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... Carlo (Charles) and Letizia Ramolino Buonaparte. No Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. The closest anybody in his family came to being part of the military was his father, Carlo whom had fought for Corsican independence (Encarta). In 1785, Napoleon, at the young age of 16, joined the French artillery and automatically assumed the position of second lieutenant, a rare occurrence (Buckler, , et al. A History, 719). Just after the launch of the French Revolution in 1791, Napoleon joined the Corsican National Guard. However, Corsica declared its independence only 2 years later in 1793. This event caused Napoleon to escape to France where he was appointed captain of a naval base, which was overwhelming Toulan, a British supporting naval base with anti- republic ideals. An even greater feat that Napoleon accomplished during this battle was when he took over a wounded artillery general's guns and drove the British ...