Napoleon I on Italy, Italians
From his thoughts, memoirs
On Napoleon’s Italian background
(Gourgaud, Journal of Saint Helena)
The Emperor then praises the French in general, Parisians in particular: “I love them very much, I always did what I could for them. I should have done more for Italy, but I was waiting, to declare her independent, to have a second son: I would have placed him there. I have a foot in Italy, and one in France. Because I come from Italians; my family was in Tuscany, two hundred years ago. Brother Bonaventura [Bonaparte], capuchin, is beatified. I should have gotten him canonized, that would have brought me all the capuchins. Yes, but to what ridicule I would have been subjected to.”
His Majesty speaks of the Corsicans, giving stiletto blows for a nothing: good people, but ferocious. “I am not Corsican: I was raised in France, I am therefore French, my brothers too. I was born in 1769, Corsica was already reunited to the kingdom. Joseph is my elder, that’s why they said I was of 68.”
“In Lyon, once, a mayor, thinking he was giving me a compliment told me: ‘it’s surprising, Sire, that not being French, you loved France so much and did so much for her!’ It was as if he had struck me with a stick! I turned the other way.”
“They say I am not French! I am Italian, or Tuscan, rather than a Corsican. And yet in that island, my family held the first rank. Like Paoli, I had twenty-five to thirty cousins. I am certain that those who followed Murat were my kinsmen.”
“Let’s hope that the Parisians, in remembering their days of glory, preserve my memory, I will be happy. In reality, they cannot talk about it without it being about me. As Pradt says, I wanted Paris to go all the way to Saint-Cloud and, in my universal system, I dreamed of a great capital. Parisians have a mind, and will never forget me; they are brave.”
—Yes Sire, provided that History does not say: France was great indeed before Napoleon, but it was broken up after him!
“That could very well happen, but she has very great resources indeed!”
—Yes, but she is so divided in different opinions!
“Ah! If only I was there! I would have soon rallied everyone! I would have a hundred infantry regiments, with the conscriptions of 1816 and 1817, I would immediately have a fine army, just by having the officers, the soldiers, told to meet at this or that place. I do not yet have fifty years; I would still do quite well; I still have at least thirty years to live. I committed a great mistake at Châtillon, by not ceding to the demands of the Allies.”
—Yes Sire, after Craonne, Your Majesty sent de Bray, M. de Rumigny say no.
“I committed there a grave folly.”
On the army of Italy in 1796
(Letter to the Directory, 19 Germinal An V — April 8th, 1796)
I found this army not only destitute of everything, but without discipline, in perpetual insubordination. The discontent was such that the malevolent had seized it: they formed a company of the Dauphin, and counter-revolutionary songs were sung. I had two officers brought before a military council, accused of having shouted long live the king!… Be sure that peace and order will be re-established there.
(Dictated by Napoleon, Memorial of Saint-Helena)
All resources could now only be expected from victory. It was only on the plains of Italy that transport could be organized, artillery harnessed, soldiers clothed, and cavalry mounted. All this would be conquered, if we forced the entry into Italy. The French army had in truth only thirty thousand men, and it was presented with more than ninety thousand. If these two armies had to fight in a general battle, without a doubt the inferiority of the French army in numbers, and its inferiority in artillery and cavalry, would not have allowed it to resist: but here the numbers could be compensated for by the speed of the marches; by the artillery, by the nature of the maneuvers; the lack of cavalry, by the nature of the positions. And the morale of our troops was excellent: all the soldiers had fought in the other campaigns in Italy or those in the Pyrenees.
(Letter to the Directory, 8 Nivôse, An V — December 28th, 1796)
I say it with real satisfaction, there is no army that desires more the preservation of the sacred constitution, the only refuge of liberty and of the French people. Here there is hate and readiness to fight the new revolutionaries, whatever their goal. No more revolution, that is the soldier's dearest hope.
On the first Italian campaign
(Memoirs of Napoleon)
The arrival of the army on the heights of Montezemolo was a sublime spectacle: from there she discovers the immense and fertile plains of Piedmont; the Po, the Tanaro, a host of other rivers meandered in the distance; this white belt of snow and ice, of a prodigious elevation, adorned on the horizon this rich basin of the promised land. These gigantic barriers which seemed the limits of another world, that nature had been pleased to make so formidable, to which art had spared nothing, had just fallen as if by magic: “Hannibal forced the Alps,” said Napoleon, fixing his gaze on these mountains, “Us, we have turned them around!” A happy phrase which expressed in two words the thought and spirit of the campaign.
