Napoleon's birthday

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy 243rd Birthday, to be exact! (And really it's tomorrow, August 15)

From Biography.com

Born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica
Father: Carlo Buonaparte, a lawyer and political opportunist
Mother: Marie-Letizia
The Buonaparte's: A wealthy family from the Corsican nobility, although when compared to the great aristocracies of France Napoleon's kin were poor and pretentious. Corsica's occupation by the French had drawn considerable local resistance. Carlo Buonaparte had at first supported the nationalists siding with their leader, Pasquale Paoli.

But after Paoli was forced to flee the island, Carlo switched his allegiance to the French. After doing so he was appointed assessor of the judicial district of Ajaccio in 1771, a plush job that eventually enabled him to enroll his two sons, Joseph and Napoleon, in France's College d'Autun.

The rest, as they say, is history!