Editing Napoleon (section)

==Early career==

=== Return to Corsica ===
[[File:Napoleon - 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Bonaparte, aged 23, as lieutenant-colonel of a battalion of Corsican [[National Guard (France)|Republican volunteers]]. Portrait made in 1835 by [[Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux]]]]
Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a [[second lieutenant]] in [[1st Artillery Regiment (France)|''La Fère'' artillery regiment]].<ref name="rxviii2">{{harvp|Roberts|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qLsxzVPGjFMC&pg=PA18 xviii]}}</ref> He served in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]] and [[Auxonne]] until after the outbreak of the [[French Revolution]] in 1789 but spent long periods of leave in Corsica which fed his Corsican nationalism.{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|loc=Chapter 1, pp. 3–28}}<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=36, 38}}</ref> In September 1789, he returned to Corsica and promoted the French revolutionary cause. Paoli returned to the island in July 1790, but he had no sympathy for Bonaparte, as he deemed his father a traitor for having deserted the cause of Corsican independence.{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|loc=Chapter 2, pp. 29–53}}<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=41-46}}</ref>

Bonaparte plunged into a complex three-way struggle among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He became a supporter of the [[Jacobins]] and joined the pro-French Corsican Republicans who opposed Paoli's policy and his aspirations to secede.<ref>{{cite book |author=David Nicholls |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonbiograph00nich |title=Napoleon: A Biographical Companion |date=1999 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-87436-957-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/napoleonbiograph00nich/page/131 131] |url-access=registration}}</ref> He was given command over a battalion of Corsican volunteers and promoted to captain in the regular army in 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and a dispute between his volunteers and the French garrison in [[Ajaccio]].<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pages=52-54}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=52-53}}</ref>

In February 1793, Bonaparte took part in the failed [[French expedition to Sardinia]]. Following allegations that Paoli had sabotaged the expedition and that his regime was corrupt and incompetent, the French [[National Convention]] outlawed him. In early June, Bonaparte and 400 French troops failed to capture Ajaccio from Corsican volunteers, and the island became controlled by Paoli's supporters. When Bonaparte learned that the Corsican assembly had condemned him and his family, the Buonapartes fled to [[Toulon]] on the French mainland.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=106-122}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pages=58-63}}</ref>

===Siege of Toulon===
{{main|Siege of Toulon (1793)}}

[[File:Napoleon à Toulon par Edouard Detaille.jpg|thumb|upright|''Bonaparte at the [[Siege of Toulon]], 1793'', by [[Edouard Detaille]]]]
Bonaparte returned to his regiment in [[Nice]] and was made captain of a coastal [[Artillery battery|battery]].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=130}}</ref> In July 1793 he published a pamphlet, ''[[Le souper de Beaucaire]]'' (Supper at [[Beaucaire, Gard|Beaucaire]]), demonstrating his support for the National Convention which was heavily influenced by the Jacobins.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=131-32}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=65-66}}</ref>

In September, with the help of his fellow Corsican [[Antoine Christophe Saliceti]], Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces sent to recapture the port of Toulon which was occupied by allied forces.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=132-35}}</ref> He quickly increased the available artillery and proposed a plan to capture a hill fort where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the allies to evacuate. The successful assault on the position on 16–17 December led to the capture of the city.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=140-41}}</ref>

Toulon brought Bonaparte to the attention of powerful men including [[Augustin Robespierre]], the younger brother of [[Maximilien Robespierre]], a leading Jacobin. He was promoted to brigadier general and put in charge of defences on the Mediterranean coast. In February 1794, he was made artillery commander of the [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]] and devised plans to attack the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=245-47}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=76-79}}</ref>

The French army carried out Bonaparte's plan in the [[Second Battle of Saorgio]] in April 1794 and then advanced to seize [[Ormea]] in the mountains. From Ormea, it headed west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around [[Saorge]]. After this campaign, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the [[Republic of Genoa]] to determine the country's intentions towards France.{{sfnp|Gueniffey|2015|pp=137–159}}<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=147-52}}</ref>

===13 Vendémiaire===
{{Main|13 Vendémiaire}}[[File:13Vendémiaire.jpg|thumb|alt=Etching of a street, there are many pockets of smoke due to a group of republican artillery firing on royalists across the street at the entrance to a building|''Journée du [[13 Vendémiaire]]'', artillery fire in front of the ''[[Church of Saint-Roch, Paris]]'', ''[[Rue Saint-Honoré]]'']]

After the [[Fall of Maximilien Robespierre]] in July 1794, Bonaparte's association with leading Jacobins made him politically suspect to the new regime. He was arrested on 9 August but released two weeks later.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=154-55}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Roberts|2014|p=55}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=79-80}}</ref> He was asked to draw up plans to attack Italian positions as part of France's war with Austria, and in March 1795 he took part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French were repulsed by the [[Royal Navy]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pages=155-57}}</ref>

