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The Eye of the Cyclone at the Fall of the XVIIIth Century: The Ill-Fated Helvetic Republic (1798-1803)A New Strategic Scene by the Turn of the CenturyFrance: Following the successful coup of General Bonaparte on 18 Brumaire VIII (9 November 1799) prospects remained most unpredictable following ten years of continuous civil unrest and foreign war. The royalist party proved unwilling to compromise with the new master. Eventually First-Consul Bonaparte was to get cought in a never ending challenge with the United Kingdom, not being in a position to mount an invasion of the British Islands, and ultimately leading to an additional 2 to 3 million loss of life. British Isles:
Repeated attempts to send expeditionary corps into Ireland had failed. Meanwhile Prime-Minister Pitt the Younger proved a most energetic character, mounting coalition after coalition and actually funding war by continental allies. He succeeded in passing the Union Act (1801) following a ferocious repression of nationalist unrest by General Cornwallis in Ireland. However financial crisis was looming, habeas corpus had to be suspended, and Minister Pitt was forced to resign. In order to counteract the threat of the Northern League led by Tsar Paul I who was leaning to the French side, a naval squadron was sent to bombard the Danish Navy anchored at Copenhagen (December 1801). During a short intermission when Pitt left the cabinet, a treaty was signed with France (Treaty of Amiens 1802) which was to be short-lived. The ultimate upper hand of Allied powers was to ensure British supremacy for more than a century and world domination for the English language. America: The island of Santo Domingo (today Haiti and Dominican Republic) had been handed over by Spain to France in 1795 (Treaty of Basle). It was then the most properous of islands, producing 50% of the world sugar output. Since the French Convention had suppressed slavery in 1791, a former slave named Toussaint-Louverture took the lead in a campaign to secure autonomy from the struggling French metropole. Bonaparte would try and rein in such pretentions, mounting a disastrous expedition led by his brother-in-law General Leclerc (1801-1802). In the aftermath of this episode, Paris was to sell the Louisiana Territories (some 20 American states) to the American federal government (1803). As to the United Kingdom, it soon took advantage of the European confusion to snatch colonies from France, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden – both in America and across the world oceans. Mediterranean Area: The Spanish Kingdom had been left in shambles following its venturing into the 1st Coalition. The British Royal Navy soon took settlement at Fort-Mahon on the Island of Minorca, where French prisonners were to be kept over the following 15 years. The French expeditionary force in Egypt had been left in succession to Generals Kleber and Menou. The latter secured terms of repatriation by the Royal Navy on 31 August 1801. English interests were to prevail at Malta (occupied in 1801) and also Naples where restoration had taken place by mid-1799. A combined Russian-Turkish squadron took over the Ionian Islands from the French in 1800. Asia: French interests in India had not been entirely suppressed. In the Deccan (southern subcontinent), a Moslem sultan by name of Tippu Sahib set up four wars in succession against the East Indian Company (Mysore wars). General Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington and Prime Minister) led the 1798-99 campaign which resulted in the capturing of the sultan’s capital, Seringapatam, and his ultimate death in action. In China, the British government sent a mission under Minister MacCartney which was to raise considerable expectations in the city of London and ultimately cause the two Opium Wars later in the century. Italy: The whole area had been shaken to the roots by the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797 ), whose provisions made for the suppression of the Dukedom of Savoy and the Republic of Venice, institutions dating back some 800 years. Following the brilliant campaign of Suvorov and Melas in 1799, which had resulted in the restoration of Austrian order, Bonaparte in Italy and Moreau in Germany were to secure a new advance for nationalist interests, at the expense of Austria, royalty and the Papacy, thus paving the way for the ultimate unification of the country over the course of the new century. Central and Eastern Europe: Emperor Francis II reluctantly accepted defeat at Treaty of Lunéville (1801) and did not enter a new coalition until 1805. The ancient institution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was to be then suppressed by Napoleon, which would ultimately result in German unification. The new Tsar Paul Ist, having taken lessons from his unfortunate participation in the 2nd Coalition, changed tack by early 1800. He started leaning towards combined French-Russian actions in Asia, set up the League of Neutral Nations with Denmark, Prussia and Sweden to challenge British rule in the Northern Seas. England felt dramatically threatened and the Tsar was found strangled on 23 March 1801. The next tsar, Alexander I, had received a liberal education from La Harpe, a Swiss preceptor, and initially felt inclined towards Enlightenment. In the end, he was to lead the Holy Alliance of reactionary powers from 1815 on. In spite of the equivoqual conclusion of the heroic retreat of Suvorov and his Cossacks across the Alps, Russian regard for such a difficult endavour was to remain unabated over the course of time. Both in 1899 and in 1999, military detachments were sent all the way from Russia down to the Saint Gothard Pass to commemorate the heroic episode of 1799. The highest military distinction in the Red Army has been to this day the Suvorov Medal. Switzerland: In many ways the Helvetic Republic was but the brainchild of foreign influence. In consideration of its premacy, the French Republic had also seized the independent town of Mülhausen in Alsace, in addition to further territories south of Basle in the Jura Mountains and to the Republic of Geneva which had actually never been part of Switzerland. Nevertheless. Swiss officers and soldiers were to play a significant role along the French during the forthcoming campaigns across Europe, with Generals Jomini and Dufour being the most prominent figures. Although the Helvetic Republic was to disappear in 1803 to the benefit of a restored ancient Swiss Confederation, a seed had been left that would once grow into a modern and truly democratic federation at the occasion of the 1848 uprising. Many features of present Switzerland actually date back to this tumultuous period, e.g. Civil Code, Franc, metric system, administrative organisation in Neuchâtel and Geneva. Jews in Geneva have acquired civil rights among the first in the world, alike those in the rest of France. The Museum of Fine Arts in Geneva still displays a number of paintings taken as plunder from Italy at the time. Last but not least, several Alpine passes were then upgraded for military purposes, most notably the Simplon Pass (2005 m.) which allows crossing around the year. Two hundred years later, Switzerland is still much hesitant about joining into the European Union, whilst the United Kingdom, albeit having joined in, keeps cold about it altogether. One may observe that Switzerland is actually holding on to its long-standing neutrality, whilst London still long for the time when it used to mastermind coalitions across Europe, hence keeping to its splendid isolation from the time of Queen Victoria.
Placed on the Napoleon Series: January 2004
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