Gigliotti Jim - Who Was Napoleon?

Napoleon Bonapartes life began in Corsica, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. Corsica is about fifty miles west of what is now Italy and one hundred miles southeast of France.

For almost five hundred years, Corsica had belonged to Genoa, a city that is now part of Italy. But the Corsican people wanted to be free. They often fought with soldiers from Genoa. When the government of Genoa grew tired of the fighting, they sold the island to the French in 1768.

That upset the Corsicans even more! They didnt believe they should be bought and sold. And so they started fighting the French. But at that time France was one of the most powerful nations in the world. It easily conquered the island.

When Napoleon was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769, he automatically became a French citizen. But the influence of hundreds of years of Italian rule on Corsica didnt go away overnight: Napoleon, like most of the people on Corsica, spoke Italian.

Napoleons father was named Carlo and his mother was named Letizia. Even though they helped Corsica fight the French before Napoleons birth, his parents knew there was no use keeping up the fight after the battle was lost. They grew to respect the new French government. Napoleons father even changed his first name from Carlo to Charles because it sounded less Italian. He changed the familys last name from Buonaparte to Bonaparte because it sounded more French.

Life was not easy on the island. Most of the people in Ajaccio were craftsmen or fishermen. Charles was a lawyer, and Napoleons family had more money than many in the town, but no one there was very rich.

The Bonapartes lived in a nice house and had a couple of servants. They grew much of their food on their land. Their four-story home even had a mill downstairs that was used to grind flour for making bread. They had a vineyard to make wine and an olive grove to make olive oil. But the family had money to spend only on the basics: clothing for their children and any food that couldnt be grown on their land.

And there were many children to clothe and mouths to feed! Napoleon had four brothers and three sisters. Napoleon was the second-oldest child. His older brother Joseph had been born in 1768. His other brothers were Lucien, Louis, and Jerome. Napoleons sisters were Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline.

Napoleon was the most willful of the large group. He had a terrible temper, and he didnt always tell the truth. His family called him a troublemaker. Napoleon never was in serious trouble, though. Once in a while, he was punished for fighting, but even that didnt seem to be a big deal. After all, the grown-ups on Corsica had been fighting battles all their lives. Napoleon fit right in.