Napoleon I of France

In addition to this miscalculation, his nickname le petit caporal adds to the confusion, as non-francophones mistakenly take petit as meaning "small"; in fact, it is an affectionate term reflecting on his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers. The city of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, home to the infamous 1893 ejection of Gandhi from a first-class train, now hosts a commemorative statue of the Indian independence figure, installed a century a. This corresponds to 5 feet 6.5 inches in English feet, or 1.686 meters [4], making him slightly taller than an average Frenchman of the 19th century. National Historic Site in Atlanta, outside the Honolulu Zoo in Kapiolani Park, Hawaii, and near the Indian Embassy in the Dupont Circle neighbourhood of Washington, DC. After his death in 1821, the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 feet 2 inches in French feet. In the United States, there are statues of Gandhi outside the Ferry Building in San Francisco, in Herman Park, Houston Garden Center in Houston, in Union Square Park in New York City, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Contrary to popular belief (perpetuated by the above-mentioned caricatures), Napoleon was not especially short. In the United Kingdom, there are several prominent statues of Gandhi, most notably in Tavistock Gardens, London, near University College London, where he studied law.

See the discussion in [3] about the significance of the theorem. The Making of the Mahatma, directed by Shyam Benegal and starring Rajat Kapur, is a film about Gandhi's 21 years of life in South Africa. The theorem states that if we construct equilateral triangles on the sides of any triangle (all outward or all inward), the centres of those equilateral triangles themselves form an equilateral triangle, as illustrated on the right. However, the film has since been criticised by post-colonial scholars who argue that it depicts Gandhi as single-handedly bringing India to independence, and ignores other prominent figures (both elite and subaltern) in the anti-colonial struggle. In mathematics Napoleon is traditionally given credit for discovering and proving Napoleon's theorem, although there is no specific evidence that he did so. The best-known artistic depiction of his life is the film Gandhi (1982), directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Ben Kingsley (himself half-Gujarati) in the title role. Langewiesche also credits Napoleon with reorganizing what had been the Holy Roman Empire made up of more than 1,000 entities into a more streamlined network of 40 states providing the basis for the German Confederation and the future unification of Germany under the Second Reich in 1871. Such acceptance is consistent with the widespread perception of his deeply held religious beliefs and commitment to non-violence.

Professor Dieter Langewiesche of the University of Tübingen describes the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development of bourgeois society in Germany by expanding the right to own property and breaking the back of feudalism. The wide acceptance of this title outside India may in part reflect the complexities of the relationship between India and Britain during Gandhi's lifetime. The Code Napoléon was adopted throughout much of Europe and remained after Napoleon's defeat. As stated in his autobiography, Gandhi never accepted the title because he found himself unworthy of it. Nevertheless, Napoleon is also sometimes referred to as the "Armed Soldier of Democracy.". It was given in response to Gandhi conferring the title of "Gurudev" (Great Teacher; Guru: Teacher Dev: God/Holy) upon Tagore. 'Boney was a warrior') and poem, and as the grand enemy threatening the gates. The word "Mahatma," while often mistaken for Gandhi's given name, is taken from the Sanskrit term of reverence "mahatman," meaning “Great Soul.” The title "Mahatma" was accorded Gandhi in 1915 by his admirer Rabindranath Tagore (the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature).

He is remembered in song (e.g. Nelson Mandela, the leader of South Africa's struggle to end racial discrimination and segregation, is a prominent non-Indian recipient of this honor. However, he also had admirers in Britain (especially among the Whigs). The Government of India awards the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize to distinguished social workers, world leaders and citizen leaders. During his lifetime, he was often caricatured as a tyrannical (and diminutive) ogre, and these images have continued to colour the British memory of him. and Nelson Mandela titled "Children of Gandhi" to recognise his influence on the future generations of leaders. In Britain he is remembered as a despot. The Time had named Gandhi as the runner-up in "Person of the Century" and had an article with write-ups on Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa, Martin Luther King Jr.

Furthermore, the Napoleonic Wars also exported the Revolution to the rest of Europe, and it is believed that the movements of national unification and the rise of the nation state, notably in Italy and Germany, were rooted in and precipitated—if not caused—by the Napoleonic rule of those areas. The official Nobel e-museum has an article discussing the issue.[3]. He ended the lawlessness and disorder spawned by the Revolution; in modern terms, he was a "law and order" ruler. When the Dalai Lama was awarded the Peace Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi". In France, Napoleon is also seen as having preserved the Revolution by creating and perpetuating its myth. Decades later however, the Nobel Committee publicly declared its regret for the omission, and admitted to deeply divided nationalistic opinion denying the award to Gandhi. Napoleon is credited with introducing the concept of the modern professional conscript army to Europe, an innovation which other states were forced to follow. Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, though he was nominated for it five times between 1937 and 1948.

(See Above) Hundreds of millions have visited his tomb since that date. See Gandhism for a better understanding of Gandhi's own beliefs and mindset, and the criticism surrounding him. This may have been due to arsenic poisoning. The false construction of Gandhi as a socialist has made him the target of those upset with the four decades India spent in miserable economic conditions thanks to a lack-lustre socialist economic system. Upon opening the tomb, they found that Napoleon's body was completely preserved, as if he had died yesterday. Gandhi is often the target of criticism which should really be directed at the administration of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This final wish was not executed until 1840, when his remains were taken to France in the frigate Belle-Poule and entombed in Les Invalides, Paris. The Gujarat government is controlled by Narendra Modi, Chief Minister and man demonized by his defence of and protection of Hindu extremist mobs that caused the 2002 Gujarat violence, in which over 2,000 people died and thousands were displaced.

Napoléon had asked in his will to be buried on the banks of the Seine, but when he died in 1821 he was buried on Saint Helena. In 2004, the state of Gujarat was criticized for including anti-Gandhi passages in its mandated school history textbooks. Napoleon also formally adopted his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais and Joséphine's cousin, Stéphanie de Beauharnais, after assuming the Imperial throne, in order to arrange "dynastic" marriages for them. Members of hard-right Hindu political parties have often been quoted making anti-Gandhi remarks. Other information points to his having had further illegitimate children:. Supporters of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the Hindu hard-right seem to believe that Gandhi is single-handedly to blame for partition, and for the mollycoddling of Muslims at the expense of the concerns, feelings and rights of Hindu communities. He acknowledged at least two illegitimate children, both of whom had descendants:. All 350 million of them.

Napoleon was twice married:. But he did something, without which there would be no one country but 500, and no real freedom for the so-called common Indian. A team of physicians from the University of Monterspertoli led by Professor Biondi recently confirmed this. It may be too much to say he made a nation, for India is as timeless and boundless as the whole world itself. 91 kg (200 lb), confirming the autopsy result reported by Antommarchi. Gandhi's all-cultures, democratic organization laid the foundation for a nation that would genuinely be free, and where all religions, ethnic and linguistic groups would have genuine respect, love and brotherhood for one another. 76 kg (168 lb) while a year earlier he weighed approx. And above all, he made them work together for something common, and develop a common sense of identity and brotherhood.

