Republic of Alba

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Republic of Alba (1944).
Republic of Alba
Repubblica di Alba
1796
Flag of Alba
CapitalAlba
Common languagesItalian, French[citation needed]
Religion
Roman Catholicism[citation needed]
GovernmentRepublic
Historical eraFrench Revolutionary Wars
• Established
26 April 1796
• Disestablished
28 April 1796
CurrencyFrench franc
Sardinian lira[citation needed]
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Duchy of Savoy
Duchy of Savoy
Today part ofItaly

The Republic of Alba (

Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia was given back the civil control of all Piedmont
.

History

At the time the republic was proclaimed, Piedmont was the main part of the Kingdom of Sardinia which, despite its name, had its core on the mainland; Turin was its capital city. The kingdom suffered a first French Revolutionary invasion in April 1796: the Montenotte campaign. After a string of French victories, Italian patriot and Jacobin Giovanni Antonio Ranza proclaimed a republic in the town of Alba (therefore historically known as the 'Republic of Alba') as a replacement of the Sardinian monarchy on Piedmontese territory[1] on 25 or 26 April 1796. Ranza had been agitating for an independent Piedmontese republic ever since 1793; he saw such a state as a first step towards a republic encompassing all of Italy.[1] Ranza and his fellow rebels then presenteed an address to French general Napoleon Bonaparte, calling on him to liberate the whole of Italy from 'tyranny'.[1] However, Bonaparte ignored their pleas, and wrote to the French Directory that the Piedmontese people were not politically ready, and that 'you should not count on a revolution in Piedmont.'[1]

French military commanders at the time had no interest in this project of an Italian

First Coalition. The final peace Treaty of Paris on 15 May 1796 led to loss of the duchy of Savoy, Nice, Tende and Beuil to France, and guaranteed military access to French troops crossing Piedmontese soil. The ultrashort-lived Republic of Alba would serve as the later Piedmontese Republic's predecessor.[citation needed
]

Flag

The flag of the Republic of Alba was designed by the jacobin Giovanni Antonio Ranza, who said that the blue and red were for France while the orange is taken to the tree of the Piedmont's shield. The orange was also the personal colour of Mr. Ranza: he fantasised his surname Ranza as a corrupted form of Italian arancia, meaning 'orange', in order to avoid the actual meaning of ranza in his own

tricolour versions, and it is used nowadays on some occasions by the region Piedmont.[citation needed
]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781408854693
    . Retrieved 23 February 2022.

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