Myths and interesting facts about Napoleon Bonaparte. It is true that Napoleon was short

Napoleon Bonaparte - great military leader statesman and Emperor of France. In the biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, a lot of interesting facts from life have been collected. For the curious - a selection of little-known, and sometimes controversial historical facts from the biography of a man who changed the history of France, Europe, and the whole world.

• The father of the future great commander, Carlo Buonaparte, always dreamed of a military career for his son. Fortunately, young Napoleon was only too happy about this. The teachers of the Paris Military School admired the abilities of the violent and independent Corsican, and at the same time were shocked by the hostility of the young man towards France and the French who occupied his homeland - the island of Corsica.
• After the sudden death of his father, an exorbitant burden of worries about big family mother, four brothers and three sisters. He worked hard, lived from hand to mouth and tried to visit his relatives often. At that difficult time, he least of all resembled a man who was destined to change the course of the history of all of Europe.
• Amazing facts from the biography of Napoleon are not uncommon. For example, once a nineteen-year-old lieutenant Bonaparte, having decided to radically change his life, filed a petition to enroll him in the ranks of the Russian army. The answer was positive, but with one condition - a reduction in rank. The proud Corsican considered this proposal unacceptable.
• In 1789, fate presented Napoleon with the main gift - the French Revolution. That time longed for new leaders - smart, courageous, resolute, charismatic, capable of leading the crowd, and most importantly - of low birth, offended and unable to advance under the "old regime". Napoleon Bonaparte was the most suitable for this role - the favorite of the French people, and he became one.
• In 1804, the rebel and revolutionary, who hated France with all his heart and despised the monarchy, put on the crown. The coronation ceremony was supposed to overshadow all the previous ones. And she eclipsed. France has never before known so much splendor and luxury. On the eve of such a grand event, another equally important event took place - the wedding of Napoleon and Josephine Beauharnais.
• Always prerequisite The coronation of the emperor was the arrival of the pontiff. Pope Pius VII arrived to place the crown on the head of the new emperor. But he failed to make old rite: the commander impatiently grabbed the crown from the hands of the shocked and confused pope and quickly hoisted it on his head himself, and then on the head of the future empress.
• Many leaders of the revolution went through a great test - "the temptation of the crown." Simon Bolivar, George Washington, Oliver Cromwell all refused. Only Napoleon Bonaparte could not resist, and this, in the end, ruined him: the supporters were disappointed and turned away, and the European monarchs did not accept the poor Corsican from large family into their ranks.
• During the reign of Napoleon I, there were many positive things. For example, a series of reforms that affected all areas of French life - from education to taxation, and which are still the basis of modern France.
• The cause of death of the French emperor is not known for certain. There is a version that he was not just poisoned, but small doses of poison were sprinkled on him over the years.
• The favorite horse of the great commander was the Arabian stallion Marengo. However, not always the owner accompanied him true friend. Throughout his military career, Napoleon changed 130 horses. The skeleton of the emperor's favorite horse is still kept within the walls of the National Army Museum in London.

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August 15 marks the 248th anniversary of the birth of one of the most famous and controversial historical figures

In 1794 EkaterinaII was very frightened by what was happening in revolutionary France. In one of her letters, she discussed who could pacify the raging Republic.

The empress dreamed that "a remarkable, dexterous, brave man, ahead of his contemporaries and even, perhaps, of his age," would come. Then she wondered if such a one would be born? And no one knew that he was already born in the godforsaken town of Ajaccio in Corsica, that his name is Napoleone Buonaparte(Corsica only three months before the birth of Napoleon passed into the possession of France) and so far he fights only with his older brother Joseph.

Prediction

A few hundred years before the birth of Napoleon, there lived a certain Philippe Dieudonne Noel Olivatius, a doctor and archaeologist who loved to talk to ghosts. A manuscript remained from him, where it was said: “... Young, will come from the sea ... ... For ten years or more, he will put princes, dukes and kings to flight ... There will be two wives ...

