Napoleon Bonaparte

Born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Ajaccio, Corsica. Second of eight children. The island had been French for barely a year. His family spoke Italian at home. He'd carry a Corsican accent his entire life.

Commands the French artillery at the Siege of Toulon. He is 24. His plan to place guns on a promontory overlooking the harbor forces the British fleet to evacuate. Promoted to brigadier general on the spot.

Invades Egypt with 40,000 troops and 167 scholars. He wants to cut Britain off from India. The campaign is a military disaster. Nelson destroys his fleet at the Nile, stranding the army. But the scholars discover the Rosetta Stone, map ancient temples, and publish the Description de l'Egypte. He loses the war and founds Egyptology.

Overthrows the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire. Within a month he's First Consul, running France. He is 30. The French Revolution, which began with the storming of the Bastille ten years earlier, effectively ends with a Corsican artillery officer seizing power.

Crowns himself Emperor of the French at Notre-Dame. The Pope is present, but Napoleon takes the crown from the altar and places it on his own head. Then he crowns his wife Josephine. Nobody had dared something like this since Charlemagne.

Defeats the combined armies of Austria and Russia at Austerlitz. 68,000 French against 90,000 allies. He wins in under nine hours. It is his masterpiece. The Holy Roman Empire, which has existed for over 800 years, dissolves within months.

Waterloo. After escaping exile on Elba and reclaiming France in 100 days, he meets the Duke of Wellington and Prussian forces in Belgium. The battle lasts nine hours. His Imperial Guard breaks. He abdicates four days later.

Dies on Saint Helena, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic, 1,200 miles from the nearest coast. He has been a prisoner of the British for six years. Stomach cancer, most likely. His last words, according to those present: "France, the army, head of the army, Josephine." He is 51.