Napoleon Bonaparte Essay Sample

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader, and an Emperor. He was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Coria. His father was Carlo Bonaparte, and his mother was Letizia Bonaparte. Napoleon was the oldest of  a total of seven siblings, his favorite sibling was his sister Pauline Bonaperte. Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, of what was most likely stomach cancer at the age of 51. 

Before Napoleon died he attended school in mainland france. At this school he learned the French language. In 1785 Napoleon Bonaparte graduated from a French military academy. After graduating Napoleon became what is called, “second lieutenant” which is  a commissioned officer of the lowest rank. In 1791 he was then promoted to first lieutenant, and then in 1792 he was promoted to captain. Napoleon was Captain throughout the French revolution. At the start of the Revolution Napoleon was not there, he was, however,  in Corsica. While in Corsica he became quite attached to the Jacobins. The Jacobins were a pro-democracy political group. In July 1794, Napoleon was put on house arrest for having ties with Augustin Robespierre, Maximilien Robespierre, and a Jacobin. Then in 1975 Napoleon was promoted Major general, after helping suppress a royalist.

In 1802  a constitutional amendment made Napoleon first consul for life. Before crowning himself emperor in 1804, Napoleon reformed the education system. Napoleon also developed the civil code also known as the Napoleonic code. Napoleonic code basically removed individual rights from women, reduced rights from unlawful children and made the man's authority over their families stronger. Napoleon centralized the government, rearranged the banking system, and he also rearranged the education system. He supported the arts, and improved the relationship with the pope and France, while in his reforms.

On June 24, 1812 Napoleon led the Grandee army to an invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian Campaign. The invasion didn’t go as planned and was a failure for France. On June 18, 1815 the Battle of Waterloo took place. The war went on for 23 years, and was led by Napoleon against the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blucher. This war ended the French's attempts to conquer Europe, and ruined Napoleon's imperial power. 

On September 14, 1812 Napoleon entered Moscow, which was an abandoned russian city, only to find out that it was all burned. This led to the idea that Russia adopted the “scorched earth policy”. Every city that Russia abandoned they burnt down. 

The scorched earth policy is a military strategy that is used to stop the other side from getting useful things. They burn whatever could be useful.