Cisalpine Republic
historical territory, Italy
Cisalpine Republic, French République Cisalpine, Italian Repubblica Cisalpina, republic formed by General Napoleon Bonaparte in June 1797 in conquered territories centred in the Po River valley of northern Italy. Its territory first embraced Lombardy, then extended to Emilia, Modena, and Bologna (collectively known for some months previously as the Cispadane Republic; q.v.), and then drew from parts of the Venetian hinterland and from the Swiss cantons of the Valtellina. The republic was confirmed in the Franco-Austrian Treaty of Campo Formio (Oct. 17, 1797).
The Cisalpine Republic had a constitution and government modeled on that of the Directory in France. It was nominally independent, maintaining an embassy in Paris, but French troops and monthly subsidies tied it firmly to France. In 1801 it was reconstituted as the Italian Republic with Bonaparte as its dictatorial head, and it ceased existence altogether in 1805 in the creation of the Kingdom of Italy.
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