Our History Group met on Monday 30 March 2026 for a session that would reveal the truth on the history of Napoleon Bonaparte. We started on this journey with this excellent visual portrayal of his family tree.

Napoleon came from a fairly wealthy family and was born in Corsica. Until a year before his birth, Corsica had been governed from Genoa, but at that time it was handed over to France, and Napoleon’s father had a key role in the administration of the island.

Napoleon was the second born child and in all he had 7 siblings. So influential was the family that almost every child in the family ended up with involvement in the government of a European Country as can be seen from the Family Tree shown above.

The History Hit video analysed his rise the influence and then power, describing in detail the steps he took. Of particular interest was his establishment in Milan in Italy where he developed from accomplished military leader to statesman.

After a break for refreshments, we watched the Dan Snow video itemises the victories and defeats that Napoleon experienced during his time of influence. The video started with Toulon where the artillery had played a key role, and then took in the Pyramids, Marengo, Trafalgar, Austerlitz, Jena Auerstedt, Borodino, Leipzig, Ligny and finally Waterloo. Not all of these were victories by any means, and his ability to stay in power whilst both winning and losing was impressive.

Our next meeting will continue the story on Wednesday 29 April 2026 at 2pm.