What did Napoleon do in the French Army before he was General?

Answer 1

Napoleon was primarily an Artilleryman. But his military rise was meteoric and had little to do with the actual fighting, he was a supreme politician, devious & not unused to intrigue & deception. His force of personality wes evidenced by Marshal Andre Massena who was close to being 'frightened' at their first meeting! And few of Napoleons subordinates were as worldly wise as the little Italian. It is this facet of the great mans domination of history in the early 19th century that makes him the leader that he becomes. Leadership & command are what he does best, he manipulates his forces to a very fine degree, and his orders are precise and generally astute, at least in the times when he was winning, before, say, 1809. But then Genearlship is I suppose so much easier when attacking opponents that you are most likely to defeat, especially when you have already defeated them before. Much of Napoleons work was done before battle was joined, and this is particularly seen in the Ulm campaign when he defeats general Mack von Lieberich of Austria without a major engagement. In short before Napoleon became Emperor of the French it was his oustanding leadership qualities that promoted him to high office.