In the west of the Italian peninsula, there is an island shaped like an egg called Corsica.The island has rolling hills and dense jungles.There is a tenacious and aggressive nation living on the island. They are like eagles, hovering above their nests all the time, and attacking the invading enemies mercilessly.Corsica is a commercial country of Genoa. In the first half of the 18th century, the people on the island started a national independence movement against the Genoese occupiers.Under the leadership of their leader Pauli, they drove out the Genoese and established an independent government of Corsica.However, the good times didn't last long. On May 15, 1768, Genoa signed a secret agreement with France on the transfer of Corsica to France, selling the "rights" to France that it no longer owned in Corsica.A powerful French expeditionary force captured the island's coastal towns.The residents of the island were extremely indignant at this act of betraying and trampling on the freedom and rights of the Corsican people. They once again united and fought against the French invaders under Pauli's command.

Paoli had a young adjutant named Charles Bonaparte, a nobleman from the city of Ajaccio on the island, who was studying law at the time.Charles has a fanatical character. He hated the French invasion, resolutely put down his books, and took his wife Letizia Ramolino to participate in the defense of Corsica.The sound of the guns was rumbling, and the flying dust covered the sun, and the residents of the island stubbornly resisted the landing French army.Charles' first child, Joseph, was born in this war-torn era. In the spring of 1769, the islanders were finally outnumbered and forced to surrender to the conquerors, and Paulie fled to England.Charles returned to Ajaccio with his wife, obeyed the rule of the French, and joined the French nationality.

On August 15, 1769, Charles' second child was born.To commemorate his uncle who died in 1767, Charles gave the big-headed baby boy the same name as his uncle-Napoleon, which means "wild lion". In the next few years, this not-so-rich aristocratic family added three more sons and three daughters.This large group of sons and daughters played innocently in the big house left by their ancestors. No one expected that one of them would become a world-renowned figure. Among the eight siblings, Napoleon, the second, always stood out.He was withdrawn, taciturn, and not very gregarious since he was a child.While his brothers and sisters were playing cheerfully in the garden or on the meadow, and uttering cheery cries, Napoleon would often slip away alone to a solitary cave in the rock, his favorite retreat.Leaning on the rock at the mouth of the cave, book in hand, he gazed for hours at the vast sea and blue sky of the Mediterranean.In this way, he spent one sunny morning or afternoon after another, and no one knew what was going on in his little head.Napoleon also had time with his friends, but most of them quarreled and fought with them.He is aggressive by nature and has a bad temper.He himself later recalled: "I don't care about anything, I like to quarrel and fight; I am not afraid of anyone. If I see someone, I either beat or arrest them, and everyone is afraid of me. The most unlucky one is my brother Joseph. I Beat him, bite him, and he was scolded for it, because I told my mother when he was still in a panic. I really took advantage of this trick, otherwise Mama Letizia would have done it because I punished me for fighting, and she will never tolerate me to violate others!" The brothers and sisters didn't like Napoleon, but they all recognized his authority.His high energy and decisive nature put his mild-mannered and approachable older brother Joseph at his mercy.In Napoleon, fury came and went quickly.

In 1779, Charles Bonaparte took advantage of his pro-French position and his close relationship with the Governor of Corsica to send his two older sons, Joseph and Napoleon, to France to learn French at Orton High School.In the spring of the same year, the 10-year-old Napoleon was transferred to a public-funded military school in Brienne, eastern France. Brienne Military Academy is not a pleasant place to be.The discipline there is extremely strict, and old classmates always abuse new students.This shabby Napoleon from Corsica immediately became the object of ridicule by the children of the French aristocrats.They laughed at his Corsican accent and his sea-sunburned skin, at his impoverished aristocratic origins.The little Napoleon was furious, and fought a few times with those whom he called "noble clowns". Only then did the noble children realize that this little Napoleon was not easy to mess with.

