Truths and Untruths about Napoleon Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Napoleon was the eldest son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. True or False?

Answer: False

Joseph was their eldest son.

2. In his younger years Napoleon had been a very close friend of the Corsican independentist leader Pasquale Paoli.

Answer: False

Napoleon tried to befriend him but Paoli did not trust young Napoleon. In the end Napoleon and his family had to leave Corsica as they were definitely unwanted there.

3. To demonstrate that he was turning his back on the Corsican independentists, Napoleon changed his name from Napoleone Buonaparte to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Answer: True

4. Napoleon was a brilliant student at the Military Academy of Paris.

Answer: False

Not at all. He ranked 48th out of 58.

5. In spite of his following a military career, Napoleon had done quite a bit of philosophical reading and was familiar with such authors as Voltaire and Rousseau.

Answer: True

Napoleon became a member, and later even President, of the debating club of the Jacobins and made remarkable speeches against the nobility, the monks and the Church. Originally his ideas were close to those of the Revolutionaries. It was Maximilien Robespierre's own brother Augustin who recommended the young soldier to the leaders of the Great Terror.

6. Rather surprisingly, Napoleon later changed his views and even re-introduced titles of Nobility in France. Many of his generals were given such titles as Prince, Duke, Marquess, Count, Baron.

Answer: True

Examples: Berthier was made Prince of Wagram and Neufchatel; Cambronne was made 'Comte de 'Empire'; Drouet became Comte d'Erlon; Grouchy was a Marquis; Georges Mouton was Count of Lobau; Soult was Duke of Dalmatia; Marshal Ney was Duke of Elchingen and Prince of the Moskowa.

7. Napoleon even took over some methods of the Roman Catholic Church and created an 'Imperial Catechism'.

Answer: True

His attitude to religion was tactical: it was good for ordinary people and helped to maintain law and order in society. It may have been mainly for that reason that when he signed a Concordat with Pope Pius VII in which he accepted that Roman Catholicism could be some kind of official State Religion in his Empire.

At the same time he believed in some degree of separation between Church and State. His Code Napoleon accepted divorce (but gave few rights to women).

8. It was a habit of Napoleon's to give his horses names of his military or amorous successes.

Answer: True

During the 'Hundred Days' ('les Cent Jours') he used horses that had the following names: 'Cantal' (a region in {France); 'Marie' (after Marie Waleska his Polish beloved); 'Desiree' (after Desiree Clary , the sister of his elder brother's bride); 'Cerbere', 'Jaffa'; and 'Marengo'(named after one of his victories in Italy) was the last horse he rode during the Battle of Waterloo.

9. Napoleon always had been a great believer in the cavalry as a military tool because he had started his career as a cavalry officer.

Answer: False

As an artillery officer his first military job had been to dislodge the Royalists from the port of Toulon where they were getting the support of the British Navy.It was Napoleon's talent in using the artillery that had made him win the siege.

10. Napoleon always had had a very high opinion of his English opponent at Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington. On the eve of the battle he had expressed his presentiment that the battle was not going to be successful.

Answer: False

In contrast to some of his generals who had taken part in the campaign on the Iberian peninsula, Napoleon did not think too highly of Wellington. He even expressed the view that victory would be easy. 'Lunch at Waterloo , dinner in Brussels' was his forecast for 18th June ,1815.

By the way on the day of the Battle, Wellington did not have his nickname of 'Iron Duke' yet. It was given him only a lot later in 1830 when as a Prime Minister of England he had decided to protect his residence Apsley House from rioters with - iron shutters.

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

All statements are 'either True or False'. So statistically speaking you cannot go far wrong. All questions to be answered with: T or F .

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