Transpadane Republic

Transpadane Republic Repubblica Transpadana
Puppet state of First French Republic
← 1796–1797 →
Flag: the Italian tricolore
Northern Italy in 1796: the Duchy of Milan became the Transpadane Republic after the French occupation of 1796.
Capital	Milan
Government	Republic
Historical era	Napoleonic Wars
- Battle of Lodi	May 10, 1796
- Proclamation of the Cisalpine Republic	June 29, 1797

The Transpadane Republic (Italian: Repubblica Transpadana) was a revolutionary, provisional and internationally unrecognized government established in Milan by General Napoleon Bonaparte.

On May 10, 1796, the French army defeated the Austrian troops in the Battle of Lodi, and occupied the ancient Duchy of Milan. Napoleon set up a temporary authority, the General Administration of Lombardy, which replaced the Austrian officials and created a French client republic in Northern Italy, adopting the French Republican Calendar.

The Administration was granted full civil powers by a proclamation of Napoleon on Brumaire 8, year V (October 29, 1796), even if its orders had to be approved by the French military commander of Lombardy. The Administration was composed of four departments: one for religious and cultural affairs, one for transportation and engineering affairs, one for financial and tax affairs, and one for mercantile and commercial affairs.

After the new victories of Napoleon's army, the territory of the republic grew; with the Preliminars of Leoben of April 17, 1797, France began the occupation of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, conquering Bergamo and moving eastwards from the Adda River to the Oglio River, the demarcation line with the Venetian territories established more than three centuries earlier. On May 19, Napoleon transferred to Milan the territories of the former Duchy of Modena from the bordering Cispadane Republic. On June 29, the General decided to give to the republic a final arrangement and a pro forma independence: by his own decree, he proclaimed the birth of the Cisalpine Republic.

See also

• Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars
• Historical states of Italy
• Duchy of Milan

Sources

• Historical database of Lombard laws (Italian)