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Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais, in a civil ceremony in Paris, on March 9, 1796. Napoleon was an up-and-coming general at the time, while Josephine was a wealthy widow with two children. It was the beginning of their tumultuous 13 year marriage marred by jealousy, infidelity and immense pressure to produce an heir. The couple divorced in 1810, but maintained a close bond until her death in 1814.