Napoleon Bonaparte was a military general who became the first emperor of France. His drive for empire changed the world. Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio. By the time around Napoleon's birth, Corsica's occupation by the French had caused local resistance. His father Carlo Bonaparte had at first supported the nationalists siding with their leader, Pasquale Paoli. But after Paoli was forced to flee the island, Carlo switched his allegiance to the French. After doing so he was appointed assessor of the judicial district of Ajaccio in 1771, a plush job that eventually enabled him to enroll his two sons, Joseph and Napoleon, in France's College d'Autun. Eventually, Napoleon ended up at the military college of Brienne, where he studied for five years, before moving on to the military academy in Paris. He graduated five years early from military school, he become second lieutenant of artillery, and returned to Corsica in 1786.
Back home Napoleon got behind the Corsican resistance to the French occupation, siding with his father's former ally, Pasquale Paoli. But the two soon had a falling-out, and when civil war in Corsica began in April 1793, Napoleon, now an enemy of Paoli, and his family moved to France. After Napoleon moved back to France, he return to service with the French military. Upon rejoining his regiment at Nice in June 1793, the young leader quickly showed his support for the Jacobins, a political movement and the most well-known and popular political club from the French Revolution.
All of this turmoil created opportunities for ambitious military leaders like Napoleon. After falling with Robespierre, he went in to the good books of the Directory in 1795 after he saved the government from counter-revolutionary forces. For his efforts, Napoleon was named commander of the Army of the Interior. In addition he was a trusted