Freely translated and revised from the original, Napoléon by J. Lucas-Dubreton (1955).
“I was a pugnacious little monster, I wasn’t scared of anyone, I’d beat up this person and scratch up that one…”
This is how Napoleon described himself as a lad. Born August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, he was the son of the local magistrate, Charles Bonaparte. But his rambunctiousness got tamed somewhat, first under the strict and attentive care of his mother, Laetitia, and then when he got sent away to Brienne, the military academy in Paris. There the little Corsican turned quiet and intense.
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