At the Brienne Military Academy, he studied for a total of five years.This kind of military school life without a day off and isolated from the world further cultivated Napoleon's original gloomy, melancholy and withdrawn character.Especially when his hometown was occupied by the French, he felt a strong sense of being away from home and depending on others, and he was almost always in a bad mood when talking to people.He was unapproachable, unlovable, alone, without a confidant, without any friends.His only solace is work and study.He often avoided the lively game activities of his classmates, hid in the library, read and studied the history and geography of Corsica eagerly, and he was especially interested in the books about Corsica by King Friedrich, Voltaire and Rousseau .He secretly made up his mind that one day he would work hand in hand with Pauli to liberate Corsica and try his best to deal with these Frenchmen.In the military academy, the students took turns being invited to have a meal with the headmaster, Father Paton.One day, it was Napoleon's turn to enjoy this kind of grace. Some professors at the same table knew that he admired Pauli, and deliberately showed disrespect for Pauli in his speech. "Pauli," replied Napoleon, "is a great man, patriotic. I will never forgive my father, who was his aide-de-camp, for agreeing to the annexation of Corsica to France. He should share Pauli's fate and fall with him. "

Napoleon's precise and keen thinking, decisive judgment and flexible command first showed his prominence in a snowball-throwing battle with his classmates.It was the winter of 1783, the snow was falling heavily, the mountains were covered, the roads were closed, and the snow was 8 feet deep. Napoleon was very bored because he could not engage in the peaceful walks he always liked.When he was bored, he had to mix with his classmates and walk back and forth in a large hall.To get rid of this tedious pace, he came up with a new trick.He directed the sweeping of passages in the snow in the great courtyard, the building of corner forts, the digging of ditches, and the erecting of parapets, and when the work was complete, he said, "We can divide into two groups and practice a kind of siege, this new game is I invented it, so I command the attack." The students happily accepted his proposal.Everyone used snowballs as weapons, sometimes attacking, sometimes defending, and the battle was extremely fierce.This simulated battle lasted for 15 days, and little Bonaparte became a hero in the school, and the classmates did not reject him as usual.

In 1784, Napoleon graduated from the military academy with honors.He and four classmates were recommended to the Paris Military Academy as cadets.The school is directly under the French royal family and has first-class teachers. Napoleon absorbed all kinds of knowledge eagerly here, and it was here that Napoleon developed a strong interest in artillery. Napoleon had a keen eye, and he always spoke freely and publicly when he had opinions.After arriving at the Paris Military Academy, he found that the whole school was so magnificent and the students lived an extremely luxurious life, so he immediately submitted a report to the principal.He pointed out that this educational system is harmful and impossible to achieve the goals that every wise government expects.He complained that the way of life was too luxurious and pampered for the "poor gentry", which was not conducive to their return to simple families or adapting to the hard life of the military camp in the future.They have swarms of servants, crowds, two-course meals, horses and grooms, and all this should be done away with.He suggested forcing them to do personal chores, such as washing clothes, and to eat coarse bread prepared for soldiers.He also said that abstaining from alcohol and drinking in moderation would make them strong enough to withstand the cold and heat of the seasons and not be afraid of the fatigue of war.This is what Napoleon said when he was 16 years old, and time has proved that he never deviated from the above principles.

Napoleon failed to stay in the military academy for long, and his superiors, annoyed by his haughty and sharp-edged character, advanced the time for his graduation exam. In September 1785, he successfully passed the graduation examination and was awarded the rank of second lieutenant.According to Napoleon's request, he was sent to serve in an artillery regiment in the city of Valence in the south, because it was closer to Corsica and it was easier for him to take care of his family.Due to the death of his father suffering from stomach cancer, the already poor family situation became more difficult.The older brother Joseph was incompetent and lazy, and the burden of the family fell on Napoleon.The second lieutenant officer saved most of his salary and sent most of his salary to his mother, leaving only a small part for himself to barely make ends meet.When his companions waste a lot of time drinking coffee, playing and falling in love, Napoleon does not allow himself to have fun at all. With a rare thirst for knowledge, he forgets to eat and sleep to read a lot.

In September 1786, Napoleon took a long leave of absence and returned to his hometown of Ajaccio to deal with a little estate and some messy affairs left by his father when he died.Napoleon did it all methodically, improving the family's financial situation. In June 1788, Napoleon returned to France and soon left for Ausone with his team.Here, he still avoids social interaction as before, does not have contact with women, does not seek pleasure, works tirelessly, and does not put down books in his spare time.The misery of the Corsican people, the poverty of the family, the eyesight of his classmates and military officers of noble origin, all these are like an invisible hand pushing him to read all kinds of books greedily. He longs to find freedom and equality from books He wants to use all the knowledge he has learned to arm himself and fight for the liberation of Corsica.He was obsessed with the works of Enlightenment scholars such as Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Voltaire, and was especially interested in Rousseau.He also read a lot of books on the history, geography, religion, social customs and other aspects of the ancient Persians, Scythians, Thracians, Athenians, Spartans, Egyptians, and Carthaginians. He studied the biographies of great commanders in history such as Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar, as well as books on artillery technology and tactics, and made many notes.After a lot of reading, observation, analysis and judgment, Napoleon's field of vision gradually jumped out of the circle of Corsica and turned to the wider world. He began to realize that the feudal autocratic system was the culprit of all suffering, and the concept of fighting for equality and freedom was in his heart. deeply rooted in his mind.He soon became a fanatical believer in the ideas of the French Revolution, believing that a post-revolutionary France would allow the Corsican people to share their equality and liberty.He began to link the fate of his hometown of Corsica with the French Revolution, and gradually abandoned the consistent idea of ​​Corsica's independence from France.

