The French conquest of Corsica was a successful expedition by French forces of the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

under the Comte de Vaux, against Corsican forces under

Pasquale Paoli Filippo Antonio Pasquale de' Paoli (; or ; ; 6 April 1725 – 5 February 1807) was a Corsican patriot, statesman, and military leader who was at the forefront of resistance movements against the Republic of Genoa, Genoese and later Kingd ...

of the

Corsican Republic The Corsican Republic () was a short-lived state on the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. It was proclaimed in July 1755 by Pasquale Paoli, who was seeking independence from the Republic of Genoa. Paoli created the Corsican Constitutio ...

. The expedition was launched in May 1768, in the aftermath of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. A French expeditionary force was landed on the island of

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

, then ruled by the

. Marching inland to overcome any Corsican opposition, the French force initially suffered an unexpected defeat at the Battle of Borgo. But a new commander, the Comte de Vaux, was appointed to lead the expedition, and decisively defeated the Corsican army at the Battle of Ponte Novu in 1769, effectively bringing an end to Corsican resistance. The Corsican forces, having neither the willpower nor the manpower to resist the French, surrendered the island. After the Corsican defeat, France annexed the island, although they took a year consolidating the territory as many Corsicans took to the hills and engaged in

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

against the French.

fled to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, where he was immensely popular, and became a member of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

dining club A dining club (UK) or eating club (US) is a Social club, social group, usually requiring membership (which may, or may not be available only to certain people), which meets for dinners and discussion on a regular basis. They may also often have g ...

. Corsica remained under French rule until 1794, when an Anglo-Corsican expedition captured Corsica from the French and the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom was established, with Paoli as its ruler. On 19 October 1796, the French reconquered Corsica and it became a French ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

''.

Background

The island of

had been ruled by the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

since 1284. In the 18th century, Corsicans started to develop their own nationalism and seek their independence from Genoese rule. In 1729, the Corsican Revolution for independence from Genoa began, first led by Luiggi Giafferi and Giacinto Paoli, and later by Paoli's son,

. After 26 years of struggle against the

(plus an ephemeral attempt to proclaim in 1736 an independent Kingdom of Corsica under the German adventurer Theodor von Neuhoff, who was supported by the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

and the

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...

, which at the time ruled over

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

and

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

), the independent

was proclaimed in 1755 under the leadership of Pasquale Paoli and remained sovereign until 1769. The 1755

Corsican Constitution The first Corsican Constitution was drawn up in 1755 for the short-lived Corsican Republic independent from Genoa beginning in 1755, and remained in force until the annexation of Corsica by France in 1769. It was written in Tuscan Italian, the ...

was written in Italian (the language of culture in Corsica until the middle of the 19th century) by Paoli. Despite four decades of intense fighting, the Corsican Republic proved unable to eject the Genoese from the major coastal fortresses of Calvi and Bonifacio. After the Corsican conquest of Capraia, a small island of the Tuscan Archipelago, in 1767, the

, exhausted by forty years of fighting, decided to sell the island to France which, after its defeat in the Seven Years' War, was trying to reinforce its position in the Mediterranean. In 1768, with the

Treaty of Versailles (1768) The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty concluded on 15 May 1768 at Versailles between the Republic of Genoa and France, in which Genoa ceded Corsica to France. Corsica had been ruled by Genoa since 1284. In the 18th century, Corsicans started t ...

, the Genoese republic ceded all its rights on the island. The very same year, King Louis XV sent a military expedition to Corsica to secure French rule over the island, under the command of Comte de Vaux, a veteran of the

Conquest

France's first offensive failed after the initial and rather small French expeditionary force suffered a significant setback at the Battle of Borgo in October 1768. France therefore dispatched large numbers of reinforcements, swelling the size of their army on the island to 24,000 men, and tasked a new commander with the renewal of the endeavor. The Corsican army was decisively defeated at the Battle of Ponte Novu and the French forces soon overran the island although Corsican forces were not ever subdued until the following year and sporadic outbreaks of rebellion continued. French control was consolidated over the island, and in 1770 it became a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of France. Under France, the use of Corsican (a regional language closely related to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

) has gradually declined in favour of the standard

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

. Italian was the official language of

until 1859.

Consequences

The French invasion triggered the Corsican Crisis in British politics. Although they sent secret aid to the Corsicans, the British government chose not to act to prevent the island's occupation. Paoli created a liberal

heavily influenced by ideas underpinning the emerging, and famously unwritten, British Constitution. He created the most extensive voting franchise in the world, and attempted radical reforms in education. Because of Britain's enmity of France, and because the British had historically been supportive of Corsican exiles — Paoli sought to establish an alliance with Great Britain. Britain opened a

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

on the island, but events in Corsica did not feature prominently in Britain until 1768.. The leader of the Corsican Republic,

, went into exile in Britain where he remained until the French Revolution allowed him to return to Corsica.François Quastana,Victor Monnier
Paoli, la Révolution Corse et les Lumières
pages 115-116 British troops subsequently intervened in Corsica between 1794 and 1796, where they created the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, and in 1814 when they agreed the Treaty of Bastia. Following the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

control of the islands were returned to the restored French monarchs. The invasion and occupation had even more profound consequences for France itself. When

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

was born on Corsica in 1769, he automatically became a natural-born French citizen. Both his parents Carlo Maria Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino joined the local resistance and fought against the French to maintain independence, even when Maria was pregnant with him. Although raised as a Corsican nationalist, Napoleon gradually turned his loyalties towards the whole of France, serving in the French Army. He went on to become ruler of mainland France, adopted the ideals of the French Revolution as his own, and triggered the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

that devastated much of Europe and changed it permanently.

Legacy

To this day, some Corsican nationalists advocate the restoration of the island's republic. There are several groups and two nationalist parties (the autonomist ''Femu a Corsica'' and the separatist '' Corsica Libera'') active on the island calling for some degree of Corsican autonomy from France or even full independence. Some groups that claim to support Corsican independence, such as the

National Liberation Front of Corsica The National Liberation Front of Corsica ( or ; , Abbreviation, abbreviated FLNC) is a name used by various Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla and paramilitary organizations that advocate an Independence, independent or Autonomy, autonomous state on t ...

, have carried out an ongoing violent campaign since the 1970s that includes bombings and assassinations, usually targeting buildings and officials representing the French government.

References

Bibliography