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Napoléon Bonaparte, also spelled Napoleon, was a military and political leader of France, rising from lieutenant to general, and from First Consul to Emperor of the French.
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Early life[[edit] | [edit source]]
Napoleon was born Napoleone Buona Parte in the year 1769, just months apart from his future enemy, Arthur Wellesley. A native of Corsica, a small island that was an often-rebellious province of France, Napoleon's parents were aristocrats, part of the Corsican nobility and rulers of the island on behalf of the French. Their family name was originally Buona Parte. In later years it was "Frenchified", and Napoleone Buona Parte became Napoleon Bonaparte. Like Wellesley, Napoleon attended a military academy in France, though not the same one, and both became soldiers, both rising in their chosen profession. (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"])
Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, companions of the First Doctor, met the young General Napoleon during a visit to Paris on 28 July 1794, when they became involved in the plot by Napoleon and Paul Barras to overthrow Maximilien Robespierre. By this point, his inspiring victories in the Austrian Wars had made him a public figure and a hero in the eyes of the French people. (TV: The Reign of Terror [+]Loading...["The Reign of Terror (TV story)"])
Rise and fall[[edit] | [edit source]]
War with Europe[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: Napoleonic Wars
After first becoming First Consul, Napoleon became Napoleon I, Hereditary Emperor of the French. (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"])
Though the First Doctor did not meet Napoleon with Ian and Barbara, he later did so on the Russian front in 1812. (AUDIO: Mother Russia [+]Loading...["Mother Russia (audio story)"]) On that occasion or possibly during another encounter prior to his third incarnation, the Doctor advised "Boney" that "an army marches on its stomach". (TV: Day of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Day of the Daleks (TV story)"]) Like the First Doctor, Iris Wildthyme met Napoleon on the Russian front in 1812 and claimed that, in spite of what the history books said, he was "anything but small." (AUDIO: The Panda Invasion [+]Loading...["The Panda Invasion (audio story)"], Iris Wildthyme and the Claws of Santa [+]Loading...["Iris Wildthyme and the Claws of Santa (audio story)"])
Before the Second Doctor's regeneration and exile to Earth, the Time Lords sent him to investigate the activities of the Players in the Napoleonic era, during which time he briefly met with Napoleon, posing as a mystic who had foreseen Napoleon's final victory. Despite the Players' efforts, the Doctor sabotaged an attempt to build an early submarine that would have given Napoleon a crucial advantage in the Battle of Trafalgar. (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"])
During the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal, Napoleon saw the majority of his marshals, a total of six, defeated by the British led by Arthur Wellesley. (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"]) Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in 1814 but came back the following year. (COMIC: The Doctor and the Nurse [+]Loading...["The Doctor and the Nurse (comic story)"])
Defeat at Waterloo[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: Battle of Waterloo
During the Battle of Waterloo, the Second Doctor played a vital role in delivering messages to Nelson's allies by dressing up as Napoleon; although the two men were only superficially similar to each other, the similarity would be enough for the Doctor to fool the average Frenchman who only saw the Emperor at a distance rather than regularly interacting with him. (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"])
Intending to change the outcome at Waterloo, Davros met with Napoleon when he was intending to test his new mind-swap technology, regarding Napoleon as the best military tactician of Earth's history as all other military leaders were tainted by racial prejudice or superstition. However, despite Davros providing Napoleon with Dalek weapons and knowledge of the future, and at first being ready to hand over Flip Jackson and the Doctor to the Daleks, he accepted his coming defeat when the Sixth Doctor revealed Davros' plans to replace Napoleon's mind with that of a Dalek. He preferred to lose now and leave humanity to fulfil its own destiny, rather than allow humanity to fall under Dalek rule. (AUDIO: The Curse of Davros [+]Loading...["The Curse of Davros (audio story)"])
Death[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1821, Napoléon was dying on the island of St Helena. During this period, he began to reveal to his close friend, Jean Tombier, what he had seen in the Great Pyramid in Egypt in 1798. Though Tombier had actually been with Bonaparte on the Egyptian expedition, he had never known exactly what Bonaparte had seen. He was extremely interested when the ex-emperor began to talk of the incident. However, Bonaparte failed to finish the story and Tombier probably never learned what had happened. (PROSE: The Sands of Time [+]Loading...["The Sands of Time (novel)"])
