"Going to war without the French is like going deer hunting without an accordian"
--Jed Babbin
“Napoleon Buonaparte was a Corsican (Italian ancestry), not a real Frenchman. Corsica only became French a year before he was born—it had belonged to Genoa.”
Yes, but he studied in a French school, followed the teachings of French theorists, used French weaponry technology, employed French subordinates, and benefitted from the Revolution’s reforms, such as promotion by merit, the corps system, and the staff system. I find it hard to believe that whatever genius he added to what was already there was a result of his having been born Corsican, as opposed to him as an individual.