The government had issued orders to invade Sardinia, strategically important to the Mediterranean, which they believed would bring an easy victory.

A subsequent attack on the island of La Maddalena off the northern coast of Sardinia also failed, partly due to sabotage by Corsican troops; it is most notable as the first military service of the Lieutenant Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte, later Emperor of France.

[3] Moreover, a successful attack on the island was thought to be easily achievable, and orders were given for an expeditionary force to assemble at Toulon, the principal French Mediterranean naval base.

[5] France in general and the French navy in particular were undergoing severe social and political upheaval, and it was not until December that a sufficient expeditionary force had been prepared.

Truguet and the Mediterranean fleet then sailed with a French army, carried on transports, arriving off the capital of Sardinia, Cagliari on the southern coast, on 21 December 1792.

[5] As the French fleet of 36 vessels entered the Golfo di Cagliari, a severe storm struck, driving Truguet's ships off-shore.

On 22 January he again entered the Golfo di Cagliari, and sent a boat party of an officer and 20 men to demand the Sardinian surrender.

The Sardinians, assembled for the feast day of Saint Ephesius, opened fire on the boat as it approached and killed 17 of the party, the survivors sheltering behind a neutral Swedish merchant vessel.

The force sent against Quartu Sant'Elena was struck by grapeshot fired from improvised barricades and retreated in disarray, while the other attack was defeated by a Sardinian counter-attack.

This force had drawn heavily from Corsica, the French held island to the north which was under the de facto command of Corsican independence advocate Pasquale Paoli.

The following morning French-Corsican troops assaulted and captured Santo Stefano and used the fort on the island to bombard La Maddalena on 24 February, Cesari announcing his intention to conduct an amphibious landing the following day.

During the night however, there was a mutiny reported aboard a corvette accompanying the force and Cesari immediately withdrew, abandoning the attack and Santo Stefano.

On Sardinia the robust defence of the island encouraged the Stamenti to seek concessions from the distant central government in Turin, following an open invitation from Victor Amadeus.

[14] In April 1794 the viceroy arrested two leaders of the growing insurrection, causing a riot in which the Castle of San Michele was stormed and the prisoners released.

[15] On Corsica the recriminations which followed the failure at La Maddalena saw the Buonaparte faction driven from the island, Napoleon narrowly escaping an assassination attempt.

[18] In France the defeat led to the recall of Truguet to Paris to explain events to the National Convention, and his temporary replacement by Trogoff de Kerlessy.