The Rise of Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, and at an early age was sent by his father to study at the Military School at Brienne in France. By the time he was sixteen he was already commissioned as an officer of artillery. Just four years later General du Teil wrote to the revolutionary leaders in Paris: "Words fail me to describe Bonaparte's merits. He has great knowledge, and as much intelligence and courage: and that is only a faint outline of the qualities of this rare officer." In the years that followed, Napoleon's actions were to make him one of history's greatest heroes, and greatest villains. He gave his name to one of the modern world's most crucial eras of development, and to a dream of government that inspires some statesmen to this day. An heir of the French Revolution, he took over its energies both to consolidate and contradict his aims. His blazing personality changed his own world and still affects ours. By the age of thirty-five, this obscure Corsican, born to parents of little note had, in the presence of the Pope, crowned himself Emperor of the French. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities, and a chronology from Napoleon's birth to the 1804 coronation. 7 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * "What a novel my life would make" the early years * Life Under the Directory * Napoleon Seizes Power * From Consul to Emperor * "My only mistress is power" the man and his letters * Napoleon the Military Genius * Napoleon the Tyrant 11 Primary Source Documents: * The earliest surviving portrait of Napoleon, a sketch drawn in 1785 by a friend at the Military School at Brienne * A note from Napoleon to General Carteaux at the Siege of Toulon, 1793 * A page from the Treaty of Campo Formio that Napoleon negotiated during his successful Italian campaign in 1797 * The Siege of Acre, 1799, a rare battle sketch by Napoleon * The Times, Saturday June 1st, 1799, reporting setbacks for French forces in Europe * The coup d'etat of Brumaire, November 1799, Napoleon's declaration to the people * A stern letter from Napoleon to the French royal family * Napoleon becomes Consul for Life, 1802, a voting list from the Prefecture of the Seine * Napoleon becomes Emperor, a sketch by Louis David for his painting of the coronation of December 2nd, 1804 * Napoleon's plans to defeat Britain, the leaf of a fan depicting the schemes devised for crossing the Channel to invade Britain * The Legion of Honour, a decree bestowing orders on leading artists of Napoleon's Empire