A bitter and lonely exile in his early fifties, (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"]) Bonaparte died on 5 May on St Helena, at which point a letter from the Eleventh Doctor was found among his possessions. Because it was written on anachronistic Basildon Bond brand paper that was not created by Millington & Sons until 1911, most later historians believed the letter to be a hoax. (PROSE: The Time Lord Letters [+]Loading...["The Time Lord Letters (novel)"])
Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]
At some point in his timeline, possibly during his farewell tour, the Doctor enraged Napoleon so much the dictator threw a bottle of wine at him. The Eleventh Doctor kept this bottle and shared the wine with Amy Pond, Rory Williams and River Song at Lake Silencio, Utah, just prior to his apparent death on 22 April 2011. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
His nephew Napoleon III was the Emperor of France during the 1860s. (PROSE: World Game [+]Loading...["World Game (novel)"])
Other realities[[edit] | [edit source]]
Alternate timelines[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the timeline that resulted from River Song causing time to collapse when she refused to kill the Eleventh Doctor, (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"]) Napoleon was available on social-networking sites, where he was friends with Cleopatra and sent her an asp. (PROSE: Just a Minute... [+]Loading...["Just a Minute... (short story)"])
Parallel universes[[edit] | [edit source]]
In Barusa's universe, the Doctor once tried to reason with Napoléon on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, hoping to prevent the massacre. However, despite recognising his proficiency in military history, Napoléon refused to listen to the Doctor due to the Doctor's refusal to explain who he really was in an intelligible manner. (PROSE: The Chronicles of Doctor Who? [+]Loading...["The Chronicles of Doctor Who? (short story)"])
Other references[[edit] | [edit source]]
Whilst explaining the pattern of Time, the First Doctor claimed to Vicki Pallister that, were a time traveller to warn Napoleon that he would lose at Waterloo, Napoleon would still believe that he could win and so would ignore the warning. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Crusaders [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Crusaders (novelisation)"])
While visiting Paris during what was supposed to be Napoleon's reign as Emperor, the First Doctor and Dodo found themselves in an alternate timeline in which France was ruled by the Marquis de Sade. (PROSE: The Man in the Velvet Mask [+]Loading...["The Man in the Velvet Mask (novel)"])
During a visit to Egypt in 1400 BC with the Fifth Doctor, Peri Brown convinced sculptors to place the face of Elvis Presley on the Great Sphinx. This anachronism was corrected centuries later when Napoleon's troops shot off the Sphinx's nose. (AUDIO: The Eye of the Scorpion [+]Loading...["The Eye of the Scorpion (audio story)"])
During a visit to Rio de Janeiro in 2080, the Fifth Doctor and Turlough encountered a woman, Ileana de Santos, who was turned into a werewolf in 1812 as Napoleon's troops marched on her town. (AUDIO: Loups-Garoux [+]Loading...["Loups-Garoux (audio story)"])
While fleeing from Robot Ants, Bernice Summerfield found herself in Egypt in 1798, where she met Vivant Denon, leader of an archaeological team sent to that country by Napoleon. (PROSE: Set Piece [+]Loading...["Set Piece (novel)"])
The Eighth Doctor met a girl, Dusha, living in Moscow during Napoleon's advance on the city, who he later found was the emotional half of a Magellan who had been divided and exiled from the future to two different time zones. (PROSE: Emotional Chemistry [+]Loading...["Emotional Chemistry (novel)"])
The Doctor kept a bust of Napoleon in the TARDIS console room. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks [+]Loading...["Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)"], Rennigan's Record [+]Loading...["Rennigan's Record (short story)"], Doctor Who and the Crusaders [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Crusaders (novelisation)"], State of Change [+]Loading...["State of Change (novel)"], Shadowmind [+]Loading...["Shadowmind (novel)"])
The Celestial Toymaker once claimed to have beaten Napoleon at Risk. (COMIC: Endgame [+]Loading...["Endgame (DWM comic story)"])
During one of his megalomaniacal rantings, the newly awakened Davros misquoted Napoleon and was corrected by the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Destiny of the Daleks (TV story)"])
The Tenth Doctor told Martha Jones that she could forget her Bonapartes, her Boadiceas, and her Blackbeards when introducing her to Baltazar. (TV: The Infinite Quest [+]Loading...["The Infinite Quest (TV story)"])
The Eleventh Doctor cited Napoleon as one of the many people who loved Venice. (TV: The Vampires of Venice [+]Loading...["The Vampires of Venice (TV story)"])
In a history project for school, Clyde Langer and Luke Smith were required to show the battle strategies of Wellington and Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, while playing a game of Waterloo on Mr Smith. Luke impersonated Napoleon's French accent. (TV: The Last Sontaran [+]Loading...["The Last Sontaran (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- In the TARDIS wardrobe, the Seventh Doctor tried the most known Napoleon outfit soon after his regeneration, even if it was not explicitly referring to the character.
- He was played by Simon Russell Beale in Blackadder: Back & Forth and David Calderisi in Titans.