Then his enemies will burn with fire great city and he will enter it with his troops. He will leave the city turned to ashes, and the death of his army will come. Without bread or water, his troops will be exposed to such a terrible cold that two-thirds of his army will die, and half of the survivors will never return to his command.

Then great husband abandoned by his friends who have betrayed him, he will find himself in the position of defending himself and will be oppressed even in his own capital by the great European nations.

Origin

The Bonaparte family comes from the small town of Sarzana, located on the border of Liguria and Tuscany. Mostly the men of this family devoted themselves to jurisprudence. Around 1490 Napoleon's ancestor Francesco moved to Corsica.

Parents

Carlo Maria Buonaparte was a hereditary lawyer. This did not prevent him from spending money at the card table all his life. At the age of 17, at the behest of his parents, he married a 14-year-old Letizia Ramolino, most beautiful girl Ajaccio. But she was not only beautiful. Subsequently, Napoleon claimed that his mother had a man's head on a woman's shoulders.

The family had 12 children, eight of them survived. Napoleon, having become emperor, distributed crowns, titles and lands to all his relatives, even adopted children from his first wife. But Letitia remained thrifty to the point of stinginess, claiming that someday seven former monarchs would settle on her neck. That's pretty much how it happened.

Napoleon lost his father at the age of 16, and his mother survived her great offspring by 15 years. On the verge of death, she was blind and practically paralyzed. But when she was informed that the statue of Napoleon was being erected again on the Vendôme column (the column was erected in Paris on the decree of Napoleon in honor of his victories), she herself got up from her chair and managed to take a few steps.

Birth

Napoleon's mother claimed that she was carrying her second son in a Corsican military camp, often heard the whistle of bullets and prayed endlessly. Perhaps such a nervous situation led to a hasty birth - at the beginning of the contractions, Letizia barely had time to run into the house, and the child fell to the floor.

Since there were endless wars of independence in Corsica at that time, the house where Napoleon was born has not been preserved. The building that is now called his home was rebuilt in 1796.

Education

Napoleon, along with his brothers and sisters, studied at the city school and studied with the abbot. His favorite subject was mathematics. In December 1778 he was sent to college to learn to speak French well. Napoleon did not master the language until the end of his life. At the cadet school in Brienne-le-Château, he learned Latin so poorly that they did not want to allow him to take exams. At the same time, he loved to read, especially about Macedonian and Caesar.

One day, young Napoleon was sitting in the guardhouse. There was a textbook on Roman law lying around. The young military man read it cover to cover. When he, already the First Consul, developed his Napoleonic code of laws, which still exists, he quoted by heart before the lawyers extracts from that very textbook.

In 1784, because of his abilities, Napoleon won the Queen's Necklace charity competition and was admitted free of charge in 1784 to the Parisian cadet school. Here is an excerpt from his description: “Silent, loves loneliness, quick-tempered, arrogant and very selfish. It is laconic, but always resourceful and sharp in answers and usually wins in disputes. Extremely proud, and his ambition knows no bounds at all.

Growth

It is believed that the nature of Napoleon and his ambition are explained by his extremely small stature - 152-157 cm. It has now been established that for his time Napoleon was almost above average height - about 169 cm. This follows from the memoirs of a personal valet. There is a version that Napoleon was "shortened" by the British, with whom he had a long and mutual hatred. It is true that Napoleon had a disproportionately large head.

Reference: About the Napoleon complex. Psychologists say that short men especially strive for fame and fortune. The list of people obsessed with this complex includes Mozart, singer Charles Aznavour, conductor Herbert von Karoyan, Charlie Chaplin and others. Professor Zbigniew Lev-Starovich at the same time claims that such men mature faster and they are very sexy.

In the Russian army

In 1788, from lack of money, the young Napoleon tries to enter the Russian army. Then he abandoned this idea, since foreigners in the Russian armed forces could only be accepted with a reduction in rank. There is a version that they simply did not answer his letter.