From a multitude of forensic reports they derive that Napoleon at his death weighed approx. He gave voice to Muslim and Hindu women, and brought Muslims and Hindus together for the first time in history in a peaceful and righteous common cause. In May, 2005 a team of Swiss physicians claimed that the reason for Napoleon's death was stomach cancer (which was also the cause of his father's death). He knew there could be no freedom when a system of slavery remained a part of Hindu society, called untouchability. A group of Researchers from the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Department speculate that this treatment may have led to Napoleon's death by causing a serious potassium deficiency [2]. Gandhi made this Indian National Congress fight for the causes of common man: he led the fights against poverty, alcoholism, illiteracy, disease while simultaneously fighting the British. The medical regime imposed on Napoleon by his doctors included treatment with antimony potassium tartrate, regular enemas and a 600 milligram dose of mercuric chloride to purge his intestines in the days immediately prior to his death. And all these Indians, numbering more than 15 million, were united in a nationwide struggle for something called freedom and democracy.

This has led to speculation that Napoleon might have suffered from that disease. It contained men and women of all religions, 18 different language groups and from the poorest villages of the farthest corners of the Indian subcontinent. Prior to the discovery of antibiotics, arsenic was also a widely used, but ineffective, treatment for syphilis. It was Gandhi who created the first-ever nationwide organization truly representative of the common Indians. The group suggested that the most likely source in this case was a hair tonic. The Rebellion of 1857 touched something deep in many common Indians, but failed to do anything more. The lead investigator, Ivan Ricordel (head of toxicology for the Paris Police), stated that if arsenic had been the cause, Napoléon would have died years earlier. None had touched or changed the lives of the people.

More recent analysis on behalf of the magazine Science et Vie showed that similar concentrations of arsenic can be found in Napoleon's hair in samples taken from 1805, 1814 and 1821. It had seen over 1,000 years of oppression, tyranny and invasion, new rulers coming and going. There, it could have reacted with calomel-and-mercury-based compounds—common medicines at the time—and thus been the immediate cause of his death. In reality, India had not been united since Emperor Ashoka over 1,500 years ago. The arsenic severely weakened Napoléon and remained in his system. It claimed to represent a country united only in poverty and ignorance. This analysis on hair from Napoléon suggests that large but non-lethal doses were absorbed at random intervals. Language differences and religious antagonism made it a body of talk, not action or results.

Cutting up hairs into short segments and analysing each segment individually provides a histogram of arsenic concentration in the body. Before Gandhi, the Congress Party itself had been segregated by caste and ethnicity. In 2001, Pascal Kintz, of the Strasbourg Forensic Institute in France, added credence to this claim with a study of arsenic levels found in a lock of Napoleon's hair preserved after his death: they were seven to thirty-eight times higher than normal. Gandhi helped a silent nation that had suffered through 1,000 years of tyranny, oppression and invasion, to stand up for themselves, their beliefs and way of life, and tear down a world-wide empire. Arsenic was also used in some wallpaper, as a green pigment, and even in some patent medicines. It instead gave voice and strength to the poorest farmers, the most downtrodden of a huge society, the youngest of men and women and the most timid housewife. Arsenic was at the time sometimes used as a poison as it was undetectable when administered over a long period of time. It did not require men becoming armed militants and leading the lives of the hunted.

He describes Napoléon in the months leading up to his death, and led many, most notably Sten Forshufvud and Ben Weider, to conclude that he had been killed by arsenic poisoning. Gandhi gave the universal weapon of Satyagraha to ordinary human beings to fight injustice, tyranny and oppression. In 1955, the diaries of Louis Marchand, Napoléon's valet, appeared in print. Yet he led a rebellion of 300 million people from the front and tore down the British Empire. Francesco Antommarchi, Napoleon's personal physician, gave stomach cancer as a reason for Napoleon's death in his death certificate. He had not been a distinguished student or great professional. The cause of Napoleon's death has been disputed on numerous occasions, and the controversy remains to this day. Gandhi was a simple, frail and timid-looking man.

[1]. Mahatma Gandhi's biggest contributions to India and the world were:. Though not apparently enamoured of the language, he was a serious student under the tutelage of Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases, even pondering how much money he might have saved had he not required translation of English documents. Gandhi himself stated that "truth and non-violence are as old as the hills" and that he had taught nothing new to the world. He felt it important that he understand the mother tongue of his enemies, and he was particularly interested in what the British press wrote about him. India's independence was not won by Gandhi alone, but by the work and sacrifice of 100 million Indians over three to four generations. A footnote to his legacy: it would appear that Napoleon made an effort to study the English language while living in exile during his last years. The working English, if not their government, understood how the manufactures were hurting poor Indians, and that Gandhi wanted friendship with the British, but only on equal terms and with a free India.

When he died, on 5 May 1821, his last words were: "France, the Army, head of the Army, Joséphine.". When he traveled to England in 1931, he was lovingly greeted by Lancashire textile workers, whose produced goods he had himself advocated to be burned in India. In the last half of April 1821, he wrote out his own will and several codicils (a total of 40-odd pages). While he was the victim of Raj propaganda attempting to defame him and break up the freedom fighters, Gandhi's image in the United Kingdom proper was of a holy man, a lovable, saint-like gentle soul. Whilst there, with a small cadre of followers, he dictated his memoirs and criticized his captors. To his direct and main opponents, the British, Gandhi was always most gracious and civil. Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled by the British to the island of Saint Helena (2,800 km off the Bight of Guinea) from 15 October 1815. When the World War ended and the INA surrendered to the British, Gandhi openly lauded their bravery and encouraged the Congress to itself take up the work of rehabilitating INA soldiers, supporting the families of the soldiers and honoring their sacrifices.

Off the port of Rochefort, Napoléon made his formal surrender while on board HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815. Even at the height of the tensions between the Congress and the Muslim separatists, Gandhi never refrained from openly talking to Jinnah, calling him "my brother." After Pakistan was created, Gandhi had planned to visit to heal the wounds of partition, and re-create an atmosphere of friendship and goodwill, instead of the mistrust and hatred that poisoned inter-community and inter-nation relations for decades after Gandhi. Napoléon's final defeat came at the hands of the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at the Battle of Waterloo in present-day Belgium on 18 June 1815. To Gandhi, men like Subhas Bose, Jinnah and Bhagat Singh were all Indians, and thus partners in the freedom struggle. He arrived on 20 March, quickly raising a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000 and governed for a Hundred Days. And Savarkar attacked him as being a "traitor" by conceeding Pakistan and mollycoddling Muslims at the expense of Hindus. Following a brief silence, the soldiers erupted into shouts of "Vive L'Empereur!" The soldiers sent to stop the former emperor instead joined the ranks behind him and marched with Napoléon to Paris. Jinnah called him a hypocrite, and openly accused him of suppressing Muslims.

If any man would shoot his emperor, he may do so now". For example, Subhas Bose had repeatedly declared from Europe that Gandhi's leadership had failed. When he was within earshot of the men, he threw open his coat and shouted "Soldiers of the Fifth, you recognize me. There were never harsh words from Gandhi for anybody, even when he was on the receiving end of some terrible criticism. Napoléon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse, and confidently walked up to the line of soldiers. When their differing approaches were brought up, Gandhi always openly encouraged everybody to abandon violence and remain united, to prevent the British from justifying repression and dividing the Indian political leaders. When he returned to the mainland, King Louis XVIII sent the Fifth Regiment, led by Marshal Michel Ney who had formerly served under Napoléon in Russia, to meet him at Grenoble. But Gandhi always admired the courage of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Azad, and strongly protested the execution sentence handed to them.

