Parthenopean Republic | ||||||||||
Repubblica Partenopea | ||||||||||
Client state of France | ||||||||||
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The Kingdom of Naples briefly became a republic in 1799.
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Capital | Naples | |||||||||
Languages | Central Italian, Southern Italian | |||||||||
Government | Presidential directorial Republic | |||||||||
Director | ||||||||||
• | 1799 | Carlo Lauberg | ||||||||
• | 1799 | Ignazio Ciaia | ||||||||
Legislature | Legislative Council | |||||||||
Historical era | French Revolutionary Wars | |||||||||
• | French invasion | 21 January 1799 | ||||||||
• | Sicilian invasion | 13 June 1799 | ||||||||
Currency | Napoletan tornese, Napoletan carlino | |||||||||
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The flag of the Parthenopean Republic was the French tricolor with a yellow stripe in the place of the white one, similar to the flag of Chad or the flag of Romania.
The Parthenopean Republic (Italian: Repubblica Partenopea) was a French First Republic-supported republic in the territory of the Kingdom of Naples, formed during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops. The republic existed from 21 January 1799 to 13 June 1799, when Ferdinand's kingdom was re-established.
On the outbreak of the French Revolution King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Queen Maria Carolina did not at first actively oppose reform; but after the fall of the French monarchy they became violently opposed to it, and in 1793 joined the first coalition against France, instituting severe persecutions against all who were remotely suspected of French sympathies. Republicanism, however, gained ground, especially among the .
In 1796 peace with France was concluded, but in 1798, during Napoleon's absence in Egypt and after Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile, Maria Carolina induced Ferdinand to go to war with France once more. Nelson himself arrived at Naples in September 1798, where he was enthusiastically received. The Neapolitan army had 70,000 men hastily summoned under the command of the Austrian general Karl von Mack: on 29 November it entered Rome, which had been evacuated by the French, to restore Papal authority. However, after a sudden French counter-attack, his troops were forced to retreat and eventually routed. A contemporary satirist said of the king's conquest of Rome: "He came, he saw, he fled".