Napoleon’s Italian Republics c. 1797

After his military demolition of the Austrians (1796–97), Napoleon attempted to impose revolutionary order in Italy. By the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797), Austria retained Venice and its Adriatic appendices, but Piedmont was directly annexed by France, while the spine of northern Italy was converted into the French-controlled Cisalpine Republic with its capital in Milan. Further puppet states were created from Genoa (the Ligurian Republic), and in Lucca, Tuscany and Parma. Napoleon baulked initially at occupying the Papal States, merely forcing them to accept a French Ambassador by the Treaty of Tolentino (1797). However, later that year, the assassination of a French general provoked the invasion of the Papal States and the formation of the puppet Roman Republic. While the rulers Napoleon ousted hardly enjoyed great popular support, French rule proved even more unwelcome: mass revolt supported by the King of Naples would drive them, briefly, from Italy in 1799.