Short and baby-faced, he was not inspiring to look at, but Napoleon Bonaparte was fired by an ambition that made him master of most of Europe.
He was born in 1769 on the island of Corsica and at 16 was made a second lieutenant in the French Revolutionary army. He rose quickly, eventually commanding an army that drove the Austrians out of northern Italy. Then, after a disastrous invasion of Egypt, he returned to France to seize control of the government.
During his 15 years in power he conquered most of Europe except England. Then, after invading Russia and taking Moscow, winter forced him into a deadly retreat. With allied armies closing in, Napoleon abdicated his throne and was exiled to Elba, a Mediterranean island. But after about a year and a half he escaped and took control of France once again, but in a major battle at Waterloo in 1815, he was defeated by the British.
This time the allies took no chances and sent Napoleon to a little island in the South Atlantic called St. Helena, where he died in 1821.
