References: Vetch, Robert Hamilton, “Napier, Sir Charles
James,” in The Dictionary of National Biography, 22 vols.,
8 supps., edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney
Lee, et al. (London: Oxford University Press, 1921–22),
XIV:45–54; Bruce, William Napier, Life of General Sir
Charles Napier (London: John Murray, 1885); Lawrence,
Rosamond, Lady Lawrence, Charles Napier: Friend and
Fighter, 1782–1853 (London: John Murray, 1952); Lam-
brick, H. T., Sir Charles Napier and Sind (Oxford, U.K.:
Clarendon Press, 1952); Outram, General Sir James, The
Conquest of Scinde: A Commentary (Edinburgh, Scotland:
Blackwoods, 1846); Napier, General Edward Delaval
Hungerford Elers, Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir
Charles Napier, K.C.B. from Personal Recollections, Letters,
and Official Documents, 2 vols. (London: Hurst and Black-
ett, 1862); Butler, Colonel Sir William, Sir Charles Napier
(London: Macmillan and Company, 1890), 214–215.
Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoléon I, Napoleon
Buonoparte) (1769–1821) French emperor
Ironically, Napoleon Bonaparte was not of French par-
entage: He was born on 15 August 1769 in Ajaccio,
Corsica, an island off the southern French coast, into
a family whose real name was Buonoparte (the spelling
was changed about 1796). His father was Carlo Maria
Buonoparte, a moderately wealthy attorney; his mother
was named Letizia Ramolino. Napoleon was one of
seven children, all of whom would come to dominate
Europe. He started his military training early, entering
the military academy at Brienne in 1779. He then went
into the École Militaire in Paris, graduating in 1785.
When he was 16, he was given a commission as a second
lieutenant in the French army, and in 1789, when the
French Revolution exploded, he became a Jacobin—a
member of the opposition to King Louis XVI of France.
His command of artillery at the siege of the British gar-
rison at Toulon (1793) gave him credibility among the
leaders of the French army, and he was subsequently
promoted to brigadier general.
On 5 October 1795, Napoleon swiftly put down
a rebellion by proroyalist forces in Paris by clearing the
streets with what has been dubbed the “whiff of grape-
shot,” killing over 100 demonstrators. This action is
known as 13 Vendémiaire, the date in the new calendar
instituted by the French radicals who had overthrown
the king. Napoleon’s act in defense of the revolution led
to his promotion to commander of Army of the Interior;
the next year, he was named commander of the French
army of Italy. As he later wrote during his in exile on St.
Helena, “Centuries will pass before the unique combina-
tion of events which led to my career recur in the case
of another.”
In March 1796, Napoleon moved toward the Ital-
ian frontier with a ragtag army of 30,000 men who were
ill prepared for war and had few supplies. He said to
them, “You are badly fed and all but naked.... I am
about to lead you into the most fertile plains in the
world. Before you are great cities and rich provinces;nApoleon bonApARte Napoleon Bonaparte