Napoléon escaped from Elba on 26 February 1815 and returned to the mainland on 1 March 1815. Indian heroes like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad also did not meet with Gandhi's approval, who absolutely despised violent means of gaining freedom. The French government refused to pay the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and he heard rumours that he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a Hindu fundamentalist, who was implicated in the assassination of the Mahatma. On Elba, Napoléon became concerned about his wife and, more especially, his son, in the hands of the Austrians. Mohammad Ali Jinnah was opposed to Gandhi's satyagraha methodology, and became the leader of Muslim separatists. In France, the royalists had taken over and restored King Louis XVIII to power. Such leaders included Subhas Chandra Bose, who sided openly with Germany and Japan in World War II and organized the Indian National Army to militarily liberate India from colonial rule.

He told Caulaincourt "I shall live, since death is no more willing to take me on my bed than on the battlefield.". Throughout the Gandhi Era (1918-1948), there were many political leaders who fought for India's freedom but did not share Gandhi's views, and sometimes outrightly opposed them. The very next day, however, the Emperor was back to his normal self. Luckily, the hundred million followers of Gandhi made sure this encouragement was not necessary. When Napoleon saw his doctor, he asked the doctor to end his suffering, which seems to confirm Caulaincourt's suspicions. Rabindranath Tagore wrote a poem for Gandhi, which famously and beautifully asked him to press forward, do the right thing and walk forth, even if it meant walking alone. There is no way of knowing, however, whether it was really poison, a sedative whose effects were being resisted by Napoleon's body, or simply an anxiety attack. But he only fascinated them, despite the reality that he was disloding a departing generation and ushering in a new era, far more different than their own.

He believed it to be, not illogically, attempted suicide. Besant and Tilak opposed the satyagraha of the early 1920s, and Tagore clashed with Gandhi from time to time. General Caulaincourt, Napoleon's former foreign minister, witnessed Napoleon writhing, retching, and suffering from spasms of hysteria followed by moments of calm. Rabindranath Tagore, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Annie Besant, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Motilal Nehru were all senior leaders of the Indian cultural conscience and the freedom movement before Gandhi came along. While exiled in Elba, some claim Napoleon attempted to poison himself. Gandhi's open and humble nature also won him the admiration, mentorship and support of distinguished men who clashed with him ideologically on several issues at different times. They let him keep the title of "Emperor" but restricted his empire to that tiny island. Gandhi's optimistic, sweet nature won him the undying loyalty and reverence of thousands of co-workers, and led them to openly confide with him and ask his guidance upon the most personal issues of the lives of each person.

In the Treaty of Fontainebleau the victors exiled the Corsican to Elba, a small island in the Mediterranean 20 km off the coast of Italy. Both are widely regarded as having carried the flame of Gandhi's non-political work and legacy, as Nehru is seen to have carried on Gandhi's political mission. The Allies, however, demanded unconditional surrender and Napoléon abdicated again, unconditionally, on 11 April. Kalelkar and Bhave built ashramas in Maharashtra, and worked hard against economic injustice, social reform, against discrimination, untouchability, the opression of women and human freedom. His marshals asked Napoléon to abdicate, and he did so on 6 April in favour of his son. Badshah Khan was a Pathan leader, who in stark contrast to the common perceptions of his people, built an organization more committed to non-violent resistance than the Congress itself. Paris was occupied on March 31, 1814. Narhari Parikh was the architect of many inspired revolts and battles in Gujarat against the British, and a close associate of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel himself.

The French armies could only delay, not prevent, inevitable defeat. Mahadev Desai was a young lawyer who had abandoned his ambitions to become his most loyal secretary, gaining an insight into the Mahatma which Wikipedia and countless historians would have loved to have. Although some historians consider the defensive campaigns of late 1813 and early 1814 to be among Napoleon's most brilliant, the French were now surrounded (with British armies pressing from the south in addition to the Coalition forces moving in from Germany) and vastly outnumbered. Meerabehn was a young Englishwoman Madeleine Slade who had left England inspired by Gandhi's teaching and had come to live by his side, utterly devoted to her guru and his teachings. After this Napoléon withdrew in an orderly fashion back into France, but his army was now reduced to less than 100,000 against more than half a million Allied troops. Gandhi inspired spiritually and emotionally many men and women like Kala Kalelkar, Vinoba Bhave, Meerabehn, Mahadev Desai, Narhari Parikh and Badshah Khan. This was by far the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars and cost both sides a combined total of over 120,000 casualties. While Nehru's relationship with Gandhi is more celebrated and fantasized about by Indian media, school books and common people, the Gandhi-Patel relationship produced the phenomenon, the wonder of absolute self-less patriotism and dynamic revolution that propelled a disunited, enslaved and divided India into freedom, unity and the future.

Some of the German states switched sides in the midst of the battle, further undermining the French position. It was the observation of his closest associates and Patel's own confession that it was Gandhi's tragic murder and Patel's bottling up of immense grief that caused his own shy with death. Eventually the French army was caught by a force twice its size at the Battle of Nations (October 16-19) at Leipzig. He was saved only by the divine-sent presence of his nurse. However, the numbers continued to mount against Napoleon as Sweden and Austria joined the Coalition. Sardar Patel himself suffered a heart attack one month after Gandhi's death. It appeared the Napoleon of old was back and that the Coalition might be forced to conclude a peace treaty if this run continued. This would last till the Sardar's own death in 1950, although it would undergo more rocky bumps.

Napoleon assumed command in Germany and soon inflicted a series of defeats on the Allies culminating in the Battle of Dresden on August 26-27, 1813 causing almost 100,000 casualties to the Coalition forces (the French sustaining only around 30,000). Before Gandhi's body later that evening, a distraught Nehru emotionally embraced the Sardar and gave his pledge for their united partnership. Heartened by Napoleon's losses in Russia, Prussia soon rejoined the Coalition that now included Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal. He was assassinated half an hour later. This force continued to expand, with Napoleon aiming for a force of 400,000 French troops supported by a quarter of a million German troops. Sardar Patel thus became the last of Gandhi's closest associates to see and talk with him. A small Russian army harassed the French in Poland and eventually 30,000 French troops there withdrew to Germany to rejoin the expanding force there - numbering 130,000 with the reinforcements from Poland. Gandhi then asked Patel to tell Nehru about his wishes, and left for his prayer meeting.

Napoleon was determined not to lose hold of Germany and there was a lull in fighting over the winter of 1812–13 whilst both the Russians and the French recovered from their massive losses of around half a million soldiers each. Gandhi asked Patel to continue as Deputy Prime Minister, and equal partner in India's leadership team. In total French losses in the campaign were 570,000 against about 400,000 Russian casualties and several hundred thousand civilian deaths. On January 30th 1948, Gandhi and Patel had the most crucial talk of both their lives. The French suffered greatly in the course of a ruinous retreat; the Army had begun as over 650,000 frontline troops, but in the end fewer than 40,000 crossed the Berezina River (November 1812) to escape. Gandhi was the referee in the Patel-Nehru disputes, and in early 1948, it was widely assumed that an exhausted Patel would be asked to leave the Government in Nehru's hands entirely by the Mahatma. Within the month, fearing loss of control in France, Napoleon left Moscow. After independence, Patel became the Deputy Prime Minister, and the rivalry that fostered there drew Patel to the limit of his emotions and constitution.

Moscow began to burn in accordance with orders of the city's military governor and commander-in-chief, Fyodor Rostopchin. The relations between the Sardar and Nehru were never personally affectionate, but of camaderie despite ideological differences. The Russians retreated and Napoleon was able to enter Moscow, assuming that Alexander I would negotiate peace. And if Gandhi gave birth to the modern rebellion and oversaw its nationwide expansion, it was the Sardar who saw the nationalists and India through the finish line and safely into a free future. It appeared both Barclay and Kutuzov had been correct in their assessments of the situation for, outside Moscow on 7 September, the Russian army was defeated after what may have been the bloodiest day of battle in history - the Battle of Borodino (see article for comparisons to the first day of the Battle of the Somme). But the Sardar's loyalty and affection for Gandhi, and vice versa were higher than thirst for power or office. Kutuzov also soon came under criticism for this and finally offered battle. Even the British acknowledged that Sardar Patel was the only man who could stand up to Gandhi.

