He is now on his first of five vacations that he will take in Corsica over the next seven years. Seven years that will be fateful in the history of France and the world, seven years that will be fateful in the life of Napoleon.
Seven years in which Napoleon will transform from a Corsican patriot, an idealist, into an enemy of the people in the eyes of some Corsicans and he will be expelled from the island, he and all his family with him, after their property will be confiscated, their house will be burned down, and they will find themselves as destitute refugees in France. Seven years that close the first chapter in the life of Napoleon, which from now on I will call Bonaparte, and which is entitled “Corsica” and which will be followed by the chapter entitled “France"And instead of liberating France's excellent Corsica, Bonaparte would turn France into a tool in his hands to take over most of Europe and he would become the most powerful man of his generation, and one of the most famous figures in history ever."
Two main reasons led to this turn of events. One, French Revolution, which untied the shackles of Bonaparte's genius and allowed it to burst forth, and the second, the man. The man who changed Bonaparte's place and consequently caused a change in his fortune. The man whose name was Pasquale Pauli.
How did things turn out? I'll tell you that from one vacation to the next.
Nabolio's first vacation in Corsica
Buonaparte's first vacation lasted about a year, from September 1786 to September 1787, and was uneventful except for the death of Governor Merveff five days after Bonaparte's arrival on the island. The financial situation of his mother, Letizia, was extremely dire and worsened further after the death of his benefactor, the governor.
The family's patron, the 68-year-old Archdeacon Luciano, who literally sat on the family coffers, was an incomparable miser, especially since he was bedridden and suffering from gout. Bonaparte spent his time wandering around Ajaccio and its surroundings and writing letters to Paris in order to fulfill a financial promise made to his father. Without success.
In October 1787, Bonaparte returned to France, but instead of returning to his base in Valence, he asked to extend his vacation and continued to Paris, where he continued his attempts to collect the debt owed to his father. And there, on one cold winter night, on November 27, 1787, he lost his virginity in a room on the third floor of the Cherburg Hotel on Rue Four – Saint Honore (now Rue Vaurillers), and anyone who wants to know the details of what happened in the room that night is invited to read the article A hiking trail on the Right Bank following Napoleon Bonaparte.
Second vacation in Corsica
Then, in the height of his impudence, he requests another vacation in Corsica in order to participate in the Corsican Estates – an assembly of landowners in Corsica, in order to protect his family's financial interests. Moreover, Giuseppe went to study law in Pisa, Italy, and Bonaparte saw himself obliged to help his mother.
This leave will last from December 1, 1787 to June 1788, and then Bonaparte will return to France, but not to Valence, but to Auxonne, where the La Fere artillery brigade has been transferred. During this period, a change in his behavior begins. At first, he continues to isolate himself in his room, reading books without ceasing and keeping his distance from the other officers. As he himself testifies to this in his memoirs:
In 1787 I did Oxon. I did not set foot in the cafes, nor in the meeting places of society. I would eat dry bread and brush my own clothes so as not to be exceptional compared to my friends. I lived the life of a bear in my little room with my books – my only friends at that time…
But slowly and unexpectedly he became sociable, became talkative, became a joker, participated in social games, joked about senior commanders. He often argued about political issues and gained a reputation in this field among the people of the city. A courageous bond was formed between him and the brigade commander Baron Jean Pierre de Teil, and Bonaparte spent his time carefully reading the principles of new artillery warfare according to the doctrine of Jacque Antoine Hippolyte Comte de Guiber, which was a sensation when it was published.
During this period, Bonaparte became aware of the early beginnings of the great revolution that was about to come. In April 1789, in a town called Seurre, thirty kilometers from Auxonne, riots broke out due to the demand of Paris To transfer the town's wheat stock to it, in light of the severe famine that afflicted the capital following the harsh winter of 1788-1789.
A military force from the La Fere brigade was sent to suppress the riots. Bonaparte was the deputy commander of the force, but by the time the force reached Seurre the riots had subsided. The force would remain in the town as a garrison and when three months later, when the Parisian mob stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789, Bonaparte would sit down in a picturesque monastery called Citeaux near Seurre and praise the delicious wine he was sipping at dinner.
