Kingdom of Italy | |
|---|---|
| 1805–1814 | |
.svg) The Kingdom of Italy in 1811 | |
| Status | Client state of theFrench Empire |
| Capital | Milan |
| Official languages | |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Government | Unitaryabsolute monarchy |
| King | |
• 1805–1814 | Napoleon I |
| Viceroy | |
• 1805–1814 | Eugène de Beauharnais |
| Legislature | Consultant Senate |
| Historical era | Napoleonic Wars |
| 17 March 1805 | |
| 19 March 1805 | |
• Coronation ofNapoleon I | 23 May 1805 |
| 26 December 1805 | |
| 8 February 1814 | |
| 11 April 1814 | |
| 30 May 1814 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 84,000[1] km2 (32,000 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 1811 estimate | 6,473,888[2] |
| Currency | Italian lira |
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TheKingdom of Italy (Italian:Regno d'Italia;French:Royaume d'Italie) was a kingdom inNorthern Italy (formerly theItalian Republic) that was aclient state ofNapoleon's French Empire. It was fully influenced byrevolutionary France and ended with Napoleon's defeat and fall. Its government was assumed by Napoleon as King of Italy and the viceroyalty delegated to his stepsonEugène de Beauharnais. It covered some ofPiedmont and the modern regions ofLombardy,Veneto,Emilia-Romagna,Friuli-Venezia Giulia,Trentino,South Tyrol, andMarche. Napoleon I also ruled the rest of northern and central Italy in the form ofNice,Aosta,Piedmont,Liguria,Tuscany,Umbria, andLazio, but directly as part of theFrench Empire (asdepartments), rather than as part of avassal state.
At its peak, the kingdom covered 84,000 square kilometers and had a population of 6.5 million.[3]
The Kingdom of Italy was born on 17 March 1805, when theItalian Republic, whose president was Napoleon Bonaparte, became the Kingdom of Italy, with the same man (now styled Napoleon I) as the newKing of Italy and his 24-year-old stepsonEugène de Beauharnais as hisviceroy. Napoleon I was crowned at theMilan Cathedral,Milan on 23 May, with theIron Crown of Lombardy. His title was "Emperor of the French and King of Italy" (French:Empereur des Français et Roi d'Italie,Italian:Imperatore dei Francesi e Re d'Italia), showing the importance of this Italian kingdom to him.[4]
Even though the republican constitution was never formally abolished, a series of Constitutional Statutes completely altered it. The first one was proclaimed two days after the birth of the kingdom, on 19 March,[5] when the Consulta declared Napoleon I as king and established that one of his natural or adopted sons would succeed him once the Napoleonic Wars were over, and once separated the two thrones were to remain separate. The second one, dating from 29 March, regulated the regency, the Great Officials of the kingdom, and the oaths.
The most important was the third, proclaimed on 5 June, being the real constitution of the kingdom: Napoleon I was the head of state and had the full powers of government; in his absence, he was represented by the Viceroy, Eugène de Beauharnais. The Consulta, Legislative Council, and Speakers were all merged into a Council of State, whose opinions became only optional and not binding for the king. The Legislative Body, the old parliament, remained in theory, but it was never summoned after 1805; theNapoleonic Code was introduced on 21 March 1804.[6]
The fourth Statute, decided on 16 February 1806, indicated Beauharnais as the heir to the throne.[5]
The fifth and sixth Statutes, on 21 March 1808, separated the Consulta from the Council of State and renamed it the Senate, with the duty of informing the king about the wishes of his most important subjects.[5]
The seventh Statute, on 21 September, created a new nobility of dukes, counts, and barons; the eighth and the ninth, on 15 March 1810, established the annuity for the members of the royal family.[5] In 1812, aCourt of Accounts was added.
The government had seven ministers:
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Originally, the Kingdom consisted of the territories of the Italian Republic: the formerDuchy of Milan,Duchy of Mantua,Duchy of Modena, the western part of theRepublic of Venice, part of thePapal States inRomagna, and theDepartment of Agogna (it) centred onNovara.
