Roman Republic (1798–1799)
로마 공화국 (1798–1799)
A sister republic of the First French Republic, proclaimed on 15 February 1798 after French forces occupied Rome and the Papal States. It was a satellite state subordinate to France, and sources differ on the composition of its executive. It ceased to exist in autumn 1799 when the Papal States were restored; it is distinct from ancient Rome and from the 1849 Roman Republic.
In depth
Foundation
French forces invaded Rome on 10 February 1798, and papal temporal power was declared at an end on 15 February. The same day General Louis-Alexandre Berthier proclaimed the republic. The pretext for the invasion was the killing of the French embassy general Mathurin-Léonard Duphot on 28 December 1797 during a popular tumult. Pope Pius VI was taken prisoner, removed from Rome on 20 February 1798 and exiled to France, where he died the following year.
Government and constitution
Organized on the French model by Gaspard Monge and Pierre Daunou, with local revolutionaries such as the engraver Francesco Piranesi, the republic's institutions were heavily influenced by the French Constitution of 1795. The constitution was promulgated on 20 March 1798, but sources disagree on the structure and size of the organs. English sources report an executive of five consuls, with a legislature of two chambers: a Tribunate of 60 members and a Senate of 30. The Italian source records a Tribunate of 72 and a Senate of 32, alongside five consuls. The Korean source states that the executive was a seven-man directory, which conflicts with the five-consul account. Before the constitution, a provisional college of consuls governed from 15 February to 20 March 1798, including Liborio Angelucci. In practice power was exercised by the French occupiers.
Territorial expansion
The republic absorbed the Tiberina Republic, named after the river Tiber and proclaimed on 4 February 1798 in Perugia, and the Anconine Republic, formed on 19 November 1797 with Ancona as its capital. Their incorporation into the Roman Republic took place on 7 March 1798. The territory was divided into eight departments.
War and dissolution
In November 1798 the Kingdom of Naples invaded with a force under the Austrian general Karl von Mack and with British naval support; the French evacuated Rome and a Neapolitan army entered on 29 November. French troops under Jacques MacDonald and Jean Étienne Championnet counterattacked, defeating the Neapolitans at Civita Castellana on 5 December and Otricoli on 9 December and re-entering Rome on 14 December. In January 1799 the French entered Naples and set up the Parthenopean Republic. As Austria and Russia drove France out of Italy, however, the Papal States were restored in autumn 1799 and the Roman Republic ceased to exist.
Assessment and memory
Looting by the occupiers and heavy taxes made the new regime coldly received by the Roman population, and a popular rising on 25 February 1798 was harshly repressed by the French. Puccini's opera Tosca is set in Rome in the months after the fall of the Roman Republic.