On July 14, 1789, a revolution finally broke out in France. The people of Paris captured the Bastille, the fortress of feudal autocracy.As an officer of the French royal family, Napoleon was secretly happy. He said to himself: "The time of Corsica has come!" He wanted to use the French Revolution to change the fate of Corsica. In August 1789, Napoleon applied to return to his hometown of Corsica for vacation.Here, he and the patriots on the island actively fought for the freedom and liberation of Corsica. On November 30, 1789, the French Constituent Assembly announced that Corsica was an inalienable part of the French Empire, and the Corsica people enjoyed the same rights as all French residents. On July 14, 1790, Pauli, who returned from exile in England, landed in Corsica with cheers.As events in France developed, two factions formed in Corsica: defenders of the ancien regime, dependent on the local army and administration, and staunch adherents of French revolutionary principles.Napoleon had serious political differences with his hero Pauli.Pauli advocated the complete liberation of Corsica from French occupation, and transplanted the model of the British regime to Corsica; Napoleon supported the resolution of the French Constituent Assembly, supported the French democracy, and believed that the French Revolution was the foundation of Corsica. Jia's development has created conditions.An open conflict was brewing between Napoleon and Pauli.

In February 1791, Napoleon returned to the team, and took his brother Louis, in order to slightly reduce the burden on his mother.The two brothers lived in Valence, and Napoleon used his meager salary to support his younger brother's education. Life was extremely difficult, and sometimes they could only eat a piece of bread.In the summer of the same year, he was transferred to another regiment in Valence as lieutenant.At this time, the principles of the French Revolution continued to win everywhere, and Napoleon's enthusiasm for the revolution was even higher. In September 1791, Napoleon returned to Corsica as deputy commander of the Ajaccio Battalion of the National Guard.This time, he broke with Pauli completely, because Pauli had publicly wanted to secede Corsica from France.Armed conflict broke out between the two factions on the island, and Napoleon ordered the separatists who supported Pauli to be shot. On May 28, 1792, Napoleon returned to Paris and reported his activities in Corsica to the Ministry of War.At this time, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, out of hatred for the French Revolution, had declared war on the French Revolutionary Government.The French nobles and generals turned against the enemy one after another, and the front-line military commanders were extremely scarce, but Napoleon was not appointed.Forced by life, the young man had to walk up and down the streets in shabby clothes, imagining that he could run some profitable speculations, but nothing came of it.Due to the flight of noble officers, there were many vacancies in the army. On July 16, Napoleon was promoted to captain. The successive defeats in the Austrian War caused widespread dissatisfaction among the people of Paris. On June 20, the angry crowd broke into the king's inner palace, forced the king to wear a red pointed hat, and asked him to face the courtyard window and bow his head to the crowd to confess his guilt. This scene happened to be seen by Napoleon passing by. The image of the fearful king was irritated, and he said contemptuously, "What a coward! How can you indulge these rascals! Hundreds of people should be wiped out with cannons, and the rest will flee for their lives." On August 10, Napoleon again Once I saw the people of Paris attacking the Tuileries Palace.As a soldier, he regrets the king's incompetence.In a letter to his brother Joseph, he wrote: "Had Louis XVI stepped on his horse, the victory would have belonged to him." The monarchy was overthrown, and the Girondists representing the big industrial and commercial bourgeoisie took power. A republic was established. In October 1792, Napoleon returned to Corsica for the third time and served as the battalion commander of a battalion of the Corsican National Guard. At this time, the French Revolutionary Army had repelled the armed intervention of the European reactionary monarchs in the French Revolution, and began to turn to the counter-offensive.In the south, the French army plans to use