Napoleon Bonaparte

Quotes attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

• Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
• I die before my time and my body shall be given back to the earth and devoured by worms. What an abysmal gulf between my deep miseries and the eternal Kingdom of Christ. I marvel that whereas the ambitious dreams of myself and of Alexander and of Caesar should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant-Jesus-should be able to stretch his hands across the centuries, and control the destinies of men and nations.
• Let the path be open to talent.
• One can stop when he ascends, but not when he descends.
• Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined.
• What, sir, you would make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense. (to Robert Fulton)
• When one seeks the cause of the successes of great generals, one is astonished to find that they did everything necessary to insure them.
• With audacity, one should undertake anything, but one can not accomplish everything.
• England is a nation of shopkeepers.
• Impossible is not French.
• Victory belongs to the most persevering.
• When China awakes, the world will tremble.

Quotes harvested from alt.quotations

A little bit about Napoleon's family relations:

Parents

Napoleon's father was Carlo Buonaparte (alternative spelling)
(1746-1785), a minor Corsican nobleman and practicing lawyer. His mother
was Letizia (or Laetitia) Ramolino Bonaparte (c. 1750-1836).

Siblings

• Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844) - minister and diplomat. Was left out of succession when Napoleon was crowned, but was king of Naples from 1806 to 1808 and king of Spain from 1808 to 1813.
• Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840) - president of the Council of Five Hundred and supported Napoleon during the coup in 1799. Prince of Canino.
• Elisa Bonaparte (1777-1820) - competent administrator and admired for her intelligence. Was made princess of Piombino and Lucca as well as grand duchess of Tuscany by her brother Napoleon.
• Louis Bonaparte (1778-1846) - king of Holland from 1806 to 1810. Married Hortense de Beuharnais and was the father of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon III).
• Pauline Bonaparte (1780-1825) - apparently a very beautiful woman and also Napoleon's favourite sister. Was married to a General Leclerc, and after his death Camillo Borghese. Was made princess of Guastalla in 1806.
• Caroline Bonaparte (1782-1839) - married General Murat in 1800 and was made duchess of Cleves and Berg and later also queen of Naples.
• Jérôme Bonaparte (1784-1860) - served in the navy and met Elizabeth Patterson on a visit in the US. He married her against Napoleon's will in 1803, but his brother convinced him to instead marry Catherine of Württemberg in 1807. He was king of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813, and during the reign of Napoleon III bore the title Prince Jérôme. His son Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (1822-1891) was commonly called Prince Napoleon and became a pretender to the throne when the only son of Napoleon III died.

Family

Napoleon's first marriage, to Marie Josephe Rose (empress Josephine), only lasted until 1809, when it became apparent that she was unable to produce an heir to the throne.
In 1810, Napoleon married Marie Louise (1791-1847, the daughter
of the the
Austrian emperor Francis I. They had a son, Francois
Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1811-1832), who was later to be known
as Napoleon II, even though he never ruled as emperor.

In my mind Napoleon is the greatest military leader of modern times. So I have composed a short biography of his life.

1769
15 August, Napoleon born at Ajacco, Corsica, the second son of Carlo and Letizia Bounaparte.

1779
April, Napoleon enters the Military Academy at Brienne.

1784
October, Napoleon transfers to the Ecole Militaire in Paris.

1785
September, Napoleon graduates from the Ecole Militaire. He is commissioned second lieutenant of artillery and is garrisoned at Valence.

1790
Napoleon returns to Corsica to help consolidate French rule.

1792
Napoleon rejoins his regiment in France
10 August, Napoleon witnesses the second storming of the Tuileries in Paris.

1793
September, Napoleon commands the artillery at the siege of Toulon, his first military victory. He is promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General.

1795
October, Napoleon supports Barras in the suppression of the royalist uprising in Paris.

1796
March, Napoleon marries Josephine de Beauharais. He is given command of the French Army in Italy.

May, French victories at Matenotte, Dego, Millesimo, Mondovi and Lodi. Napoleon takes Milan.

August, French victory at Castiglione.

October, French Victory at Arcola.

1797
February, Napoleon takes control of Mantua.

April, Napoleon negotiates armistice with Austria.

May, Napoleon returns to Paris a National hero.

1798
May, Napoleon sets sail for Egypt.

June, French occupy Malta

July, Battle of the Nile, French gain control of the Nile Delta.

August, Napoleon's fleet destroyed by Nelson at Aboukir Bay.

1799
February, French defeated at the Battle of Acre. Napoleon retreats to Egypt.

July, French victory over the Turks at Aboukir.

August, Napoleon leaves for France.