On the Arkol bridge

At the beginning of his career as commander-in-chief of the French army (1796), Napoleon became famous for leading one of the attacks, appearing on the Arcole bridge with a banner in his hands. Later, the reliability of this fact began to be questioned. But they did not prevent the painter Gro come home to Napoleon to write the appropriate plot. The then wife of Napoleon, Josephine, seated her husband on her knees and forced her to take a heroic pose. From 1800, Gros became the official artist of the First Consul of Napoleon.

Plague in Jaffa

During Napoleon's Egyptian campaign (1798), a plague broke out in the city of Jaffa. In order to evacuate the soldiers, especially the wounded, Napoleon ordered all the carts to be released and all the horses to be given away. He himself also walked. He was always deeply respected by the soldiers, not only for his military genius, but also for the fact that he knew how to be on an equal footing with them.

Emperor of France

On April 18, 1804, the Senate passed a resolution giving the First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte, the title of hereditary emperor. “Be a Bonaparte and after that become an emperor! What a downgrade! - said the publicist and pamphleteer Paul Louis Courier. BUT Ludwig van Beethoven, who admired Napoleon and dedicated the Heroic Symphony to him, took back this dedication when he learned about Emperor Bonaparte.

Death and funeral

Napoleon died on the island of Saint Helena on May 5, 1821, at 5:49 pm, from stomach cancer, just like his father once did. Honors were given to the deceased by the governor of the island, officers of the English garrison, officials and observers from France, Austria and Russia. Four days later, the funeral took place, at the place indicated by Napoleon himself - in the valley of Geranei. The coffin lay there for 19 years.

In 1839, it was decided to return the exile to his homeland. On December 14, 1840, Napoleon's remains arrived in France.

He was buried in Paris, in Les Invalides. In 1859, a sarcophagus weighing 35 tons was erected there, which was made of red Finnish granite. Granite - free of charge - sent by the Russian emperor NicholasI.

Napoleon's children

NapoleonII by second wife Mary Louise. Little Napoleon, born in 1811, did not remember his father well, and the Austrian court did everything possible so that the boy forgot about him as quickly as possible, and they called him there only Franz. But he honored his parent and dreamed of being the same brave general. Alas, the young Napoleon died in 1832 from consumption. There is a version that he was poisoned - he interfered with too many people.

Illegitimate son from a polka Maria Walewska, born before Napoleon's second marriage to the Austrian Princess Marie-Louise. It is believed that Valevskaya visited Napoleon in his exile on the island of St. Helena and brought her son. He became, like his father, a military man, in retirement he turned into a writer. Carried out important diplomatic missions. He was a Knight Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor established by his father. Died at 58.

Leon, the illegitimate son of Eleanor de la Plaigne. He was very similar to his father in appearance, but became a dropout, a slob and a duelist. In old age, he married a gardener's daughter and had six children. He died at the age of 75.

Napoleon left his illegitimate sons a solid financial allowance.

Cognac and cake "Napoleon"

The name of cognac was given by the English officers who accompanied former emperor to Saint Helena. The drink itself was purchased by Napoleon from merchants Courvoisier and Gallu in the Parisian suburbs.

Napoleon cake, as we know it, was first baked in Moscow in 1912 for the centenary Patriotic War with Napoleon. Initially, these were triangular-shaped cakes, reminiscent of Bonaparte's famous headdress.

I. MUKHLAEVA, mathematician (Taganrog)

Napoleon Bonaparte during the war with Russia in 1812.

The feet used in Europe are shown in metric measures. (Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron.)

Napoleon among the ruins of Moscow (from a painting of the first half of the 19th century).

History creates myths. People create myths about themselves. But the truth is that it is not myths that make history, but real people, which are sometimes difficult to discern in characters known to all. I offer readers a few sacramental questions about the popular hero of world mythology - Napoleon.

WHAT HEIGHT WAS NAPOLEON?

Of course, small. Everyone has heard about it. But what? The Museum tours the cities of Russia wax figures. The height of Napoleon's figure is 157 cm. Museum workers are trying to be true to historical truth. You can find the same number in different sources. However, in several French novels, Napoleon's height ranges from 166 to 172 cm. And this discrepancy is suggestive.

