Best Military Leaders of History

#1: Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)Famous Wars: First Italian Campaign, Egyptian Expedition, War of the Third Coalition, War of the Fourth Coalition, Peninsular War, War of the Fifth Coalition, Invasion of Russia, War of the Sixth Coalition, Waterloo. Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica in 1769 into a well-off bourgeoisie family. In 1785 Napoleon was sent to mainland France to a military academy in Brienne. After joining the army early in 1786 as a lieutenant, Napoleon eventually joined the resistance against the tyrannical rule of Maximilian Robespierre, and after the overthrow of the dictator in 1795, Napoleon was appointed commander of the Army of the Interior by the new Directory government. In 1796, just a year after rising to his prestigious post, France went to war with Austria and Prussia. Napoleon took command of the Italian Army, just 30,000 strong, and won victory after victory in Austrian Italy despite numerical disadvantages and lack of supplies. Following his great success in Italy, Napoleon undermined the great British Empire by successfully invading British Egypt. Soon thereafter Napoleon led a military coup and announced himself Emperor of France. Napoleons reign proved to be greatly successful as a great number of wars allowed France to establish loyal puppet governments in Holland, Italy, Naples, Sweden, Spain and Westphalia. However, politics soon caught up to the great Emperor as nearly the entirety of Europe joined into a Coalition to defeat France. However, even after he was captured and exiled to the Italian island of Elba, Napoleon managed to escape and regain much of his empire until he was defeated by Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, and was exiled to the island of St. Helena. There he remained until his death in 1821 [1]. Contemporary historian Owen Connelly stated that Napoleon was "probably the greatest commander of all time" [2]. This, in a nut shell, describes the brilliance of Napoleon. When looking at some of the specifics about his many wars, his feats appear almost super-human. For example, at the Battle of Rivoli, Napoleon and 23,000 were attacked by an 28,000 strong Austrian army lead by Field Marshal Josef Alvinczi. The French had been besieging the crucial city of Mantua for months, and the Austrians were desperate to relieve their forces. Despite having the advantage of the terrain, along with a numerical advantage, Napoleon defeated the Austrians. His forces received just 3,200 casualties while the Austrians lost a gargantuan 14,000. What makes this even more impressive is that this was the fourth, and final, Austrian attempt to relieve Mantua. All of these attempts were unsuccessful [3]. Another was the Battle of Austerlitz, or the Battle of the Three Emperors. Napoleon headed 61,000 French forces and he attacked over 80,000 forces headed by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II and Russian Tsar Alexander I. Napoleon brilliantly utilized similar tactics of the 4th and 3rd century battles of Guagamela and Cannae. Alexander planned a decisive flank attack, yet coincidentally it left his central army weak. Napoleon realized this and sent the majority of his army to defeat the army up the middle. Napoleon stated that the attack was "One sharp blow and the war is over" [4]. At the conclusion of the battle France had only 8,000 casualties (only 1,000 of which deaths) and the German and Russians had over 27,000 casualties (15,000 of which deaths). The battle effectively dissolved the Third Coalition and destroyed the over 10,000 year old Holy Roman Empire [5].While it is true that eventually lost and was exiled to the remote island of St. Helena, the fact still remains that it took over twenty years for the Coalition of Europe's greatest powers to defeat him. The impact of Napoleon's brilliant military strategies is enormous as well. Today, armies still utilize the Napoleonic staff model and corps structure to organize their much larger armies. He brought France back into power in the European theatre dominated by powerful empires and kingdoms, and kept it there essentially until World War II. His decisive offensives and counter offensives led to a new defensive strategy throughout Europe called Post-Napoleonic Warfare which stressed the importance of fortified structures. Finally, he indirectly planted the seeds of nationalism throughout Europe, furthering Europe's technological advance towards the modern era [6]. Sorry that this was so short, I am somewhat rushed for time. Back over to you imabench. Sources[1] http://www.biography.com...[2] http://www.napoleon-series.org...[3] http://en.wikipedia.org...[4] Andrew Uffindell, Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars. p. 21[5] http://en.wikipedia.org...[6] http://www.flowofhistory.com...