The Jacobin Triennium (1796-1799)

In March 1796 the young General Napoleon Bonaparte started a triumphant Italian campaign as part of the war between France and Austria, beating the Piedmontese (forced to sign the Cherasco armistice) and the Austrians. The French presence in Italy helped the foundation of democratic republics: Milan, liberated from the Austrians in May, established a Milanese Municipality; the Padan territories that had belonged to the Pontifical State united in October 1796 and founded the Cisalpine Republic, which unified the Lombardy and Cispadane provinces. The Venetian Republic, where a democratic government was formed with the help of the French, was ceded to Austria with the Treaty of Campoformio in October 1797. In the meantime, the Ligurian Republic was also formed in 1797. In 1798 the French army invaded the Pontifical State; a group of patriots supported by the French founded the Roman Republic; in January 1799 the advance of the French troops led by General Championnet also made the declaration of a republic possible in Naples, where a provisional government led by democratic forces was established.

In the meantime a second coalition that included Austria, Russia, Britain and the Kingdom of Naples had formed; an army made up of Austro-Russian troops invaded northern Italy and forced the French to withdraw to their borders; the only city that was not conquered was Genoa, where the patriots' resistance was organized; many exiles fled to France. The anti-republican reaction in Naples, which also involved peasant revolts against the French and was helped by the arrival of the British fleet, was particularly bloody.

The reaction lasted about a year, up until the victory of Marengo (June 14 1800) which reopened to doors of Italy to the French.