| NAPOLEON BONAPARTE EMPEROR
of FRANCE 1769 - 1821 One of the most brilliant individuals in history, Napoleon Bonaparte was a masterful soldier, an unequalled grand tactician and a superb administrator. He was also utterly ruthless, a dictator and, Later in his career, thought he could do no wrong. Not a Frenchman by birth, Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio on Corsica - only just sold to France by the Italian state of Genoa - on 15 August 1769 and learnt French at the school of Autum and later the military academy at Brienne. He never fully mastered French and his spelling left a lot to be desired. Napoleon 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 |
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peoples in 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 constitutions,
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 Codes Napoleon or codes Civil, still
forms the basis of French civil law. During the 19th century a flood
of memorabilia was produced all over Europe which is highly collectable
today.
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