Napoleon Bonaparte To Josephine

Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) (1769 - 1821)

One of the greatest military leaders in history, Napoleon Bonaparte, 'The Little Corporal', was born in Corsica. Educated at French military schools, he distinguished himself early on. He commanded troops that quelled a royalist Parisian uprising in 1795 and as reward was given the army of the interior to lead. Soon after, he was made commander in chief of the army of Italy.

In addition to being a brilliant military mind and feared ruler, Napolean Bonaparte (1763 - 1821) was a prolific writer of letters. He reportedly wrote as many as 75,000 letters in his lifetime, many of them to his beautiful wife, Josephine, both before and during their marriage.

He married Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796, before going off to lead the poorly equipped army based in Italy. After a coup in 1799, Napoleon became first consul, and in 1804 emperor. Between 1804 and 1810 he consolidated his empire in Europe. In 1814, following defeat in Russia, he abdicated and was banished to Elba. In 1815 he resumed power, but was crushed at the Battle of Waterloo and exiled to St. Helena, where he died in 1821.

Spring 1797

To Josephine,

I love you no longer; on the contrary, I detest you. you are a wretch, truly perverse, truly stupid, a real Cinderella. You never write to me at all, you do not love your husband; you know the pleasure that your letters give him yet you cannot even manage to write him half a dozen lines, dashed off in a moment! What then do you do all day, Madame? What business is so vital that it robs you of the time to write to your faithful lover? What attachment can be stifling and pushing aside the love, the tender and constant love which you promised him? Who can this wonderful new lover be who takes up your every moment, rules your days and prevents you from devoting your attention to your husband?

Beware, Josephine; one fine night the doors will be broken down and there I shall be. In truth, I am worried, my love, to have no news from you; write me a four page letter instantly made up from those delightful words which fill my heart with emotion and joy. I hope to hold you in my arms before long, when I shall lavish upon you a million kisses, burning as the equatorial sun.