Napoleon Bonaparte was born to Carlo Bonaparte and Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte in Ajaccio, Corsica on August 15th 1769. Napoleon was actually born a French subject as Genoa had given the island to France the year before.

With a scholarship from Louis XVI, Napoleon finished his education at the Ecole Militaire. His superb mind meant that he graduated in only one year, compared to the normal 3 years it took to train as an artillery officer.

In 1789, when Napoleon was just 20, the French Revolution broke out.

The war between Britain and France started when the French started using the Scheldt River which runs through what is now Belgium and ended in Dutch territory. Britain was careful to ensure Dutch independence as they were protective of British trade routes and also had a treaty protecting Holland. Many British politicians were eager to expand the British Empire and capture French colonies. However, it was France that declared war on Britain on 1st February 1793 as they had gained knowledge that the country was on the brink of revolution.

Napoleon's tactical genius came from his deftness at maneuvering his troops across Europe. He had the ability to plan how fast each of his armies would take to get to a certain point and would organize it so that his enemies were unable to see where they were headed. This enabled him to arrive at a battlefield in greater numbers and then disperse his forces quickly to further confuse the enemy.

Soldiers were drafted in from the population willing to fight, meaning that morale was high as there were no unwilling conscripts. Morale was also high through having a fairly open structure in the army - talented soldiers were able to get promotions from the lower ranks and even make it as far as General. They were also trained to live off the land - stealing and buying food from the local people. This was one reason why they were so successful in Europe and then failed in their later occupation of Russia in 1812.