He was Corse, Italian, French or...?

How was culturally Napoleon?


  • Total voters
    84

Anaxagoras

Banned
Napoleon considered himself to be French, did he not?

In his youth, he was fiercely Corsican and violently anti-French. When the Revolution started, he basically had assimilated French culture and wanted to Frenchify Corsica, but still saw himself as Corsican. It was really only after he and his family had been driven from the island by the Paoli forces in 1792 (IIRC) that he turned firmly and finally to France.
 

The Vulture

Banned
I call him Corsican, simply because he's our most famous native son and most folks would never have heard of Corsica if not for him.
 
However, i read somewhere he offended his generals in Italian... sign that he thought in this language into his mind or when he expressed feelings as wrath.

Despite all, i voted for the cultural mixture.;)
 
French.

Incidentally, I'd label Corsican as Italian in ethnic terms, MAYBE cultural. I must look more into the latter.
 
A Mixture

Throughout his youth and the early years of his military career, he definately considered himself Corsican, and he retained a heavy accent even after that, but he had certainly become a Frenchman by the end. I think though that he retained a slight affection for Corsica even as Emperor of the French.
 
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