HOW MUCH DO YOU REMEMBER?

A.

B.

1. Which military governor of Corsica who guaranteed to pay Napoleon's school fees when he went to school at Autun at the age of 9 probably had an affaire with Napoleon’s mother?

2. Who believed that Corsica was the ideal laboratory for political experiment?

3. Stories about Napoleon’s time at Brienne have to be treated with caution because of the danger of what McLynn calls “the wisdom of retrospection”. What does that mean?

4. If, in 1794, the Ministry of War had not ordered a special intake to the Paris military school of students gifted in Mathematics where would Napoleon have been sent?

5. Napoleon graduated 42nd out of 58 in his year. Why is his result still considered impressive?

6. When Napoleon was sent to the La Fere regiment in Valence he carried letters of recommendation with him. Who were these from?

7. While he was at Auxonne Napoleon attracted the attention of the commanding officer of all troops. This man then helped with Napoleon’s promotion to first lieutenant and his transfer to the 4th artillery regiment. What was this man’s name?

8. After the flight to Varennes (1791) officers were made to swear a new oath to the new constitution. How did this help Napoleon?

9. How did Napoleon manage to get himself elected Lieutenant Colonel in 1792?

10. When did Napoleon express his horror at the acts of ‘the grossest indecency being committed by well dressed women on the corpses of Swiss guards?’

11. Which early French success against the Prussians probably saved the revolution?

12. Name one of the three Commissioners appointed by the Convention to investigate the worsening situation in Corsica in 1793.

13. Why did Napoleon split with Paoli?

14. Who secured 600,000 francs compensation for the Bonaparte family for the loss of their Corsican lands in 1793?

15. When Napoleon was moved to Nice as a senior gunner in the Army of Italy he wrote a general memorandum on grand strategy.
Which of his influential friends took this memorandum to Paris?

16. One of Napoleon's earliest pieces of propaganda pamphlet writing was called Le Souper de Beaucaire. This piece of writing particularly impressed which fellow Corsican (by then a political commissar), who therefore showed it to Augustin Robespierre?

17. Which member of the CPS was in charge of the organisation and deployment of France’s 14 armies at this point and accepted Napoleon’s plans for action at Toulon?

18. Who introduced Napoleon to Carteaux (the man commanding the siege of Toulon) and forced the reluctant Carteaux to accept Napoleon as artillery commander?

19. Carteaux outranked Napoleon and Napoloen complained that he could not get Carteaux to register the importance of big guns.
What rank did Napoleon hold at the point he was assigned to Toulon?

20. Who endorsed Napoleon’s letter to the CPS complaining at the incompetence of the Toulon commanders?

21. Name the ill and elderly Brigadier that the CPS appointed to Toulon in response to Napoleon's complaint.

22. Who was Commissar at Toulon?

23. What rank was Napoleon given after Toulon?

24. Toulon was still ‘no guarantee of a glittering future for Napoleon” (McLynn) - it was “not the inevitable prelude to his rise”. Why?

1794. Thermodorian reaction.
25. At the time of the reaction Napoleon was on a secret mission to Genoa. Who took advantage of Napoleon’s absence to denounce him and why?

26. This man subsequently did a volte face because he decided they could not afford to lose a commander of Napoleon’s talent.

27. These talents were seen to good effect in 1794 in Piedmont when Dumerbion said, “It is to the ability of the General of Artillery that I owe the clever combinations which have secured our success.”

28. It was partly due to this talent and partly due to which other factors that Napoleon survived this difficult period?

29. Who saved Napoleon from being sent to command the Army of the West in the Vendée by securing him a post in the Topographical Bureau of the CPS?

30. Even with this support Napoleon’s future looked uncertain in mid 1795 when the CPS decided to cancel his generalship. How did Napoleon manage to redeem his position and make himself a household name?

31. Napoleon’s meeting and relationship with Josephine is extremely difficult to evaluate. McLynn says that “historians have to cut through the thicket of rumour and innuendo”.
Why might Napoleon have wanted to manipulate the story of his relationship with Josephine?

32. Napoleon’s famous proclamation to his troops
“Soldiers you are naked, ill fed... I want to lead you into the most fertile plains in the world. "Rich provinces, great cities will lie in your power; you will find there honour, glory and riches....”
is apocryphal - one of many “St Helena accretions”.
What is meant by this phrase?

33. Why should picture B not be at the top of this page?

CJM