Corsica as a base to occupy the Maddalena Islands of the Kingdom of Sardinia as a springboard to enter Sardinia.Napoleon was ordered to take part in this battle. On February 18, 1793, a small force of Napoleon occupied Santo Stefano Island near the Maddalena Islands, disrupting Sardinia's defense deployment.When he was preparing to expand the results of the battle, Napoleon suddenly received an order from the commander to stop the attack and return.Enraged, Napoleon threw the cannon into the sea and returned to Corsica.This was Napoleon's first battle. Napoleon returned to Ajaccio, where the situation was very chaotic.Pauli finally decided to separate Corsica from France and surrender to Britain.Napoleon's younger brother Lucien, a staunch pro-French faction, reported Pauli's treason to the French authorities in Toulon.Napoleon and his fellow countrymen, Salichetti, the commissioner of the National Convention, repeatedly planned to capture Ajaccio and detain Pauli, but they were unsuccessful because most of the local residents supported Pauli.Soon, the Pauli faction attacked the residence of Napoleon's supporters and ransacked the Bonaparte family. Napoleon escaped from Corsica with his family after going through all kinds of difficulties and dangers.They fled first to Toulon and then to Marseilles, where they experienced exile and poverty.Corsica was soon separated from France and returned to Britain for protection, and Napoleon really chose France as his motherland. In 1793, the situation in France was undergoing tremendous changes.In the spring of this year, European feudal monarchies who hated the French Revolution organized the first anti-French coalition army on the pretext that King Louis XVI was executed and attacked France with arms.The defeat of the French army, the rebellion of the nobles and the retrogression of the Girondins aroused strong dissatisfaction among the French people. On the morning of June 2, 80,000 armed Parisian civilians marched to the Tuileries Palace again. The Girondist rule collapsed, and the Jacobins, representing the middle and petty bourgeoisie, established a revolutionary dictatorship. In July 1793, in order to overthrow the Jacobin dictatorship and restore the Bourbon dynasty, the royalists entrenched in Toulon and several other cities in the south actually led the wolf into the house and allowed the British and Spanish fleets of the anti-French coalition forces to sail into the port of Toulon and The French Mediterranean Fleet with more than 30 ships was handed over to the British and Spaniards.Since then, other foreign armies have also stepped into this geographically important port.By the end of September, the foreign troops in Toulon had reached 14,000, including 3,000 British troops, 5,000 Spanish troops, 4,000 Naples troops, and 2,000 Sardinian troops.This situation shocked the whole of France like a bolt from the blue.In order to defend the nascent revolutionary regime and repel the rampant attacks of counter-revolutionary forces at home and abroad, the revolutionary government issued a national mobilization decree to mobilize the people to wipe out the rebellion and resist aggression.Not long after, the two armies marched to the front line of Toulon, and a famous siege began. The siege was first directed by Calto, a useless dandy.Cartoux was a painter in the past, and he was ignorant of military affairs. The battles were repeatedly unsuccessful, and Domartin, the artillery commander, was also injured and disabled in the siege. The prospect of regaining Toulon was very bleak.Just then, Napoleon appeared.He was transferred to a coastal defense force, and he happened to pass by the garrison of the revolutionary army on the way. The special commissioner of the National Convention and Napoleon's fellow villager Salichetti immediately recommended Napoleon to replace Domartin as the artilleryman of the Toulon counter-insurgency force. commander.The appointment was quickly approved by the military authorities in Paris.No one expected that it was such an accidental opportunity that gave Napoleon a stage to test his edge. In mid-September, Napoleon arrived at the Toulon front.Calto received him haughtily.Calto, wearing a military uniform with a gold belt, strode proudly and said to Napoleon: "You don't need your help. However, you are welcome to share my honor." As soon as Napoleon arrived here, he immediately put into intense work.He soon discovered that the artillery here