Roman Republic Repubblica Romana (Italian) | |||||||||||||
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| 1798–1799 | |||||||||||||
.svg) Flag  Coat of arms | |||||||||||||
| Motto: Il popolo solo è sovrano (Italian) The people alone are sovereign | |||||||||||||
 The Roman Republic within Italy Map of the Departments of the Roman Republic | |||||||||||||
| Status | Sister republic ofRevolutionary France | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Rome | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Italian | ||||||||||||
| Government | Unitarydirectorial republic | ||||||||||||
| Directory | |||||||||||||
• 1798–99 | Consulate | ||||||||||||
| Legislature | Legislative Council (Tribunate & Senate) | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | French Revolutionary Wars | ||||||||||||
• Republic proclaimed | 15 February 1798 | ||||||||||||
• Neapolitan occupation | 30 September 1799 | ||||||||||||
| Currency | Roman scudo,Roman baiocco | ||||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||||
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TheRoman Republic (Italian:Repubblica Romana) was asister republic of theFirst French Republic that existed from 1798 to 1799. It was proclaimed on 15 February 1798 afterLouis-Alexandre Berthier, a general of theFrench Revolutionary Army, had occupied the city ofRome on 11 February. It was led by a Directory of five men and comprised territory conquered from thePapal States. The Roman Republic immediately incorporated two other former-papal revolutionary administrations, theTiberina Republic and theAnconine Republic. It proved short-lived, asNeapolitan troops restored the Papal States in October 1799.
During theFrench Revolutionary Wars, thePapal States, under thetemporal authority of thepope inRome, was part of theFirst Coalition. After defeating theKingdom of Sardinia early in theItalian campaign of 1796–1797, GeneralNapoleon Bonaparte turned his attention south ofPiedmont to deal with the Papal States. Bonaparte, skeptical over divided command for the invasion, sent two letters to theFrench Directory. The letters convinced the Directory to delay the invasion of the Papal States for a while.[citation needed] On 3 February 1797, the French defeated the pope's army at theBattle of Faenza. Under theTreaty of Tolentino, signed on 19 February,Pope Pius VI was forced to accept an ambassador of theFrench First Republic.[1]
On 27 December 1797, GeneralLéonard Duphot, amilitary attaché at the French embassy in Rome, was killed while trying to defuse a riot in front of the embassy.[2] After throwing himself between the rioters and papal troops, he was shot by the soldiers and later lynched by a mob in front of thePorta Settimiana.[2] Duphot's death led to the departure of the French ambassador,Joseph Bonaparte, and his entourage.[2]
The Directory decided that Duphot's killing would be avenged.[2] The next year, French troops under GeneralLouis-Alexandre Berthier invaded the Papal States and occupied Rome on 11 February 1798. Berthier proclaimed the Roman Republic on 15 February 1798, while Pope Pius VI was taken prisoner, escorted out of Rome on 20 February and exiled to France, where he later died.[3] The institutions of the newsister republic were organized on the French model byGaspard Monge andPierre Daunou, with the help of local revolutionaries such as the engraverFrancesco Piranesi and French residents of Rome such asJoseph-Antoine Florens [fr].
On 24 February 1798, on the occasion of a ceremony for General Duphot, hundreds of French soldiers gathered in front of thePantheon and addressed their grievances to generals Berthier andAndré Masséna, commander of theArmy of Rome (Armée de Rome).[4] The soldiers demanded the payment of salaries and the punishment of those responsible for looting during the invasion of the Papal States.[4] Masséna refused to acknowledge the soldiers' demands, but after they stormed thePalazzo Ruspoli he committed to pay part of the soldiers' salaries within 48 hours and the rest within two weeks.[4] At the same time, Berthier negotiated with the officers in revolt.[4]
The next day, Masséna ordered the withdrawal of the French army to the other bank of theTiber in order to disperse the military insurrection.[4] However, a civilian uprising, quickly defeated, broke out in multiple districts ofTrastevere.[4] The officers then attempted to have Masséna dismissed.[4] At the end of these two days of unrest, Masséna moved out of the city and Berthier left the Roman Republic.[4]Claude Dallemagne, then provisional commander of Rome, found himself in charge of the city amid contradictory directives from Berthier and Masséna.[4] New insurrections broke out on 2 March, when the officers refused to follow Masséna's order for a transfer of troops. On the 14th of March, when the latter returned to Rome, the revolting officers called for his dismissal, his departure within 24 hours, and the granting of powers to Dallemagne while awaiting orders from the Directory.[4]
New orders arrived in Rome on 18 March, indicating a strengthening of the authority of the civil commissioners, the transfers of Berthier to theArmy of England and of Masséna toGenoa, and the attribution of powers in the city to GeneralLaurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr with orders to arrest the officers involved in the insurrections.[4]
TheKingdom of Naples invaded the Roman Republic in November 1798. Although initially victorious atFerentino, the French evacuated Rome and a Neapolitan army entered the lightly guarded city unopposed on 29 November, the very day that theWar of the Second Coalition had begun. Nevertheless, French troops led by GeneralJacques MacDonald, governor of the Roman Republic, and GeneralJean Étienne Championnet, commander of the Army of Rome, defeated the Neapolitans atFerentino, atCivita Castellana on 5 December, and atOtricoli on 9 December, re-entering Rome on 14 December.[5] Championnet would go on to occupyNaples in January 1799 and proclaim theParthenopean Republic.[6]
Following a second Neapolitan invasion on 30 September 1799, the Papal States were restored under the rule ofPope Pius VII in June 1800, bringing the Roman Republic to an end.[7] The French Army invaded the Papal States again in 1808, after which it was partitioned between theFirst French Empire and theNapoleonic Kingdom of Italy until the end of theNapoleonic Wars in 1815.
The Roman Republic's constitutional organization was heavily influenced by that of theFrench Constitution of 1795, which itself was inspired by and loosely based on that of the ancientRoman Republic. Executive authority was vested infive consuls. The legislative branch was composed of two chambers, a 60-member Tribunate and a 30-member Senate, which elected the consuls.[8]
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|  Europe at the height of Napoleon's Empire | |||||||||||
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