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Napoleon I of France
Napoleon
Historical Figure
Nationality: France
Year of Birth: 1769
Year of Death: 1821
Cause of Death: Stomach cancer
Religion: Catholicism in public, Deism in private
Occupation: Soldier, Revolutionary, Author of Non-Fiction, Military Governor
Spouse: Joséphine de Beauharnais (divorced 1810);
Marie Louise of Austria
Children: Napoleon II (only legitimate child), at least two (perhaps five) illegitimate, two adopted
Relatives: Napoleon III (nephew)
House: Bonaparte
Military Branch: French Army
Political Office(s): Consul of France (1799-1804),
President of Italy (1802-1805),
Emperor of France (1804-1814, 1815),
King of Italy (1805-1814),
Prince of Andorra (1806-1814, 1815),
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine
Fictional Appearances:
"No Period"
Fiction
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference
The Two Georges
POD: c. 1763
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference
Date of Death: Unrevealed
Occupation: Soldier
Relatives: Philippe Bonaparte (descendant)


Napoleon I (born Napoleone di Buonaparte, later Napoléon Bonaparte) (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who had significant impact on modern European history. He was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as Premier Consul of the French Republic, Empereur des Français, King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.

At his empire's peak, Napoleon systematically, either by conquest or alliance, asserted hegemony over almost the entirety of the continent of Europe. This series of military engagements have come to be known as the Napoleonic Wars. In 1812, Napoleon staged an invasion of Russia, which ultimately proved a disaster for France. By 1813, Napoleon was in retreat after his defeat at Leipzig. In 1814, France's enemies invaded, and Napoleon was forced into exile. He returned in 1815, but was finally defeated famously at Waterloo. Napoleon was exiled again, this time to the British-controlled island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, where he remained for the last six years of his life.

Napoleon I in "No Period"

A Jewish-American writer contemplated his failed first marriage, and wondered if it might have worked in some alternate timeline. After contemplating a world where Hitler won World War II, the writer remembered that Napoleon didn't hate Jews in particular, but hated everyone who got in his way, generally (making him an equal-opportunity hater). However, the writer then realized that Napoleon's troops would have invaded modern Germany, and his first wife had roots in Germany, thereby reducing the likelihood that she would have existed as the writer knew her. So, he tried a new thought-experiment.[1]

Napoleon I in The Two Georges

Napoleoncolonel

During the reign of King Louis XVI, Lieutenant Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte made a name for himself that lived on in either history or infamy. On that day, a Parisian crowd attempted to storm the Bastille. Colonel Bonaparte prevented this by ordering troops under his command to open fire, declaring "Ils ne passeront pas" ("they shall not pass").[2] Respectable society viewed Bonaparte as a great man who preserved peace and order, although radical elements viewed it as a tragedy, a viewpoint expressed in Beethoven's "Fallen Innocents" symphony.[3]

Philippe Bonaparte, a descendant of Napoléon, was the French ambassador to the North American Union in the mid 1990s.

Literary comment

The Bastille incident seems to be based on the OTL "whiff of grapeshot" skirmish in 1795. Bonaparte led a similarly brutal defense of the First Republic's capitol building against a royalist mob.

See Also

References

  1. https://www.tor.com/2020/11/30/no-period-harry-turtledove/
  2. The Two Georges, pg. 58, MPB, pg. 48, HC.
  3. Ibid., pg. 284, MPB, pg. 190, HC.
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