{"id":3362,"date":"2016-05-22T02:16:08","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T00:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/?p=3362"},"modified":"2016-05-22T02:17:12","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T00:17:12","slug":"7-napoleon-bonaparte-facts-they-dont-teach-you-in-history-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/7-napoleon-bonaparte-facts-they-dont-teach-you-in-history-class\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Napoleon Bonaparte Facts They Don\u2019t Teach You In History Class"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Napoleon\n

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the biggest names in history. Everybody\u2019s heard of him, but there are some things you\u2019ve probably never been told about the French emperor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Napoleon Bonaparte makes the short list of people who are most responsible for how the modern world came into being. From his May 18, 1804 installation as Emperor, this little average-sized man rose from a lowly artillery officer from a remote island to a height of power no European had enjoyed since Roman times.<\/p>\n

His decades-long rule dramatically altered European politics, from the rule of law set down in the Napoleonic Code to which side of the street most of Europe drives on. Before Napoleon, the whole world seemed to be one way; after him, it could never be that way again.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re as influential as all that, generations of scholars will spend their careers studying every detail of your life. It is inevitable that those scholars will find some weird stuff \u2013 imagine a working group at the Sorbonne devoted to reading your diary \u2013 and not all of it will fit neatly within the great conqueror narrative. In fact, some of it will just be crazy, like this stuff here.<\/p>\n

\"napoleon-facts-book-jacket\"<\/p>\n

A year or so before the coup that would install him as dictator, Napoleon vented his frustration by writing a romance novel. The book, Clisson et Eug\u00e9nie, which you can buy right now for about 34 cents on Amazon, tells the story of an army officer who falls in love and marries the girl of his dreams.<\/p>\n

Duty calls, however, so the officer comes out of retirement to serve at the front. While he\u2019s away, his wife cheats on him with a friend, driving him to \u2013 SPOILER ALERT \u2013 die a hero\u2019s death in combat. The full book was only published after Napoleon\u2019s death, and parts of it are still missing today.<\/p>\n

Napoleon Nearly Died Looking for Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"napoleon-facts-young-man\"<\/p>\n

In 1785, Napoleon signed up for an official venture by the French Crown under the command of Jean-Fran\u00e7ois de Galaup, Comte de Lap\u00e9rouse. Shortly before the French Revolution broke out, Lap\u00e9rouse outfitted two ships for an around-the-world voyage to Australia, the Solomon Islands, Alaska, and California, among other sites.<\/p>\n

Lap\u00e9rouse needed 220 men for the trip, and the teenage Napoleon is recorded in the crew ledger as having just missed the final cut. This rejection probably took him by surprise; Napoleon was really good at math, and he excelled in his class at the military academy in gunnery \u2013 both vital skills on a sailing ship.<\/p>\n

Another surprise came a few years later when word reached France that the expedition had vanished without a trace. In all likelihood, both of the expedition\u2019s ships fetched up against a coral reef in 1788. None of Lap\u00e9rouse\u2019s crew ever made it home.<\/p>\n

He Was Irritatingly Tone Deaf<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"napoleon-facts-portrait-bw\"<\/p>\n

A lot of people have trouble carrying a tune, but when you\u2019re the absolute ruler of France, you can inflict your off-key singing on everybody else and no one has the nerve to tell you to stop it.<\/p>\n

According to multiple sources, Napoleon had the perfect storm of bad habits: Tone-deafness and compulsive singing. Whenever he got fidgety or nervous, out would come the repetitive humming and mumbling. According to one survivor, a friend named Betsy Balcombe:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe began to hum the air, became abstracted, and, leaving his seat, marched round the room, keeping time to the song he was singing\u2026In fact Napoleon\u2019s voice was most unmusical, nor do I think he had any ear for music; for neither on this occasion, nor in any of his subsequent attempts at singing, could I ever discover what tune it was he was executing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He Cheated at Cards<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"napoleon-facts-with-army\"<\/p>\n

