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The Great Leader Article No. 11 - Napoleon Bonaparte
My next great leader is, more traditionally, thought of as a great leader. He is the man the British love to hate… Napoleon 1.
Studying history school meant that I never did learn much about Napoleon except the siege of Moscow and the Battle of Waterloo. With those two events, I could be forgiven for thinking of him as a great loser. Visits to France with school made his history boring.
So with echoes of “not tonight, Josephine” ringing in my ears, I set off to explore his history.
He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte on the island of Corsica only one year after it was handed from Genoese rule to France: this why he changed his name to the more French sounding name of Napoléon Buonaparte, later in life.
His family were minor Italian nobility. His father was Corsica’s representative in the court of Louis XVI in 1778. The main influence in his childhood was his mother. Her influence kept the young Napoleon in check…his nickname meant the meddler or the disrupter.
His noble background gave him the opportunity to study at a French military school near Troyes, which he entered at the age of nine. He had to learn French before started at the school but he always spoke with a strong Italian accent. Upon graduation, he entered the elite École Royale Militaire in Paris. He completed a two year course of study in twelve months.
In September 1786, aged just sixteen, he took his commission as second lieutenant of artillery. He served on garrison duty in Valence and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789. This did include nearly two years leave spent in Corsica and Paris. He and his family were forced to flee to France after another sojourn in Corsica in June 1793.
Over the years Bonaparte’s skills as a tactician ensured his rise through the military ranks. He had an ability to apply his knowledge of conventional military thought to real life situations. He made use of spies to spring surprises on the enemy.
While he was campaigning in Italy, Bonaparte became interested in French politics. He gained influence through the two newspapers he published for his troops. He published a third newspaper, le journal de Bonaparte et des hommes verteux. The elections in 1797 resulted in more power for the Royalists. The Royalists attacked Bonaparte for looting Italy and overstepping the mark in his dealings with the Austrians.
Bonaparte joined a coup d’etat, which purged the royalists in Paris. Leaving the republicans in firm control, he proceeded with peace negotiations with the Austrians. When he returned to Paris himself he was greeted as a hero and a dominant force in the government.
During the next eighteen months, Bonaparte proposed and undertook a military expedition to seize Egypt and a province of the Ottoman Empire to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain’s access to India.
His expedition was mostly successful but extremely brutal. With an army weakened by plague and poor supplies, he led 13,000 French soldiers to victory over the coastal towns of El Arish, Gaza, Jaffa and Haifa. In Jaffa, French soldiers slaughtered 2,000 Turkish troops as they tried to surrender. The French spent the next three days slaughtering the inhabitants of the city. Then Bonaparte ordered the execution of a further 3,000 Turkish prisoners.
The weakness of his army, caused by the plague, prevented Bonaparte from taking the fortress of Acre. He returned to Egypt. In order to speed his retreat, he ordered the killing of prisoners and plague stricken soldiers en route.
I found it interesting to learn that it was during Bonaparte’s expedition, the Rosetta Stone was discovered. It is this stone with its use of three scripts, Egyptian, Greek and hieroglyphs, that gave the modern world the opportunity to decipher the hieroglyphics discovered in the remains of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation.
It was also during his time in Egypt that Bonaparte, fell foul of the great British leader, Admiral Nelson. Details of this encounter can be found in our first great leader article about Nelson.
On his return from Egypt, Bonaparte discovered that the Republic was bankrupt. He supported a coup to overthrow the constitution. He manoeuvred his way to being made First Consul In charge of France and later was declared First Consul for life!
Later that year, Bonaparte sent an army to reconquer Haiti. Yellow fever and fierce resistance from the supporters of Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines destroyed their base. It became apparent that the French possessions on the mainland could not be defended, and, knowing that he was facing a war with Britain, Bonaparte sold the French interest to the United States for less than three cents an acre……the Louisiana Purchase!
In 1803, Britain declared war on France. After discovering an assassination plot against him, sponsored by the Bourbons, Bonaparte ordered the execution of the Duc d’Enghein, declaring himself Emperor of France to prevent the recreation of an hereditary monarchy. He was crowned on 2 December 1804 in Notre Dame Cathedral. On 26 May 1805, he had himself crowned King of Italy in Milan’s Cathedral.
History shows the rest of his story with his desire to make France great and in doing so create positions for all his family. There are famous and infamous expeditions, battles and sieges, which we all learnt at school.
After all of this, Napoleon Bonaparte ended facing the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht at Waterloo in present day Belgium on 18 June 1815. His defeat, led to his imprisonment and exile by the British to the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. He was ill for much of his exile, although he was able to dictate his memoirs.
He died 5 May 1821.
I have cut an extremely long story very short on purpose. The reasons for including Napoleon Bonaparte as a great leader are not just his abilities as a great military general and tactician but a little story I read about him during the early years of his career in Paris. Bonaparte was known for his wanderings amongst the lowly soldiers on watch late at night. He knew most of them by name and they were relaxed with him. He gave them his support and shared the watch with them. By doing this he inspired his men and gained their respect and loyalty.
This kind of loyalty dragged soldiers across Europe and into Africa. It gave him many of his victories. It made him a great leader.
Sources: Wikipaedia
Story By: Anne Walker
Date : 23-04-2007
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