Roman Republic (18th Century)
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The Roman Republic () was a
sister republic A sister republic (french: république sœur) was a republic established by French armies or by local revolutionaries and assisted by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. These republics, though nominally independent, ...
of the
First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...
. It was proclaimed on 15 February 1798 after
Louis-Alexandre Berthier Louis-Alexandre Berthier (20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815), Prince of Neuchâtel and Valangin, Prince of Wagram, was a French Marshal of the Empire who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister ...
, a general of
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, had occupied the city of Rome on 10 February. It was led by a Directory of five men and comprised territory conquered from the
Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
.
Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...
was exiled to France and died there in August 1799. The republic immediately took control of the other two former-papal revolutionary administrations, the
Tiberina Republic The so-called Tiberina Republic ( it, Repubblica Tiberina) was a revolutionary municipality proclaimed on 4 February 1798, when republicans took power in the city of Perugia. It was an occupation zone that took its name from the river Tiber. A m ...
and the Anconine Republic. The Roman Republic proved short-lived, as Neapolitan troops restored the Papal States in October 1799.


Annexation of Rome

Napoleon's campaign on the Italian peninsula from 1796 to 1797 was one of the reasons for his elevation to supreme commander of the French Army during the Wars of the Republic. After the creation of the First Coalition (Holy Roman Empire, Britain, Prussia, Spain, Naples, etc.) in 1792, Napoleon Bonaparte intended to take the fight to the coalition in Northern Italy to force the Austrians to the negotiating table via an invasion of
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
. At the same time, he intended to reinforce the French Army of Italy, which was outnumbered by Austria and the Italian States. This invasion of the Italian Peninsula was also a diversion since, according to the First Coalition, the main offensive was expected in the Rhine River. Rome, under the rule of the
Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
, was part of the First Coalition, along with many other Italian states. After crossing the Alps in April 1796 and defeating the Piedmontese army on 12 April 1796 in the
Battle of Montenotte The Battle of Montenotte was fought on 12 April 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, between the French army under General Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian corps under Count Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau. The French won the battle, whi ...
and on 21 April 1796 in the
Battle of Mondovì The Battle of Mondovì was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi. The French victory meant that they had put the Ligu ...
, Bonaparte turned his attention south of Piedmont to deal with the Papal States. Bonaparte, skeptical over divided command for the invasion, sent two letters to the Directory. The letters let the Directory relent the invasion for a while. The Austrians were defeated at the
Battle of Lodi The Battle of Lodi was fought on 10 May 1796 between French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian rear guard led by Karl Philipp Sebottendorf at Lodi, Lombardy. The rear guard was defeated, but the main body of Johann Peter Beaulie ...
on 10 May 1796 and retreated to Minico. Under the
Treaty of Tolentino {{unreferenced, date=June 2018 The Treaty of Tolentino was a peace treaty between Revolutionary France and the Papal States, signed on 19 February 1797 and imposing terms of surrender on the Papal side. The signatories for France were the French Di ...
, signed on 19 February 1797, Rome was forced to accept an ambassador of the French Republic. In February 1798, the French invaded the Papal States, motivated by the killing of French general
Mathurin-Léonard Duphot Léonard Mathurin Duphot (21 September 1769 – December 1797) was a French general and poet, whose ''Ode aux mânes des héros morts pour la liberté'' was highly fashionable at the time. Life Duphot was born in la Guillotière, a suburb of ...
in December 1797. After the successful invasion, the Papal States became a satellite state renamed the Roman Republic, under the leadership of
Louis-Alexandre Berthier Louis-Alexandre Berthier (20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815), Prince of Neuchâtel and Valangin, Prince of Wagram, was a French Marshal of the Empire who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister ...
, one of Bonaparte's generals. Pope Pius VI was taken prisoner, escorted out of Rome on 20 February 1798 and exiled to France, where he later died. However, plagued by internal struggles, the republic did not last long and popular support for it was low. On 29 November 1798, the very day that the 1798–1802
War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...
had begun, a 1713–1799
Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
Army literally walked into the lightly guarded City of Rome before simply leaving and returning southward to home. In 1798–1799, the then Governor of the Roman Republic as of 19 November 1798,
Jacques MacDonald Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
led his forces in the 1798
Battle of Ferentino A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
at
Ferentino Ferentino is a town and ''comune'' in Italy, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, southeast of Rome. It is situated on a hill above sea level, in the Monti Ernici area. History ''Ferentinum'' was a town of the Hernici; it was captured from them ...
, then the 1798 Battle of Otricoli at
Otricoli Otricoli is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Terni, Umbria, central Italy. It is located on the Via Flaminia, near the east bank of the Tiber, some 70 km north of Rome and 20 km south of Narni. History Anciently named Ocriculu ...
, and then the 5 December 1798
Battle of Civita Castellana A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
at
Civita Castellana Civita Castellana is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Viterbo, north of Rome. Mount Soracte lies about to the south-east. History Civita Castellana was settled during the Iron Age by the Italic people of the Falisci, who called it "Fa ...
. This was then followed by a military affair at Calvi Risorta and a second military affair on 3 January 1799 at
Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrusc ...
before he resigned his command. Following a
Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...
invasion on 30 September 1799, the Papal States were restored under
Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...
in June 1800. The French invaded the Papal States again in 1808, after which it was divided between France and the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.


Government

The Republic's constitutional organization of powers was heavily influenced by that of the French
Constitution of 1795 The Constitution of the Year III (french: Constitution de l’an III) was the constitution of the French First Republic that established the French Directory, Executive Directory. Adopted by the convention on 5 Fructidor Year III (22 August 1 ...
, which itself was inspired by and loosely based on that of the ancient
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
. Executive authority was vested in a Consulate consisting of five consuls. The legislative branch was composed of two chambers, a 60-member Tribunate and a 30-member Senate, which elected the consuls.


Flag

The Roman Republic flag was a vertical
tricolour A tricolour () or tricolor () is a type of flag or banner design with a triband design which originated in the 16th century as a symbol of republicanism, liberty, or revolution. The flags of France, Italy, Romania, Mexico, and Ireland were ...
black-white-red, taken from the
French tricolour The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Ireland ...
, as granted by Napoleon. It was governed by a clique of
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
s, like the ancient
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
.


In popular culture

In the opera ''
Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...
'' by
Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
the character Angelotti is called "consul of the deceased Roman Republic" (the plot takes place in 1800; Angelotti escapes the papal prison); he is a fictional character although his name evokes that of the consul Liborio Angelucci. In James Joyce's short story "The Sisters" in *Dubliners* (1914) the unnamed protagonist remembers being told "stories about the catacombs and about Napoleon Bonaparte..." by Father Flynn, who had studied in Rome.


See also

*
List of historic states of Italy Italy, up until the Italian unification in 1861, was a conglomeration of city-states, republics, and other independent entities. The following is a list of the various Italian states during that period. Following the fall of the Western Roman Emp ...
* Consul § Roman Republic


References

*www.historyofwar.org/articles/campaign_napoleon_italy_1796.html *''Imperial City: Rome under Napoleon'', Susan Vandiver Nicassio, (October 15, 2009, University of Chicago Press), {{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Republic (18th Century) States and territories established in 1798 States and territories disestablished in 1799 * Early Modern Italy Client states of the Napoleonic Wars Italian states Former republics 1798 establishments in the Papal States 1799 disestablishments in the Papal States 1798 establishments in France 1799 disestablishments in France History of Catholicism in Italy 18th century in Rome History of the papacy