Piedmontese Republic
Piedmontese Republic Repubblica Piemontese | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1798–1799 | |||||||||
Flag | |||||||||
Motto: Libertà, Virtù, Eguaglianza Liberty, Virtue, Equality | |||||||||
Roman Catholicism | |||||||||
Government | Republic | ||||||||
Historical era | French Revolutionary Wars | ||||||||
• Established | 9 December 1798 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 20 June 1799 | ||||||||
Currency | Piedmontese scudo | ||||||||
|
The Piedmontese Republic (Italian: Repubblica Piemontese) was a revolutionary, provisional and internationally unrecognized government established in Turin between 1798 and 1799 on the territory of Piedmont during its military rule by the French First Republic.
History
Republic of Alba
Piedmont was the main part of the Kingdom of Sardinia which, despite its name, had its core on the mainland: the densely populated and rich Principality of Piedmont, with the capital city of Turin serving as royal residence. The rulers of Piedmont simply preferred to call themselves 'Kings of Sardinia' because the title 'king' was higher in rank than 'prince'. Starting with Victor Amadeus I, the House of Savoy adopted the tradition of bestowing the title of Prince of Piedmont on the heir apparent.
The kingdom suffered a first
Piedmontese revolt
When Napoleon conquered the neighbouring Republic of Genoa in June 1797 and turned it into the pro-French Ligurian Republic, democratic revolutionaries inside Piedmont began agitating for the overthrow of the Sardinian monarchy.[2] In April 1798, these Piedmontese revolutionaries launched a democratic uprising, aided by various armed bands from outside in the spring of 1798, but they were all defeated, and the Sardinian royal army executed over a hundred prisoners of war in reprisal.[2]
The Piedmontese democratic revolutionaries had to retreat, and many were forced into exile in the Ligurian Republic.[2] The Piedmontese–Sardinian regular army pursued the republican rebels into Ligurian territory, causing the Ligurian Republic to go to war against the Piedmontese monarchy in June 1798.[2]
French conquest
In early July 1798, France intervened in favour of its Ligurian sister republic, and conquered Piedmont in the course of the following months under the leadership of Barthélemy Catherine Joubert.[2]
On November, the
Establishment
The Piedmontese Republic was declared on 10 September 1798. It was heavily dependent on France and was never really independent as it was under French military occupation. The state did not claim to be recognized, as its goal was the French annexation. The structure of administration was a provisional government.[4]
The republic used the motto Libertà, Virtù, Eguaglianza, echoing the French motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité, on its coins.[3]
Right from the start, however, its political future was in question. Some Piedmontese Jacobins favoured the development of an independent Piedmontese Republic, others wanted to unite it with the Ligurian or Cisalpine Republic, and still others including Ranza argued that the inhabitants would be best off as citizens of the French Republic rather than as citizens of a French satellite state occupied by foreign troops.[2] In the end, France decided to annex Piedmont in February 1799.[2] Jacobins opposed to annexation were dismayed by this, and a conspiracy to prevent the French annexation was planned (probably by the secretive Jacobin Società dei Raggi), but the plot was discovered by the French, and several people involved were arrested and imprisoned.[2]
Meanwhile, Britain and Russia – which were in the process of building the
Second Coalition occupation
During the
Subalpine Republic
Although the Piedmontese Republic was briefly reincorporated into the
Gallery
-
1796: northern Italy before the French invasion.Kingdom of (Piedmont–)Sardinia
References
- ^ ISBN 9781408854693. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781317872061. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
- ^ ISBN 0761812210.
- ^ "Satellite States - Piemontese/Subalpine Republic, 1798-1801". zum.de. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
- ^ a b Schroeder 1987, p. 266.
- ^ a b Schroeder 1987, p. 280–281.
- ^ a b c d e f Schroeder 1987, p. 253.
- ^ a b c Schroeder 1987, p. 254.
- ^ Schroeder 1987, p. 254–255.
- ^ Schroeder 1987, p. 245.
Literature
- Schroeder, Paul W. (1987). "The Collapse of the Second Coalition". Journal of Modern History. 59 (2). The University of Chicago Press: 244–290. doi:10.1086/243185. Retrieved 22 February 2022.