Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in the island of Corsica off the Mediterranean coast of Italy. His parents were Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte who belonged to the noble class but had a little money.
Napoleon was educated in French schools with support from scholarship grants. The first school he attended was a military school at Brienne. In 1784 he was admitted to a military academy in Paris. After passing out he was made a Second Lieutenant in the French artillery at the age of 16. Next he became an officer in the Corsican National Guard and few years later an officer in the French army.
He commanded the French artillery to defeat the British at the French port city Toulon in 1793 and as a reward he was promoted to the rank of a Brigadier General.
Soon after an another great heroic act at Tuileries he was made a Major General.
In 1796 he defeated the Austrians and Sardinians in Italy. In 1798 he invaded Egypt, but was defeated by Lord Nelson, the British General at Aboukir Bay.
In 1799 Napoleon became the Consul of France and his efforts to extend the French power led to the Napoleonic wars.
In 1804 Napoleon took the crown of France from the hands of Pope Pius – VI and placed it on his head crowning himself Emperor.
After the battle of Trafalgar (1805) the British controlled the seas but Napoleon’s grand army secured two victories at Austerlitz and Jena.
In 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia with an army of million soldiers, but about 40,000 soldiers died in the severe Russian winter due to hunger and cold.
In 1813 Napoleon was defeated by the European Coalition at Leipzig. In March 1814 he was captured and exiled to Elba a solitary island.
A year later he escaped and returned to France and rallied an army. After hundred days he was defeated at the battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Then he was exiled to the island St Helena, where he died of a severe stomach disorder on 5th May 1821 at the age of 54.
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