Where did the number 157 come from? This is similar to metricizing 5 feet 2 inches. Which would be 157.58 cm if the units of measurement were English. However, over the past century or two, people have managed to forget that feet are not only English (see the table below), and almost no one bothers to imagine that the short stature of the French emperor is somewhat exaggerated.

Napoleon's height was indeed 5 feet 2 inches and 4 lines - so recorded after his death. But this is 168.79 cm. Discarding the error (2 mm), it is permissible to talk about 169 cm. assert that Napoleon's height at the time of his career's rise was at least 170 cm. Which is not so small, especially given the acceleration that has happened since then: the average male height has increased by about 10 cm over the past two centuries. And so everyone knows "short" the emperor, in fact, did not reach the grenadier height of only 3-4 cm. Napoleon's height - 169 cm - is also indicated in the "Napoleon's Dictionary" edited by J. Tulard.

Why did the growth of Napoleon during his lifetime become the talk of the town?

Perhaps due to the features of addition. Napoleon had a large head from birth, and the general disproportion had an impact on perception. Moreover, the young Bonaparte looked almost like a boy. And the commander-in-chief of the Italian army could earn the nickname "little corporal" not so much for his short stature, but for his infancy - more apparent than the former in reality (26 years old). A thin, fragile general could not look tall. It is also known that the majority of Napoleon's generals were tall, even very tall (at that time). But one cannot imagine that Napoleon, like Louis XIV, would put decks of cards in his shoes in order to appear taller. A disgraceful reception for his vanity! On the contrary, he begins to cultivate his difference.

The boy-general who conquered Italy, the "little corporal" - this is only the beginning of the image of the modest ruler of the world, who will be remembered not in gold and feathers, but in a gray overcoat without insignia. Even from the cocked hat, he will tear off the uniform gold embroidery, leaving only the tricolor French cockade. He will appear in a simple uniform, the shortest of the tall, gold-gleaming aides-de-camp. The gaze immediately stops at him - in contrast. And this modest appearance is so contrary to the height of his position that it cannot but impress the eyewitnesses.

This is how the legend was born.

AT historical literature it is mentioned that the height of Admiral Nelson was 160 cm, Pushkin - 166, Stalin - 165, Churchill - a lion british empire- 166 cm. But all this did not become a legend. Nelson's blind eye was a legend, Pushkin's sideburns, Stalin's pipe and mustache, and Churchill's cigar. Growth became one of Napoleon's trademarks.

WAS NAPOLEON'S GROWTH THE CAUSE OF THE COMPLEX?

Napoleon's height is not so small that he could suffer greatly because of this. But Napoleon was certainly ambitious and definitely had some kind of inferiority complex. However, there is no mention in the memoirs of Napoleon that the future emperor was teased as a child because of his height. And it was hard to scoff at his height if Napoleon's main school opponent (and then the enemy on the battlefield) Le Picard de Felippo was half a head shorter than him!

There were much more significant reasons for the complex. All memoirists tell how French classmates teased the Corsican about his origins. At the age of nine, Napoleon was brought to the country that had conquered his homeland. He was the son of a man who fought against the French. He spoke the language of the conquerors badly. He had an incredible name in France. And he was also poor. Many reasons to be the best candidate for school boys for a beating.

So, the true source of the "Napoleon complex" was his, Napoleon's origin. During his studies at the Paris Military School, he will be among the representatives of the highest French aristocracy. And the humiliation to which they subject him will not pass without a trace for him. He constantly had to defend himself - one against all. To become equal with them, he simply needed to be better than them. And all his life he will try to prove to everyone and everyone that he is not only no worse, but better than others.

“The thought that I was not the first student in the class was unbearable for me,” he later recalled. furious feeling dignity will lead him from irreconcilable school fights, first to the ranks of the fighters for Corsican independence, and then to the French Revolution. Thus the conquered will become the conqueror.

He will deride, as he deserves, attempts to establish his descent from Charlemagne or from Julius Caesar. He will refuse to take into account even the undeniably noble lineage of his undoubted ancestors. He will place all his virtues in his own merits. And this is not so much modesty as ambition.

