15 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT NAPOLEAN BONAPARTE
One of the most fascinating figures to ever live was born 246 years ago. For Napoleon Bonaparte’s birthday, here are 15 things you might not know about the general-turned-emperor-turned-icon.
1. HE HAD A FORMAL MILITARY TRAINING.
Napoleon was born into a family of minor nobility on Corsica—a large island off the coast of Italy—a year after it became a French territory. His parents were well off enough to send him to school in France, although he never lost his Corsican accent and claimed to have been teased for it throughout his life. As a teen, he attended the prestigious École Militaire in Paris, but when his father died in his first year there, the younger Bonaparte (whose name was actually “Napoleone di Buonaparte” before he changed it as a young adult to sound more French) was forced to graduate early to help his family financially. Cutting his studies short caused Napoleon’s grades to suffer and he ended up graduating 42nd in a class of 58 students. He did, however, earn the distinction of being the first Corsican to graduate from École Militaire. At 16 years old, Napoleon became an officer in the French army.
2. HE WAS ORIGINALLY A CORSICAN NATIONALIST.
Although Napoleon was single-handedly responsible for and synonymous with the first French Empire, as a young man, he longed to see his homeland overthrow French rule. His parents had opposed French rule since before he was born, and during his youth Napoleon wrote a series of treatises on the history and government of Corsica in which he calls the French “monsters” “who are said to be the enemies of free men.” (His plans for a full book on the island country never came to fruition.) In the late 1780s and early 1790s, Napoleon returned to Corsica for long stretches, avoiding the early stages of the French Revolution. But during these visits home, he was struck by how provincial the island was and how much bigger the world at large seemed in comparison. His mannerisms and preoccupations were becoming more French. Meanwhile, Corsican governor and former idol to young Napoleon Pasquale Paoli became increasingly Anglicized. Ultimately, it was a clash between the Buonaparte family and Paoli that inspired Napoleon to leave Corsica once
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3. HIS FIRST WIFE, JOSÉPHINE DE BEAUHARNAIS, BARELY ESCAPED EXECUTION.
Born into a plantation family in Martinique, Joséphine married into French aristocracy when she wed Alexandre de Beauharnais at the age of 16. Although her husband wanted nothing to do with her, she seduced and charmed other high society men, but that didn’t save her from imprisonment in Les Carmes as the Revolution swept through Paris. Her estranged husband was sent to the guillotine, but the day before her trial, the government was deposed and the executions halted. Having just barely escaped with her life, Joséphine quickly became a popular socialite, eventually meeting Napoleon at a party in 1795. She was 32, widowed, and established in French society; he was just 26, shy and inexperienced. At their wedding six months later, she reportedly knocked four years off her age on the marriage certificate and he added 18 months to his, which made them roughly the same age (at least on paper).
4. HE LIKELY NEVER SAID “NOT TONIGHT, JOSÉPHINE.”
Of course, we can’t know everything the couple said to one another in private, but judging from letters between the two, Napoleon was desperately infatuated with his wife and expressed an insecure neediness that, if anything, put her off intimacy. The young general embarked on his Italian campaign just a few days into the couple’s marriage, writing to her almost constantly from the battlefield. For her part, Joséphine seems to have struck up affairs back in France in her husband’s absence and her silence drove him to send incre
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One of the most fascinating figures to ever live was born 246 years ago. For Napoleon Bonaparte’s birthday, here are 15 things you might not know about the general-turned-emperor-turned-icon.
1. HE HAD A FORMAL MILITARY TRAINING.
Napoleon was born into a family of minor nobility on Corsica—a large island off the coast of Italy—a year after it became a French territory. His parents were well off enough to send him to school in France, although he never lost his Corsican accent and claimed to have been teased for it throughout his life. As a teen, he attended the prestigious École Militaire in Paris, but when his father died in his first year there, the younger Bonaparte (whose name was actually “Napoleone di Buonaparte” before he changed it as a young adult to sound more French) was forced to graduate early to help his family financially. Cutting his studies short caused Napoleon’s grades to suffer and he ended up graduating 42nd in a class of 58 students. He did, however, earn the distinction of being the first Corsican to graduate from École Militaire. At 16 years old, Napoleon became an officer in the French army.
2. HE WAS ORIGINALLY A CORSICAN NATIONALIST.
Although Napoleon was single-handedly responsible for and synonymous with the first French Empire, as a young man, he longed to see his homeland overthrow French rule. His parents had opposed French rule since before he was born, and during his youth Napoleon wrote a series of treatises on the history and government of Corsica in which he calls the French “monsters” “who are said to be the enemies of free men.” (His plans for a full book on the island country never came to fruition.) In the late 1780s and early 1790s, Napoleon returned to Corsica for long stretches, avoiding the early stages of the French Revolution. But during these visits home, he was struck by how provincial the island was and how much bigger the world at large seemed in comparison. His mannerisms and preoccupations were becoming more French. Meanwhile, Corsican governor and former idol to young Napoleon Pasquale Paoli became increasingly Anglicized. Ultimately, it was a clash between the Buonaparte family and Paoli that inspired Napoleon to leave Corsica once
MORE FROM MENTAL
3. HIS FIRST WIFE, JOSÉPHINE DE BEAUHARNAIS, BARELY ESCAPED EXECUTION.
Born into a plantation family in Martinique, Joséphine married into French aristocracy when she wed Alexandre de Beauharnais at the age of 16. Although her husband wanted nothing to do with her, she seduced and charmed other high society men, but that didn’t save her from imprisonment in Les Carmes as the Revolution swept through Paris. Her estranged husband was sent to the guillotine, but the day before her trial, the government was deposed and the executions halted. Having just barely escaped with her life, Joséphine quickly became a popular socialite, eventually meeting Napoleon at a party in 1795. She was 32, widowed, and established in French society; he was just 26, shy and inexperienced. At their wedding six months later, she reportedly knocked four years off her age on the marriage certificate and he added 18 months to his, which made them roughly the same age (at least on paper).
4. HE LIKELY NEVER SAID “NOT TONIGHT, JOSÉPHINE.”
Of course, we can’t know everything the couple said to one another in private, but judging from letters between the two, Napoleon was desperately infatuated with his wife and expressed an insecure neediness that, if anything, put her off intimacy. The young general embarked on his Italian campaign just a few days into the couple’s marriage, writing to her almost constantly from the battlefield. For her part, Joséphine seems to have struck up affairs back in France in her husband’s absence and her silence drove him to send incre
next page
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