7 Napoleon I 7first consul (1799 –1804), and emperor of the French
(1804–1814/15). Known as the Little Corporal because of
his short stature, Napoleon revolutionized military orga-
nization and training. He also sponsored the Napoleonic
Code, the prototype of later civil-law codes; reorganized
education; and established the long-lived concordat with
the papacy.
Napoleon was born on Corsica shortly after the island’s
cession to France by the Genoese. He was the fourth, and
second surviving, child of Carlo Buonaparte , a lawyer,
and his wife, Letizia
Ramolino. His father’s
family, of ancient
Tuscan nobility, had
emigrated to Corsica in
the 16th century.
Napoleon attended
the École Militaire in
Paris in 1784– 85. There
he received training as
an artilleryman and as
an offi cer. When his
course was completed
he joined the French
army as a second lieu-
tenant of artillery at
age 16. He fought
during the French
Revolution and was
promoted to brigadier
general in 1793. The
threat of revolt brought
him the command of
the army of the inte-
rior in 1795; he then
The Emperor Napoleon in His
Study at the Tuileries, oil on can-
vas by Jacques-Louis David, 1812;
in the National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. © Photos.com/
Jupiterimages