He will not be ashamed of his impoverished lieutenancy. He will allow himself to say to the crowned persons sitting at the table with him: "When I was a second lieutenant ..." And, seeing everyone's confusion, he will repeat with cheerful boyish impudence: "When I had the honor of being a second lieutenant ..."

He called the throne "a piece of wood". He did not give tinsel any - except propaganda - price. But at the time of his command of the Italian army, offended by the arrogance of the Austrian participants in the negotiations, he still breaks down, as he once did as a cadet, and furiously throws them in the face: "By origin, I am equal to your princes!"

Soon he will consider this argument pathetic and will strive to surpass the merits not only of his contemporary monarchs, but also Charlemagne himself and Caesar. Once the professor pulled him up: "Who are you?!" "I am human!" - blurted out 11-year-old Napoleon.

WAS NAPOLEON A BRUNETTE?

A southerner is supposed to be a brunette. Not only filmmakers, artists or writers, but also professional historians are captured by this stereotype. You, of course, met - or will meet - at A. Z. Manfred colorful description the black mane of the young Bonaparte. When describing the appearance of Bonaparte, the author refers to the memoirs of a contemporary. But if you take these memoirs, you will find that in the said fragment there is no mention of the color of Bonaparte's hair. Similarly, the historian calls the "blue eyes" of the head of the Corsican government, General Paoli, "rare for a Corsican."

In fact, Paoli was not only blue-eyed, but also blond. And blond by German standards. The young Goethe met the 44-year-old General Paoli, who was passing through Germany on his next exile. "He was a beautiful, slender blond ..." - the poet writes.

This hair color is by no means an anomaly in Corsica. P. Merimee, making his first trip to Corsica, also expected to find in the Corsicans people similar to the Provencal ethnic type - black-haired and black-eyed. Reality surprised: "Among the Corsicans [...] black-haired people are as rare as among the inhabitants of the northern provinces of France." Such a difference between the Corsicans and their neighbors can be explained by the island isolation of the population. An ancient ethnic type has been preserved on the island.

It is known that among the ancestors of Napoleon are both Tuscans and Genoese. But Tuscan or Genoese origin is also not a guarantee of black hair. The Tuscan Leonardo da Vinci and the Genoese Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo) - victims of the same stereotype - were blue-eyed blonds. So was Napoleon's father. But Napoleon himself?

Many memoirists say that Napoleon had a gray Blue eyes and brown hair. Balzac calls Napoleon "a blue-eyed and fair-haired monarch", which is especially noteworthy, because it was Balzac who wrote the memoirs of the Duchess d "Abrantes, to which A. Z. Manfred refers. And the novelist, of course, had every opportunity to ask in detail a woman who knew the emperor still boys, oh appearance your hero.

Denis Davydov first saw Napoleon in Tilsit, at the meeting of the French emperor with Tsar Alexander I. The future hero of the war of 1812, familiar with the common portraits of Napoleon, was first of all surprised by the color of his hair: "His hair was not black at all, but dark blond." The "blue eyes" of the emperor, which contrasted sharply with his "almost black" eyelashes and eyebrows, also came as a complete surprise to him. Even the nose, which D. Davydov imagined from the portraits as "large and humpbacked," turned out to be "completely straight, with a small hump."

Napoleon was then 38 years old, and people darken with age - until they turn gray. Since Napoleon died without starting to turn gray, it remains to be assumed that he was just a fair-haired lieutenant, and absolutely fair-haired - in childhood.

WHAT WAS NAPOLEON'S REAL SURNAME?

It is believed that the real name of Napoleon - Buonaparte (Buonaparte).

You will find information that Napoleon Frenchized his surname from the most serious historians. A. Z. Manfred, the author of the best Russian monograph on Napoleon, writes that, appointed commander-in-chief of the Italian army of the French Republic, General Bonaparte removed the non-French "u" from his surname, and "this short name already sounded quite French. "J. Tulard, the highest authority in world Napoleonic studies, confirms that Napoleon from time to time," up to the age of 33, "signed his former, non-French, surname. That is, having long been the First Consul French Republic.

