Ligurian Republic
리구리아 공화국
A sister republic under French influence from 1797 to 1805, governing the territory of the former Republic of Genoa. Founded by Napoleon as a French client state after the end of the Genoese republic, it ended when it was annexed to the French First Empire.
In depth
Founding
On 22 May 1797 an anti-oligarchic uprising (the Genoese revolution) broke out in Genoa, signalled by "Ah! ça ira"; crowds armed themselves shouting "viva Maria" and two days of street fighting followed. The revolt served as the pretext for French intervention and a change of regime. On 5–6 June Napoleon announced, through the Convention of Mombello, the end of the Republic of Genoa and the establishment of a democratic Ligurian Republic, which Genoa approved on 9 June. English and Korean Wikipedia give 14 June as the founding date, while Britannica gives 15 June, a one-day discrepancy.
The Ligurian Republic comprised most of the Ligurian region of north-western Italy formerly ruled by the Republic of Genoa, together with a small imperial fief held by Savoy within that territory. Genoa was the capital, with some 89,000 inhabitants at the time, while the whole republic had about 600,000; it used the old Genoese white flag with a red cross.
Liguria was strategically vital as Napoleon's Italian army's last link to France.
Constitutional order
The first constitution, adopted on 2 December 1797 (promulgated 22 December), created a Directory-style republic with a bicameral legislature (a 60-member Giunta of the Juniors and a 30-member Senate) and a five-man Directory (Direttorio). It was largely adapted from the French constitution of 1795. Britannica states that the Ligurian government modelled itself on the French Directory and was bound to France by alliance.
Counter-revolution and war
In September 1797 peasant risings incited by clergy and feudal lords broke out at Albaro, the Polcevera valley and Fontanabuona but were suppressed by French troops. In June 1798 the republic was drawn into a short war with the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. After the French defeat at the Battle of Novi on 15 August 1799, the Ligurian government was reduced to a French puppet.
Under the impact of the coup of 18 Brumaire, on 7 December 1799 French pressure ended Liguria's democratic experiment: the Directory was dissolved and replaced by a committee of nine (collegio di Novemviri). In 1800 Austrian and British forces besieged Genoa, and under General Masséna the citizens held out for a long time amid famine; the surrender bought Bonaparte time to win at Marengo.
Moderate constitution and annexation
In 1802 Napoleon imposed a moderate new constitution that abolished democracy and set up an oligarchic system based on three electoral colleges (landowners, scholars, merchants), reviving the office of Doge to head the 30-member Senate. The only Doge, Girolamo Luigi Durazzo, was appointed on 10 August 1802 and ousted on 29 May 1805. In 1803 the republic became a military district closely tied to France, with its head of state appointed by Napoleon.
In June 1805 the Ligurian Republic was annexed to the French First Empire and became the three departments of Apennins, Gênes and Montenotte. After Napoleon's fall the republic was briefly restored from 28 April to 28 July 1814, but the Congress of Vienna transferred it to the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, which annexed it on 3 January 1815 as the "Duchy of Genoa" within the Savoyard state.