Bonaparte's heart is set on Corsica and he is especially concerned about the condition of his mother, who is nursing four young children – Luigi, later King Louis of the Netherlands, aged ten; Carlota-Maria (Pauliline), aged eight; Maria-Annunziata (Caroline), aged six, and Girolamo (Jerome), aged three.
In August 1789 he requested another leave, the third in number, and it was miraculously granted to him because in the meantime anarchy had spread throughout France, alertness had been declared in all army units and leave was prohibited. But his commander, Baron De Teil, granted him the leave because he himself felt it was necessary to save his palace in the Dauphiné region which had been looted and set on fire.
Third vacation in Corsica
Corsica, which he left in June 1788, is not the same Corsica he arrives in September 1789. All eyes are on France and people are thirsty to know what is happening there. The main issue is politics. Debates erupt in the main squares.
After the capture of the Bastille, the revolutionary spirit blows throughout the island. In Bastia, a revolutionary city council is elected and the governor is forced to wear the tricolor. In Corte, the mob takes over the government archive where the lists of residents' debts are kept and sets it on fire.
In Ajaccio, in a procession for the Feast of the Assumption, the Corsican flag is raised – a black Moorish head decorated with the tricolor, the bishop is dragged from his house and forced to wear the revolutionary cap. A revolutionary council (Comite Patriotique) is established. Giuseppe is one of its members. Political assemblies are convened all over the island. Priests are thrown out of their posts. The feeling of hostility towards the French foreign rule is mixed with feelings of sympathy and brotherhood for the French citizens.
The struggle was fought between two main groups. One, supporters of the French kingdom, comprised of nobles and dignitaries who benefited greatly, especially materially, from the connection with the French government, and the other, comprised of talented and ambitious young people, who benefited little if anything from the connection with the French government.
The Bonaparte brothers are included in this group, along with members of other respected families such as Pozzo di Borgo, Colonna Cesaris, Arenas, and Salisetis. Members of this group call themselves the “Patriots” to distinguish them from the members of the first group.
The patriots want to change the status of Corsica from an occupied region forcibly annexed by France to a region annexed to France by the will of its residents and constituting an integral part of it.
The brothers, Bonaparte and Joseph, work to advance themselves in the new political mechanisms. Bonaparte has more ambition than political experience. Giuseppe has a penchant for politics. The two brothers work to strengthen their position against the Corsicans who were exiled from the island after the defeat at Ponte Nuvuo and are about to return. Bonaparte joins the local Jacobin club, of which Giuseppe serves as secretary.
In March 1790, Bonaparte's ally, his Jewish friend Jean Jerome Levie, was elected mayor of Ajaccio, and Giuseppe, despite his young age (22), was elected to the city council. Bonaparte was still seeking a political appointment, after all, he was an officer in the French army on leave.
In Paris, Comte de Mirabeau calls on the National Assembly to grant amnesty to the Corsican freedom fighters, led by Pauli. The two Corsican representatives to the National Assembly oppose it. The representative of the nobility: Matteo Buttafuoco and the representative of the clergy - Abbe Peretti De La Rocca, arguing that Pauli's return will reignite the flames of rebellion.
Bonaparte is enthusiastic. He sees in Pauli, despite his advanced age (Pauli is 64), the leader who will lead Corsica not as a governor on behalf of France but in the name of the people and in accordance with the principles of the revolution. In April 1790 Pauli leaves his home on Old Bond St. in London, where he has lived for twenty years since his exile from the island, and arrives in Paris, where he is received as a revolutionary hero and glorified by the Marquis Lafayette and Maximilien Robespierre.
He appears before the National Assembly and swears allegiance to France. On July 14, 1790, the first Jour de la Bastille, Pauli lands in Corsica and is treated with great honor. The first thing he does is expel Matteo Buttafuoco and Abbe Peretti de La Rocca from the island. Boswell forgot to mention in his book that, along with his many virtues, Pauli is a vengeful and vigilant Corsican.
The return of Pauli and his loyalists upsets the young Corsican revolutionaries, including the Bonaparte brothers, who imagined they would reach influential positions in the new control mechanism that Pauli would establish. Instead, they discover that Pauli favors the heads of the traditional powerful families, without whose cooperation nothing can be done on the island.
