In July 1792 Napoleon was promoted to captain in the regular army, and in 1796, having helped to suppress a royalist insurrection against the revolutionary government in Paris, he was made commander of the French army in Italy. He became a commissioned officer just after his 16th birthday.Īs war was about to break out across Europe, Napoleon was still a second lieutenant stationed in a sleepy garrison town, and went on leave to see his family in Corsica.

Aged 15, Napoleon was admitted to the elite École Militaire in Paris, but was forced to complete the two-year course in just one after his father died of stomach cancer, leaving Napoleon as the family’s chief source of income.