was useless. There was neither enough artillery nor enough ammunition. There were only a few tattered field guns and mortars, which were guarded helplessly by a sergeant. The soldiers did not have the minimum literacy, nor did they undergo serious training. They neither knew how to use artillery nor how to repair it.What's even more ridiculous is that his boss, Calto, lacked basic common sense in artillery, and didn't even know how far his few guns could shoot.Faced with such a situation, Napoleon first tried to collect all kinds of artillery.It didn't take long to get nearly a hundred large-caliber artillery pieces and a large amount of ammunition.Then, he sent special personnel to Lyon and Grenoble to collect all useful ordnance materials, and established an ordnance factory with 80 workers in Oriur.In order to solve the problem of artillery mobility and fortification construction, Napoleon requisitioned horses from Nice to Valence and Montpellier, and also arranged for the production of tens of thousands of wicker baskets for building artillery fortifications in Marseilles. At the same time, Napoleon carefully observed the battlefield and became familiar with every local terrain.Finally, he proposed a battle plan for the capture of Toulon.He believed that the main force should be concentrated first, to capture Fort Mulgrave on the west bank of the harbor, and capture Cape Kerr, and then concentrate a large number of artillery to violently bombard the British fleet parked in the large and small berths, cutting off the British fleet and Toulon defending the enemy. The contact between them forced the British ship to withdraw from the port.In this way, the defending enemy has no retreat, no reinforcements, and no fire support. The French army can quickly capture Toulon with only a small amount of troops.Napoleon's bold and novel battle plan showed his keen insight and rich imagination.However, due to his youth and unknown status, his plan was delayed in being approved.Since then, the French army has carried out several sieges, all without success.In view of Calto's incompetence, the French National Convention sent veteran Dugomier to replace him.Dugomière is a 40-year-old soldier, he is tenacious, brave, upright, and has a correct military vision. He was amazed at Napoleon's bold and novel combat plan, and quickly approved it. . At this time, the British army also seemed to realize the importance of Fort Margrave and Cape Kerr, so they sent 4,000 people ashore to garrison, and all the manpower in Toulon was requisitioned to strengthen the defense.The British army threatened to turn Mulgrave Fort into "Little Gibraltar".Therefore, a position that could be easily captured a month ago must now be attacked with heavy troops.Napoleon immediately set about building an artillery position north of the small berth, preparing to concentrate his fire on Fort Mulgrave.In order to attack the enemy unprepared, Napoleon led the soldiers to use olive branches to camouflage the battlefield cleverly.Therefore, the enemy was unaware of this project. At last the day of the siege of Toulon drew near. In late November, the frontline command finally approved the offensive operation plan. In the first ten days of December, the last batch of reinforcements from the revolutionary army arrived, bringing the number of troops besieging Toulon to 38,000, more than double that of the defending enemy. The well-built defense has completed the final offensive preparations. On December 14, the general attack on Toulon officially began.The French army used 45 large-caliber artillery to bombard "Little Gibraltar" intensively.Rows of artillery shells flew across the air and flew towards the coalition positions. "Little Gibraltar" instantly turned into a sea of ​​flames.Under the heavy artillery fire of the French army, the fortifications carefully constructed by the coalition forces were quickly destroyed.Many guns were knocked out on the ground before firing a single shell.The enemy in some areas was forced to abandon the forward fortifications and retreat to the rear positions.The French army bombarded with fierce artillery fire for two days and two nights. It was not until the evening of the 16th that they really launched an impact. That night, thunder and lightning, sea wind howling, heavy rain torrential, darkness and terror shrouded the entire battlefield.At 1 o'clock in the middle of the night, under the command of General Dugomière, 