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As a youth, Napoleon spent many of his days reading about the great leaders of history. He studied the most revered individuals like Alexander the Great, Hannibal Barca, Charlemagne, and, his personal hero, Julius Caesar. Today, he is held in the same regard as the great leaders he spent his youth reading about. Although, Napoleon’s rise to this fraternity of the greats may be the most impressive and worthy of appreciation, even by his critics and detractors.
Unlike his peers, Napoleon was not born into the upper echelons of society. He was not born a royal prince like Alexander and Charlemagne; he was not born into a wealthy elite aristocratic family like Caesar and Hannibal. Napoleon’s upbringing was modest. It was ordinary.
Ordinary Upbringing:
Napoleon was born in 1769, on the backwater island of Corsica. The island is located on the western coast of the Italian peninsula. The same year he was born, the Italian Republic of Genoa conceded Corsica to France in order to pay off its debts, because the island was poor and lacked resources; It became a burden to continue ruling. Throughout his life, individuals would remark that Napoleon was more Italian then French.
Napoleon was born into modest Corsican nobility. Which, on Corsica, meant little because his family had no wealth or resources. Essentially nothing but their title and relative prestige. Napoleon’s father was a lawyer and local politician and his mother was an intense, strong willed, women. She was tough, cynical, strict, and exacting; when Napoleon lost his empire and was exiled, its said that his mother said to him “I told you so”. Though, Napoleon credited his success to his mother guidance and care.
Although Napoleon had an overall ordinary and modest upbringing, he was always extraordinary ambitious. His personality was imperial and he sought to achieve more than anyone anticipated he could. Along with his ambition, Napoleon was a calm individual, he was noticeably intelligent, he was talented in mathematics, he was a skilled writer, and he was knowledgeable—spend his free time reading about and exploring history. He possessed the rare dynamic of being, ambitious, intelligent, and pragmatic.
With the help of family and friends, Napoleon’s personal ambition, talent, and perseverance gained him admission to a prestigious military academy in northern France. Since Napoleon was straightforward and not inherently charming, along with the fact that the other privileged students looked down on and bullied him because he was Corsican and on a scholarship, he did not have many friends at the academy, and he dedicated his alone time to his studies and personal hobby, reading.
His intelligence and determination propelled him to the top of his class and an early graduation. While finishing his studies in northern France, Napoleon’s father died and Napoleon traveled back to his homeland of Corsica. During his time home, he aimed to established power on the island, but Napoleon failed. Consequently, because of the political conflict with Corsican elites, Napoleon and his family fled to mainland France.
Career:
At 23 Napoleon was lost and had a family that depended on him. Even though he was bright and had remarkably clear potential, he encountered a stagnation to his momentum. Napoleon believed and always knew that he was destined for greatness, but In France, the way to achieve promotion and acclaim was not through merit alone, but an individual needed to be privileged too. Only the elite members of France climbed the latter. Although, the advent of the French Revolution reordered French society, and gifted Napoleon an opportunity to achieve and satisfy his ambition.
One gifted trait that Napoleon possessed which allowed him to successfully seize every opportunity was his ability to adapt. He controlled what he could and would leave what he could not to fate. He was a pragmatist. He was flexible and adjusted to where the winds of change blew, and he refused to give up. When he failed to gain political power on his home of Corsica, he seized the opportunity to achieve rank in the new French Republic’s military.
Napoleon achieved tremendous success in his early years as an artillery commander for the republic’s military. His success carried him to the promotion to the position of general. After he effectively suppressed an uprising in Paris, Napoleon was promoted to Commander of the Interior and of the French army of Italy. This afforded Napoleon wealth and universal French fame.
Napoleon’s persistence was apparent in romance, too. He fell in love with the beautifully admired aristocrat Josephine. He was not her type. He was a solider with a humble upbringing in Corsica, not the elite rich nobility she was accustomed to. But Napoleon was earnest in his pursuit. He always visited her and wrote her letters to show his affection: “I awake full of you”. Eventually he won her over and they married.
Above all, Napoleon was a military genius. He has few peers in human history that rival his military prowess. In his prime, victory against Napoleon and the French Grand Army was tantamount to impossible. Although he did lose some, he won more battles than anyone else in history, and until his later defeats in Russia and in the War of the 6th and 7th coalitions headed by the Duke of Wellington, he never lost a war in over a decade. By the end of his late rule as emperor, Napoleon had conquered nearly all of continental Europe, either by victory in war or by submission and surrender.
Napoleon’s natural gifts of intelligence, perseverance, pragmatism, flexibility, calmness is what contributed to his extraordinary military success. In addition, although he lacked inherent charisma, he developed it through out life and become a leader that everyone adored and his soldier followed—his skilled writing capacity allowed him to create a reputation and promote himself in his own image.
His military talent was evident early. Napoleon experienced tremendous success as Commander of the French army in Italy and became an instant French celebrity. Later, he spearheaded a military campaign into northern Africa to conquer British territory—mainly Egypt. Although this campaign was ultimately a failure, it was still to his avail and he managed to benefit. Throughout the Campaign, he would send propaganda back to France in order to mold an advantageous reputation.
While on the precipice of defeat in Egypt, Napoleon was called back to Paris to restore order to a collapsing republic. Even after failure, he seen an opportunity to obtain power and seized it. In 1799, Napoleon and his allies installed a new French government where Napoleon became the first of three Consuls (the head of state). It was without doubt that Napoleon was the apparent master of France.
Emperor:
As First Consul, Napoleon was enormously popular and an effective statesman. He introduced the revolutionary Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code was the first modern legal system. The laws that were birthed from this reform have influenced legal systems across Europe and the world and much of the Code is still incorporated into French law today. In addition, Napoleon continued to successfully command the French Army against its adjacent powers.
At 35-years-old, his success and popularity as First Consul allowed him to proclaim himself Emperor of the French, in 1804. Napoleon is famous for taking the crown from the Pope and crowing himself Emperor at his coronation.
This gesture is indicative of Napoleon. He crowned himself. His ambition had dictated his own future; he achieved this on his own merit. He was once a short boy from the poor island of Corsica who believed in himself. A boy who believed he could one day rival Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. Besides his natural ability, he was not born into an auspicious position with privileged advantages. He came from a modest family and became the first Emperor of the French and the Ruler of Europe.
Even when he failed at the end of his rule, retreating from his Russian invasion (losing 5/6 of his army) and being defeated at Leipzig, he persisted and refused to give up. He escaped exile to reclaim rule of France. Although he was eventually and definitively defeated again at Waterloo months later, his return highlights his personal tenacity and determination. His defeats were due to him losing his sense of self. He began to ignore those traits that contributed to his past success. He was no longer adapting to chaos and change, and he was no longer grounded and pragmatic; He became fatally confident and believed too much in his own invincible reputation.
Napoleon’s story and rise to power is the most impressive of the great leaders of history. Through ambition and perseverance, he went from an ordinary individual from a small poor and overlooked island, one that was given away, to the most powerful man in the world since his hero Julius Caesar.
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