Good effects of the first Italian campaign
(Letter to Citizen Oriani, 5 Prairial An IV — May 24th, 1796)
The scholars in Milan were not enjoying the consideration they should have. Withdrawn into the depths of their laboratories, they considered themselves fortunate that the kings and priests were willing to not harm them. This is not the case today, thought has become free in Italy: there is no longer any inquisition, nor intolerance, nor despots.
Of the army of Italy in 1797
(Letter to the Directory, 29 Nivôse An V — January 28th, 1797)
The Roman legions were said to have made twenty-four milles a day; our brigades make thirty, and fight in between.
(Letter to the Directory, 1 Prairial An V — May 20th, 1797)
The confidence that the different peoples, who have seen the army of Italy at close range, have in its good discipline, and the spirit of justice which animates the officers and soldiers, is one of the sweetest fruits of good conduct, which assures them a more certain title to the recognition of humanity than the victories which they have won.
(Letter to the Minister of Finance, 17 Fructidor An V — September 3rd, 1797)
The army of Italy provided forty or fifty millions to the republic, independently of the equipment, clothing, pay, and all the maintenance of one of the first armies of the republic. But posterity, in leafing through the history of the centuries which preceded us, will observe that there is no example of such a thing. Let no one imagine that this could have been done without imposing hardships on the army of Italy, it has often experienced them; but I knew that the other armies, that our navy, that the government had even greater needs.
Auxiliaries of the French army in Italy
(Letter to the Minister of External Relations, 16 Vendémiaire, AN VI — October 7th, 1797.)
Since I have been in Italy, I have not had the love of the people for liberty and equality as an auxiliary, or at least it has been a very weak one. But the good discipline of the army, the great respect that we all had for the republic, above all a great activity and a great promptness in repressing the ill-intentioned, and in punishing those who declared themselves against us, such has been the true auxiliary of the army of Italy: that is the history.
On the immorality of the administrations of the army of Italy, and the means of repressing it
(Letter to the Directory, 17 Nivôse An V — January 6th, 1797)
The more I delve, in my moments of leisure, into the incurable wounds of the administrations of the army of Italy, the more I am convinced of the necessity of providing them with a prompt and infallible remedy.
The army's accounts are in striking disorder… Everything is for sale… The principal actresses of the army of Italy are maintained by the employees of the French army; luxury, depravity, and embezzlement are at their height. The laws are insufficient, there is only one remedy; it is at the same time analogous to experience, to history, and to the nature of the republican government: it is a syndicate, a magistracy which would be composed of one or three persons, whose authority would last only three or five days, and which, during this short space, would have the right to have any administrator of the army shot. This magistracy, sent every year to the armies, would ensure that everyone would manage public opinion, and would maintain a certain decency, not only in morals and in expenditure, but also in daily service.
On the Italian Revolution in 1796
(Letter to the Directory, 26 Vendémiaire, An V — October 17th, 1796)
Bologna, Modena, Reggio, and Ferrara have met in congress: the liveliest enthusiasm and the purest patriotism animate them; already they see ancient Italy revive: their imagination is inflamed, their patriotism is stirred, and citizens of all classes are united. I would not be surprised if this country and Lombardy, which form a population of two to three million men, really produced a great shock throughout Italy. The revolution does not have the same character here that it had among us; firstly because it does not have the same obstacles to overcome, and because experience has enlightened the inhabitants.
(To the municipality of Venice, 7 Prairial, An V — May 26th, 1797)
In all circumstances, I will do everything in my power to give you proof of the desire I have to see your liberty consolidated, and to see miserable Italy finally place itself with glory, free and independent of foreigners, on the stage of the world, and resume, among the great nations, the rank towards which nature, its position, and its destiny call it.
(Letter to the Directory, 19 Florial An V — May 8th, 1799)
I hope that the inestimable good of liberty will give this people new energy, and will put them in a position to powerfully help the French Republic in the future wars that we may have.
(Letter to the Minister of Exterior Relations, 5 Vendémiaire, An VI — September 25th, 1797)
Let us not exaggerate the influence of the so-called Cisalpine and Genoese patriots, and let us be convinced that, if we withdrew our moral and military influence with a whistle, all these so-called patriots would be slaughtered by the people. They are becoming enlightened every day and will become much more enlightened; but it takes time, and a long time.