6,000 French troops began to attack from the north and south wings, and went straight to "Little Gibraltar". .Although "Little Gibraltar" was shelled by the French army for 48 hours, the enemy still resisted tenaciously when the French army attacked. Companies of French troops lost their way in the darkness and confusion.The enemy's fierce artillery fire caused a large number of French soldiers to fall in a pool of blood.After several attacks were repelled, many officers and soldiers of the French army began to panic, and even despaired.At this critical moment, Napoleon led the reserve team to rush up.Napoleon took the lead and charged into battle. His horse was killed by shells and his calf was wounded. He still stood at his post and directed the battle.Napoleon ordered the artillery captain Milon to lead a battalion to circle up the mountain from a winding path, and attacked the "Little Gibraltar" fort from the back door of the bastion by surprise.At about 3 o'clock in the morning, this battalion broke into the "Little Gibraltar" fort, opening a gap for the follow-up troops. Many British and Spanish artillerymen were killed by the French army on the cannons before they understood what was going on. After the French army occupied the "Little Gibraltar" fort, they immediately turned their guns and bombarded the enemy.The enemy launched a reserve team to counterattack before dawn in an attempt to recapture "Little Gibraltar", but failed.The battle lasted until dawn, and the enemy felt that the situation was lost and gave up meaningless resistance. At 10 o'clock in the morning on the 17th, after adjusting the deployment, the French army attacked the enemy again. After several hours of fierce fighting, they finally drove the enemy out of Cape Kerr.The tricolor flag flies high over "Little Gibraltar" and Cape Kerr. On the 18th, the French army recaptured the city of Toulon.The news of this victory was immediately spread throughout France, and many people refused to believe that Toulon, once considered an impregnable fortress, should fall into the hands of a fledgling and unknown Napoleon.This unexpected victory was extraordinarily exciting, and because of this battle, Napoleon jumped from an ordinary officer to a man of the world. According to the proposal of General Dugomière, Napoleon was exceptionally promoted to Brigadier General of Artillery on December 22, 1793. .At that time, he was only 24 years old. On February 6, 1794, the National Convention appointed Napoleon as the artillery commander of the Italian Army. "July 13th", which came and went from time to time, was just when Napoleon relied on the appreciation of the Jacobin revolutionary government and his outstanding military talents to display his grander ambitions, an unexpected and sudden political crisis made everything completely changed. Variety. On July 27, 1794, which was the 9th Thermidor month in the French "Republican Calendar", the Jacobin opposition suddenly launched a coup and arrested some Jacobin leaders such as Robespierre and his brother Augustine.The Jacobin leaders were executed the next day without trial.The Thermidorians, defending the big bourgeoisie, took power.Then, the Thermidorians hunted down the cronies of the Jacobin government across the country, and Napoleon was also arrested.Napoleon was released after 14 days of imprisonment because no reason for his imprisonment was found in his files. Although Napoleon was not sent to the guillotine, his smooth future was interrupted.After Napoleon was released from prison, those in power still looked at him with mistrust. His ambition was not fulfilled, and he was very depressed. On May 2, 1795, Napoleon came to Paris, hoping to obtain a new appointment.The Committee of National Salvation sent him to the Vendée to suppress the rebellion, but not as commander of artillery, but as commander of infantry.Napoleon angrily refused.In his opinion, there is not enough to display his talents there.Furthermore, his specialty was artillery, and it was an insult to transfer him from artillery to infantry.He had a big quarrel with the military officer of the National Salvation Committee.In view of his refusal to accept his appointment, the National Salvation Committee ordered his name to be removed from the roll of active duty generals. This unexpected blow deeply hurt Napoleon's emotions.He lived in a house not far from Victory Square on Meile Road, and began his previous life of poverty.He