History of Sardinia 23 February 1793, Domenico Millelire, in command of the Sardinian fleet, defeated near the Maddalena archipelago the fleets of the French Republic, which was included with the rank of lieutenant, the young and future Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte. Millelire received the first Gold Medal of Military Valor of the Italian Navy. In the same month, Sardinians stopped the attempted French landing on the beach of Quartu Sant'Elena, near the Capital of Cagliari. Because of these successes, the representatives of nobility and clergy ("Stamenti") formulated five requests addressed to the King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia in order to have
Sardinia the greater flamingo. Conversely, Sardinia lacks many species common on the European continent, such as the viper, wolf, bear and marmot. The island has also long been used for grazing flocks of indigenous Sardinian sheep. The Sardinian Anglo-Arab is a horse breed that was established in Sardinia, where it has been selectively bred for more than one hundred years. Three different breeds of dogs are peculiar to Sardinia: the Pastore Fonnese, Dogo Sardo and Levriero Sardo. In Sardinia there are more than 100 beaches. The geology of the island provides a variety of beaches, for example beaches made of fine