From a "The Cultural Experience" email
On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 to parents with Italian ancestry, but the island had been ceded to France by Genoa a year earlier. And so, aged nine the young Napoleon was enrolled at a religious school in Autun on the French mainland before joining the military academy at Brienne-le-Château four months later. Bullied for his Corsican accent and height, he was not perturbed and was admitted to the École Militaire in Paris when he was 15. Napoleon was an excellent mathematician and his route to a commission in the artillery was a simple decision. When the French Revolution erupted in 1789, the Second Lieutenant was on leave on Corsica and it was only when his family clashed with the island’s governor in 1793 that he and his family returned to the mainland. From here, he would go on to rule most of Europe.
On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 to parents with Italian ancestry, but the island had been ceded to France by Genoa a year earlier. And so, aged nine the young Napoleon was enrolled at a religious school in Autun on the French mainland before joining the military academy at Brienne-le-Château four months later. Bullied for his Corsican accent and height, he was not perturbed and was admitted to the École Militaire in Paris when he was 15. Napoleon was an excellent mathematician and his route to a commission in the artillery was a simple decision. When the French Revolution erupted in 1789, the Second Lieutenant was on leave on Corsica and it was only when his family clashed with the island’s governor in 1793 that he and his family returned to the mainland. From here, he would go on to rule most of Europe.