But is the surname Bonaparte really so French? If the Italian "buon" is equivalent to the French "bon", just as the prepositions "a" are equivalent in both languages, then it would be logical to replace the Italian "parte" with the equivalent French "part" or even "partie". But Napoleon did not. Why didn’t he complete Frenchization, because it was enough for him to lose only one, last, letter in his last name?

The answer is simple. Real surname Napoleon - Bonaparte. It sounds different in French and in Italian but are spelled the same. Walter Scott also noted that in the birth certificate Napoleon is recorded under the surname Bonaparte, while his father is also called Buonaparte there.

There are reasons for this. The ancestors of Napoleon's father, who lived in Corsica, wrote their surname "Bonaparte" for more than one century. Only in 1759, having received official confirmation of the origin of the Corsican Bonaparte family from the famous Florentine genus Buonaparte, family members begin - not always - to use this Tuscan spelling of their surname. Napoleon's father goes so far as to add to his surname, together with the Tuscan "u", the title of count that once belonged to his Florentine ancestors.

Napoleon himself never called himself a count. Such pathetic ambition was not to his taste. The Tuscan version of his surname was documented in France at the time of his studies and subsequent military service. Not appreciating too much the pompous title of the noble Tuscan patricians, the general returned to his Corsican roots. And the fact that "this short name sounded quite French" was only good for him, a foreigner.

If you are asked to describe what Napoleon looks like in your imagination, then you will surely imagine either a cake or a dense, long-nosed short man in blue military uniform and a funny hat on his head. But how correct will your representation be?

The rise of Napoleon and the origin of the myth

In fact, Napoleon was not short at all. He was 5 feet 2 inches or about 170 cm (according to some sources 168 cm), which in any case was higher than the average height of the French at that time.

AT English speaking countries the myth of Napoleon's short stature was due to the fact that people equated French units of measurement with English ones, which is fundamentally wrong. English feet and inches are 1.066 times shorter than French ones, so 5 feet and 2 inches in England was only 160 cm. 170 cm.

Surprisingly, during the reign of Napoleon, even the French themselves considered him short. The fact is that the emperor took to his guard only those men whose height was at least 178 cm. Thus, against the background of his guardsmen, Napoleon really seemed low.

Napoleon complex

In honor of Napoleon, a syndrome in psychology is named in which short people compensate for the lack of growth with their social, political and financial achievements. Roughly speaking, if a short man is less likely to become popular (both in society and among women), then he will do everything possible to eliminate this shortcoming. Some psychologists claim that this complex has helped many people achieve incredible heights in society. If you look at the list of world leaders, then among them there will be many low people: Lenin (165 cm), Kim Jong Il (162 cm), Churchill (167 cm), Sarkozy (165 cm) and even ... Medvedev (162 cm). According to some researchers, people with a Napoleon complex are extremely ambitious, tend to have a large office, big apartment, a large car and even live on a higher floor, such people are also more prone to aggression and tyranny.

You can learn more about the growth of world leaders from ours in the "" section. There you can also see what Napoleon would look like, standing next to modern politicians.

Napoleon was short, spoke French poorly, forbade his wife to wash. Is it true that...

1. Napoleon was short

NO. Napoleon was even slightly taller than the average man of that time. The myth arose largely due to confusion with length measures (the English inch is smaller than the French one, and the commander’s height of 5 feet (pied) 2 inches was understood in the English press as approximately equal to 157 cm, and not 168, as it was in fact). In addition, Napoleon often appeared surrounded by high guards and seemed lower against their background.

2. Napoleon had illegitimate children

YES. The first son, Charles Leon, was born in 1806. The boy's mother was Eleanor Denuel de La Plaigne, former mistress Marshal Joachim Murat. The second son, Alexander Florian Joseph, was born in 1810 by the Polish noblewoman Maria Walewska. The birth of children prompted Bonaparte, who wanted to acquire an heir to the throne and who had previously considered himself barren, to divorce his first wife and new marriage. It is also believed that Bonaparte was the father of Helen de Montolon-Semonville, who was born in 1816 on the island of Saint Helena in the family of a Napoleonic adjutant.

