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Napoleon Bonaparte

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Emperor of the French

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoléon Bonaparte (French)
Napulione Buonaparte (Corsican)
Napoleon.jpg
Born
Napoleone Buonaparte

15 August 1769
Ajaccio, Corsica, Kingdom of France
Died5 May 1821
Longwood, Saint Helena, British Empire
Cause of deathStomach cancer
Known for
Field of studyMilitary tactics and French politics


Napoleon Bonaparte (né Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 May 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, France – 5 May 1821 in Longwood, Saint Helena, British Empire), also known as Napoleon I or simply Napoleon, was a French military general, leader, and monarch. He was born on the island of Corsica, raising up the ranks of the French Armed Forces. He participated in the French Revolution, later leading the Coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799, establishing himself as a dictator under the title "First Consul of the French Republic". He finally proclaimed himself Emperor of the French in 1804, establishing the French Empire. Napoleon successfully invaded and conquered many of the feudalist powers in Europe, nearly bringing the system to its knees and exporting the bourgeois revolution everywhere he went.[1][2]

The Marxist understanding of Napoleon is divided as some see him as a progressive who brought feudalism to its knees, whilst others say he betrayed the French Revolution by making himself a dictator and later monarch.[3][4] On top of this, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels never wrote on Napoleon, although the former did write about his nephew Louis Napoleon[5] (who himself became Emperor of the French as well). Despite being a progressive force against feudalism, he attempted to recolonise Haiti after the Haitian Revolution.[6]

The Bolsheviks considered Napoleon to be a great revolutionary, stating that "During the Soviet period, the Bolsheviks glorified Napoleon as a revolutionary akin to Lenin, and while that image of him changed after the Soviet collapse, his popularity in some circles remained."[7]

See also

References