Napoleon Bonaparte was a clever general, and his reputation is that of a genius on the battlefield. Like most \u201cgeniuses,\u201d however, there was more to his success than met the eye \u2014 he was a cheat.<\/p>\n

The keen instinct he developed for finding an enemy\u2019s weak points and exploiting every advantage was of little use during his exile on Elba, where he turned that instinct toward chronic cheating at card games he played with his companions.<\/p>\n

According to a lady who knew him at the time:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Napoleon was losing at cards he cheated without scruple, and all submitted with such grace as they could muster, except [his mother], who in her decided tone would say: \u2018Napoleon, you are cheating.’\u201d<\/p>\n

When things got really heated, Napoleon would sweep the money off the table and into his pockets. Usually he gave it to his valet the next day to be returned to everyone, and another game would be scheduled for that night.<\/p>\n

The Real Reason His Hands Were Always In His Pockets<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"napoleon-facts-pocket-pose\"<\/p>\n

No impression of Napoleon is complete without the pose. It\u2019s so famous, you already know how to do it. Stand with one leg forward, turn three-quarters to the side, and stick your right hand in your pocket.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t just an artist\u2019s convention \u2013 Napoleon really struck that pose all the time. Like another short-fingered vulgarian, Napoleon was unusually vain about his hands, and he kept them in his pockets out of habit to keep them warm and safe.<\/p>\n

According to Balcombe, the same young woman who had to put up with his singing:<\/p>\n

\u201cHis hand was the fattest and prettiest in the word; his knuckles dimpled like those of a baby, his fingers taper and beautifully formed, and his nails perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

He Was a Pincher<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"napoleon-crown\"<\/p>\n

When he wasn\u2019t keeping them out of sight in his pockets, Napoleon\u2019s hands were dangerous to be around. According to the memoirs of Constant Wairy, who spent a lot of time in Napoleon\u2019s inner circle during his years in power, the Emperor \u201cin his moments of good humour would pinch his intimates by the tip of the ear; I have my own experience that he pinched the whole of it, and often both ears at once; and that with a master hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others wrote about Napoleon pinching women\u2019s noses as a prank, pinching friends\u2019 cheeks until they were on the verge of tears, and even pinching babies\u2019 chins until their mothers eased them away from what had technically become assault and battery.<\/p>\n

He Survived Two Suicide Attempts<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"napoleon-facts-on-deathbed\"<\/p>\n

Great men rarely come without a bit of instability, and Napoleon was no exception to the rule.<\/p>\n

He had always been given to fits of rage, sometimes hurling heavy objects at his ministers and other subordinates. These rages got much worse after his fortunes turned and the nations of Europe started winning victories against him. The fear of defeat seems to have weighed on him.<\/p>\n

Throughout his time in power, Napoleon was never more than a few seconds away from suicide, thanks to a vial of opium he habitually wore around his neck. He seems to have started wearing the lethal dose in 1812, following a near-capture by Cossacks during the Russian campaign.<\/p>\n

After the crushing defeat in Russia, and the disastrous Battle of Nations that followed \u2013 as all the enemies he\u2019d made pulled together and struck hard at his retreating army \u2013 Napoleon decided it was time to put an end to his misery and drank the opium. However, it had weakened over the years and he just got really sick.<\/p>\n

Later, on Elba, he would have shot himself, but his servant had emptied the powder from his pistol. Reloading guns must have been a real hassle back then, because Napoleon gave up on killing himself after that.\/all-that-is-interesting\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the biggest names in history. Everybody\u2019s heard of him, but there are some things you\u2019ve probably never been told about the French emperor. Napoleon Bonaparte makes the short list of people who are most responsible for how the modern world came into being. From his May 18, 1804 installation as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[428,323,427],"class_list":["post-3362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-20","tag-7-facts","tag-france","tag-napoleon-bonaparte"],"views":2739,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3372,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3362\/revisions\/3372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}