Napoleon Bonaparte recaptured Toulon from British-backed forces in December 1793, and the victory brought him his first major public fame. The operation is known as the Siege of Toulon.
Toulon had revolted against the revolutionary government and invited troops from Britain, Spain, Naples, and Sardinia to help defend its major naval port. Republican forces besieged the city from late August until December, when Napoleon served as a young artillery officer.
Napoleon recognized that controlling the heights around the harbor would make the Allied fleet’s position untenable. His artillery plan helped the Republicans seize key forts, including the position nicknamed “Little Gibraltar.” The defenders evacuated, and Republican troops entered Toulon on December 19, 1793.
The victory rapidly advanced Napoleon’s career. He was promoted to brigadier general on December 22, at only 24 years old. The question sometimes gets confused with Napoleon’s later role in suppressing royalist resistance in Paris, but Toulon was the campaign that first established his military reputation.