On the peoples of Italy in 1797
(Letter to the Directory, 4 Germinal, An V — March 24th, 1797)
The revolution is truly winning over all minds in Italy; but it would still take a long time before the people of these countries could become warriors and offer a serious spectacle.
(Letter to the Minister of External Relations, 16 Vendémiaire An VI — October 7th, 1797)
Public opinion in France is strangely misguided about Italians… One would have to be a skilled legislator to give them a taste for arms: they are a very nervous and cowardly nation… I use all my talent to warm them up and toughen them up, and I only just manage to contain and dispose these peoples within good intentions.
Advice to Italians
(Letter to the President of the Cispadane Congress, 12 Nivôse An V — January 3rd, 1797)
If the Italians of today are worthy of recovering their rights and giving themselves a free government, one day their country will be seen to figure gloriously among the powers of the globe; but do not forget that laws are nothing without force. Your first glance must be directed to your military organization. Nature has given you everything, and, after unity and wisdom…, all you lack to achieve your goal is to have seasoned battalions animated by the sacred fire of the fatherland.
Influence of the first Italian campaigns on Italian customs
(Memoirs of Napoleon)
From that moment on, Italian customs changed; a few years later, it was no longer the same nation. The soutane, which was the fashionable dress for young men, was replaced by the uniform; instead of spending their lives at the feet of women, young Italians frequented riding schools, fencing halls, and drill fields; children no longer played at chapel: they had tin regiments and imitated, in their games, the events of war. In comedies, in street farces, a very cowardly, though witty, Italian had always been represented, and a kind of big captain, sometimes French and most often German, very strong, very brave, very brutal, ending by administering a few blows with a stick to the Italian, to the great applause of the spectators. The people no longer suffered such allusions: the authors put on the stage, to the satisfaction of the public, brave Italians, making foreigners flee to support their honor and their rights. The national spirit had been formed. Italy had its songs, both patriotic and warlike; women rejected with contempt the homage of men who, in order to please them, affected effeminate manners.
On the plan of the 3rd Italian campaign known as Marengo
(Memoirs of Napoleon)
The headquarters of the Austrian army was at Turin; but half of the enemy’s forces were before Genoa, and the other half were supposed, and were indeed on their way to come by the pass of Tende to reinforce the corps which were at Turin. In this circumstance, what course will the first consul take? Will he march on Turin, to drive out Melas, reunite with Turreau and thus be assured of his communications with France and with its arsenals of Grenoble and Briançon? Will he throw a bridge at Chivasso, taking advantage of the boats that fortune has brought into his power? And will he head straight for Genoa to unblock this important place? Or, leaving Melas in his rear, will he cross the Sesia, the Ticino, to go to Milan and the Adda, to make his junction with the corps of Moncey, composed of 15,000 men, who came from the army of the Rhine, and who had emerged by the Saint-Gothard?
Of these three parties, the first was contrary to the true principles of war, since Melas had quite considerable forces with him: the French army therefore ran the risk of delivering a battle, not having an assured retreat, the fort of Bard not being yet taken. Besides, if Melas abandoned Turin and went to Alexandria, the campaign would have failed, each army found itself in a natural position: the French army supported at Mont Blanc and Dauphiné; and that of Melas would have had its left at Genoa: and behind it the places of Mantua, Piacenza and Milan.
The second option did not seem practicable: how could one venture into the midst of an army as powerful as the Austrian army, between the Po and Genoa, without having any line of operation, any assured retreat? The third party, on the contrary, offered all the advantages: the French army master of Milan, one seized all the stores, all the depots, all the hospitals of the enemy army; one joined the left commanded by General Moncey.
The second option did not seem practical: how could one venture into the midst of an army as powerful as the Austrian army, between the Po and Genoa, without having any line of operation, any assured retreat?
The third party, on the contrary, offered all the advantages: the French army master of Milan, one seized all the stores, all the depots, all the hospitals of the enemy army; one joined the left commanded by General Moncey; we had a secure retreat by the Simplon and the Saint-Gothard. The Simplon led to Valais and Sion, where all the food stores for the army had been directed. The Saint-Gothard led to Switzerland, which we had been in possession of for two years, and what would the army of the Rhine then cover on the Iller?
