FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2023-68 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson) 

LOVELAND, OH (April11, 2023) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps from Steve Kovacs, we go to great heights of military leadership with a man known for short stature.  

The Corsican General

He was an average student at the Ecole Militaire, the elite French Military Academy.  But he was the first from Corsica, which was seen at the time as a somewhat backwards island recently acquired by the French.

He had big ideas.  And indeed, he eventually became Emperor of France, coronating himself.  He led the French on a bold but ultimately failed expedition to conquer most of Europe.  Waterloo, in Belgium was the final straw.

Then he was exiled to a small island close to Italy, Elba on April 11, 1814.

He didn’t stay long, but soon after his return to Paris he was exiled again; this time to the middle of nowhere island in the south Atlantic, Saint Helena.

He, of course, is Napoleon Bonaparte.

This item is from 1815, created by Bowyer, showing Elba as a map and as a view plus of course Napoleon himself.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.