Napoleon Bonaparte was a ruthless killer who craved power alone. He sacrificed a lot to make a great contribution to the world by winning battles and discovering things like the Rosetta Stone in Egypt. His lust for control and power cost him everything he worked so hard for, leading to exile. The famous Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, the second of eight children, on the small island of Corsica. The industrial revolution in Britain had already begun. In the meantime, Napoleon matured quickly and reached the height of five feet five and was pale and thin. He didn't care much about anything in his youth, he did everything on his own, from meals to social activities. The only time he spoke to anyone else was with officers and it was only to enforce some sort of law they were unaware of. At age 14, Napoleon decided to pursue a military career and obtained a scholarship to a French military academy. Napoleon's father died of stomach cancer when he was fifteen, and at sixteen, Napoleon was entitled to the entire family fortune but his father left virtually nothing. He then took responsibility for ensuring that his mother and siblings did not starve to death. He worked diligently to educate himself through extensive reading. He mostly read about the romantics before discovering how precious Europe and its secrets are. The French Revolution could not have provided a better moment for Napoleon to rise to the top. It was a time of chaos and weakness in Europe and Napoleon, an opportunist, took advantage of the opportunity to gain as much power as possible. He considered France as a source of power and not his country because he did not have any. Apparently heartless, Napoleon did not believe in religion, nor in democracy...... middle of paper ...... to describe Napoleon as a person is to say that he was "one greatest military commanders and a risk-taking gambler; a workaholic genius and impatient short-term planner; a vicious cynic who has forgiven his closest betrayers; a misogynist who could captivate men; Napoleon Bonaparte was all of this and more, the double emperor of France whose military efforts and pure personality dominated Europe in person for a decade and in thought for a century. (Wilde)Works CitedBBC. Historical figures. April 2, 2010. Johnson, Paul. Napoleon. New York: The Penguin Group, 2002. Napoleon Code. 2010. April 5, 2010. Wilde, Robert. European history. 2010. March 29 2010 .