In this position, the French general could act according to his will. If Mélas marched with his united army from Turin, on the Sésia and the Ticino, the French army could give him battle with the immense advantage that, if it were victorious, Mélas without retreat would be pursued and thrown into Savoy; and, in the event that the French army was beaten, it would retreat by the Simplon and the Saint-Gothard. If Melas, as was natural to suppose, were heading towards Alexandria to join the army coming from Genoa, it might be hoped, by going to meet him, by crossing the Po, to forestall him and give him battle.
The French army, having its rear secured on the river and Milan, the Simplon and the St. Gotthard; while the Austrian army, having its retreat cut off, and having no communication with Mantua and Austria, would be exposed to being thrown upon the mountains of the river Ponent, and entirely destroyed or taken at the foot of the Alps, at the pass of Tende and in the county of Nice. Finally, by adopting the third course, and once master of Milan, it suited the French general to let Melas pass, and to remain between the Po, the Adda and the Ticino; he had thus, without battle, reconquered Lombardy and Piedmont, the maritime Alps, the river of Genoa, and lifted the blockade of this city: these were rather beautiful results.
What were the Italians to do in 1802?
(Speech to the deputies of the Cisalpine Republic, 6 Pluvial An X — January 26th, 1802.)
You have only particular laws: you need general laws. Your people have only local habits; they must adopt national habits. Finally, you have no armies: the powers that could become your enemies have strong ones; but you have what can produce them, a numerous population, fertile countryside, and the example given in all essential circumstances by the first people of Europe.
On the fine conduct of the Italian troops in 1809
(26th bulletin, January 7th, 1809)
The troops of the Kingdom of Italy have covered themselves with glory: their fine conduct has sensibly touched the heart of the Emperor; they are in truth composed for the most part of the corps formed by his Majesty during the campaign of the year V. The Italian Velites are as wise as they are brave: they have given rise to no complaint, and they have shown the greatest courage. Since the Romans, the peoples of Italy had not made war on Spain; since the Romans, no era has been so glorious for Italian arms.
(13th bulletin, May 28th, 1809)
The regiments of Italy which distinguished themselves in Poland and which rivaled in intrepidity in the campaign of Catalonia with the oldest French bands, have covered themselves with glory in all affairs. The peoples of Italy are marching with great strides towards the final term of a happy change. This beautiful part of the continent, where so many great and illustrious memories, that the court of Rome, that this cloud of monks, which its divisions had lost, reappears with honor on the scene of Europe.
Influence of the configuration of Italy on the destinies of this country, etc., etc.
(Dictated by Napoleon, Memorial of Saint-Helena)
The singular configuration of the Italian peninsula has incontestably contributed to the destiny of this beautiful country. If the peninsula, instead of forty to fifty leagues wide, had been ninety or a hundred leagues, and had been half as long, the central point would have been closer to all the extremities; interests would have become more common; the nation, spread over small distances, would have had more uniformity; it would have fought with more advantage against the acts which tended to break it up, and the force of adhesion which constituted France, England, Spain, would have acted equally on Italy…
As long as Italy was left to itself, or the influence of Germany and France was only auxiliary and did not control everything, Italy was divided into three masses which are the natural geographical divisions.
To the north, the valley of the Po, comprising all the countries which pour water into the Po. They are on the same level, and can communicate with each other. It is the Belgium and Holland of Italy, and Venice is the Amsterdam. They include Piedmont, Lombardy, the legations and the republic of Venice.
In the middle of the Peninsula, on one side Tuscany, and the papal states to the west of the Apennines: this is the valley of the Arno and the Tiber; on the other, all the countries located east of the Apennines between the Po Valley and the Neapolitan border. In total, they include the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the States of the Church and the Republic of Lucca.
Finally, to the south, the kingdom of Naples, which has always had a distinct geographical and political division.
In this definition, Romagna must be part of northern Italy, because it is a plain that continues the Po plain. But all this great population, professing the same religion, enjoying equally the sweetness of a very temperate climate, having the same language, the same literature, must influence each other reciprocally, and end by agglomerating, as have done the various British kingdoms, the various provinces of Spain, those of France; as perhaps one day those of Germany will do. The Italian parts have had and still have more things in common with each other, than all those had.
If this great event ever took place, what would be the capital? Italy, by its configuration, does not have a central city. Would it be Rome, Milan, Bologna or Florence? Neither Genoa nor Venice could claim it; they are too far out at the edges.