Realising the reality of the situation, Kutuzov continued Barclay's strategy. Had Patel openly objected to Gandhi's leadership at any of these junctures, it would have wrecked the Congress right down the line. Criticized over his tentative strategy of continual retreat, Barclay was replaced by Kutuzov. Patel was Gandhi's foundation pillar of support and execution during the Civil Disobedience Movement and the controversial and divisive, yet India's largest mass revolt, the Quit India Movement, and of course, at anything that happened in Gujarat. The Russians then repeatedly avoided battle with the Grande Armée, although in a few cases only because Napoleon uncharacteristically hesitated to attack when the opportunity presented itself. Patel was the architect of the Congress Party's election strategy in 1934, 1937, 1946 and 1947. A brief attempt at resistance was offered at Smolensk (August 16-17), but the Russians were defeated in a series of battles in the area and Napoleon resumed the advance. Patel on the other hand was the chief of India's most nationalistic province.

The Russians under Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly were unable to successfully defeat Napoleon's huge, well-organized army and retreated instead. Without Gandhi's patronage and mentorship, Nehru's raw, temperate political judgment would have won him no kudos from the Congress Party. Napoleon also rejected requests to free the Russian serfs, fearing this might provoke a conservative reaction in his rear. While Gandhi sparked the inner fires of Sardar Patel, he actually made Nehru. For political reasons this was unlikely to happen (principally because it would bring Prussia and Austria into the war against France). Nehru was energetic and young, while both Gandhi and Patel were in their 70s in 1947. Polish nationalists wanted all of Russian Poland to be incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and a new Kingdom of Poland created. Gandhi knew that Nehru's appeal to the hundreds of millions of common Indians, to the Muslim community and to young Indians would serve as a uniter, especially in the poisonous, suspicion-filled climate of partition-era India.

Napoleon, in an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists, termed the war the "Second Polish War" (the first Polish war being the liberation of Poland from Russia, Prussia and Austria). The PM would be the public image, which would form the public's trust with the Government. Victor Hugo would write in his poem, "Russia 1812" (1873):. Gandhi saw all his flaws, but knew that Nehru's energy, passion and rapport with the public was more advantageous to a young nation when a leader was to be picked. On June 23, 1812, Napoleon's invasion of Russia commenced. Nehru was often a political liability, speaking his radical views at the embrassment of the Congress, and was never actually responsible for a singular initiative in the movement, or commanding the loyalty of Congress organization. Napoleon ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the vast Russian heartland, and prepared his forces for an offensive campaign. Nehru and Subhas Bose were considered the young radicals of the Congress in the 1920s, but Nehru had, like Patel, agreed with the Mahatma or stuck to his line more than Subhas Bose did.

However Napoleon anticipated this and after the initial reports of Russian war preparations he began expanding his Grande Armée to a massive force of over 600,000 men (despite already having over 300,000 men deployed in Iberia). Scion of a political family, Nehru was more radical in ideas, more glamorous in persona and the darling of the masses. Large numbers of troops were deployed to the Polish borders (reaching over 300,000 out of the total Russian army strength of 410,000). Why did Gandhi pick Nehru? Contemporary media often portrays the Gandhi-Nehru relationship as that of a father and son. By 1812, advisors to Alexander suggested that a vast revolution was brewing across Germany and that the time was right for an invasion of the French Empire (and the recapture of Poland). Yet Patel never hesitated to relinquish the honor, and remained very close to Gandhi. This enraged Napoleon, who it seems had genuinely liked Alexander since their meeting and thus felt betrayed. In 1946 especially, it was the greatest sacrifice to forgo becoming India's first Prime Minister.

The first signs that the alliance was deteriorating was the easing of the application of the Continental System in Russia. Both in 1929 and 1946, Patel obeyed the Mahatma. Despite being an avid admirer of Napoleon since first meeting him in 1807, Alexander had been under strong pressure from the Russian aristocracy to break off the alliance with France, as they considered it an insult to Russian pride. After pointing out to Nehru the fact that no PCC had nominated him, and measuring Nehru's frigid response, Gandhi asked Patel in a written note to withdraw, even though the election was his. Although the Congress of Erfurt had sought to preserve the Russo-French alliance, by 1811 tensions were again increasing between the two nations. Despite receiving no nomination, Nehru's candidacy was backed by the Working Committee. Main article: Napoleon's invasion of Russia.. 11 out of 15 Congress provincial committees had submitted Patel's name.

Following this a new peace was signed between Austria and France and in the following year the Austrian Archduchess Marie-Louise married Napoleon, following his divorce of Josephine. This election was crucial because the elected man would go on to head a free India's new government. After both sides had licked their wounds for two months the principal French and Austrian armies engaged again near Vienna resulting in a French victory at Battle of Wagram (6 July). Gandhi also famously asked Patel to stand down from the election for the party's presidency in 1946. A bloody draw at Aspern-Essling (May 21-22, 1809) near Vienna was the closest Napoleon ever came to a defeat in a battle with more or less equal numbers on each side. In 1929, a Sardar Patel who had just won a great victory in Gujarat over the British was passed up for the Congress Presidency for the glamourous, unseasoned and suave Nehru. However at this time Austria broke its alliance with France without warning and Napoleon was forced to assume command of forces on the Danube and German fronts. There were notable incidents in the Gandhi-Patel relationship.

The Spanish, inspired by nationalist and Catholic opposition to the French, rose in revolt. Gandhi in turn, developed a deep affection for Patel. He installed one of his marshals and brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, as the King of Naples, his brother Joseph Bonaparte, as king of Spain . Patel realized that Gandhi's true power lay in inspiring common people to fight for their rights and freedom, that the purity of non-violent resistance empowered a wide majority of Indians. After mixed results were encountered by his generals Napoleon himself intervened and defeated the Spanish army, retook Madrid and then defeated a British army sent to support the Spanish, driving it to the coast and ignoble withdrawal from Iberia (in which its commander, Sir John Moore, was killed). Patel developed a deep respect for Gandhi's political instincts, and did not disagree with him until the partition crisis in 1946-47. When Spain refused Napoleon sent forces into Spain as well. Sardar Patel grew very close to Gandhi and his wife Kasturba, personally serving Gandhi as a younger brother when they were incarcerated in the early 1930s at Yeravda.

Portugal did not comply with this Continental System and in 1807 Napoleon sought Spain's support in an invasion of Portugal. This political phenomenon in 1918, had been a bridge-playing, sharp-witted, sophisticated barrister in the Gujarat Club, cracking jokes about loose-mouthed politicians and the newcomer from South Africa. The English economy did suffer to an extent from this - but no more so than the French Empire's economy and neither nation was in a position to challenge the other. Gandhi almost single-handedly inspired the re-birth of a proud, hard-charging barrister, who became the most aggressive and action-minded of all nationalist leaders, the undisputed leader of Gujarat, the paramount contributor state to the Indian Independence Movement and the "Ironman of India"; a man who single-handedly brought 565 princely states into the Union to form a united India by independence; led the charge to fight-back the communal riots in Punjab and Delhi and rehabilitate over 10 million refugees, and defended the young nation's unity and peace by swift action against the rogue state Hyderabad and Pakistan's invasion and claims over Jammu and Kashmir and Junagadh. Napoleon attempted to enforce a Europe-wide commercial boycott of Britain called the "Continental System". But in 1918, with the Kheda Satyagraha, Patel volunteered to head the movement with Gandhi, and abandoned his life of comfort and riches. Since he failed at conquering the British militarily, he decided to try to conquer them economically, by banning all merchandise and ships from continental Europe. Sardar Patel was a settled, successful middle-aged barrister in Ahmedabad, earning wealth and respect and with no hankering for the stylish politics of pre-Gandhi Congressmen.

