The Fall of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, 1814

Description

In the spring of 1814, the Kingdom of Italy, created by Napoleon in 1805, was conquered by the armies of the Allied Powers. The Venetian departments of the kingdom had been occupied by Austrian troops since October, 1813. The territory west of the Mincio and north of the Po, however, remained under French control until April, 1814. When, after Napoleon's defeat by the Allies, Prince Eugene Beauharnais, the French Emperor's viceroy in the kingdom, attempted to secure the creation of a new Kingdom of Italy with him as sovereign, the anti-French parties cooperated in staging a revolution in Milan which brought about a violent overthrow of Eugene's government. To take the place of the deposed French regime, the Milanese communal council established a provisional government for the parts of the kingdom still unoccupied by the Austrian army and invited Austrian and English officials to come to the capital of the Kingdom of Italy to help maintain order, in the meantime, the news of the great amount of liberal agitation in Milan caused the governments of the Allied Powers, who had agreed in July, 1813, upon giving Venetia to the Habsburgs, definitely to decide to give Lombardy as welt. In late May and early June, 1814, the Habsburgs finally took control of the whole kingdom. It is the purpose of this monograph to trace the various steps which led to the overthrow of the French-Italian government and to the establishment of Austrian control in the Kingdom of Italy. Such a study necessarily involves the raising of various seemingly unrelated questions. What were the conditions which existed in the kingdom just before its final demise? What were the causes of the Milanese revolution? How did the events which took place before, during, and immediately after the revolution demonstrate the existence of liberal and national sentiment in northern and northeastern Italy? How did they influence the Allied Powers in deciding the fate of the kingdom? Preface ......Page 9 Table of Contents ......Page 13 Chapter I The Kingdom of Italy......Page 15 Chapter II The Stirring Up of a Liberal and National Sentiment......Page 29 Chapter III The Italian Campaign, 1813-1814......Page 47 Chapter IV the Austrian Provisional Government in Venetia,......Page 66 Chapter V The Prelude to a Crisis in the Unconquered Part of the Kingdom of Italy......Page 85 Chapter VI Plotting a Revolution......Page 102 Chapter VII The Milanese Revolution of April 20, 1814......Page 115 Chapter VIII the Provisional Government......Page 131 Chapter IX The Milanese Provisional Government and the Austrians......Page 146 Chapter X English Intrigues and Public Opinion ......Page 163 Chapter XI The Milanese Deputation at Paris......Page 184 Chapter XII The End of the Kingdom of Italy......Page 205 Bibliography ......Page 221 Index ......Page 243