Short answers, pulled from the story.
France acquired Corsica in 1768 through the Treaty of Versailles, in which the Republic of Genoa ceded its rights over the island. After its defeat in the Seven Years' War, France sought to strengthen its position in the Mediterranean, and Corsica offered a strategically valuable foothold.
The French expedition was commanded by the Comte de Vaux, a veteran of the Seven Years' War. He was appointed after the initial French commander suffered a defeat at the Battle of Borgo in October 1768, and he went on to decisively defeat the Corsican army at the Battle of Ponte Novu in 1769.
Pasquale Paoli was the leader of the Corsican Republic, which he founded in 1755 and governed until the French conquest in 1769. After the defeat, he fled to Great Britain, where he became enormously popular and joined Samuel Johnson's dining club. He later returned to Corsica and ruled the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom between 1794 and 1796.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on Corsica in 1769, the same year France completed its conquest, which made him a natural-born French citizen. Both of his parents, Carlo Maria Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino, had fought against the French before his birth. Napoleon later rose to become ruler of France and launched the Napoleonic Wars.
The Corsican Republic was an independent state proclaimed in 1755 under Pasquale Paoli, following twenty-six years of revolution against Genoese rule that began in 1729. Paoli wrote its constitution in Italian and established what was at the time the most extensive voting franchise in the world. The republic remained sovereign until 1769.
Corsica has been part of France since the conquest of 1769, with a brief interruption between 1794 and 1796 when the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom existed under British protection. On the 19th of October 1796, France reconquered the island and made it a French département. Two nationalist parties, Femu a Corsica and Corsica Libera, continue to advocate for autonomy or independence.