《旅游管理专业英语》（第二版） 讲义 Lesson05 Napoleon Bonaparte.docVIP

Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor Born: 15 August 1769 Birthplace: Ajaccio, Corsica Death: 5 May 1821 (stomach cancer?) Best Known As: Frances greatest military genius Name at birth: Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon is famed for his military successes and for not quite conquering Europe. Starting as a second lieutenant in the French artillery, he rose quickly through the ranks until he became First Consul of France. (Later he crowned himself Emperor.) He led his armies to victory after victory, and by 1807 he ruled territory that stretched from Portugal to Italy and north to the river Elbe. But his attempts to conquer the rest of Europe failed; a defeat in Moscow in 1812 nearly destroyed his empire, and his 1815 loss to the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo finished the job. He was sent into exile on the island of Napoleon died of an unidentified ailment, possibly stomach cancer; because traces of arsenic were later found in his remains, some have suggested he may have been fatally poisoned... The famous portrait of Napoleon with his hand stuck in his vest was painted by Jacques-Louis David. A French general, political leader, and emperor of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Bonaparte rose swiftly through the ranks of army and government during and after the French Revolution and crowned himself emperor in 1804. He conquered much of Europe but lost two-thirds of his army in a disastrous invasion of Russia. After his final loss to Britain and Prussia at the Battle of Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic Ocean. (See map, next page.) ? Napoleons name is often connected with overreaching military ambition and delusions of grandeur. ? Because Napoleon was short, overly aggressive men of short stature are sometimes said to have a “Napoleon complex.”