French Conquest of Corsica
- When
- 1768–1770
- Where
- Corsica
- Episodes
- 4
In 1769 France completed its conquest of Corsica, defeating the Corsican Republic under Pasquale Paoli. After the decisive Battle of Ponte Novu, Corsican forces lacking willpower and manpower surrendered the island, which France annexed and consolidated against guerrilla resistance.
Episodes
- Genoa cedes Corsica to France
By the 1768 Treaty of Versailles, an exhausted Genoa ceded all rights over Corsica to France after selling the island.
- French setback at Borgo
France's first offensive failed in October 1768 when its small expeditionary force suffered a significant setback at the Battle of Borgo.
- Decisive French victory at Ponte Novu
In 1769 the Comte de Vaux decisively defeated the Corsican army at the Battle of Ponte Novu, effectively ending organized Corsican resistance.
- Corsican surrender and French annexation
Lacking the willpower and manpower to resist, the Corsican forces surrendered the island, which France annexed and consolidated over about a year.
Background and detail
Background. The Corsican Revolution against Genoa began in 1729, first led by Luiggi Giafferi and Giacinto Paoli and later by his son Pasquale Paoli. After 26 years of struggle, including a brief 1736 attempt to proclaim a Kingdom of Corsica under Theodor von Neuhoff, the independent Corsican Republic was proclaimed in 1755 and remained sovereign until 1769.
Transfer from Genoa to France. After the Corsican capture of Capraia in 1767, Genoa, exhausted by forty years of fighting, decided to sell the island to France, which sought to reinforce its Mediterranean position after defeat in the Seven Years' War. By the Treaty of Versailles of 1768, Genoa ceded all its rights over the island to Louis XV.
Campaign and Annexation. Louis XV sent an expedition under the Comte de Vaux, a Seven Years' War veteran, in 1768. The first offensive failed after a setback at the Battle of Borgo in October 1768, but Vaux decisively defeated the Corsican army at Ponte Novu in 1769. Corsican forces then surrendered, and France annexed the island, taking about a year to consolidate control against guerrilla resistance before Corsica became a French province in 1770.
People involved
- Pasquale Paoli · Leader of the Corsican Republic and commander of Corsican forces
- Comte de Vaux · French commander of the conquest expedition, veteran of the Seven Years' War
- Louis XV · King of France who ordered the military expedition to Corsica
Sources
- French conquest of Corsica Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22
- Corsica Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-14
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.