The Kingdom of Italy (Italian: Regno d'Italia; French: Royaume d'Italie) was a kingdom in Northern Italy (formerly the Italian Republic) that was a client state of Napoleon's French Empire. It was fully influenced by revolutionary 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 stepson Eugène de Beauharnais.
It covered some of Piedmont and the modern regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino, South Tyrol, and Marche. Napoleon I also ruled the rest of northern and central Italy in the form of Nice, Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, but directly as part of the French Empire (as departments), rather than as part of a vassal state.
At its peak, the kingdom covered 84,000 square kilometers and had a population of 6.5 million.
Constitutional statutes
The Kingdom of Italy was born on 17 March 1805, when the Italian Republic, whose president was Napoleon Bonaparte, became the Kingdom of Italy, with the same man (now styled Napoleon I) as the new King of Italy and his 24-year-old stepson Eugène de Beauharnais as his viceroy. Napoleon I was crowned at the Milan Cathedral, Milan on 23 May, with the Iron 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.
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, 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; the Napoleonic Code was introduced on 21 March 1804.
The fourth Statute, decided on 16 February 1806, indicated Beauharnais as the heir to the throne.
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.
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. In 1812, a Court of Accounts was added.
The government had seven ministers:
- The Minister of War was at first General Augusto Caffarelli, later General Giuseppe Danna for a year, and then, from 1811, General Achille Fontanelli;
- The Minister of Interior was at first Ludovico Arborio di Breme and then, from 1809, Luigi Vaccari;
- The Minister for Foreign Affairs was Ferdinando Marescalchi;
- The Minister of Justice and Great Judge was Giuseppe Luosi;
- The Minister of the Treasury was Antonio Veneri and then, from 1811, Ambrogio Birago;
- The Minister of Finance was Giuseppe Prina;
- The Minister of Religion was Giovanni Bovara.
Territory
Originally, the Kingdom consisted of the territories of the Italian Republic: the former Duchy of Milan, Duchy of Mantua, Duchy of Modena, the western part of the Republic of Venice, part of the Papal States in Romagna, and the Department of Agogna (it) centred on Novara.
After the defeat of the Third Coalition and the consequent Treaty of Pressburg, on 26 December 1805, the Kingdom gained from Austria the eastern and remaining part of the Venetian territories, including Istria and Dalmatia with Cattaro, though it lost Massa and Carrara to Elisa Bonaparte's Principality of Lucca and Piombino. The Duchy of Guastalla was annexed on 24 May.
With the Convention of Fontainebleau with Austria of 10 October 1807, Italy ceded Monfalcone to Austria and gained Gradisca, putting the new border on the Isonzo river.
The conquered Republic of Ragusa was annexed in spring 1808 by General Auguste de Marmont. On 2 April 1808, following the dissolution of the Papal States, the Kingdom annexed the present-day Marches. 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 the War of the Fifth Coalition. Emperor Napoleon and King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria signed the Treaty of Schönbrunn on 14 October 1809, exchanging territories in Italy and Germany. Bavaria ceded southern Tyrol to the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn ceded Istria, Dalmatia and Ragusa to France, incorporating the eastern Adriatic territories into France's Illyrian Provinces. Small changes to the borders between Italy and France in Garfagnana and Friuli came into effect on 5 August 1811.
In practice, the Kingdom was a dependency of the French Empire.
The Kingdom served as a theater in Napoleon's operations against Austria during the wars of the various coalitions. Trading with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was forbidden under the Continental System.
Currency
The kingdom was given a new national currency, replacing the local coins circulating in the country: the Italian lira, of the same size, weight, and metal of the French franc. 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 the silver lira, which weighed 5 grams. There were multiples of £2 (10 grams of silver) and £5 (25 grams of silver), and precious coins of £20 (6.45 grams of gold) 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 of copper), 3 cents (6.3 grams of copper), and 10 cents (2 grams of poor silver), but following the tradition, there was a division in 20 soldi, 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).
Army
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. In addition to these 200,000, a similar number of troops were conscripted from the Italian provinces directly annexed into the French Empire. Thus 400,000 Italian soldiers fought for France in the Napoleonic Wars, excluding those who served in the army of the Kingdom of Naples. At least three-quarters of these men served outside of Italy.
The army of the Kingdom derived from that of the Republic, which conscripted 31,200 civilians between 1803 and 1805. The two Hussar regiments were converted into Dragoons and renamed Regina (Queen's Dragoons) and Napoleone (Napoleon's Dragoons), 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, the Jäger 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 former Venetian 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 the Papal 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 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 the Grande Armée and deployed to and employed in foreign campaigns. The last units of the Kingdom were disbanded on 11 February 1814, the divisions Palombini and Zucchi, after a final engagement on the Mincio, and the divisions Severoli and Lechi following the Convention of Mantua.
From 1808 to 1813, entire Italian divisions served in the Peninsular War. In early 1808, Giuseppe Lechi was deployed and commanded the 2nd Division in Duhesme's Observatory Corps. The division consisted of units levied in Italy and in Naples. In early 1809, a second all-Italian division was sent to Spain under Domenico Pino and attached to Saint-Cyr's VII 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 in Verdier'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 of Harispe for the siege of Tarragona. In late 1811, these units formed the "Italian Division" of the Army of Aragon under Palombini at Saguntum and Valencia. For a brief period, Peyri was in command. In the same year, a second Italian division was created under Severoli 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 garrisoned Tarragona. 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. The units fought amongst others at Roses, Cardadeu, Molins de Rei, Valls, Gerona at El Pla, Figueras and Valencia, and especially distinguishing themselves under Suchet at Tarragona and Saguntum.
In 1809, Eugène's Army of Italy formed the right wing of Napoleon I's invasion of the Austrian Empire, winning a considerable victory at Raab and having a respectable share in the victory at Wagram.
In 1812, Eugène de Beauharnais commanded the IV 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 and Krasnoi). In total 27,000 troops of the Kingdom of Italy marched into Russia. The Italian contingent distinguished themselves at Borodino and Maloyaroslavets, receiving the recognition:
"The Italian army had displayed qualities which entitled it evermore to take rank amongst the bravest troops of Europe."