Nobody could imagine that the son of a small Corsican aristocrat could become emperor of the French and master of Europe, but that is what happened. His life was worthy of a novel, as he himself admitted. The Great Corsican is a character as fascinating as it is difficult, in which many Napoleons coexist, sometimes contradictory to each other: the military genius, the liberal politician who consolidated revolutionary reforms, the autocrat who crowned himself and wanted to found a new dynasty. , the pragmatic man and the lover, the statesman full of strength and the man of fragile health…
His figure still arouses controversy. In France, he remains a hero of the Republic and a father of the country for the most conservative sectors. The left, on the other hand, sees him as the bloodthirsty imperialist responsible for at least three million deaths in half of Europe and North Africa.
Surprising as it may seem, this symbol of Gallic nationalism began his dizzying career as a Corsican independence activist. However, due to disagreements with Paoli, the secessionist leader, his family fled Corsica and took refuge in Marseille. From that moment on, Napoleon would become French until he changed his surname from Buonaparte to Bonaparte.
His military career was meteoric: he was promoted to general when he was only 24 years old. His merits were many, but he also benefited from a new social context, because, with the triumph of the revolution of 1789, class barriers lost importance. A new stage opened that facilitated the rise of the upstarts. In this case, ambition was accompanied by a strategic talent that forged the legend of Napoleonic invincibility along with an unmatched nose for propaganda.
Throughout his life, Bonaparte fought against all the main European powers, but with some, such as Austria or Russia, he managed to establish temporary alliances. On the other hand, the fight against England was constant and would end up being won by Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, in the Battle of Waterloo.
His myth would not be complete without his private life. In theory, his marriage to Josefina is part of the history of great romantic couples. The documents, however, show a less idyllic reality than that depicted by painters, writers and filmmakers. We are facing a stormy, even toxic relationship. In our days some of Napoleon’s attitudes would be typical of an abuser. Sometimes he showered her wife with attention and other times he humiliated her in public. Meanwhile, his family did not help to smooth the situation. The Bonapartes hated Josephine altogether.
Regarding his relatives, the emperor was distinguished by his shameless nepotism. All of his brothers, whether they had the aptitude to rule or not, held high positions or sat on thrones. In Spain we remember José Bonaparte, the famous Pepe Botella, who had an absolutely unstable reign, marked by the War of Independence.
Absolutely everything has been written about Napoleon: biographies, novels, war treatises, even operas. Isabel Margarit, director of History and Life, and journalist Ana Echeverría Arístegui recommend, if we want to delve into the topic, the letters between Napoleon and Josefina that Ángeles Caso compiled and translated for the Fórcola publishing house. Furthermore, on the Historiayvida.tv streaming channel it is possible to find numerous documentaries focused on the Gran Corso.
They also don’t forget the premiere of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby. The film takes some historical licenses and presents us with an introverted Napoleon, perhaps somewhat rough, more focused on his military campaigns than on his political reforms, but it does not disappoint at all as a spectacle.
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