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Poupore"My business is to succeed, and I’m good at it. I create my Iliad by my actions, create itday by day."
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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 thegreatest leaders in the world. He quickly rose from a low position in his battalion to become theemperor of France. He was also a great political leader. Napoleon also held several other titlessuch as ruler of France as First Consul of the French republic, king of Italy, Mediator of theSwiss Confederation, and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. Although he waseventually forced to relinquish the throne, he had a major impact on modern European historyand 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. Hewas 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 influenceof Napoleon during his childhood was his mother Maria Letizia Ramolino. Her unyieldingdiscipline helped “restrain the rambunctious Napoleon, nicknamed Rabullione (the "meddler" or "disrupter").”
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At the age of nine, Napoleon was admitted to a French military school atBrienne-le- Château. He had to learn French before he could attend and he spoke with anoticeable Italian accent. After he graduated from Brienne, he was accepted into the exclusiveÉcole Royale Militaire. He completed the two year program in one year. One of his teachersconsidered him “very applied [to the study of] abstract sciences, little curious as to the others;[having] a thorough knowledge of mathematics and geography ...”
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He had originally wanted tostudy naval sciences, but instead he studied artillery. Napoleon’s achievements in his educationhelped him to become one of the greatest military leaders in the world.
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Poupore Napoleon’s early military career was incredibly successful upon his graduation fromÉcole Royale Militaire. At the age of sixteen, Napoleon was given the position of secondlieutenant in La Fère artillery brigade. He served in this position in Valence and Auxonne untilafter the beginning of the Revolution in 1789. He spent most of the next few years on the islandof Corsica, where there was a struggle between royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsicannationalists. He supported the Jacobin faction and earned the standing of lieutenant-colonel of agroup 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. Napoleonwas chosen as artillery commander in the French forces that were attacking Toulon, which wasoccupied by British troops. He was then promoted to
chef de bataillion
, which was the positionof 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”
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 He then capturedPoint 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 toevacuate.”
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 Within a day of the battle, all of the British infantries had left Toulon. Toulon wasonce again in French control.During this time, he became a close friend of Augustin Robespierre, who was theyounger brother of the French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre. As a compensationfor 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 mostimportant of attacks against the Austrians. Because of Napoleon’s thorough planning the Frenchcaptured both Loano and the area known as ‘the Barricades’. After the fall of the revolutionaryleader Maximilien Robespierre, Napoleon was temporarily imprisoned in the Château d’Antibes.
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PouporeHe 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 ona successful invasion of Italy. He then traveled to Lombardy with his soldiers and drove out theAustrians that had occupied that region before. He also defeated the army of the Papal States. Inearly 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 thatgave Venice to Austria. After the treaty was signed, Napoleon marched on to Venice and forcedthem to surrender, which ended over 1,000 years of independence. After this, Napoleonorganized many of the territories in Italy that were under French control into the CisalpineRepublic. Napoleon’s extraordinary military achievements all happened due to his excellentknowledge of ordinary military tactics. An example of this is his use of artillery strategies tosupport his infantry. He often described it as “I have fought sixty battles and I have learnednothing which I did not know at the beginning.”
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He was also an expert on intelligence and alsodeception and always knew when to strike. He often won battles by using spies to collectinformation 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.”
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 Almost all the phases of war had been included in this year-long expedition and at the end “Bonaparte’sapprenticeship was over. The Eagle had found wings, beak, and talons.”
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 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 challengeBritain’s access to India. The Directory was distressed by the idea but they agreed, hoping that
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