Napoleon Buonaparte (the spelling of the surname was changed after 1796), French military leader and emperor, was born on 15 August 1769 in Corsica. Accepted into the École Militaire of Paris in 1784, he was given a command in the army of the French Republic following the French Revolution. In 1797 Brigadier General Bonaparte led a campaign which gave France control of Italy and the territory west of the Rhine. He successfully invaded and took command of southern Egypt the following year.