Bonaparte will ask to extend his vacation. He wants to meet Pauli ahead of the Corsican General Congress that is about to convene in Orezza in the north of the island, and which will elect the Corsican National Assembly. It is said that Bonaparte accompanied Pauli on his way to Orezza and on their way, they will pass through villages and towns where Pauli is received with applause from all sides.
Among other things, they pass by the battlefield of Ponte Nuovo, where Pauli suffered a crushing defeat even before Bonaparte was born. They talk about the battle, and then the twenty-one-year-old Bonaparte explains to Pauli what his mistakes were and how he should have conducted the battle. One can guess what Pauli thought of the impudent young man.
In Orza, Pauli sets out his vision – a Corsica united with France but enjoying full autonomy. For the Bonaparte brothers, the congress was a great disappointment. Pauli advances his loyalists and does not forget Carlo's sons, their father's sin of not leaving the island with him and of collaborating with the French.
Giuseppe is not elected to the Corsican National Assembly as he had hoped but as compensation is elected to the regional council of Ajaccio. Bonaparte learns an important first lesson in the politics of those days. He sees how Pauli and his assistants use violence to get rid of their opponents and at the same time Pauli is received by the masses with cheers and festivities everywhere, and Bonaparte is a good student who forgets nothing.
Bonaparte will try to dance at two weddings – on the one hand, he is loyal to the principles of the revolution, and on the other hand, he is trying to purify his father's collaboration with the French in order to get closer to Pauli. Pauli, for his part, is not enthusiastic about the Bonaparte brothers. In his eyes, they are full of frenetic, clumsy, and unpolished ambition. He calls them: the sons of Carlo (I Figli di Carlo), and not from a place of respect.
Bonaparte's vacation had long since ended, and in order not to be considered a deserter, he supplied himself with letters from the local Jacobin clubs explaining that his stay in Corsica was necessary for revolutionary reasons.
At the beginning of 1791, he left Corsica, taking with him eleven-year-old Luigi, who from then on would serve as his tough and uncompromising teacher and educator. Luigi would prove to be a quick-witted, diligent, disciplined boy, and also handsome in a way that attracted the attention of the ladies. Bonaparte wrote to Giuseppe: “He (Luigi) is learning to write French…all the women here are in love with him. He has developed a French style, clean and agile.”
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France – Between a third and fourth vacation in Corsica
Bonaparte's head is at stake for Corsica and his political future there. He publishes a letter he wrote against Buttafuoco and sends a copy to Pauli, who is not impressed by the rash style of the reckless young man. He also asks Pauli to send him materials to write the history of Corsica, and Pauli replies that "history is not written in a man's youth."
Then a dramatic event occurs in France that will bring the end of the old regime closer and close the door on it. In June 1791, King Louis XVI's attempt to flee France is thwarted. Until then and from the beginning of the revolution, the king had ruled by virtue of the authority given to him by the people and by the constitution. Now he is denounced as a traitor and suspected of collaborating with France's enemies. All army officers, including Bonaparte, are required to swear allegiance anew – not to the king, but to the nation and the constitution.
Fourth vacation in Corsica
Then, in August 1791, Bonaparte requested another leave of absence, and the reason was that the Corsican National Assembly was about to convene again, and Bonaparte felt obliged to help Giuseppe get elected to the Assembly this time. He also had the opportunity to serve permanently in Corsica as a regular officer in the French army.
War Minister Lazard calls for the formation of volunteer battalions of the National Guard in all the provinces of France, to be commanded by officers of the regular army. Bonaparte's immediate commander, Campagnol, refuses to grant him leave.
However, Bonaparte bypassed him and turned to his former commander, Baron Du Teil, who had meanwhile been promoted to the rank of Inspector General of all French artillery, and he granted him leave at the very last minute on September 1, 1791, because a few days later all leave was suspended due to tensions on France's borders.
Giuseppe's hopes were dashed. He was not elected to the National Assembly. However, representatives of the two large, respected and rival Bonaparte families in Ajaccio were elected: Carlo Andrea Pozzo Di Borgo and Marius Peraldi.