waited painfully patiently for those in power to remove all prejudices against him; he expected that in the changing situation, power would eventually fall into the hands of those who liked him.During this period, Napoleon had nothing to do all day long, was impoverished, and lived a life of depression and joy.Mrs. Junod has vividly described this: "Napoleon is very thin, unkempt, with shaggy hair, no powder, and a disgusting appearance. I also saw him enter the courtyard of the Trunkilitai Hotel, He was then shuffling sideways and staggeringly, wearing a battered round hat that nearly hid his eyes, and the lapels of his overcoat covered his alert ears. A pair of long, black hands, Gloves, for he said it was a superfluous expense. He wore boots, which were in bad shape and unoiled. The whole visage was morbid with the thinness of the body and the yellowness of the complexion. It made him preoccupied, and his desire to make a difference tormented him.He could no longer mingle among the crowd, and he resolved to leave France and go to Constantinople to serve the Ottoman Maharaja.He drew up a petition requesting that he and several other officers of different branches be sent to Turkey under the auspices of the French government.He believed that several people together possessed a complete knowledge of military skills, which was enough to organize the Maharaja's army to adapt to the situation at that time, because at that time it seemed that the Turkish government was very likely to ally with France.The petition was not approved, and Napoleon remained idle.Napoleon spent the difficult winter of 1794 in Paris in a dull mood, and the even more difficult and hungry spring of 1795, and everyone seemed to have forgotten him.Due to his ill-fated life and poor life, Napoleon had the idea of ​​suicide.However, he finally passed this level and did not become a prisoner of the god of fate. He continued to delve into political and strategic issues to prepare for his grand ambitions one day. Sure enough, not long after, the intricate political struggles in France once again pushed Napoleon onto the political stage in Paris, allowing him to play an extremely important role. After the Thermidor party defeated Jacobin, they dissolved the Paris Commune and the revolutionary committees everywhere, closed people's organizations and clubs, and abolished various commercial restrictions including the price limit law. The activities of getting rich and getting rich are rampant like never before.Banquets, orgies, sensuality, and appalling indecency prevailed.The hunger and poverty of the common people are in stark contrast to the extravagance and pleasure-seeking of the bourgeois nouveau riche. The common people in Paris can no longer bear it. The hungry masses marched to the National Convention building and broke the gate of the National Convention. The National Convention sent troops to carry out a bloody crackdown on the starving masses, sending many to the guillotine. At this time, the royalists believed that the opportunity for the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty had come.They launched rebellions in Marseille, Lyon and other areas in the south, and practiced white terror in the areas they controlled.At the same time, the royalist desperadoes gathered in London, Koblenz, Hamburg, Rome and other places became active again, and supported Louis XVI's younger brother, the Count of Provence, as Louis XVIII.They organized a team of desperadoes and landed on the Kiberon Peninsula at the northwestern tip of Brittany.The Thermidorian National Convention sent General Osh to suppress, defeat the rebel team, and execute all the 750 captured rebels. The Thermidorians passed a constitution on August 17, 1795, in order to stabilize the rule of the bourgeoisie after eliminating threats from both the left and the right.The Constitution stipulates the principle of separation of powers, dividing state power into legislative and executive powers. Legislative power is vested in two houses, the Senate and the House of Five Hundred.Executive power is vested in the Directorate, which is composed of five Governors.The National Convention was dissolved immediately after the implementation of this constitution.In order to maintain their power, the current members of the Thermidor Party added an important clause to the constitution: two-thirds of the members of the House of Five Hundred and the Senate must be elected from the current