3. Napoleon beat off the nose of the Great Sphinx at Giza

NO. The story of how Bonaparte, during the Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801, disfigured the face of the Sphinx, ordering his gunners to shoot at it, was told by local peasants at the beginning of the 20th century to tourists. In fact, sketches and descriptions of the sphinx, made before the Egyptian campaign, prove that the statue did not have a nose even then.

4. The Emperor of France did not speak French well

YES. Napoleon was born in Corsica in the year of her final annexation to France, and his native language was the Corsican dialect of Italian. The French future emperor began to master only at the age of ten, after he was sent to Autun, in Burgundy, to prepare for training at the Brienne military school. When the young officer first entered the service, the soldiers did not understand his commands well because of the foreign accent. And the written orders of Bonaparte were difficult for subordinates to read because of grammatical errors and illegible handwriting. The commander preferred to communicate with his family in Italian until the end of his life.

5. Napoleon forbade his wife to wash before the meeting

YES. Bonaparte at first was madly in love with his first wife, Josephine. From the campaigns, the commander sent her many letters, among which there really is this: “Do not wash. I hurry with all my might and will arrive in eight days.”

6. Napoleon sold almost a quarter of the country's current territory to the United States

YES. On the lands of the Louisiana colony, the sale of which was concluded in 1803 by the first consul of France Bonaparte and US President Thomas Jefferson, now 15 states are partially or completely located, including the eponymous state. The total purchase area was 2,144,000 sq. km - a little less than the then territory of the United States, and almost a quarter of the current.

7. Napoleon Wooed Russian Grand Duchesses

YES. Before marrying the daughter of the Austrian emperor, Napoleon considered the option of marriage with one of the grand duchesses, the daughters of the late Paul I. In 1808, at a meeting with their brother Alexander I in Erfurt, Bonaparte asked for the hand of the eldest, Catherine, and later, through his ambassador, negotiated a marriage with youngest, Anna. In both cases, he was denied under plausible pretexts. The Romanovs did not want to intermarry with the usurper, which they considered Napoleon to be.

8. Napoleon was about to cancel in Russia serfdom

NO. At the initiative of Bonaparte, serfdom was abolished in several conquered by him European countries. Surrounded by Napoleon, they discussed such a possibility for Russia. The promise to free the peasants from personal dependence could attract them to the side of the French and provoke uprisings that would play into the hands of Bonaparte. However, the emperor did not dare to take such a measure, fearing that the result would be general chaos that would disrupt the supply of his army.

9. Napoleon lost at chess to an automaton

NO. In 1809, Napoleon, having captured Vienna, demanded that the Turka, the famous chess machine created by the mechanic Wolfgang von Kempelen, be delivered to him at the Schönbrunn Palace, and played a game with an unusual opponent. Turk won. However, this device was, in essence, not a machine for solving chess problems, but a trickery. A strong player was sitting inside - Johann Baptist Algaier, who defeated Bonaparte. In general, rumors about Napoleon's chess abilities are greatly exaggerated - at that time it was believed that outstanding person must be great in every way.

10 Napoleon Was Killed By Toxic Wallpaper

UNLIKELY. Traces of arsenic were found in the wallpaper from Napoleon's room on St. Helena and in his hair, leading to hypotheses that the poisoning was intentional or accidental. However, in the XVIII-XIX centuries. For example, arsenic was widely used both in medicine and in industry. Comparison of Napoleon's hair with the hair of other people of that era gives approximately equal indicators of the content of this chemical element: about a hundred times more than our contemporaries. So there was nothing exceptional about it. The original hypothesis of Napoleon's death from hereditary stomach cancer remains the main one.

11. Napoleon died in enemy territory

YES. Saint Helena until 1815 was not formally part of this state, but was under the control of the East India Company. However, when the government in London decided to exile Napoleon there, the island was transferred under the direct control of the British crown, and General Hudson Low, who later earned the nickname Jailer for vigilant control over the prisoner, was appointed governor. So Napoleon really died on the territory of the main enemy.