From 1794, Bonaparte was in a romantic relationship with [[Désirée Clary]] whose sister [[Julie Clary]] had married Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pp=76, 84}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=159-63}} In April 1795, Bonaparte was assigned to the [[Army of the West (France)|Army of the West]], which was engaged in the [[War in the Vendée]]—a civil war and royalist counter-revolution in the [[Vendée]] region. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general, and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=92}}</ref> During this period, he wrote the romantic novella ''[[Clisson et Eugénie]]'', about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own relationship with Clary.<ref name="Dwyer 2008a">{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|page=165-68}}</ref>

In August he obtained a position with the Bureau of Topography where he worked on military planning.<ref name="Dwyer 2008a" /> On 15 September he was removed from the list of generals in regular service for refusing to serve in the Vendée campaign.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=93}}</ref> He sought a transfer to [[Constantinople]] to offer his services to Sultan [[Selim III]]. The request was eventually granted, but he never took up the post.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=169}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=92}}</ref>

On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the National Convention.<ref name="m962">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=96}}</ref> [[Paul Barras]], a leader of the [[Thermidorian Reaction]], knew of Bonaparte's military exploits at Toulon and made him second in command of the forces defending the convention in the [[Tuileries Palace]]. Bonaparte had seen the massacre of the king's [[Swiss Guards|Swiss Guard]] during the [[Insurrection of 10 August 1792]] there three years earlier and realized that artillery would be the key to its defence. He ordered a young cavalry officer, [[Joachim Murat]], to seize cannons, and Bonaparte deployed them in key positions. On 5 October 1795—''13 Vendémiaire An IV'' in the [[French Republican calendar]]—he fired on the rebels with canister rounds (later called: "a whiff of [[grapeshot]]"). About 300 to 1,400 rebels died in the uprising.<ref name="m962" /><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=95-96}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Roberts|2014|pp=65-66}}</ref> Bonaparte's role in defeating the rebellion earned him and his family the patronage of the new government, the [[French Directory]].<ref>{{Harvp|Roberts|2014|pp=67-68}}</ref> On 26 October, he was promoted to commander of the [[Army of the Interior]], and in January 1796 he was appointed head of the Army of Italy.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=97, 103-04}}</ref>

Within weeks of the ''Vendémiaire'' uprising'','' Bonaparte was romantically involved with [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]], the former mistress of Barras. Josephine had been born in the French colonies in the [[Lesser Antilles]], and her family owned slaves on [[Sugar plantations in the Caribbean|sugar plantations]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Knapton |first=Ernest John |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Josephine/KNAEJO/home.html |title=Empress Josephine |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=1963 |isbn=978-0674252011 |location=New York |pages=15–16, 18, 20, 22–23 |language=en-US |chapter=Chapter 2: Bird of the Islands |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674188761 |oclc=1740591 |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Josephine/KNAEJO/2*.html}}</ref> The couple married on 9 March 1796 in a civil ceremony.{{sfnp|Englund|2010|pp=92–94}} Bonaparte began to habitually style himself "Napoleon Bonaparte" rather than using the Italian form "Napoleone di Buonaparte."{{sfnp|Chandler|1966|p=3}}<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=xv}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2015|p=109}}</ref>

===First Italian campaign===
{{Main|Italian Campaign of 1796–1797}}
[[File:1801 Antoine-Jean Gros - Bonaparte on the Bridge at Arcole.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A three-quarter-length depiction of Bonaparte, with black tunic and leather gloves, holding a standard and sword, turning backwards to look at his troops|''[[Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole]]'', by Baron [[Antoine-Jean Gros]], ({{circa|1801}}), [[Musée du Louvre]], Paris]]
Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy. He went on the offensive, hoping to defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia in [[Piedmont]] before their Austrian allies could intervene. In a series of victories during the [[Montenotte campaign]], he knocked the Piedmontese out of the war in two weeks.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=195, 204-206}}</ref> The French then focused on the Austrians, [[Siege of Mantua (1796–1797)|laying siege to Mantua]]. The Austrians launched offensives against the French to break the siege, but Bonaparte defeated every relief effort, winning the [[Battle of Castiglione]], the [[Battle of Bassano]], the [[Battle of Arcole]], and the [[Battle of Rivoli]]. The French triumph at Rivoli in January 1797 led to the collapse of the Austrian position in Italy. At Rivoli, Austria lost 43% of its soldiers dead, wounded or taken prisoner.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=29}}<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=245-50, 268-71}}</ref>

The French then invaded the heartlands of the [[House of Habsburg]]. French forces in southern Germany had been defeated by [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen]] in 1796, but Charles withdrew his forces to protect [[Vienna]] after learning of Bonaparte's assault. In their first encounter, Bonaparte pushed Charles back and advanced deep into Austrian territory after winning the [[Battle of Tarvis (1797)|Battle of Tarvis]] in March 1797. Alarmed by the French thrust that reached [[Leoben]], about 100&nbsp;km from Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=282–285}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=149-51}}</ref> The preliminary [[peace of Leoben]], signed on 18 April, gave France control of most of northern Italy and the [[Low Countries]] and promised to partition the [[Republic of Venice]] with Austria.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=285-86, 291}}</ref> Bonaparte marched on Venice and [[Fall of the Republic of Venice#12 May 1797: the Fall of the Venetian Republic|forced its surrender]], ending 1,100 years of Venetian independence. He authorized the French to loot treasures such as the [[Horses of Saint Mark]].<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=132}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=296}}</ref>

