Ponte Novu Corse France

Genoa, seeing as futile any attempts to dislodge Pasquale Paoli, who in 1755 had proclaimed the Corsican Republic, had sold Corsica in 1764 by secret treaty to the duc de Choiseul, then minister of the French Navy, who had bought the island on behalf of the crown.

French troops have quietly and gradually replaced Genoese in the citadels.

After preparations had been made, an open treaty with Genoa in 1768 had ceded Corsica to France in perpetuity with no possibility of retraction and the Duc appoints a Corsican supporter, Buttafuoco, as administrator.

The island rises in revolt.

Paoli fights a guerrilla war against fresh French troops under a commander, Comte de Marbeuf, but is defeated on May 8, 1769, in the Battle of Ponte Novu and has to go into exile in Vienna, then London.