10 Fun Facts About Napoleon

Throughout World History, some leaders have been famous and are still remembered for their awesome feats. Some of these leaders are admired for applying justice in an efficient way and creating interesting sets of laws; others, for their amazing battle strategies; some others, for their popularity within the different social classes. There are some leaders whose name still make us tremble, because of their cruelty towards their people or enemies. But only a few leaders are remembered for all of these reasons at the same time. One of them is Napoleon Bonaparte.

          Napoleon was a great French leader who rose from middle class to being Emperor of France by winning lots of battles after the French Revolution. He became a hero and lived long enough to see himself become the villain. But as every great person he has a background. This is what this post is about: fun or unknown facts about Napoleon. If you want to learn more about him, you can watch this video:

Ten Fun Facts About Napoleon

1.   When Napoleon was a small kid, he totally despised France and its people; even though, he   later made a military career serving in the French Army, and after some time he even became Emperor of France.

2.   Napoleon could have been a Genovese General instead of a French one had he been born a year before. At the time of his birth, Corsica had only been French for a year, having belonged to the Republic of Genoa before.

3.   Napoleon had many lovers in his youth. One of them, Desiree Bernadotte became Queen of Sweden years later.

Desiree Bernadotte, Napoleon's lover

4.   The Rosetta Stone, a famous archaeological piece that helped archaeologists decipher the Egyptian Hieroglyphics, was found as a direct result of Napoleon's conquer of Egypt.

The Rosetta Stone is now held at the British Museum

5.   He graduated from the military academy in France and became Lieutenant at a very young age of 16, which is 5 year earlier than most of the soldiers.

6.   It is said that he only slept minutes while he was in campaign. Usually he would take naps of between 5 and 10 minutes and wake up fully refreshed for battle.

7.   The first defeat of Napoleon was in the battle of Waterloo. Some historians say that, had he attacked earlier in the day, he might have had better odds in the battle, but he was suffering from hemorrhoids and couldn't attack until later.

8.   Even though Napoleon was a great military leader, there was one man who was able to defeat him several times. Napoleon's nemesis was Horatio Nelson, a British admiral who defeated Napoleon both in the Battle of The Nile and the Battle of the Strait of Trafalgar. Both were naval battles.

Horatio Nelson, Napoleon's Nemesis

9.   Although it is believed that Napoleon died because of a stomach ulcer, there are some doubts about it. The walls of his house were painted with arsenic, so he inhaled this chemical element all the time. Others believe he was poisoned with "Calomel", a drug which can be fatal if consumed along with almonds. Locks of Napoleons hair were given to some people, and when examined with chemical tests they showed high rates of arsenic.

Napoleon's death

10. Since Napoleon was a small man with a big ego, he used to say: "A man's greatness is measured from his head to the heavens."

Napoleon usually appears in paintings with his hand tucked in his coat.