Main articles: Peninsular War, Fifth Coalition.. The most closely analyzed of all personal relationships with the Indian leaders by historians, is the Triumvirate of Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru. Between 1809 and 1813 Napoleon also served as Regent of the Grand Duchy of Berg for his brother Louis Bonaparte. The relationships he shared with men and women working with him will go a long way in testifying of the phenomenon that he was. In the French part of Poland, he established the Duchy of Warsaw with King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony as ruler. He inspired a team of Indian leaders, a generation of Indian people. He placed puppet rulers on the thrones of German states, including his brother Jerome as king of the new state of Westphalia. Gandhi was a leader of men and women.

After a major victory at Friedland he signed a treaty at Tilsit in East Prussia with the Russian tsar Alexander I, dividing Europe between the two powers. Although discrimination still exists in many parts of the society, having the vast majority of society, clergy and government united behind the forces of freedom, education and justice is an advantage created simply by the inspiration of Gandhi. Napoleon marched on through Poland but was attacked by the Russians at the bloody Battle of Eylau on 6 February 1807. Although a controversial figure due to the tragedy of partition for some fundamentalist Hindus, Gandhi did more for Hindu society than anyone in the last 500 years. He secured a major victory against Austria and Russia at Austerlitz (2 December), forcing Austria yet again to sue for peace; and, in the following year, humbled Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (14 October 1806). Untouchability, suttee, dowry, child marriage, the purdah were outlawed in independent India and casteism was denied official recognition or use. Napoleon then finally abandoned all hope of invading Britain, and turned his attention once again to his Continental rivals. Much of the vast momentum in society to break with 1,000-year old "traditions" of discrimination, violence and ignorance were fueled by Gandhi's leadership and the freedom movement he cultivated and strengthened.

A plan by the French, along with the Spanish, to defeat the Royal Navy failed dramatically at the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805), and Britain gained lasting control of the seas. With his study of the Bible and the Quran, Gandhi imbibed reforms that Islam and Christianity could bring to Hinduism, but also noted that neither faith had anything that Hinduism did not already inspire, and that Hinduism's boundaries extended far beyond any modern religion. By 1805 the Third Coalition against Napoleon had formed in Europe. It helped destroy the image of Hinduism as a backward, oppressive and pagan faith system, and liberate the consciousness of Hinduism as a system of religion, philosophy and knowledge more diverse and rich than possibly any other system in the world. Then at Milan's cathedral on 26 May 1805, Napoleon was crowned King of Italy, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. Gandhi's efforts exposed the rich heritage, philosophy and deep mystery of Hinduism, over its more visible social traditions. After the Imperial regalia had been blessed by the Pope, Napoleon crowned himself before crowning his wife Joséphine as Empress. Deeply inspired in life and work by the Gita's teachings, Gandhi's teachings and employ of truth, non-violence and devotion to win freedom and reform society made Hinduism a positive source of inspiration for modern Indians and millions of Westerners.

Claims that he seized the crown out of the hands of Pope Pius VII during the ceremony in order to avoid subjecting himself to the authority of the pontiff are apocryphal; in fact, the coronation procedure had been agreed upon in advance. Gandhi studied the Bhagavad Gita closely, as well as the epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Napoleon crowned himself Emperor on 2 December 1804 (illustration, right) at Notre-Dame Cathedral. Ambedkar, political leader of the untouchables to agree to rejecting separate electorates shows the formidable respect he commanded in the eyes of tens of millions of harijans in India. Bonaparte then used this incident to justify the re-creation of a hereditary monarchy in France, with himself as Emperor, on the theory that a Bourbon restoration would be impossible once the Bonapartist succession was entrenched in the constitution. The fact that Gandhi's fast at Yeravda Jail forced B.R. After a hurried secret trial, the Duke was executed on 21 March. Gandhi though never allowed the British government and other political groups to divide Hindu society along caste lines by granting them special political status.

In retaliation, Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien, in a violation of the sovereignty of Baden. Thousands of prominent Hindus worked to destroy the evil practices within Hindu society, and Gandhi even inspired Hindu nationalist and reformist public organizations like the Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh. In January 1804, Bonaparte's police uncovered an assassination plot against him, supposedly sponsored by the Bourbons. Adopting the call of the freedom struggle, tens of millions of orthodox Hindus invited untouchables to eat with them, and the Congress and social groups opened schools and hospitals by the dozen in different parts of the country. The dispute over Malta provided the pretext for Britain to declare war on France in 1803 to support French royalists. He worked strongly against the practice of suttee, child marrriage, the social castigation of widows and alcoholism, which had ruined the lives of countless women by claiming their husbands. Recognizing that the French possessions on the mainland of North America would now be indefensible, and facing imminent war with Britain, he sold them to the United States—the Louisiana Purchase—for less than three cents per acre ($7.40/km²). Gandhi also wanted Hindu women to receive equal treatment in the eyes of the law, and a position of respect and honour in mainstream society.

In 1803, Bonaparte faced a major setback when an army he sent to reconquer Santo Domingo and establish a base was destroyed by a combination of yellow fever and fierce resistance led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. Gandhi knew that as long as Hindu society retained this system of oppression within itself, the nation could never truly be free in spirit and character, which was more important than merely controlling the government. Britain failed to evacuate Malta and Egypt as promised, and protested against France's annexation of Piedmont, and Napoleon's Act of Mediation in Switzerland (although neither of these areas was covered by the Treaty of Amiens). Gandhi also struck out against Brahmin corruption and oppression of common people by corrupt priests and for villages and towns to work together to clean their neighborhoods, and ending the undignified isolation and discrimination of low caste and untouchable Hindus. In Britain, the brother of Louis XVI was welcomed as a state guest although officially Britain recognized France as a republic. Gandhi pressed for education as a mass weapon for salvation, freedom and success in life. The "legitimate" monarchies of Europe were reluctant to recognize a republic, fearing that the ideas of the revolution might be exported to them. Gandhi succeeded in defending common Hindu traditions, customs and values against the attacks of Christian missionaries and the Westernized elite of England-educated Indians and Britishers in India, without being xenophobic or racist.

