Napoleon's Family

Napoleon was born in 1769, the son of a Corsican squire, at a time when the French regarded Corsica as a savage outpost. By the time Napoleon fell from power, he and his seven brothers and sisters had ruled over half of Europe.In the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon's military genius won him fabulous victories and, with typical Corsican tribal loyalty, he spread his new-found power throughout his family. He placed Bonapartes on the thrones of Spain, Naples, Tuscany, Rome, Holland and Westphalia. At the end of his life, while in exile on St Helena, he tried to give the impression that his family was worthy of the honours he had heaped on it — but privately, he felt differently.