Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Corsica Island. He was the greatest hero of France. His family had moved there from Italy in the 16th century. His original name was Napoleone and his original nationality was Corsican-Italian.

His father was a lawyer, and was anti-French. One reason Napoleon may have been such a great leader and revolutionary, that he was raised in a family of radicals. When Napoleon was nine, his father sent him to Brienne, a French military government school in Paris. It was there that he received his military training. He studied to be an artilleryman and an of f i-cero He finished his training and joined the French army when he was just 16.

Napoleon was assigned to work in Paris in 1792. After the French monarchy was overthrown in August 1792, he was promoted to captain.

In 1793, he was chosen to direct the artillery against the siege in Toulon. Very soon after Toulon fell and Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general. He was made commander of the French army in Italy and defeated many Austrian Generals. Soon after this Austria and France made peace and Napoleon was released from his command, he was suspected of treason. In 1795, he broke up a revolt and saved the French government. He had earned back respect and* he was once again given command of the French Army in Italy. He came up with a plan that worked very well. «He would cut the enemy's army in to two parts, then attack one side of them before the other side could help them».

After this, Napoleon was almost impossible to stop. He made an unsuccessful attempt to invade Egypt and in 1799 he returned to France to find the Directory (the French Government) in a mess. He overthrew the Directory, and created a new government, in which there were three consuls and he was the most important one. At this time, everyone in France loved and admired Napoleon; his power increased. In 1802 France signed a peace treaty with England and Germany.

He re-established the University of France, reformed the education system, and founded the Bank of France. He also made the Napoleonic Code: the first clear, compact statement of the French law. The Napoleonic Code has served as a base for legal systems around the world until this day.

Soon he changed the government again and declared himself the Emperor of France. He married Marie Louise, the daughter of the Emperor of Austria. Soon his son was born. He now was the ruler of a Great Empire, and he had 42 million people under his control.

Then he tried to invade Russia, after that his empire began to crumble.

And on April 6,1814, he was forced from the throne and was exiled to the island of Elba. About a year later, he gathered about 1,000 soldiers and went to Paris and regained power. He ruled for a short time and then he surrendered to the English.

He was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic, where he stayed until he died on May 5, 1821. He is supposed to die of cancer, but there are rumours that he was poisoned.