November, coup d'etat of Brumiere. The directory of France is abolished and replaced by a senate. Napoleon is elected First Consul and de facto ruler of France.

1800
Napoleon reforms local and National government, education and legislature.

1801
July Concordat with the Pope.

1802
August, Napoleon confirmed by plebiscite as consul for life.

1803
May, outbreak of war between France and Britain.

December, the Grande Armee assembled at Boulogne in readiness to invade Britain.

1804
May, the senate proclaims Napoleon 'Emperor of the French'.

December, Napoleon's coronation at Notre Dame.
Spain forms an alliance with France and declares war on Britain.

1805
August, Napoleon invades Germany.

October, French victory at Ulm, defeat at Trafalgar.

November, French victory at Austerlitz. Napoleon crowned king of Italy. Joseph Bonaparte made king of Naples. Louis Bonaparte becomes king of Holland.

1806
July, creation of the Confederation of the Rhine.

September, Prussia declares war on France.

October, French victories over Prussians at Jena and Auerstadt.

November, introduction of the Continental System.

1807
June, French victory over the Russians at the battle of Friedland.

July, creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

November, Lisbon occupied by French forces.

1808
May, Charles IV cedes his rights in Spain to Napoleon.

July, Joseph Bonaparte assumes the throne of Spain to consolidate his brother's sovereignty.

1809
Britain allies itself with Austria in the war against France

December, Napoleon divorces Josephine.

1810
April, Napoleon marries Marie-Louise.

July, Holland annexed to France.

November, northern Germany annexed to France.

December, Russian renounces the Continental System.

1811
March, Marie-Louise bears Napoleon a son, titled the King of Rome.

1812
June, French cross the Neimen and start the Russian Campaign.
French Defeat in Spain.

September, Battle of Borodine. Napoleon enters Moscow.

10 November, survivors of the Grande Armee re-cross the Neimen.

18 December, Napoleon reaches Paris.

1813
February, the Prussians enter an alliance with Russia against France.

May, French victories at Lutzen and Bautzen.

October, Napoleon defeated at Leizig in the 'Battle of the Nations'.

December, allied invasion of France.

1814
March, Paris falls to the allies.

April, Napoleon abdicates.

May, Napoleon exiled to the island of Elba.

1815
March, Napoleon returns to France. The beginning of 'The Hundred Days'.

April, Napoleon establishes a new government in Paris.

June, victory at Ligny and defeat at Waterloo.

Napoleon's second abdication.

October, Napoleon arrives in St Helena

1821
5 May, Napoleon dies.

Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821 at 17:49, in Sainte-Hélène island. Next day, Antommarchi -the personal Napoleon's doctor- performed the necropsy in presence of several British military surgeons. It was diagnosed, as cause of his death, gastric cancer. One of the doctors noticed his liver was swollen, but such a circumstance was ordered to be kept under secret: a possible hepatitis, being endemic in that island, might be confered to negligence of those who had confined Bonaparte to Sainte-Hélène.

(In 1995, the FBI Chemical and Toxicologic Department published a report in relation with "the extremely high amount of arsenic trioxide -a hepatotoxic agent -in Napoleon's hair samples").

It has been said that no organs were removed from the corpse, but this does not seem to be true. While Dr. Antommarchi was examining that body, Vignali -a Corsican chaplain to whom Napoleon had insulted telling "he was impotent" -asked him to cut the male organ. The doctor did it, and the penis was kept for many years by Vignali family.

(In 1999 such an organ was sold in a Christie's auction. John Lattimer, an US urologist, became the new owner, having paid $4,000 for it. In accordance with his observations, the penis size was 4.1 cm, and "could" have increased to a maximum of 6.6 cm in lenght when excited).

The amorous live of Napoleon was fraught of infidelities. The greatest infidel woman was his first and most loved spouse, Marie Joséphe Rose de Beauharnais, who lived in shameless adultery nearly to her death. Desirée Clary, Pauline Fourès, Leonor Dernelle de la Plaigne, and Marie Louise of Austria, his second wife when divorced from Joséphine, are another examples of unfaithfulness and lack of perseverance.

(In 1806 Bonaparte decreed a continental blockade against the Great Britain. To press the Tzar Alexander, who was contrary to such a measure, Napoleon invaded Poland, where he met Maria, the young spouse of Count Walewski. Regarding the case of this woman, she seemed to possess the highest degree of fidelity when compared with the other Napoleon's lovers). The Polish historiography, however, insists on the fact that she sacrificed herself by love...to her country, hopefully waiting for an independence declaration from Napoleon.

According to the above mentioned anatomical features, it would be reasonable to consider that the lack of Napoleon's attractiveness for women could be secondary not only to his intricate personality.