Rome, by its memories, by what it already is, and by its position, could hope to become again the capital of this beautiful country. It would be one hundred and thirty leagues from all the points of the frontier of the Alps, where Italy could be attacked by France or Germany; it would be one hundred leagues from the southern extremities of the kingdom of Naples and from the coasts of Sicily, a little less of those of Sardinia. Paris, the capital of France, is sixty leagues from its northern frontiers; forty leagues from the English Channel, a hundred leagues from the Bay of Biscay, a hundred and fifty leagues from the Mediterranean. The unhealthiness of the air, the infertility of its surroundings, the lack of a large port and a roadstead within reach, would be the great defects of Rome taken as its capital.
If Italy ended with the duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, that is to say, if it included only the valley of the Po, and had no peninsula, then Milan would be its natural capital; still it would be a great defect if this city could not have the line of the Po to defend itself against the invasions of Germany. But, in the agglomeration of the Italian people, Milan could not become its capital, being too near the frontiers of the invasion, and too far from the other extremities exposed to landings.
In this last case, Bologna would be infinitely preferable, because, in the case of invasion, the borders forced, it would still have the line of the Po for defense, and its geographical position, its canals, put it in immediate or prompt communication with the Po, Livorno, Genoa, Civita-Vecchia, the ports of Romagna, Ancona and Venice, and it is much closer to the coasts of Naples
If Italy ended in the kingdom of Naples, and part of Naples and Sicily could come to fill the void which separates it from Corsica, then only Florence could claim to be the capital of Italy, because it would be in a central position.
Future of Italy
(Memoirs of Napoleon)
Italy, isolated within its natural limits, separated by the sea and by very high mountains from the rest of Europe, seems to be compelled to form a large and powerful nation; but it has in its geographical configuration a capital vice, which one can consider to be the cause of the misfortunes she has suffered, and of the fragmentation of this beautiful country into several monarchies or independent republics: its length is out of proportion with its width.
If Italy had been bounded by Monte Velino, that is to say, approximately at the height of Rome, and that the whole part of the land between Monte Velino and the Ionian Sea, including Sicily, would have been thrown between Sardinia, Corsica, Genoa and Tuscany, it would have had a center, near all points of the circumference; it would have a unity of rivers, climate, and local interests. But, on one side, the three large islands which are a third of its surface, and who have interests, positions, and are in isolated circumstances, on the other side, this part of the Peninsula south of Monte Velino, and which forms the kingdom of Naples, are foreign to the interests, the climate, the needs of the entire valley of the Po.
Thus, while the Gauls were crossing the Cottian Alps, 600 years before Jesus Christ, and established themselves in the Po Valley, the Greeks were landing on the southern coasts by the Ionian Sea, and founded the colonies of Taranto, Salento, Crotone, from Sabaryte, states which were known under the generic name of Magna Graecia. Rome, which subjugated both Gaul and Greece, brought all of Italy under its laws.
A few centuries after Jesus Christ, when the seat of the emperors was transported to Constantinople, the barbarians crossed the Isonzo and the Adige and founded various states; the throne of the powerful Lombard monarchy was established in Paris. The fleets of Constantinople maintained the imperial domination on the coasts of the southern part. Later, the kings of France often penetrated into Italy by the Cottian Alps; and the emperors of Germany, by the Cottian and Rhaetian Alps; the popes opposed these princes one to the other and maintained themselves by this policy in a kind of independence, and also in favor of the divisions and anarchy which were established in the cities. But although the south of Italy is, by its situation, separated from the north, Italy is a single nation; and the unity of customs, language, and literature must, in a more or less distant future, finally unite its inhabitants under a single government.
Influence of the unity of Italy on the happiness of Europe
(Memoirs of Napoleon)
If the Peninsula were monarchical, the happiness of Europe would require that it form a single monarchy, which would maintain the balance between Austria and France, and, at sea, between France and England.
Memories of Italy in Saint Helena
(Memoirs of Antommarchi)
What memories! What an era this beautiful Italy reminds me of! I still touch on the moment when I took command of the army that conquered it. I was young, full of vivacity, of ardor, I was conscious of my strength; I was boiling to enter the lists. I had given pledges, my aptitude was not disputed; but my age displeased these old mustaches that whitened in the fighting. I noticed it, and felt the need to redeem this disadvantage by a severity of principles that I never denied. I needed brilliant actions to win the affection and confidence of the soldier: I did some. We marched, everything faded away as we approached. My name was as dear to the people as to the soldiers: this concert of homage touched me; I became insensitive to everything that was not glory. The air resounded with cheers as I passed; everything was at my disposal, everything was at my feet; but I saw only my brave men, France, and posterity.