Napoleon

5 Pages 1272 Words

NAPOLEON I; A GREAT LIFE IN BRIEF
By: Albert Guerard


Translated by: Dylan Croslin



FORWARD: A LITTLE ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Albert Leon Guerard was born in Paris and served with the Office of War Information from 1942 to 1945. He became professor emeritus at Stanford in 1946 and since then has taught comparative literature and French civilization at San Diego State College, the University of Hawaii, the New School for Social Research, and Radcliffe. From 1950 to 1953 he was professor of comparative literature at Brandeis University. “Destiny, the coincidence of luck and genius, had served Napoleon marvelously well: in 1802 he was without question first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen”.
ACCORDING TO MR. ALBERT GUERARD:
Napoleon Bounaparte was born on August 15, 1769. He was born to Mme Letizia Buonaparte and Carlo Bounaparte in the city of Corsica, “the isle of Beauty”. His father was a lawyer, but along side of that he was a soldier who helped give Corsica independence. The Bounaparte family was poor, but Carlo received noble rank which entitle his children to receive education at the king’s expense. So Carlo immediately took Napoleon and his brother Joseph to the College of Autun in France. Joseph was said to be tall and handsome while Napoleon was short and gawky. Months later, Napoleon transferred to Brienne, a military academy for young noblemen. At Brienne, Napoleon was not welcomed by the Frenchman because of his size and gawky appearance. After his schooling in Brienne, Napoleon was sent to the navy but was moved to the French army and chose artillery as a major. After examination, he and four others where chosen to attend an elite military school in Paris. After one year he was qualified to graduate at the age of 16.
After his graduation he was ranked 2nd lieutenant in the regiment of La Fere. In 1785, Carlo Bounaparte died of cancer. After his father’...