Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was born in the town of Ajaccio, on the island of Corsica, France, on August 15th, 1769. On May 15th, 1779, at nine years old, Napoleon was applied to a French military school at Brienne-le-Château, a small town near Troyes. Napoleon and his family had it made well on their home island. His father, Carlo Buonaparte, was an attorney, his mother, Letizia Ramolino, was lucky enough not to have to work, so she was there for Napoleon during most of his childhood. They were able to pay for the best schooling for Napoleon and because of it he was a brilliant man. He had to learn French before entering the school, but he spoke with an Italian accent throughout his life and never learned to spell properly. At graduation from Brienne in 1784, Bonaparte was admitted to the elite École Royale Militaire in Paris, where he completed the two-year course of study in only one year. Although he had sought a naval career, he studied artillery at the École Militaire. Upon graduation in September 1785, he was promoted as a second lieutenant of artillery on January 1786, at the age of 16.

Napoleon was appointed as artillery commander in the French forces, which had risen in revolt against the republican government and was occupied by British troops. He made a successful plan: he placed guns at Point 'Eguillete, threatening the British ships in the harbor, forcing them to retreat. A successful assault, but Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh during it, led to the capture of the city again and a promotion to brigadier-general for Napoleon. His remarkable wins were a result of his ability to apply his knowledge of military thought to real-world situations, as demonstrated by his creative use of artillery tactics, using it as a mobile force to support his infantry. Napoleon often said: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning."

In March 1798, Bonaparte proposed a military seize of Egypt, then a province of the Ottoman Empire, seeking to protect French trade routes. After landing on the coast of Egypt, he fought the Battle of the Pyramids against the Mamelukes, a power in the Middle East, four miles from the pyramids. Bonaparte's forces were greatly outnumbered by the Mamelukes cavalry, 20,000 to 60,000, but Bonaparte formed hollow squares, keeping cannons and supplies safely on the inside.