napoleonBonaparte

The most famous Frenchman in history was born at Ajaccio, Corsica 生于科西嘉 on 15 August, 1769. Consequently Napoleon Bonaparte 拿破仑 was not, in fact French. He was, though, a French subject as a result of the ceding of Corsica to France by the Genoese in 1768. His family was upper-middle class. His father Carlo was a political opportunist who gained acceptance into the French aristocracy.

At the age of 10 Napoleon entered the military academy at Brienne, France. His first few months there were a nightmare with the other children teasing him for his strange name, his foreign accent and his small size. Napoleon coped by concentrating on his studies. In 1784 he won a place at the prestigious Ecole Militaire in Paris. A year later he graduated and was commissioned a second lieutenant 上尉 of artillery炮兵部队. He was garrisoned at Valence. He spent the next six years as a struggling soldier in an isolated outpost.

Napoleon’s regiment was stationed in Auxonne when the Fren