Background

Napoleon Bonaparte fought, conquered, and dominated much of continental Europe during the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. Napoleon is credited with being the greatest military genius of his time and one of the greatest commanders in history. Other men in other times have also triumphed as significant military leaders. How do they compare to the example set by Napoleon as a supreme leader, strategist, and tactician?

Task and Product

Working with a group of your classmates, you will research the background of Napoleon Bonaparte that pertains to his military career.

Your teacher will then assign you one of these other great military leaders to research in a similar fashion:

Finally, you will compare your assigned leader with Napoleon Bonaparte. Your findings will be presented to the class by your group in a video debate or an oral presentation accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the major points of your research and comparison.

Assessments

Your grade for this project may be based on any or all of these components. The accompanying scoring tools may be used or may be adapted by your teacher.

• Group Work html | MS Word
• Daily Research (Formative) html
• Research Process (Summative)--Student/Self html
• Research Process (Summative)--Teacher html
• Oral Report with Visual(s) html | MS Word
• PowerPoint html | MS Word
• Constructed Response html | MS Word

Question

Essential Question: How do significant military leaders throughout history compare to the exemplary military leader, strategist, and tactician Napoleon Bonaparte?

Subsidiary questions--In conducting your research, consider questions such as these about Napoleon Bonaparte and your assigned military leader:

• What factors comprised the two men's leadership styles?
• What historical people and events influenced their military decisions?
• What significant events in their lives contributed to their greatness as military leaders?
• What personality traits gave direction to the men's leadership styles?
• What factors did each man consider when planning his strategies?
• What innovations did they bring to military affairs?
• What factors did they consider when planning strategies?
• How did these leaders use natural defenses (i.e., rivers, high ground) in their plans?
• What strategic flaws led to any military failures they had?

Gather and Sort

Gather information from a variety of sources.

Sort your research findings using a graphic organizer or note cards. Be sure to avoid plagiarism and remember to cite your references. Check the MLA guidelines and examples for citing resources.

Organize

Analyze your research notes to determine if you have answered the essential question.

Synthesize your findings by creating a first draft of your product.

• What new insights have emerged about your topics?
• Which facts are the most compelling and would have the greatest impact on your audience?
• Which facts are unnecessary or repetitive and therefore should be left out?

Evaluate the effectiveness of your research for the task:

• Have you gathered sufficient details about Napoleon and about your other military leader to make a comparison?
• Are your details organized in the right categories or sub-topics to make sense for your audience?
• Are you ready to create your final product? Remember that the PowerPoint program is meant to enhance your oral presentation. It should only include highlights of your findings; use the oral portion of your presentation to fill in the details.

Conclusion

Presentation

Plan your presentation with the other members of your group. Keep in mind that your presentation should include an oral portion as well as the sharing of your PowerPoint product.

When planning the presentation, be sure to include time for each group member to speak. Practice with your PowerPoint program.

Each class member will need to take notes as he/she listens to each group's presentation.

Reflection

After all of the presentations are completed, respond to the following writing prompt:

Now that you have learned information about the leadership styles, strategies, and tactics of a number of significant military leaders throughout history, do you believe that Napleon Bonaparte deserves the title of military genius?

Your refelction will be evaluted using this scoring tool: Constructed Response html | MS Word