Editing Napoleon (section)

=== 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>