After the defeat of theThird Coalition and the consequentTreaty of Pressburg, on 26 December 1805, the Kingdom gained fromAustria the eastern and remaining part of the Venetian territories, includingIstria andDalmatia[7] down toKotor (then called Cattaro), though it lostMassa and Carrara toElisa Bonaparte'sPrincipality of Lucca and Piombino. TheDuchy of Guastalla was annexed on 24 May.
With the Convention of Fontainebleau with Austria of 10 October 1807, Italy cededMonfalcone to Austria and gainedGradisca, putting the new border on theIsonzo river.
The conqueredRepublic of Ragusa was annexed in spring 1808 by GeneralAuguste de Marmont. On 2 April 1808, following the dissolution of thePapal States, the Kingdom annexed the present-dayMarches. At its maximum extent, the Kingdom had 6,700,000 inhabitants and comprised 2,155 comunes.
The final arrangement resulted from Austria's defeat in theWar of the Fifth Coalition. Emperor Napoleon and KingMaximilian I Joseph of Bavaria signed theTreaty of Schönbrunn on 14 October 1809, exchanging territories in Italy and Germany.Bavaria ceded southernTyrol to the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn ceded Istria and Dalmatia (with Ragusa) to France, incorporating the Adriatic territories into France'sIllyrian Provinces.[8] Small changes to the borders between Italy and France inGarfagnana andFriuli came into effect on 5 August 1811.
In practice, the Kingdom was a dependency of the French Empire.[9]
The Kingdom served as a theater in Napoleon's operations against Austria during the wars of the variouscoalitions. Trading with theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was forbidden under theContinental System.
The kingdom was given a new national currency, replacing the local coins circulating in the country: theItalian lira, of the same size, weight, and metal of theFrench franc.[10] Mintage being decided by Napoleon with an imperial decree on 21 March 1806, the production of the new coins began in 1807. The monetary unit was thesilver lira, which weighed 5grams. There were multiples of £2 (10 grams of silver) and £5 (25 grams of silver), and precious coins of £20 (6.45 grams ofgold) and £40 (12.9 grams of gold). The lira was basically divided in 100 cents, and there were coins of 1 cent (2.1 grams ofcopper), 3 cents (6.3 grams of copper), and 10 cents (2 grams of poor silver), but following the tradition, there was a division in 20soldi, with coins of 1 soldo (10.5 grams of copper, in practice 5 cents), 5 soldi (1.25 grams of silver), 10 soldi (2.5 grams of silver), and 15 soldi (3.75 grams of silver).
The regions of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy had been borderline demilitarized in the prior century, and it was a popular sentiment among French and Italian administrators that the Italians had no military value. Napoleon was conscious of the challenge of creating an effective army in a country where the traditional military spirit had disappeared. However, after much work and reform, the army finally reached both its quantitative conscription goals and qualitative parity in training and discipline with regular French army units by 1810-1812. Between 1800 and 1812, the Kingdom of Italy, with a population of somewhat over 6 million, supplied 200,000 soldiers to Napoleon's armies. Due to their extensive employment in the Peninsular War and the Russian campaign, they nonetheless had high casualty rates.[11]
The army of the Kingdom derived from that of theRepublic, which conscripted 31,200 civilians between 1803 and 1805. The twoHussar regiments were converted intoDragoons and renamed Regina (Queen's Dragoons) and Napoleone (Napoleon's Dragoons),[12] this brigade became the main cavalry force of the Kingdom in all campaigns. The Presidential Guards of the Republic were renamed the Royal Guards, to which was added, in 1806, the regiment of Royal Velites. In 1805, the Kingdom had, in addition to the two Dragoon regiments and the Royal Guards, five line and two light Infantry regiments, along with one light Cavalry (Chasseurs à Cheval) and one Artillery regiment. In 1807, theJäger battalion Brescia was increased to three battalions and renamed the 3rd Light regiment. Also in 1807, the Royal Dalmatian regiment and the Jäger battalion Istria were formed by recruits from the formerVenetian domains attached to the Kingdom. By the end of 1808, the overall combat strength was increased from two to three combat battalions per regiment, with the creation of the 6th and 7th Line regiments from the areas of thePapal States now attached to the Kingdom, and the 2nd Light cavalry. In 1809, an additional regiment, the 4th Light, was formed, and the companies of the Jäger battalion Istria were reassigned to the 1st and 2nd Light, along with two more cavalry regiments, the 3rd and 4th Light (Chasseurs à Cheval), being formed in 1810.
