Napoléon Bonaparte

Despite being known for his diminutive stature (Many believing him to be around five feet tall), Napoleon was around 5'7, above average height for an 18th century Frenchman (5'5). It was propaganda from his sworn enemy, England, that created his reputation as a miniature, petty tyrant. A number of misconceptions have aided in perpetuating the image to this day. First, French feet of the time period were longer than modern feet, causing his height in French feet to be numerically smaller. Also, his nickname Le Petit Caporal, ("The Little Corporal"), actually referred to his humble background and modesty around his troops, rather than his physical size. Finally, he was often seen during war time on foot, surrounded by hulking bodyguards (who had a height requirement), making him look short by comparison.

Napoléon's nephew, Charles Louis-Napoléon (Napoléon III), was the son of Joséphine's daughter and Napoléon's brother. Napoléon III was President of France from 1848-1852, and Emperor of the French from 1852-1870. He has been portrayed by Walter Kingsford, Sacha Guitry, Claude Rains, Walter Franck, and Leon Ames.

Researchers have discovered genetic evidence that lice-borne disease played a key role in his retreat through Russia in 1812.

His second wife was Marie Louise of Austria, daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. Married by proxy on March 11, 1810, they met for the first time 16 days later. Their son and only child, Napoléon François Joséph Charles (Napoléon II), was born on March 20, 1811. Marie Louise did not join Napoléon into his first or second exile. She married the father of her next three children three months after Napoléon died. In 1940, the body of Napoléon II (who died in 1832 without issue) was moved from Vienna to Paris, where he rests beside his father as a gift to France from Adolf Hitler. Rumored to have fathered at least 5 illegitimate children, Napoléon acknowledged only one, Charles Léon (1806-1881), whose birth was the all the incentive he needed to divorce his first wife Joséphine, as she had failed to give him an heir. Oddly, he refused to have anything to do with Charles and his mother, but provided for them.

Crowned himself Emperor on December 2, 1804. Claims that he seized the crown from Pope Pius VII during the ceremony are false; in fact, the procedure had been agreed upon in advance. After the Imperial regalia had been blessed by the Pope, Napoléon crowned himself, then his wife Joséphine. The ceremony was immortalized in Jacques Louis David's painting "The Coronation of Napoléon".

His father, Carlo Buonaparte, an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI in 1778.