Soon after the mob's storming of the Tuileries, the revolutionaries
overthrew the monarchy and guillotined Louis XVI, proclaiming a
French Republic on September 25, 1792.
Historians often emphasize Napoleon's Corsican background,
perhaps to explain his egomaniacal attempt to take over the world; Corsica
had fallen to a series of conquering nations for years. However,
the young Napoleon was shipped off to France for schooling quite
early, and his upbringing, philosophy, and mentality were ultimately
much more French than they were Corsican. Every bit a rationalist,
Napoleon was a true child of the French Enlightenment.
Like so many significant historical figures, Napoleon
was largely self-taught. Napoleon's future ambitions were certainly
apparent in his choice of reading: he read history and geography,
obsessing over the stories of kings and generals like Alexander
the Great and Hannibal. Indeed, he would later take these men as
his examples, using their tactics as models for his own: Alexander
the Great of Macedonia built a huge empire, as Napoleon would eventually
do, and Hannibal (of Carthage) was famous for crossing the Alps
with a huge army (another surprise tactic Napoleon would recreate
during his own campaigns). Furthermore, even at this early stage
in his career, Napoleon read everything he could about England.
He was fascinated by England's strategies and spent considerable
time studying England's resources. From his reading at this time,
it seems reasonable to suppose that Napoleon may already have been dreaming
of his future exploits in some form.
Although Napoleon spent hours with his books, Napoleon
did not fail to garner important lessons from the events happening around
him. Part of the reason for the fall of the Ancien Regime was
that it had spent considerable resources supporting the American
colonists' revolution against the British. By the 1780s, the royal coffers
were drained and the monarchy had few resources. Napoleon would
note this, and would stay out of entanglements in the New World
that might have diverted resources from his efforts in Europe.
(For that reason, he would sell the Louisiana Territory to the
U.S.)
What was Napoleon doing during the events of 1789? Actually, he
was at home in Corsica with his family, on leave from the Army.
News of revolution had not yet reached Corsica. However, while
in Corsica, Napoleon wrote a letter on behalf of the entire island
to the French Royalty complaining about French neglect of Corsica.
After this letter, Corsica was considered pro-Revolution.
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