Napoleon Bonaparte: Leaders who changed history #1

Napoleon Bonaparte is a man who changed the fate of Europe and managed to make his name unforgettable wherever he went, from gang wars to pitched battles in the African deserts. Bonaparte was born in 1769 on the island of Corsica in the south of France. After a childhood disciplined by his mother, he enrolled in military school in France. A successful student, Bonaparte soon graduated and took office as First Lieutenant. Meanwhile, France had lost seven years of uninterrupted war with England and was in an economic depression. The resources available in the country were gradually consumed by the nobles and the clergy; in short, the people were starving. The situation was so bad that people were in a position to eat the rats. As a result of this and the great struggle of the people organised in 1789, the French Revolution broke out. The republic was established with a popular uprising. After the revolution, the country was at war with almost all of Europe. But this complex environment would give Napoleon a chance to prove himself. Despite his missing troops, he had recaptured the city of Toulon, which was occupied by the British and Spanish, thanks to his successful strategies and leadership. As a result of this war, Napoleon was declared a 23-year-old Brigadier General by the new administration.

However, the country was still experiencing a period called "the Reign of Terror." For this reason, a change of government retook place. Due to Napoleon's good relations with the previous government, he was dismissed and imprisoned. Good news came to Napoleon, who was having a hard time in the dungeon, and the French government decided to give him a new task. In the same country, the royalists also started to revolt, and bloody Gang Wars took place in every street of Paris. Napoleon, who was tasked with stopping the rebellion, ended all the events in one day by killing the rebels with cannons he had hidden inside and above the buildings in Paris. As a result of this massacre, he received the rank of Major General. However, he went on a campaign to Italy to stop the armies of England, Austria, Prussia, and the Kingdom of Piedmont, which were set up against France at this time. He defeated the enemy armies by making his insufficient army to fight in a short time. During the Italian campaign, in which he defeated the most powerful countries of the period, he won 18 Pitched Battles. He was now a recognised commander all over Europe. Upon returning to Paris in 1797, Napoleon was given the task of invading England. Napoleon did not like this idea and thought that the way to invade England was to dominate the seas. England's supply hub decided that conquering Egypt would weaken them.

For this reason, he went on an Egypt expedition and was successful. But then he heard the bad news that the people of Egypt started various rebellions with the organisation of the British. Napoleon suppressed these uprisings without leaving anyone alive and turned his direction further east to Palestine. His goal was to capture all the lands up to India, and on March 19, 1799, he reached the Acre Fortress, but an unexpected event occurred here. The Turkish pasha Cezzar Ahmet Pasha, 90 years old, defended the fortress against him. For the first time, Napoleon failed in a siege of his own. Napoleon, who returned to Egypt to prepare for a new expedition, received another bad news. The French generals in Europe were defeated by the coalition armies led by the British. Therefore, he was urgently summoned to France. When Napoleon returned to France, he became a partner in the successful coup attempt against the government. Thus, Napoleon, who made his leadership accepted, entered into reform efforts in the economy and legal field. He founded the Bank of France and opened public schools, turning education into public service. In May 1804, using a conspiracy by the Royalists as an excuse, Napoleon did what he had in mind and proclaimed himself emperor. The coronation ceremony was held in style seen for the first time in history; Napoleon summoned the Pope instead of going to the presence. After the coronation, the French Empire was established, but the backlash against Napoleon was significant as he restored the monarchy. Many diplomats, bureaucrats, soldiers, and even her own mother reacted to him. However, he started to show his influence in Paris, had many new buildings built and was in an effort to increase his response in the public.

At the same time, a great alliance was formed under the leadership of England against the rising power of Napoleon, and almost all of Europe was in this alliance. Napoleon left all the countries that joined the coalition out of the war with countless defeats. It was thought that the emperor, who had conquered almost all of Europe, could no longer be stopped.

However, this rapid growth soon began to cause problems. He had appointed his relatives as Kings in many European countries, which caused riots in those countries. Thereupon, Napoleon made the most wrong decision of his life, as Russia did not comply with the agreement they had made. He marched to Moscow with his army of 800,000 men and defeated the Russian troops in numerous battles. He went as far as Moscow, but no one was there. The city was burned, and the Russians retreated to Siberia. After a while, they had to return, but Napoleon lost three of four of his army during this journey. Taking advantage of this, the coalition armies marched on France, and Napoleon left the throne and was exiled to the island of Elba by the British. The great leader was now an ordinary man in exile, but nine months later, he managed to escape from exile with his close associates. Afterward, all the troops he encountered until Napoleon went to Paris joined him, and Napoleon, who had a life at the head, began to be rubbed. This situation has passed into the political literature as the Napoleonic fluctuation. Capturing the throne for the second time, Napoleon immediately gathered an army and aimed to enter the period of re-conquest. However, the European alliance forces were now potent. Therefore, Napoleon, who suffered a great defeat, had to say goodbye to his throne a second time when he returned to Paris. Realizing that he would be exiled or killed again, Napoleon wanted to flee to America. He was captured by the British and driven to the Atlantic Island of Saint Helena. Napoleon, who spent his last years on this small island, died of stomach cancer on May 5, 1821, at 51.

This extraordinary man changed history as a man who won nearly a hundred pitched battles and tried to defeat for years all of Europe united. Napoleon, the man who changed world politics and military terminology, died as one of the 10 greatest military geniuses who ever lived.