TheAnglo-Russian occupation of Naples was the stationing ofBritish andRussian forces in theKingdom of Naples from the summer of 1805 until January 1806 during theWar of the Third Coalition.[1]
A previous cooperation in July 1799 between British forces led byHoratio Nelson and Russian forces under the command ofFyodor Ushakov led to the collapse of theParthenopean Republic, a semi-autonomous state in theKingdom of Naples. However, the Franco-Neapolitan war ended on 28 March 1801 with theTreaty of Florence, in which Neapolitan government was forced to make various concessions to France, including closing its ports to all Ottoman and British ships, giving the French preferential treatment in trade, and allow the stationing of French garrisons in the Apulian trading ports ofPescara,Brindisi andOtranto and the province ofTerra d'Otranto on Neapolitan costs.
For his upcoming confrontation with Austria and Russia in Central Europe in autumn 1805, French emperorNapoleon sought to secure his southern flank. He was willing to abandon the French-occupied coastal cities in Apulia to Naples in exchange for Neapolitan neutrality in the war ahead. KingFerdinand of Naples and Sicily agreed and signed a treaty with Napoleon.
However, after receiving the Apulian cities, Ferdinand soon went back on his promise and allied himself with France's enemies Britain and Russia, which landed troops in Naples with his permission in order to guard against a possible French invasion, and to plan an attack on the Napoleonic states in central and northern Italy.[2] The British commander was generalJames Henry Craig, who had ill health at the time and had 7,000 troops,[3] while the Russian forces were led byMaurice Lacy and Roman Anrep. The combined army was too weak and poorly equipped to withstand any serious French attack.[1]
When the combined Austro–Russian Army was dealt a severe blow byNapoleon at theBattle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805, 30,000 French troops were freed up for a campaign against Naples.[3] TsarAlexander I of Russia ordered his troops to withdraw from southern Italy toCorfu,[1] which they did after Lacy received the tsar's dispatch on 7 January 1806.[3] Meanwhile, Craig was awaiting orders fromLord Castlereagh; he wrote on 30 December that he received his most recent instructions on 16 October.[3] Against the wishes of ambassadorHugh Elliot, who warned evacuation would provoke the French to attack, Craig had the vastly outnumbered British troops depart Naples and set sail for the island of Sicily on 10 January 1806, ending the Anglo-Russian occupation and leaving the Neapolitan army to defend the kingdom on its own.[3] The British fleet reachedMessina on 22 January and the soldiers disembarked.[3]
After Austerlitz, Napoleon rallied his forces to punish Ferdinand's treason and take possession of all of southern Italy. French troops invaded and conquered the kingdom from 8 February to 18 July 1806.
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