The peace between France and Britain was uneasy at best. Gandhi was a champion of women's freedoms and rights (especially dowry, child marriage, the "purdah" or veil, and widow-burning, or Suttee), and helped Hindus develop a cleaner, healthier social relationship with Muslims and Christians. As a result the Treaty of Lunéville was signed in February 1801, under which the French gains of the Treaty of Campo Formio were reaffirmed and increased; the British also committed themselves to sign a peace treaty and finally signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, under which Malta was to be handed over to France. He brought uniformity, a sense of common identity and unity to millions of Congressmen and hundreds of millions of people who were divided by caste, religion, language and ethnicity. Moreau led France to victory at Hohenlinden. Gandhi struck out firmly against untouchability and caste discrimination. As negotiations became more and more fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general Moreau to strike Austria once more. These qualities gave him the means to touch Hindu society in a way comparable only to the Avatara of the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

Napoleon's brother Joseph, who was leading the peace negotiations in Lunéville, reported that due to British backing for Austria, Austria would not recognize France's newly gained territory. His Ashram inspired the equality of all mankind and service to humanity, and he was always approachable. Although the campaign began badly, the Austrians were routed in June at Marengo, leading to an armistice. His ascetic lifestyle, stringent adherence to moral values despite any cost (He stopped a national civil disobedience campaign over the murder of a few policemen by a rowdy mob of agitators in 1922). He and his troops crossed the Alps in spring (although he actually rode a mule, not the white charger on which David famously depicted him). Gandhi was the member of the third caste, but reverred by thousands of Brahmin priests as an expert on Hindu religion and a leader of Hindus. In 1800, Bonaparte returned to Italy, which the Austrians had reconquered during his absence in Egypt. Mahatma Gandhi was perhaps the greatest modern leader of Hinduism and Hindu society, along the path marked by great saints like Kabir, Ramakrishna and Sai Baba but with a considerably wider impact.

Bonaparte sought to restore law and order after the excesses of the Revolution, and reform the administration of the State. Tagore vehemently opposed Gandhi's stance, maintaining that an earthquake can only be caused by natural forces, not moral reasons, however repugnant the practice of untouchability may be. Although Bonaparte was an authoritarian ruler, the same was true of most continental European countries at the time. Gandhi maintained this was because of the sin committed by upper caste Hindus by not letting untouchables in their temples (Gandhi was committed to the cause of improving the fate of untouchables, referring to them as Harijans, people of Krishna). Although contemporary standards may consider these procedures as favoring the prosecution, when enacted they sought to preserve personal freedoms and to remedy the prosecutorial abuses commonplace in European courts. On January 15, 1934, an earthquake hit Bihar and cause extensive damage and loss of life. In 1808, a Code of Criminal Instruction was published, which enacted precise rules of judicial procedure. These debates exemplify the philosophical differences between the two most famous Indians at the time.

Other codes were commissioned by Bonaparte to codify criminal and commerce law. In spite of their deep reverence to each other, Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore got involved in protracted debates more than once. The Code was prepared by committees of legal experts under the supervision of Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, who held the office Second Consul from 1799 to 1804; Bonaparte, however, participated actively in the sessions of the Council of State that revised the drafts. Gandhi felt that one should be aware of worshiping the symbols and idols of the religion and not its teachings, such as worshipping the crucifix whilst ignoring its significance as a symbol for self-sacrifice, for example. His set of civil laws, the Napoleonic Code or Civil Code, has importance to this day in many countries. He was deeply influenced by the Christian teaching of nonresistance and "turning the other cheek", once stating that if Christianity practised the Sermon on the Mount, he would indeed be a Christian. He negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic Church, seeking to reconcile the mostly Catholic population with his regime. Gandhi believed that at the core of every religion was Truth (satya), Love/Nonviolence (ahimsa) and the Golden Rule.

Bonaparte instituted several lasting reforms including centralized administration of the départements, higher education, a tax system, a central bank, law codes, and road and sewer systems. Later in his life when he was asked whether he was a Hindu, he replied:. This made him the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the Constitution of the Year X, which made him First Consul for life. On Islam he said:. Although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, he was outmanoeuvred by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. The concept of Islamic jihad can also be taken to mean a nonviolent struggle or satyagraha, in the way Gandhi practiced it. On 9 November (18 Brumaire), and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control and dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government. He also said the following about Hinduism:.

The plot included Bonaparte's brother Lucien, then serving as speaker of the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, and Talleyrand. Gandhi was critical of the hypocrisy in organised religion, rather than the principles on which they were based. Bonaparte was approached by one of the Directors, Sieyès, seeking his support for a coup to overthrow the constitution. He then went on to say:. The Republic was bankrupt, however, and the corrupt and inefficient Directory was more unpopular with the French public than ever. He wrote in his autobiography:. By the time he returned to Paris in October, the military situation had improved thanks to several French victories. Although Gandhi was born a Hindu he was critical of most religions, including Hinduism.

Although he was later accused by political opponents of abandoning his troops, his departure actually had been authorized by the Directory, which had suffered a series of military defeats to the forces of the Second Coalition, and feared an invasion. On the subject of Christianity he noted that:. On 23 August, he abruptly set sail for France, taking advantage of the temporary departure of British ships blockading French coastal ports. Gandhi questioned religious practices and doctrines regardless of traditions or beliefs. While in Egypt, Bonaparte had kept a close eye on European affairs, relying largely on newspapers and dispatches that arrived only irregularly. Consequently, the spinning wheel was later incorporated into the flag of the Indian National Congress. Eventually Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Egypt in 1801, under constant British and Ottoman attacks. It was Gandhi's view that if Indians made their own clothes, it would deal an economic blow to the British establishment in India.

On 25 July, he defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir. While Indian workers were often idle due to unemployment, they had often bought their clothing from industrial manufacturers owned by British interests. He was unable to reduce the fortress of Acre, and was forced to retreat to Egypt in May. Gandhi and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread they themselves spun, and encouraged others to do so. In early 1799 he led the army into the Ottoman province of Syria, now modern Israel, and defeated numerically superior Ottoman forces in several battles, but his army was weakened by disease and poor supplies. He advocated the use of homespun cloth (khadi). His goal of strengthening the French position in the Mediterranean Sea was thus frustrated, but his army nonetheless succeeded in consolidating power in Egypt, although it faced repeated nationalist uprisings. He dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India.

Although Bonaparte had massive success against the native Mamluk army in the Battle of the Pyramids (his 25,000 man strong invading force defeated a 100,000 man army), his fleet was largely destroyed by Nelson at The Battle of the Nile, so that Bonaparte became land-bound. Returning to India from South Africa, where he had enjoyed a successful legal practice, he gave up wearing Western-style clothing, which he associated with wealth and success. Bonaparte's expedition seized Malta from the Knights of Saint John on June 9 and then landed successfully at Alexandria on July 1, eluding (temporarily) pursuit by the Royal Navy. For three and a half years, from the age of 37, Gandhi refused to read newspapers, claiming that the tumultuous state of world affairs caused him more confusion than his own inner unrest. In a largely unsuccessful effort to gain the support of the Egyptian populace, Bonaparte also issued proclamations casting himself as a liberator of the people from Ottoman oppression, and praising the precepts of Islam. On such days he communicated with others by writing on paper. This deployment of intellectual resources is considered by some an indication of Bonaparte's devotion to the principles of the Enlightenment, and by others as a masterstroke of propaganda obfuscating the true imperialist motives of the invasion. This influence was drawn from the Hindu principles of mouna (silence) and shanti (peace).

An unusual aspect of the Egyptian expedition was the inclusion of a large group of scientists assigned to the invading French force: among the other discoveries that resulted, the Rosetta Stone was found. He believed that abstaining from speaking brought him inner peace. The Directory, although troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, readily agreed to the plan in order to remove the popular general from the centre of power. Gandhi spent one day of each week in silence. In March 1798, Bonaparte proposed an expedition to colonize Egypt, then a province of the Ottoman Empire, seeking to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India. Part of this may also have been influenced by the fact that his father passed away while he was making love to his wife. Bonaparte himself proceeded to the peace negotiations with Austria, then returned to Paris in December as the conquering hero and the dominant force in government, far more popular than any of the Directors. He felt it his personal obligation to remain celibate so that he could learn to love, rather than lust.

