Napoleon Bonaparte: The Superstition Behind the Man

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoléon Bonaparte (/nəˈpoʊliən, -ˈpoʊljən/;[2] French: [napɔleɔ̃ bɔnapaʁt], born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and itsassociated wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Napoleon dominated European affairs for nearly two decades while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He won several of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, rapidly conquering most of continental Europe before his ultimate defeat in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide and he remains one of the most celebrated and controversial political figures in Western history.[3][4]

Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769 to Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino in his family's ancestral home, Casa Buonaparte, in Ajaccio, the capital of the island of Corsica. He was their 4th child and 3rd son. This was a year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa.[9] He was christened Napoleone di Buonaparte, probably named after an uncle (an older brother, who did not survive infancy, was the first of the sons to be called Napoleone). In his twenties, he adopted the more French-sounding Napoléon Bonaparte.[10][note 1]

Napoleon, like many people from Corsica, had grown up with stories of ghosts and vampires. His nurse, Ilari, chanted incantations over him to protect him from demons and he believed in omens and good luck charms. Most of the time he wore a little black satin heart between his flannel waistcoat and his shirt and he carried a scarab that he had found in a Pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt in his waistcoat pocket.

When he grew up, this superstitions continued to determine his judgement. He believed in a Little Red Man of Destiny, who he believed controlled his fate.

The Little Red Man of Destiny was a ghost that followed Napoleon and helped him with his campaigns.  The Little Red Man of Destiny would sometimes appear to him as a small man.  Other times it would follow him as a large red star.  The Little Red Man of Destiny would give Napoleon truthful insight to the future.  

One time the Little Red Man of Destiny appeared to Napoleon and told him not to invade Russia, saying that he would lose his power if he didn't attempt to make peace with the rest of Europe.  When Napoleon ignored the Little Red Man of Destiny he started his downward spiral of failure.