CHAPTER IX

The Little Man from the Common People

The young Corsican.--The war in Italy.--Italy a battlefield for
centuries.--The victories of Bonaparte.--The first consul.--The
empire.--The French sweep over Europe.--Kings and emperors beaten and
deposed.--The fatal Russian campaign.--The first abdication.--The
return from Elba.--The battle of Waterloo.--The feudal lords once more
triumphant.


And now there came to the front one of the most remarkable characters
in all history. This was Napoleon Bonaparte, a little man from the
island of Corsica, of Italian parentage, but a French citizen, for the
island had been forcibly The annexed to France shortly before his
birth. As a young lieutenant in the army, he had seen the storming of
the Bastille. Later on, being in charge of the cannon which defended
the House of Parliament, he had saved one of the numerous governments
set up during this period. A Paris mob was trying to storm this
building, as they had the castle of the king. As a reward, he had been
put in charge of the French army in Italy, which was engaged in
fighting the Austrians.

In order to understand the situation it is necessity at this point to
devote some attention to the past history of the Italian peninsula.