Not only that, in February 1792 the National Assembly in Paris ordered all regular officers to return to their military units in France and forbade them from joining the National Guard except for officers of the rank of lieutenant colonel. And what can we do, Bonaparte is only a lieutenant. But there is a possibility of receiving the rank of lieutenant colonel if he is elected in a general election held in Ajaccio to one of the two elective command positions in the local National Guard battalion.
Bonaparte faces five candidates from more respected and wealthy families than the Bonaparte family. Two of them are the most dangerous – Mateo Pozzo di Borgo (younger brother of Carlo Andrea) and Giovani Peraldi (younger brother of Marius Peraldi).
There are even wilder elections than ours. Slander, insults. Bonaparte challenges Marius Peraldi to a duel and he doesn't even bother to respond. But the Bonaparte family should not be underestimated. In Ajaccio and its surroundings, he still has a lot of influence, especially in the villages of Bestelica and Bocognano), especially since the revolutionary political figure Cristoforo Saliseti, who will play a very fateful role in the second chapter of Bonaparte's life, in the chapter entitled "France" supports Bonaparte and calls several companies of the National Guard to the city to demonstrate his presence and support.
Everything depends on the three commissioners sent from Paris to supervise the elections. Two of them are staying at the Bonaparte family home. The third, named Morati, is staying with the Peraldi family.
Then Bonaparte, without saying a word, turns to his relative Angello Bonelli from Bocognano – who is a robber, literally, a bandit, known as Zamperino, who has been hiding in the maquis since the beginning of the French occupation, and he kidnaps Moratti from the Praledi house and transfers him to the Bonaparte house.
On election day, Matteo Pozzo di Borgo makes a speech and accuses Bonaparte of kidnapping. He is forcibly removed from the podium and almost dies if Bonaparte had not intervened. Evening. And at the end of the day – Giovani Battista Quenza, one of the other three candidates, is elected commander of the regiment, and Bonaparte is elected as his deputy – the Bonaparte family is pleased.
A week later, a God-awful commotion takes place in Ajaccio, dubbed the Easter Incident. A fight breaks out between girls playing ball. Sailors intervene. Insults are exchanged, a dagger is pulled out. A man is stabbed. National Guard volunteers arrest a man armed with a gun.
People rush to his aid. Shooting begins. A man is seriously injured. Bonaparte, who is nearby, senses the scene and on his way gathers several National Guard officers. Just then, the church doors open and the crowd rushes out. Bonaparte tries to extricate himself by persuasion, but then shooting begins from the windows and a National Guard officer is killed.
Bonaparte and his group retreat and find shelter in one of the nearby buildings and are rescued under the protection of a hostage. Bonaparte and Canza decide not to proceed with the agenda and the next day they call in reinforcements from outside and put the city under siege and lockdown.
They shoot at people leaving a church. Negotiations are underway and explode. Bonaparte tries to incite the soldiers of the French regular force stationed in Ajaccio to defect to his ranks. They do not comply. Food shortages begin in the city. Only after Pauli sends his representatives do things calm down.
Bonaparte writes a report in which he blames the city's residents for the riots and rushes to Corte to justify himself to Pauli. We do not know what happened in their conversation, but it is known that after it Giuseppe advises Bonaparte to return to France as soon as possible. Bonaparte understands this himself, he knows that he will have to give an account in Paris for the events of Easter.
Anarchy in Paris between a Wednesday and Friday vacation in Corsica
Bonaparte arrives in Paris on May 1792, 23, at the height of political tension. France is at war with Austria. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, has recently died, leaving his son Francis II a war that will last XNUMX years until the Battle of Waterloo.
Paris as a concoction. A struggle between the extremists and the moderates. Between the supporters of total war and the peace-loving. In the end, the extremists will prevail with the help of the sections of Paris - the wild inhabitants of the city's poor districts - the Sans-Cilots. Bonaparte develops a loathing for the wild crowd and for the legislative assembly that follows him, and he learns a second important lesson in politics: in order to maintain a successful state, law and order are needed first and foremost.
A month later, on June 20, 1792, Bonaparte met with Bourienne, his schoolmate from the military boarding school days in Briançon. The two met on Rue Saint Honore by the Palais Royal.