The years 1806-13, excluding volunteers, saw the conscription of 128,316 civilians[13] for the military, from every département of the Kingdom with peak conscriptions between 1810 and 1812. Unlike the Republic the units of the Kingdom were inserted into theGrande Armée and deployed to and employed in foreigncampaigns.[14] The last units of the Kingdom were disbanded on 11 February 1814, the divisionsPalombini andZucchi, after a final engagementon the Mincio.[15]
From 1808 to 1813, entire Italian divisions served in thePeninsular War. In early 1808,Giuseppe Lechi was deployed and commanded the 2nd Division inDuhesme's Observatory Corps. The division consisted of units levied in Italy and inNaples. In early 1809, a second all-Italian division was sent to Spain underDomenico Pino and attached toSaint-Cyr'sVII Corps as the 5th Division. Lechi's all-Italian division, except for the 1st Line regiment "Re" from Naples, was by now also attached to the VII Corps and designated the 6th Division. In early 1810, the two divisions merged under Pino and formed the all-Italian 2nd Division of the VII Corps, though the 5th Italian Line was assigned to Duhaseme's 4th Division, and the 1st Neapolitan joined with the 2nd Neapolitan Line inVerdier's 3rd Division. In May 1811, the 5th Line, along with the 4th and 6th Line as well as the 2nd Light of the 2nd Division, transferred to the command ofHarispe for the siege ofTarragona. In late 1811, these units formed the "Italian Division" of the Army of Aragon underPalombini atSaguntum andValencia. For a brief period,Peyri was in command. In the same year, a second Italian division was created underSeveroli and attached to the reserve corps. In late 1812, Palombini's division was attached to the Army of the Center before being transferred in early 1813 to the Army of the North, whereas Severoli remained in reserve of the Army of Aragon, and the 7th Line garrisonedTarragona. By mid-1813, the Italian units were reduced to a brigade and attached to the reserve under Saint-Paul; the complete departure followed in December 1813. Overall, between 1808 and 1813, the Kingdom of Italy provided 30,183 soldiers, of which only 8,958 returned; the rest fell to combat and disease.[16] The units fought amongst others atRoses,Cardadeu,Molins de Rei,Valls,Gerona atEl Pla,Figueras andValencia, and especially distinguishing themselves underSuchet atTarragona andSaguntum.[17][18]
In 1809,Eugène'sArmy of Italy formed the right wing of Napoleon I's invasion of theAustrian Empire, winning a considerable victory atRaab and having a respectable share in the victory atWagram.[14][19]
In 1812, Eugène de Beauharnais commanded theIV Corps of the Grande Armée, which invaded Russia. It included two divisions levied in the Kingdom of Italy, the 15th (Italian) Infantry Division commanded by Gen.Domenico Pino and the Italian Royal Guard division under Gen.Teodoro Lechi. The Italians took part in every battle of the IV Corps (Smolensk,Borodino) under the Viceroy, including the battle of the retreat (Maloyaroslavets andKrasnoi). In total 27,000 troops of the Kingdom of Italy marched intoRussia.[20] The Italian contingent distinguished themselves atBorodino andMaloyaroslavets,[21][22] receiving the recognition:[23]
"The Italian army had displayed qualities which entitled it evermore to take rank amongst the bravest troops of Europe."