members of the National Convention. This supplementary clause immediately caused widespread dissatisfaction.The royalists took the opportunity to become active again. In late September, unrest began to appear in central France.In Paris, a central committee was organized in the district of Le Balletier, the center of which the royalists predominated.Instigated by it, the rebellion spread like a plague rapidly in all districts.They decided to stage an insurrection on July 13 (October 5).General Menoux, who was in charge of the Paris guard, was actually on the side of the royalists because of his dissatisfaction with the new electoral law.On July 12, General Menou negotiated with the commander of the rebel area and agreed to let the army withdraw to the barracks. As a result, most of the area fell into the hands of the insurgents.The rioters had reached about 40,000 in Paris, while the troops loyal to the National Convention were only about 5,000, and the army was far away from Paris.Coupled with the perverse behavior of the Thermidorians, the National Convention lost the support of the masses, and the rule of the Thermidorists was in jeopardy. That night, the National Convention of the Thermidor Party decided to remove General Menou from his position and arrest him, and appointed Ballas, a famous figure of the Thermidor Party, as the commander of the Paris Armed Forces.Barras was a representative of the third estate in 1789, a member of the National Convention in 1792, and participated in the siege of Toulon in 1793. He was a planner of the Thermidorian coup and a member of the National Salvation Committee after the coup. Playing with power can not only protect oneself wisely in factional struggles, but also be good at playing around the wind.Although he has experienced a period of war life on land and sea, he is not a professional soldier.Now, with the battle to begin in a few hours, he must have a wise and decisive general as his assistant. Ballas thought of Napoleon—a thin young man in a battered gray overcoat who had called for his help several times.He knew Napoleon too well, he knew that Napoleon was a retired general who had shown outstanding talents in Toulon, and then some unpleasant things happened, and now he was poor and poor with a meager salary.Ballas ordered someone to find Napoleon and asked him if he could suppress the rebellion. Napoleon thought for a few minutes and gave an affirmative answer.但他附加了一个条件：谁也不能干涉他的指挥。他说：“等大功告成以后，我才会放刀入鞘。"就这样，拿破仑如同一只久缚的雄鹰又准备展翅高飞了。 这时，巴黎的情形十分危急。巴黎的大部分地区失去控制，陷于叛乱队伍的包围之中。 叛乱方面的武装队伍在人数上远远超过国民公会的武装力量。拿破仑受命于危难之际，他以异乎寻常的精力迅速地重新部署了国民公会的防卫。拿破仑作为一个出色的炮兵，他首先想到的是如何使用大炮。他设想了一个用炮火猛攻叛乱队伍的计划。当时，在杜伊勒里宫附近没有炮兵，也没有弹药，而在巴黎西北的萨布隆营房却闲置着４０门大炮。拿破仑立即指派骑兵队长缪拉带着２００名片兵，把大炮拖运到杜伊勒里宫周围。 装备良好的叛军在一部分国民自卫军的支持下，已经控制了巴黎的主要街道。他们以为就此占领国民公会并不困难，于是，在兴高采烈的凯旋音乐伴奏下，举着旗帜，向杜伊勒里宫进军。拿破仑用炮火迎接了他们。叛军完全没有料到拿破仑会使用大炮，他们被炮火轰得措手不及，在留下２００具尸体后，拖着伤员仓皇逃窜了。这时，另有一股５０００人的叛军又向杜伊勒里宫冲来，拿破仑毫不留情地进行猛烈轰击，这股叛军很快就溃散了。战斗只持续了一个多小时便结束了。第二天早上，叛军总部宣布投降。叛乱被迫息了，热月党的国民公会得救了。 巴拉斯和其他领导人非常钦佩拿破仑的勇敢果断的脾气。正是由于这种脾气，拿破仑才采用了前所未有的在城市中使用大炮轰击暴乱分子的手段。在拿破仑看来，既然要打仗，那就不管付出多大代价，即使血流成河，也要争取到胜利。此后的拿破仑一直是毫无例外的遵循着这个原则。他不喜欢白白浪费炮弹，但在能带来好处的地方，他是从来不吝啬的。他在这次平叛战斗中就没有吝啬，叛军被他打得血肉横飞。在战斗中毫不留情，这也是拿破仑的一大特点。他曾自我解剖道：“我是两个不同的人：有头脑的人和有良心的人。不要以为我没有像别人那样的多情善感的心。我是相当善良的人。但是，我从很早的少年时代起，就尽力使这条心弦静止下来，以至现在它不发生一点声响。"事实也证明，在对付胆敢进行抵抗的敌人的时候，拿破仑的这条心弦是从来也没有发出过声音的。 这位曾经是不修边幅、一头乱发、衣着破旧、处处显出极度贫困、不为人知晓的年轻人，在经历过这决定性的一天后，命运发生了急剧性的变化。国民公会认为是拿破仑的非凡努力拯救了共和国，因此对他十分重视。很快，拿破仑就被任命为巴黎卫戍司令，他成了势力强大的共和国督政官巴拉斯的密友及作战部队独立指挥官的候选人。他的社会地位在迅速上升，锦绣前程在他面前展开。他搬进了旺多姆广场旁的高级旅馆，他的个人生活也变得绚丽多彩了。 在此之前，拿破仑的爱情一直很不顺利，有哪位姑娘愿意将自己的终生托付给一个身材矮小、面黄饥瘦、性格阴沉且当时并没有显出有多大前程的年轻军官呢？拿破仑先遭到克拉里·德济雷的拒绝，继而又遭到佩尔蒙夫人的女儿的冷遇。拿破仑经常对人说：“约瑟夫那家伙真走运。"因为他哥哥约瑟夫同一个富裕而有身份的马赛商人的女儿克勒里小姐结婚了，他非常羡慕他哥哥的鸿运。如今，拿破仑已是巴黎上层社会的显赫人物，受到豪富和显贵沙龙的热情欢迎，他的爱情之火重又燃烧起来。他在巴拉斯的沙龙里认识了名叫约瑟芬·德·博阿尔内的寡妇。约瑟芬的美貌和高雅的服饰深深打动了拿破仑的心，他开始追求这个比自己大６岁的寡妇。 约瑟芬于１７６３年出生于西印度的马提尼克岛，她原籍则在法国中部的提梅雷·夏托纳夫。她父亲是王室龙骑兵的一位队长，在马提尼克岛拥有领地。１７７９年，约瑟芬同马提尼克总督的儿子博阿尔内子爵结婚，婚后生有一子一女。法国革命爆发后，博阿尔内返回法国。他由于具有能使法国人为之倾倒的那种滔滔不绝、庄严郑重的雄辩天才，从革命一开始便出头露面，赢得了众议员职务。后又被任命为指挥莱茵军团的将军。１７９４年，因被控"叛国罪"而被送上断头台。约瑟芬因受丈夫的牵连受到监禁，后因热月党人塔里昂的干预而被释放。获释后的约瑟芬经常出入于巴黎上层人物的沙龙，成为巴黎沙龙中引人注目的女性。她是巴拉斯家的常客，很讨这位督政官的欢心。就是在这里，她毫无抵抗地接受了拿破仑的追求。１７９６年３月９日，他们举行了没有宗教仪式的婚礼，巴拉斯和塔里昂是证婚人。在结婚登记簿上，拿破仑为了缩小两人的年龄差距，他把约瑟芬的年龄少写了４岁，而自己则多写了１岁。拿破仑沉浸在爱情的甜蜜之中。 七月１３日的战绩给拿破仑带来的回报是慷慨的：令人羡慕的巴黎卫戍司令的职位、使拿破仑初尝爱情幸福的约瑟芬。然而，拿破仑的性格使他并不满足于巴黎的豪华生活，他不习惯于在巴拉斯等督政官手下做个驯服的助手，他的心中炽烈地燃烧着施展军事才能的欲望——追求成为伟大统帅的欲望，这个欲望驱使着他去干一番轰轰烈烈的事业。机会终于来了，１７９６年３月２日，拿破仑被任命为法国意大利军司令官。３月１１日，即新婚后两天，拿破仑就与其子告别，踏上了新的征途，开始了他那惊天动地的人生历程。