Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsican and Republican, General and Emperor, came from relatively humble beginnings to reshape France and shake the world. Most people remember Napoleon as the dictator who ruled France with an iron hand, who made an ill-fated invasion of Russia and who lost the Battle of Waterloo effectively ending his reign. The circumstances surrounding his rise to the Consulate and eventually Emperor of the French is less known. Eric Hobsbawn said in his book Age of Revolution 1789-1848 that
This paper examines the factors that explain the rise and downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte I in France. His goal was to conquer all of Europe and throughout his life he nearly succeeded. He rose through the confusion of the French revolution to become Emperor of the French. Napoleon had once said, “I am the Revolution,” and he never ceased to remind the French that they owed to him the preservation of all that was beneficial in the revolutionary program. (Spielvogel, 2007) Life of Napoleon Bonaparte