This left Barras and his Republican allies in firm control again, but dependent on Bonaparte's "sword" to stay there. In his autobiography he tells of his battle against lustful urges and fits of jealousy with his childhood bride, Kasturba. Bonaparte soon sent General Augereau to Paris to lead a coup d'etat and purge the royalists on 4 September (18 Fructidor). Gandhi did not however believe that this was something that everyone should take up. The royalists, in turn, began attacking Bonaparte for looting Italy and overstepping his authority in dealings with the Austrians (not without justification on both counts). This decision was deeply influenced by the Hindu idea of [brahmacharya]]—spiritual and practical purity—largely associated with celibacy. Elections in mid-1797 gave the royalist party increased power, alarming Barras and his allies on the Directory. Gandhi gave up sexual intercourse at the age of 36, becoming totally celibate while still married.

In May 1797 he founded a third newspaper, published in Paris, entitled Le Journal de Bonaparte et des hommes vertueux. He refused to eat until his death or his demands were met. He published two newspapers, ostensibly for the troops in his army, but widely circulated within France as well. He abstained from eating for long periods, using fasting as a political weapon. While campaigning in Italy, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. However he was flexible for his time and had little reservations on eating table eggs as seen in his 1948 article Key to Health [2]. He often won battles by concentrating his forces on an unsuspecting enemy by using spies to gather information about opposing forces and by concealing his own troop deployments. He experimented with various diets and concluded that a vegetarian diet should be enough to satisfy the minimum requirements of the body.

He was also a master of both intelligence and deception. The idea of vegetarianism is deeply ingrained in Hindu and Jain traditions in India, and, in his native land of Gujarat, most Hindus were vegetarian. Contemporary paintings of his headquarters during the Italian campaign depict his use of the world's first telecommunications system, the Chappe semaphore line, first implemented in 1792. He wrote books on the subject while in London, having met vegetarian campaigner Henry Salt at gatherings of the Vegetarian Society. He was known as an aggressive commander who enjoyed the loyalty of highly motivated soldiers. Although he experimented with eating meat in India when he was very young, he later became a strict vegetarian. As he described it: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning." An artillery officer by training, he devised new tactics and employed his artillery as a mobile force to support infantry attacks, benefiting from France's technological advantage in this branch of armaments. It lives within us, that little voice that tells us what to do, but also guides the universe.

However, he owed much of his great military success not merely to innovation, but as well to his encyclopedic knowledge and superior application of conventional military thought. It shares all the characteristics of the Hindu concept of God, or Brahman. As a battle field planner, he was known for his creative use of mobile artillery tactics. Satya (Truth) in Gandhi's philosophy IS God. He was able to absorb the substantial body of military knowledge of his time and to apply it to the real-world circumstances of his era. Gandhi summarized his beliefs first when he said "God is Truth," but as typical of Gandhi, he evolved, later to correct himself and state that "Truth is God." The first statement seemed insufficient to Gandhi, as the mistake could be made that Gandhi was using Truth as a description of God, as opposed to God as an aspect of satya. Bonaparte was a brilliant military strategist. But rather, "to exist" meant to exist within the realm of truth, or to use the term Gandhi did, satya.

Later in 1797, Bonaparte organized many of the French dominated territories in Italy into the Cisalpine Republic. For Gandhi, "to be" did not mean to exist within the realm of time, as it has in the past with the Greek philosophers. Bonaparte then marched on Venice and forced its surrender, ending over 1,000 years of independence. One of the greatest contributions of Mahatma Gandhi was in the realm of ontology and its association with truth. The resulting Treaty of Campo Formio gave France control of most of northern Italy, along with the Low Countries and Rhineland, but a secret clause promised Venice to Austria. He noted the solution to problems could normally be found just by looking in the mirror. In early 1797, he led his army into Austria and forced that power to sue for peace. He thought it was all too easy to blame people, governing powers or enemies for his personal actions and wellbeing.

The pope later died of illness while in captivity. He said that the most important battle to fight was in overcoming his own demons, fears and insecurities. It was not until the next year that General Berthier captured Rome and took Pope Pius VI prisoner on February 20. As Gandhi said:. Bonaparte ignored the Directory's order to march on Rome and dethrone the Pope. All it took was time to achieve traction and gain momentum. Because Pope Pius VI had protested the execution of Louis XVI, France retaliated by annexing two small papal territories. However he also discovered that once the truth was on the march nothing could stop it.

He drove the Austrian forces out of Lombardy and defeated the army of the Papal States. He found that uncovering the truth was not always popular as many people were resistant to change, preferring instead to maintain the existing status quo because of either inertia, self-interest or misguided beliefs. At the Lodi, he gained the nickname of "The Little Corporal" (le petit caporal), a term reflecting his camaraderie with the ordinary soldiers. He tried to achieve this by learning from his own mistakes and conducting experiments on himself. Just days after his marriage, Bonaparte took command of the French "Army of Italy", leading it on a successful invasion of Italy. The embracing of nonviolence was part of Gandhi's wider mission to seek truth (The Story of My Experiments with Truth). Within weeks he was romantically attached to Barras' former mistress, Josephine de Beauharnais, whom he married in 1796. In 1940, when invasion of the British Isles by the armed forces of Nazi Germany looked imminent, Gandhi offered the following advice to the British people:.

He later boasted that he had cleared the streets with a "whiff of grapeshot." This triumph earned him sudden fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new Directory, particularly that of its leading member, Barras. In applying these principles, Gandhi did not balk from taking them to their most logical extremes. He utilized the artillery the following day to repel the attackers. He was quoted with saying:. He seized artillery pieces with the aid of a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat, who would later become his brother-in-law. Gandhi explains his philosophy and way of life in his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Bonaparte was given command of the improvised forces defending the Convention in the Tuileries Palace. The concept of nonviolence (ahimsa) and nonresistance has a long history in Indian religious thought and has had many revivals in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Christian contexts.

In 1795, Bonaparte was serving in Paris when royalists and counter-revolutionaries organized an armed protest against the National Convention on 3 October. Gandhi's principles and his ideas of satya and ahimsa were influenced by the Bhagavad Gita, Hinduism, Jainism and Christian anarchism. As a result, he was briefly imprisoned following the fall of the elder Robespierre in 1794, but was released within two weeks. See also: Gandhism. His actions brought him to the attention of the Committee of Public Safety, and he became a close associate of Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of the Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre. With India and Pakistan no where near trust, friendship and a permanent solution, Gandhi is hardly the man to be criticized for the consequences of partition. A successful assault of the position, during which Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh, led to the recapture of the city and a promotion to brigadier-general. The consequences of war between India and Pakistan today are horrendous and far worse than in 1947: over 1.2 billion people inhabit the Indian subcontinent, and nuclear weapons are capable of killing 10 million people in a matter of months.

He formulated a successful plan: he placed guns at Point l'Eguillete in order to force the British fleet from the harbour or suffer certain destruction had they remained. Even though many great Congress leaders and freedom fighters and Mohammed Ali Jinnah and his supporters felt that only good could come out of it, that the dam had been sealed from explosion, Gandhi felt a hole, invisible as it was, had indeed been carved out. Through the help of fellow Corsican Saliceti, he was appointed as artillery commander in the French forces besieging Toulon, which had risen in revolt against the Terror and was occupied by British troops. He regarded the partition as his personal failure. After coming into conflict with the increasingly conservative nationalist leader, Pasquale Paoli, Bonaparte and his family were forced to flee to France in June 1793. In his last months, Gandhi was a broken man inside. Bonaparte supported the Jacobin faction, and gained the position of lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of volunteers. In a country of 350 million, the horrors would pale the Holocaust into insignificance.

