Timeline: Birth Through 1799
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on 15 August 1769 in Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, as the second of the eight children of Carlo Bonaparte and Maria Letizia Bonaparte. The moment was a crucial one in the history of his native island, for just before Napoleon's birth Genoa ceded Corsica to France, thus, Napoleon was born a subject of the French king, Louis XV. The Bonaparte family had their claim to noble status confirmed by the French, but they were not a particularly wealthy family. Napoleon's father Carlo made a precarious living as a lawyer, while establishing connections with the new French rulers of Corsica, allowing him to send his children to be educated in France. In April 1779 Napoleon entered the military school at Brienne. In October 1784 he began attending the Ecole Militaire in Paris. Reports from his schools describe the young Napoleon as 'reserved and hard-working,' 'egotistical,' and 'extremely ambitious' (Schom 1997, p.7) which could indicate a preoccupation with trying to compensate for his status as a relatively poor, provincial student who spoke French with a marked Corsican accent.
Napoleon spent the years from 1785 to 1791 with the La Fere Artillery Regiment at Valence and then at the Artillery School at Auxonne. He therefore was not in Paris to witness the first stages of the French Revolution. After decades of financial crises, and failed attempts at reform by various French financial ministers, such as Necker and Calonne, Louis XVI was forced to call the Estates General, a representative body which had not met since 1614, in May of 1789 to help solve the grave economic problems in France. Louis XVI, however, did not assume the role of leadership as the delegates had expected, and soon a constitutional stalemate over the issue of whether to vote in terms of whole estates or as individuals, pitted the deputies of the nobility (the Second Estate) against the deputies of the commons (the Third Estate). A growing sense of urgency loomed at Versailles, the location of the meeting of the Estates General, until on June 17, 1789 the deputies of the Third Estate declared themselves and whoever would join them the 'National Assembly,' in which each deputy would vote as individuals. This declaration effectively marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Two days later the clergy (the First Estate) voted to join the deputies of the Third Estate in the National Assembly. The symbolic beginning of the French Revolution, however, did not occur until nearly a month later when Louis ordered thousands of soldiers to march on Paris. Popular reaction to this move, led to the arming of the common people in Paris, and attacks upon the places where grain or arms were thought to be stored. On July 14, 1789, an armed crowd marched on the Bastille, a fortified prison that symbolized royal authority. Soon after the National Assembly issued the first constitution of the revolution which abolished 'feudalism' and the many privileges that members of the First and Second Estates formally had, replacing the absolute monarchy with a parliamentary-style constitutional monarchy. Next, they issued the 'Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen' outlining the rights that they hoped their new government would protect.
Monarchs throughout Europe recognized the threat posed by such a progressive government on the Continent, and not surprisingly declared war on the revolutionary government, in support of a return to absolutism. As the revolutionary regime slipped toward war with monarchical Europe, Napoleon was promoted to captain by 1792. Napoleon embraced Jacobinism, standing for popular government and centralization. Napoleon witnessed the overthrow of Louis XVI when a revolutionary crowd invaded the Tuileries palace on 10 August 1792. The king's weak behavior made a lasting impression on Napoleon, stating, "If Louis had shown himself on horseback, he would have won the day." During the rule of Robespierre Napoleon was stationed in Toulon, the biggest French naval base in the Mediterranean, where he drove out the British fleet supported by counter-revolutionary federalists. At the age of twenty-four, Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general. Following the Thermidorian reaction to Jacobin radicalism, the Directory, established in November 1795, appointed Napoleon commander of the Army of Italy. After Napoleon's military victories at Lodi, Milan, and Mantua, Napoleon forced the Austrians to sign the Treaty of Campoformio, which ended the First Coalition against France, leaving only Great Britain still at War. In northern Italy, Napoleon created the Cisalpine Republic as a 'sister,' i.e. subordinate, state, which sent millions in treasure to support the French economy. This policy, of having conquered peoples pay for their own subjection, would become standard policy in the territories that Napoleon took over.
With only Britain left at war with France, Napoleon urged an expedition to Egypt as a way of disrupting British relations with India, rather than directly attacking Britain. The Directory supported this campaign, but historians have argued if their motives were the same as Napoleon's. Given the Revolution's interest in classical antiquity, the Directory may have been nervous about Napoleon becoming emperor, in a Julius Caesar-like move, and thus wanted Napoleon as far from France as possible. Though Napoleon achieved a number of victories in Egypt, most notably that against the Mamelukes at the Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July 1798, the British under Horatio Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. During this time a new Coalition, including the Ottoman Empire, nominal ruler of Egypt and Syria, was formed against France and Napoleon had word that the Turkish army was preparing to attack him in Egypt. In February of 1799, the French Army of Egypt moved north into Palestine and Syria to preempt the Turks, but encountered a tough siege at British-controlled Acre. By May, a decimated French Army limped back into Egypt. Meanwhile, back in Europe, war was breaking out. The Russian army was making conquests as far west as Switzerland, and the Cisalpine Republic had crumbled. France was in chaos, and Napoleon decided to abandon his position in Egypt to pursue his career in France, in hopes of overthrowing the Directory.