Only 1,000–2,000 Italians survived theRussian campaign, but they returned with most of their banners secured.[20][24] In 1813,Eugène de Beauharnais held out as long as possible against the onslaught of the Austrians[21](Battle of the Mincio) and was later forced to sign an armistice in February 1814.[25]
Infantry:
Cavalry:
The administrative system of the Kingdom was firstly drawn by a law on 8 June 1805. The state was divided, following the French system, into 14départements; the twelve inherited from the republican era, plus Adda (Sondrio) and Adige (Verona). The chief of the department, theprefect, was the State's representative in each province, improved the administrative decisions of the central government, controlled the local authorities, led the police and, differently from the republican era, had all the executive powers in its territory. The local legislative body was theGeneral Council, composed by the representatives of the comunes.
The departments were divided in districts, equivalent to the Frencharrondissements. The chief of the district was the vice-prefect, which had similar powers to the prefect, but over a smaller area. The local legislative body was the District Council, composed of eleven members. The districts were divided, as in France, intocantons, seats of Tax collectors andJustices of the peace.
The cantons were divided intocomunes. The comunes had a City Council (Consiglio Comunale) of fifteen, thirty or forty members, chosen by the king or the prefect, depending on the comune size. The Council elected two, four or six Elders for the ordinary administration, helped by a City Secretary. The chief of biggest comunes were the royalPodestà, when in smaller comunes there was a prefectoralMayor. All the city offices were held only by owners and traders, and the leadership of the owners was assured.
During the kingdom's life, the administrative system of the State changed for domestic and international reasons. Following the defeat of Austria and theTreaty of Pressburg, Napoleon annexed to Italy the territory of the formerRepublic of Venice, as announced on 30 March 1806, and ratified on 1 May. Seven new departments were created, six in the Venetian mainland, and one in Istria (Capodistria).Dalmatia received special institutions led by the General Provider Mr. Dandolo, and maintained its own laws. On 14 July 1807, the government passed a decree that reduced the number of comunes. Following the dissolution of thePapal States, the kingdom was extended along the Adriatic coast, and on 20 April 1808, three new departments were established. The final territorial change came into effect on 10 June 1810, when, as announced by Napoleon previously on 28 May, Italy lost Istria and the never fully incorporated Dalmatia, gaining as reward all the southernTirol up to the city ofBolzano, creating the 24th and last department:Haut Adige.[27]
The language used officially in the Kingdom of Italy wasItalian. The French language was used for ceremonies and in all relationships with France.
Education was made universal for all children, which was also conducted in Italian. By decree of the governorVincenzo Dandolo, this was so even in Istria and Dalmatia, where local populations were more heterogeneous.[28]
During its last maximum extension (from 1809 to 1814), the Kingdom lost Istria/Dalmatia but got added Bolzano/Alto Adige and consisted of 24 departments.[29]
When Napoleon abdicated both the thrones of France and Italy on 11 April 1814,Eugène de Beauharnais was lined up on theMincio river with his army to repel any invasion from Germany or Austria, and he attempted to be crowned king. The Senate of the Kingdom was summoned on 17 April, but the senators showed themselves undecided in that chaotic situation. When a second session of the assembly took place on 20 April, the Milan insurrection foiled the Viceroy's plan. In the riots, finance minister CountGiuseppe Prina was massacred by the crowd, and the Great Electors disbanded the Senate and called the Austrian forces to protect the city, while aProvisional Regency Government under the presidency ofCarlo Verri was appointed.
Eugène surrendered on 23 April, and was exiled to Bavaria by the Austrians, who occupied Milan on 28 April. On 26 April, the Empire appointedAnnibale Sommariva asImperial Commissioner of Lombardy, while many taxes were abolished or reduced by the Provisional Regency. Finally, on 25 May, the Supreme Imperial CommissionerCount Heinrich von Bellegarde took all the powers in Lombardy, and former monarchies in Modena,Romagna andPiedmont were gradually re-established; on 30 May, theTreaty of Paris was signed, and the remains of the kingdom were annexed by the Austrian Empire as theKingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, which was announced by Count Bellegarde on 12 June.
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