Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica in 1769 to a family of minor nobility. He held his first significant command of troops when he was twenty-four years old, and by 1804 he had declared himself emperor. Arguably his greatest victory came at Austerlitz, where he defeated the combined forces of Russia and Austria in 1805. Finally defeated and consigned to exile by the combined powers of Europe at Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon spent his remaining years burnishing his legend. He was always his own best biographer and publicist, leaving countless maxims to be transcribed by his disciples.