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Why did Napoleon Bonaparte become the head of his family while still a teenager?
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Napoleon I
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, oil on canvas by Jacques-Louis David, 1812; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Napoleon Bonaparte became the head of his family in February 1785, shortly before his 16th birthday, following the death of his father, Carlo Buonaparte, who died of stomach cancer.1
Although Napoleon was not the eldest sonâhis older brother Joseph was the first surviving childâhe assumed this responsibility during a period when the family was in straitened financial circumstances. His fatherâs earlier risky business ventures had compromised the family's fortune, leaving Napoleon to take on the role of family leader while he was still completing his education at the military academy in Paris.12