Napoleon Bonaparte
was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
Through his military exploits and his ruthless efficiency, Napoleon rose from
obscurity to become Napoleon I, Empereur des Francais (Emperor of the French).
He is both a historical figure and a legend—and it is sometimes difficult
to separate the two. The events of his life fired the imaginations of great writers,
film makers, and playwrights whose works have done much to create the Napoleonic
legend. Napoleon decided on a military career when he was a child, winning
a scholarship to a French military academy. His meteoric rise shocked not only
France but all of Europe, and his military conquests threatened the stability
of the world. Napoleon was one of the greatest military commanders in history.
He has also been portrayed as a power hungry conqueror. Napoleon denied being
such a conqueror. He argued that he was building a federation of free peoples
in a Europe united under a liberal government. But if this was his goal, he intended
to achieve it by taking power in his own hands. However, in the states he created,
Napoleon granted constitutions, introduced law codes, abolished feudalism, created
efficient governments and fostered education, science, literature and the arts. Emperor
Napoleon proved to be an excellent civil administrator. One of his greatest achievements
was his supervision of the revision and collection of French law into codes. The
new law codes—seven in number—incorporated some of the freedoms gained
by the people of France during the French revolution, including religious toleration
and the abolition of serfdom. The most famous of the codes, the Code Napoleon
or Code Civil, still forms the basis of French civil law. Napoleon also centralized
France's government by appointing prefects to administer regions called departments,
into which France was divided. Napoleon's own opinion of his career is best
stated in the following quotation:
"I closed the gulf of anarchy
and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth,
wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless
of religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime
because the alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution." The
widespread notion of Napoleon's shortness lies in the inaccurate translation of
old French feet ("pieds de roi") to English. The French measure of five
foot two (5' 2"), recorded at his autopsy, actually translates into five
feet six and one half inches (5' 6.5") in English measure, which was about
the average height of the Frenchman of his day. It is also probable that the men
of his Imperial Guard, with whom he "hung out," were very tall, creating
the illusion that Napoleon was short. |