On their way to the restaurant, they encounter a wild crowd of about six thousand to eight thousand people armed with pitchforks, axes, swords, muskets, skewers, and pointed sticks shaped like human scum, moving toward the Tuileries Palace, where they intend to plant the Tree of Liberty in the middle of the royal compound.
The two rush to the second floor of the Bord de l'Eau cafe, where they see how things are getting out of control. The crowd storms into the palace, and for two hours King Louis XVI is subjected to humiliation and threats, and the crowd forces him to wear the Phrygian Bonet.
Bonaparte was now required to stand trial for the Easter events. Meanwhile, reports had arrived from Corsica accusing Canza and Bonaparte of being responsible for the riots and attempting to incite French soldiers to desert.
After reviewing the file, Minister of War Pierre August Lajard writes that Kenza and Bonaparte did indeed contribute to the unrest in the city, and that if their actions had been in a military context they would have been sentenced to death, but, since the incident involved both civilian and military elements, the file should be transferred to the Ministry of Justice. No one in the Ministry of Justice bothered to deal with the matter.
In fact, the government was in desperate need of officers. Not only that, but Bonaparte, twenty-two years old and inexperienced in combat, was promoted to the rank of captain. It took Bonaparte about three weeks to decide whether to give up his appointment as lieutenant colonel in the National Guard regiment in Ajaccio. On August 7, 1792, he wrote to Joseph: “…no matter what happens, I have decided to tie my fate to France,” but his demeanor was ambivalent. He still wanted to appear loyal to Pauli and maintained good relations with the tone-setters in Corsica.
Three days after he decided to return to his military unit, Bonaparte faced a difficult situation, much like he had faced in June.
Against the backdrop of the war between France and its neighbors, and following the Parisian mob's assault on the Tuileries Palace in June, the commander of the combined Austro-Prussian military force, the Duke of Brunswick, announces that if the attack on the palace is reversed, he will destroy Paris to the ground. This threat achieves the exact opposite.
On August 1792, XNUMX, Bonaparte saw crowds moving from all corners of Paris towards the Tuileries Palace. This time, it was about twenty thousand people armed with knives, axes, bayonets, rifles and other destructive tools. He ran towards the house of Bourienne's brother, which overlooks the palace. On his way, he encountered a crowd carrying a pole with a severed human head stuck on it.
The crowd stops him and suspects him because of his neat attire, and in order to escape, Bonaparte is forced to shout at the top of his lungs, "Vive La Nation." The defenders of the palace, some nine hundred Swiss soldiers and about two hundred courtiers and officers, are defeated and at least six hundred of them are horribly massacred. The king and his family flee the palace and find refuge in the nearby Legislative Assembly.
After a while, Bonaparte wanders among the bodies lying on the sidewalk. Later, he will write that no battlefield has left such a strong impression on him as the sight on the sidewalk that day. He tells of a woman who cut off intimate organs from the body of a Swiss soldier and waved them proudly. He comes across a resident of Marseille who is about to slaughter a wounded Swiss soldier. He turns to him and says in a southern accent: “Hey, Marseille man, leave this poor man alone.” The man turns to him and says: “You are from the south! Then we will save him.”
On this day, August 1792, 20, the Legislative Assembly decided to elect a new parliament to be called the “Convention” and which would meet for the first time on September 1792, 1792. On this day, August XNUMX, XNUMX, the monarchy was finally overthrown and the First French Republic was born.
Fifth and final vacation in Corsica
Then Bonaparte asks for another vacation, and this will be his fifth, final and fateful vacation in Corsica. And the reason? As usual, Bonaparte asks to help Giuseppe get elected to the convent. What's more, he must return his sister, Maria-Anna (Elizabeth) to Corsica, because the Legislative Council has decided to close all the elitist schools, including the prestigious school for girls in Saint Cyr.
Giuseppe is not elected to the convent. Not only that, but he also loses his seat on the regional council of Ajaccio. The third brother, Luciano, seeks to be appointed as Pauli's secretary but is rejected. The two brothers understand that Pauli has finally withdrawn his patronage from the family and they embrace the connection with the opposing faction, the Jacobins, loyal to France and the principles of the revolution. In Bonaparte's heart, a glimmer of hope still flickers that the hero of his youth will change his ways and show him kindness.
The continuation of Napoleon's adventures will come in the next article soon...