him with his arm inside his jacket. Why is this and should it be included? Savager 19:06, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

It was simply a common pose at the time, since it was common at the time I don't think it needs to be in the article.--Bryson 19:11, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Not all portraits show him with a hand under his coat but most of the popular ones do. When they do it is usually his right hand on the upper part of his belly which was not very common. The explanation I have heard is that he often complained about a paining stomach and held one hand on it because it lessened the pain. I works to some extent. Believe me: I have tried! When nobody saw it of cause. I don’t want to be conspicuous...

2007-03-10 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

[edit] Greatest military leader ever

Really? I'm sure lots of people have said it, and I'm sure they've given their reasons, but why is there not a section within this article explaining some of the reasons why people think he's the greatest commander ever? How many times in 10 years did he simply get lucky? Xaxafrad 03:50, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

To claim that someone was the “greatest military leader ever” is NOT neutral, so the formulation is not suitable for a Wikipedia article. Furthermore, I think Napoléon could only be justly compared to warlords working from the end of the Hundred Years War to the outbreak of World War One. Before and after that period warfare was so different that I doubt that he would even had understood it.

2007-03-16 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

The article does not say that he is the greatest military leader ever. As was just explained, that would be a ridiculous claim to find in an encyclopedia. Napoleon's military career was well over two decades long, and in that time he got about just as lucky as all other commanders prior to and following him.UberCryxic 15:21, 16 March 2007 (UTC)


[edit] height section needs fixing

It doesn't even make gramatical sense: "Some historians claim Napoleon was 5 ft 6 in based on after Napoleon’s death in 1821;"

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