Napoleon Did Some Truly Bizarre Things...
In a Nutshell
Napoleon had eccentric personal habits including disguising himself to interview citizens about his rule, using 60 bottles of cologne monthly by bathing in it, and pinching people hard when in a good mood. He cheated at cards, couldn't stand open doors, was tone-deaf yet hummed constantly, and once fled from thousands of domesticated rabbits during a hunt. His hemorrhoids and opium use impaired him at Waterloo, while his romantic life involved writing a tragic novella and sending multiple marriage proposals in one week.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Napoleon Bonaparte conquered most of Europe by age 35. He crowned himself emperor and rewrote France's legal code. He is one of the most studied military commanders in history. Napoleon had a hobby of dressing up as a commoner, walking around Paris, and asking random people what they thought of Napoleon. He would put on plain clothes, sometimes a fake beard, and wander the streets eavesdropping and interviewing citizens about himself. He regularly asked, "What do you think of the emperor?" People would praise him, complain, or call him a tyrant while he stood in disguise listening to insults. His guards hated this practice as it was a security nightmare, but Napoleon believed it kept him connected to regular people. Historians consider this a massive security risk.
Napoleon had a strange way of showing affection by pinching people hard. According to his valet, Louis Constant Wairy, the harder Napoleon pinched, the better his mood was. He pinched ears, noses, and cheeks until they turned blue. He even pinched babies' chins so hard their mothers had to pull them away. This was painful, not playful. His friends learned to avoid him when he was in a good mood because that was when the pinching was worse.
Napoleon used 60 bottles of cologne per month, which is two bottles a day. He bathed in cologne by pouring entire bottles of eau de cologne over his head and body after a regular bath. His servants described it as a cologne shower. He believed it improved his health and even drank it sometimes. The cologne made him smell so strongly that people could tell he was coming from three rooms away. Josephine, his first wife, complained in letters that the scent gave her headaches.
Sign in to read the full notes
Get access to AI-generated notes, topic timestamps, and more.