He spent most of the next several years on Corsica, where a complex three-way struggle was played out among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. All the work of 30 years would be undone in moments, and Gandhi was old and weak, unable to retaliate with civil disobedience or popular protests. Napoleon served on garrison duty in Valence and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789 (although he took nearly two years of leave in Corsica and Paris during this period). Jinnah threatened to go to violence if his demands were not met, and one hole in the dam would be sufficient to unleash a torrent of bloodshed, and an orgy of violence which Gandhi himself so deeply opposed. Upon graduation in September, 1785, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant of artillery, and took up his new duties in January 1786, at the age of 16. Already Jinnah's Direct Action Day in 1946 had killed over 5,000 people. Although he had initially sought a naval assignment, he studied artillery at the École Militaire. Gandhi consented to partition only when his closest associates had pointed out the brutual truth, the consequences of not doing so: outright Hindu-Muslim civil war.

Upon graduation from Brienne in 1784, Bonaparte was admitted to the elite École Royale Militaire in Paris, where he completed the two year course of study in only one year. It is the very partition debate that is today being carried out, now with nuclear weapons on the debate teams. He earned high marks in mathematics and geography, and passable grades in other subjects. Pakistan today contends for Kashmir only because of its Muslim-majority, which it claims only it can protect and represent, and India refutes that contention with its own military force because it believes Hindus and Muslims are one nation, and can live in freedom together. He spoke French with a marked Italian accent throughout his life, and was a poor speller. The conflicts to come would be territorial, but they principally would arise from the Hindu-Muslim problem. He had to learn to speak French before entering the school. It would tie-down generations of Indians in a bitter, poisonous, continous war of attrition.

At age 10, Napoleon was admitted to a French military school at Brienne-le-Château, a small town near Troyes, on 15 May 1779. He foresaw, what many others did not, that the matter would not end there. Napoleon's noble, moderately well-off background and family connections afforded him opportunities to study which would not have been available to a typical Corsican of the time. Already above 75 years in age, thin, frail and with delicate health, exhausted after 30 years of struggles, all of Gandhi's soul, intelligence and health were expended in his desperation to avoid the partition of India. Her firm discipline helped restrain the rambunctious boy, nicknamed Rabullione (the "meddler" or "disrupter"). In these years of the division process (1946-1947), Gandhi was a desperate man. Ahead of her time, she had her 8 children bathe every other day—at a time when even those in the upper classes took a bath perhaps once a month. Gandhi had fought and led millions of Indians with a vision of individual freedom, and genuine cultural and religious respect and harmony, not merely "tolerance." He wanted the people to develop the spirit of love and brotherhood, and not just create a legal system imposing these virtues to an unresponsive population.

The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, Maria Letizia Ramolino. He did not want big Government, but a government limited to protecting people, giving justice and spreading opportunities. His father, Carlo Buonaparte, an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI of France in 1778, where he remained for a number of years. Gandhi wanted the people to help themselves: for the rich to help the poor, respect each other as brother and sister. His family was of minor Corsican nobility. Gandhi wanted untouchability, casteism in Hindu society to be absolutely eliminated, and all Hindus to be equal and united, proud of their faith and heritage. Born Napoleone Buonaparte (in Corsican, Nabolione or Nabulione) in the city of Ajaccio on Corsica, Napoléone later adopted the more French-sounding Napoléon Bonaparte, the first known reference which appears in an official report dated 28 March 1796. Gandhi wanted women to be equal to men, live with dignity, security and enjoy opportunities of personal progress.

. He wanted each to be free to express themselves, worship and enjoy their heritage and culture, especially with each other. Although their reigns did not survive his downfall, a nephew, Napoleon III, ruled France later in the nineteenth century. He wanted Muslims and Hindus to live in absolute freedom with respect and friendship. Napoleon appointed several members of the Bonaparte family as monarchs. What Gandhi had really wanted was a united India, absolutely free in every possible sense of the word. Others consider him a tyrannical dictator whose wars and rule led to the death of millions. During the riots, Gandhi was again criticized for protecting Muslims in India even as Hindus in Pakistan were hurtled out in refugee caravans or simply murdered by extremists and the unsympathetic new government and Pakistani army.

Aside from his military achievements, Napoleon is also remembered for the establishment of the Napoleonic Code, and is considered by some to have been one of the "enlightened monarchs". Savarkar's modern-day supporters point to damning evidence that Gandhi had at one point offered to hand over the entire Government of a free India to be run exclusively by Jinnah and his party, if he would drop his Pakistan demand. He staged a comeback known as the Hundred Days (les Cent Jours), but was defeated decisively at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium on June 18, 1815, followed shortly afterwards by his surrender to the British and his exile to the island of Saint Helena, where he died. Gandhi was blamed directly by men like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar for mollycoddling Jinnah and his Muslims, and thus increasing his political importance, treating him and his League as equals of the Congress. Over the course of little more than a decade, he acquired control of most or all of the western and central mainland of Europe by conquest or alliance until his defeat at the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in October 1813, which led to his abdication several months later. The anger of Hindu extremists and the antagonism of Pakistan advocates and extremist Muslims have left blurred the vision of India cherished by the Mahatma and his followers. Napoleon is considered to have been a military genius, and is known for commanding many successful campaigns, together with some spectacular failures. It has also been claimed that when Gandhi fell to the ground dying, he clasped his hands together in the form of the namaste.

Napoléon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution, and the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799 to 18 May 1804, then as Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français) and King of Italy under the name Napoleon I from 18 May 1804 to 6 April 1814, and again briefly from 20 March to 22 June 1815. Some sources state that Gandhi's last words were "He Ram, He Ram" or "Rama, Rama". Barthélemy St Hilaire (August 19, 1805 - November 24, 1895) whose mother remains unknown. While some are sceptical of this, evidence from a number of witnesses supports the claim that he made this utterance (see External links). Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte, daughter by Countess Montholon. The words are inscribed upon his tomb in New Delhi. Karl Eugin von Mühlfeld, son by Victoria Kraus. This is seen as an inspiring signal of his spirituality as well as his idealism regarding the possibility of a unifying peace.

Émilie Louise Marie Françoise Joséphine Pellapra, daughter by Françoise-Marie LeRoy. It is indicative of Gandhi's long struggle and search for God that his dying words were said to have been an homage to the Hindu conception of God, Rama: "He Ram!" (Oh God!). Alexandre Joseph Colonna, Count Walewski, (May 4, 1810 - October 27, 1868), son of Marie, Countess Walewski (1789 - 1817). A prominent revolutionary and Hindu extremist, the president of the Mahasabha, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was accused of being the architect of the plot, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Charles, Count Léon, (1806 - 1881), son by Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne (1787 - 1868). Godse was later tried, convicted, and executed. In his later life he was known as the Duke of Reichstadt. He was assassinated in Birla House, New Delhi, on January 30, 1948 by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu radical with alleged links to right-wing Hindu organisations, like the Hindu Mahasabha, who held him responsible for weakening the new government by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.

He is known as Napoléon II of France although he never ruled. On the day of the transfer of power, Gandhi did not celebrate independence with the rest of India, but was alone in Kolkata, mourning the partition. Napoléon Francis Joseph Charles Bonaparte (March 20, 1811- July 22, 1832), King of Rome. It was originally called West and East Pakistan, which now correspond to Pakistan and Bangladesh, respectively. They had one child.