[[File:Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli.jpg|thumb|left|''Napoleon at the [[Battle of Rivoli]]'', by [[Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux]]]]

In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons, and 170 [[Flag|standards]]. The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 [[pitched battle]]s through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=135}} Bonaparte extracted an estimated 45&nbsp;million French pounds from Italy during the campaign, another 12&nbsp;million pounds in precious metals and jewels, and more than 300 paintings and sculptures.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=30}}

During the campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. He founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and one for circulation in France.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=306}}</ref> The royalists attacked him for looting Italy and warned that he might become a dictator.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pages=304-05}}</ref> Bonaparte sent General [[Charles-Pierre Augereau]] to Paris to support a ''coup d'état'' that purged royalists from the legislative councils on 4 September—the [[Coup of 18 Fructidor]]. This left Barras and his republican allies in control again but more dependent upon Bonaparte who finalized peace terms with Austria by the [[Treaty of Campo Formio]].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=311-16}}</ref> Bonaparte returned to Paris on 5 December 1797 as a hero.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=322}}</ref> He met [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand]], France's foreign minister, and took command of the [[Army of England]] for the planned invasion of Britain.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=327, 333-35}}</ref>

===Egyptian expedition===
{{Main|French campaign in Egypt and Syria}}
[[File:Bonaparte ante la Esfinge, por Jean-Léon Gérôme.jpg|thumb|alt=Person on a horse looks towards a giant statue of a head in the desert, with a blue sky|''[[Bonaparte Before the Sphinx]]'' (c. 1886) by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], [[Hearst Castle]]]]

After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided that France's naval strength was not yet sufficient to confront the Royal Navy. He decided on a military expedition to seize [[Ottoman Egypt|Egypt]] and thereby undermine Britain's access to its [[Company rule in India#Trade|trade interests in India]].<ref name="rxviii2"/> Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East and join forces with [[Tipu Sultan]], the [[Kingdom of Mysore|Sultan of Mysore]], an enemy of the British.<ref name=Watson /> Bonaparte assured the Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions".{{sfnp|Amini|2000|p=12}} The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=342}}</ref>

In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the [[French Academy of Sciences]]. His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists, with mathematicians, naturalists, chemists, and [[geodesy|geodesists]] among them. Their discoveries included the [[Rosetta Stone]], and their work was published in the ''[[Description de l'Égypte]]'' in 1809.{{sfnp|Englund|2010|pp=127–28}} En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached [[Hospitaller Malta]] on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the [[Knights Hospitaller]]. Grand Master [[Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim]] surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=175}}</ref>

[[File:Louis-François Baron Lejeune 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|alt=Cavalry battlescene with pyramids in background|''[[Battle of the Pyramids]] on 21 July 1798'' by [[Louis-François, Baron Lejeune]], 1808]]

Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and landed at [[Alexandria]] on 1 July.<ref name="rxviii2"/> He fought the [[Battle of Shubra Khit]] against the [[Mamluk]]s, Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the French practise their defensive tactic for the [[Battle of the Pyramids]] on 21 July, about {{convert|24|km|0|abbr=on}} from the [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]]. Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry. Twenty-nine French<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=179}}</ref> and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the French army's morale.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=372}}</ref>

On 1 August 1798, the British fleet under [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Sir Horatio Nelson]] captured or destroyed all but two vessels of the French fleet in the [[Battle of the Nile]], preventing Bonaparte from strengthening the French position in the Mediterranean.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|page=188}} His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=392}}</ref> In early 1799, he moved an army into the [[Wilayah|Ottoman province]] of Damascus (Syria and [[Galilee]]). Bonaparte led these 13,000 French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns of [[Arish]], [[Gaza City|Gaza]], [[Jaffa]], and [[Haifa]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=411–424}}</ref> The [[Siege of Jaffa|attack on Jaffa]] was particularly brutal. Bonaparte discovered that many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on parole, so he ordered the garrison and some 1,500–5,000 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|page=198}}{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=39-40}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=280}} Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=189}}</ref>

Bonaparte began with an army of 13,000 men. 1,500 were reported missing, 1,200 died in combat, and thousands perished from disease—mostly [[bubonic plague]]. He failed to [[Siege of Acre (1799)|reduce the fortress]] of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], so he marched his army back to Egypt in May. Bonaparte was alleged to have ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned with opium to speed the retreat.{{sfnp|Gueniffey|2015|pp=500–502}} Back in Egypt on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an [[Battle of Abukir (1799)|Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=442}}</ref>

Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs. He learned that France had suffered a [[Campaigns of 1799 in the French Revolutionary Wars|series of defeats]] in the [[War of the Second Coalition]].{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=57}} On 24 August 1799, fearing that the Republic's future was in doubt, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact that he had received no explicit orders from Paris.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|pages=205–206}} The army was left in the charge of [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=444}}</ref>