Napoleon’s military knowledge Napoleon Bonaparte is regarded as one of the greatest military master minds in the history of mankind. He was the second born of eight children of Carlo Bonaparte, an Italian lawyer who fought for Corsican independence. Carlo Bonaparte later served as a prosecutor and a judge for the French Nobility. Through his father’s influence, Napoleon was educated at the expense of King Louis XVI, in Paris. Napoleon graduated in 1785, at the age of 16, and joined the artillery as a second lieutenant. After the Revolution began, he became a lieutenant colonel. In 1793, however, Corsica declared independence, a