Once he had completed his education, he was sent to join his new regiment in the south of France. At school he wore a uniform and learnt to use weapons and ride a horse. He was to become an officer and command soldiers. When he was fifteen, he moved to the military school in Paris. He did not have many friends though, and his classmates made fun of his Corsican accent.

Napoleon read a lot, especially history books, and he was good at mathematics as well. This was a school reserved for boys from aristocratic families. When he was ten years-old, Napoleon left Corsica to go to military school in Brienne (near Auxerre). Napoleon’s first words were Italian! Today, you can still visit the house where Napoleon was born, which has become a museum. Napoleon was mischievous and disruptive and was often told-off, but even from an early age, he enjoyed learning.ĭid you know… that Corsica became part of France just before Napoleon was born? It had previously been controlled by the Genoan Republic, in Italy. There would eventually be five boys (Joseph, Napoleon, Lucien, Louis and Jerome) and three girls (Elisa, Caroline and Pauline) in the family. He parents, Charles and Letizia already had one son, called Joseph. On 15 August 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, in Corsica, into a aristocratic family.