68 The Transition to Dictatorship
23.1: The Transition to Dictatorship
23.1.1: Napoleon’s Upbringing
Napoleon came from a noble and moderately affluent Corsican family, which afforded him opportunities to gain quality education and marked his youth with commitment to Corsican nationalism.
Learning Objective
Summarize Napoleon’s childhood and the effects it had on him
Key Points
- Napoleon was born in 1769 to Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino, in his family’s ancestral home Casa Buonaparte in Ajaccio, the capital of the island of Corsica. This was a year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa. The Corsican origins and Corsica’s history would play a very important role in Napoleon’s upbringing and shape his first political fascinations and activism. His first language was Corsican and he always spoke French with a marked Corsican accent.
- Napoleon’s father Nobile Carlo Buonaparte, an attorney, was named Corsica’s representative to the court of Louis XVI in 1777. The dominant influence of Napoleon’s childhood was his mother, Letizia Ramolino, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child. Napoleon was piously raised as a Catholic but never developed much faith.
- Napoleon’s noble, moderately affluent background afforded him greater opportunities to study than available to a typical Corsican of the time. In 1779, he was enrolled at a religious school in Autun but the same year, he was admitted to a military academy at Brienne-le-Château.On completion of his studies at Brienne in 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the elite École Militaire in Paris.
- Upon graduating in 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a second lieutenant in La Fère artillery regiment. He served in Valence and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, and took nearly two years’ leave in Corsica and Paris during this period. At this time, he was a fervent Corsican nationalist.
- He returned to Corsica and came into conflict with Paoli, who had decided to split with France and sabotage the French assault on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena. Bonaparte and his family fled to the French mainland in 1793 because of the split with Paoli.
- Historians emphasize the strength of the ambition that took Napoleon from an obscure village in Corsica to command of most of Europe. He was famously not very tall and thus not a physically imposing man, but his personality was described as “hypnotic.” Napoleon maintained strict, efficient work habits, prioritizing what needed to be done.
Key Terms
- deist
- An advocate of a theological/philosophical position that combines the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge with the conclusion that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a single creator of the universe.
- Corsica
- An island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia. After being ruled by the Republic of Genoa since 1284, it was briefly independent from 1755 until it was conquered by France in 1769. Due to its historical ties with the Italian peninsula, the island retains many elements of Italian culture.
Napoleon’s Family and Corsican Roots
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815.
Napoleon was born in 1769 to Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino, in his family’s ancestral home Casa Buonaparte in Ajaccio, the capital of the island of Corsica. He was their fourth child and third son. This was a year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa. The Corsican origins and Corsica’s history would play a very important role in Napoleon’s upbringing and shape his first political fascinations and activism. His first language was Corsican and he always spoke French with a marked Corsican accent.
Carlo was a Corsican lawyer and politician who briefly served as a personal assistant of the revolutionary leader Pasquale Paoli and eventually rose to become Corsica’s representative to the court of Louis XVI. After his death, while Napoleon became Emperor of the French, several of his other children received royal titles from their brother.
The Corsican Buonapartes descended from minor Italian nobility of Tuscan origin who had come to Corsica from Liguria in the 16th century. Napoleon’s father Nobile Carlo Buonaparte was an attorney and was named Corsica’s representative to the court of Louis XVI in 1777. The dominant influence of Napoleon’s childhood was his mother, Letizia Ramolino, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child. He had an elder brother, Joseph, and six younger siblings; two other siblings who died in infancy were born before Joseph. Napoleon was baptized as a Catholic. He was christened Napoleone di Buonaparte and adopted the more French-sounding Napoléon Bonaparte in his 20s. He was piously raised as a Catholic but never developed much faith. As an adult, Napoleon was a deist and his deity was an absent and distant God. However, he had a keen appreciation of the power of organized religion in social and political affairs and paid a great deal of attention to bending it to his purposes. He later noted the influence of Catholicism’s rituals and splendors in his life.
Letizia was reportedly a harsh mother and down-to-earth woman. When most European mothers bathed children perhaps once a month, she had her children bathed every other day. Letizia spoke Italian and Corsican and never learned French. When she was 35, her husband died of cancer. She was decreed “Madam, the Mother of His Imperial Majesty The Emperor” (Madame Mère de l’Empereur), Imperial Highness in 1804 or 1805.
Childhood and Early Years
Napoleon’s noble, moderately affluent background afforded him greater opportunities to study than available to a typical Corsican of the time. In 1779, he was enrolled at a religious school in Autun but the same year, he was admitted to a military academy at Brienne-le-Château. Because of his Corsican origin, he was teased by other students for his accent, which inspired him to apply himself to reading. An examiner observed that Napoleon “has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics. He is fairly well acquainted with history and geography… This boy would make an excellent sailor.”
On completion of his studies at Brienne in 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the elite École Militaire in Paris. He trained to become an artillery officer and completed the two-year course in one year when his father’s death reduced his income. He was the first Corsican to graduate from the École Militaire.
Upon graduating in 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a second lieutenant in La Fère artillery regiment. He served in Valence and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, and took nearly two years’ leave in Corsica and Paris during this period. At this time, he was a fervent Corsican nationalist and wrote to Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli in 1789, “As the nation was perishing I was born. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited on to our shores, drowning the throne of liberty in waves of blood. Such was the odious sight which was the first to strike me.” He spent the early years of the Revolution in Corsica, fighting in a complex three-way struggle among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He was a supporter of the republican Jacobin movement, organizing clubs in Corsica, and was given command over a battalion of volunteers. He was promoted to captain in the regular army in July 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and leading a riot against a French army in Corsica.
He returned to Corsica and came into conflict with Paoli, who decided to split with France and sabotage the French assault on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena. Bonaparte and his family fled to the French mainland in 1793 because of the split with Paoli.
Personality
Historians emphasize the strength of the ambition that took Napoleon from an obscure village in Corsica to command of most of Europe. He was famously not very tall and thus not a physically imposing man, but his personality was described as “hypnotic.” Napoleon maintained strict, efficient work habits, prioritizing what needed to be done. He had to win at everything he attempted. He kept relays of staff and secretaries at work. Unlike many generals, Napoleon did not examine history to see what great leaders might have done in a similar situation. Historians also note that while he understood military technology, he was not an innovator in that regard and some of his victories heightened his sense of self-grandiosity and left him certain of his destiny and invincibility. In terms of influence on events, it was more than Napoleon’s personality that took effect. He reorganized France to supply the men and money needed for wars and was reportedly an incredibly inspiring leader on the battlefield.
Attributions
- Napoleon’s Upbringing
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“Robert_Lefèvre_001.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Lef%C3%A8vre_001.jpg. Wikimedia Commons Public domain.
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“Carlo_Buonaparte.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlo_Buonaparte.jpg. Wikimedia Commons Public domain.
