Napoleone di Buonaparte was born on the island of Corsica to Italian parents, Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino who themselves were descended from minor Italian nobility. Although of Italian extraction, his history lists him as French and it was in France that he made his mark on the world.
In 1797, Napoleon was in the middle of his ascent to power in France. At the young age of twenty-eight, he had already distinguished himself during the French Revolution, saved the ruling French Directory from royalist insurgents in 1795 and, in 1796, became a national hero for a string of resounding military victories against Austrian and Italian forces.
Assigned to lead the Italian campaign just days after his marriage to Désirée Clary, he had another boost in stature by subduing the armies of t
