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Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, and was given the name Napoleone Buonaperte. He was the second of eight children of Carlo and Letizia Buonaperte, both of the Corsican-Italian gentry. Before Napoleone, no Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. His father Carlo, was a lawyer who had fought for Corsican independence, but after the French occupied the island in 1768, he served as a prosecutor and a judge and entered the French aristocracy …

…to reform the intuitions of Europe and give the Continent a common law. Few historians deny that he was a military genius. At St. Helena, he said 'Waterloo will erase the memory of all my victories.' (VII pg.345) he was wrong; for better or worse, he is best remembered as a general, not for his enlightened government, but surely the latter must be counted if he is justly to be called 'Napoleon the Great'.