Le Monde
First edition
Napoleon: Hero or Tyrant: You be the Judge!
Insert Byline (Nam Nguyen)
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on 15 August 1769 in Corsica into a gentry
family.
Napoleon Bonaparte a twenty-four years old major commander that was promoted by the
France military school as a second lieutenant destroyed ten English ships in Toulon’s harbor
on December 18, 1793. With his brave heart he led his men on the assault on the fore
guarding the city. His first victory made him the hero of the day throughout France. Then he
hungry for greater advancement, General Bonaparte head for Paris. His chance soon given by
the Political turmoil in the city street. On October 5, 1795, the mobs of Parisians joined the
national guardsmen bent down on toppling the republic, the government called Bonaparte
for a rebel attack. At the end of 1797, he returned to Paris at the age of twenty-eight, he
handed the government the treaty signed by the Austrian that brought peace to the
continent of Europe. In just one and one-half years, he used his great ability, marched up the
soldiers and brought them hundred of miles and defeat the army of the Empire of Austria
without losing a battle. He then negotiated a general European peace which established
French power on the continent. Bonaparte built upon his image as an enlightened military
leader with each increase his power. He started his own empire by taking the crown and
placing it on his head when the crown was given. Then after that he started a series of war
was know as the Napoleonic War cost many lives. Other victories soon followed, allowing
Napoleon to greatly expand the French empire, paving the way for loyalists to his
government to be installed in Holland, Italy, Naples, Sweden, Spain and Westphalia. Under his
direction Napoleon turned his reforms to other areas of the country, including its economy,
legal system and education, and even the Church, as he reinstated Roman Catholicism as the
state religion. He created the Bank of France, brought people happiness for a while after the
France revolution, he forced the government to handed over the power. Napoleon's reforms
proved popular. In 1802 he was elected consul for life, and two years later he was elected
emperor of France. He also controlled the press, dropping the number of newspaper in Paris
from over sixty in 1799 to four by 1814. In 1810 he arranged for the nullification of his
marriage to Josephine, who was unable to give him a son, so that he could marry MarieLouise, the 18-year-old daughter of the emperor of Austria. After defeated by the English. His
soldiers still trust him as a true leader and help him regain his power. Under his command, he
promised that to raise them and make them all heroes again. On June 22, 1815, he abdicated
his powers. In an effort to prolong his dynasty, Napoleon pushed to have his young son,
Napoleon II, named emperor, but the coalition rejected the
offer.