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Ranks
Commissioned Officers
Colonnello
Tenente Colonnello
Maggiore
Capitano
Tenente
Sottotenente
Non-Commissioned Officers
Aspirante
Sergente Maggiore
Sergente
Caporale Maggiore
Caporale
Enlisted
Veterano
Grenatiere
Fuciliere
Soldato Regolore
Soldato Di Prima
Soldato
Recluta
Voluntario
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History of Italy during the Napoleonic Wars
Soon after Napoleon claimed the title of emperor in 1804, the Italian Republic became a kingdom, proclaimed on March 17, 1805. Napoleon, as king of Italy, appointed his stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais,
as viceroy and Antonio Aldini as secretary of state, forcing Melzi to step aside. Although Italian autonomy remained limited, Napoleon’s victories, which constantly increased the territory of the kingdom, provided some
compensation. Venetia was annexed to it by the Treaty of Pressburg (December 26, 1805), and Dalmatia and Istria were attached to the kingdom with a separate constitution. In a reorganization following the Treaty of
Schönbrunn (October 14, 1809), Dalmatia and Istria were joined with Trieste and Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia), together with other territories ceded by Austria, to form the seven French départements of the Illyrian
provinces. The Marche became part of the Italian kingdom in April 1808. Liguria was directly annexed to France on June 4, 1805, as was Tuscany in March 1808. In 1809 Napoleon abolished the temporal power of the
papacy and annexed Rome and the remainder of the Papal States to France. Pope Pius VII responded by excommunicating Napoleon, who in response held the pontiff prisoner, first in France and later in the Ligurian town
of Savona.
As emperor of France and king of Italy, Napoleon directly controlled all of northern and central Italy. During his rule, far-reaching reforms were instituted. Although the new Italian legal codes were translated almost verbatim
from the French with little regard for Italian traditions, they introduced a modern jurisprudence responsive to the rights of the individual citizen. Properties held in mortmain, the old feudal ecclesiastical tenure (specifically
those of the regular clergy), were transferred to the state and sold. The remaining feudal rights and jurisdictions were abolished. Roads were improved everywhere, and both primary and higher education were strengthened.
In return for higher taxes, Italians thus gained a network of new and improved services that were to hasten Italian social and economic progress and cohesion.
In the south, after the repression and executions of 1799, the Bourbons experimented with some cautious reforms, mainly fiscal and antifeudal. These were implemented to strengthen the loyalty of the rural population,
which had already proved so valuable to the monarchy. But the Neapolitan government was desperately weak, both politically and militarily. Indeed, the French reoccupied the country between February and March 1806,
and the Bourbon court once more fled to Sicily. On March 30, 1806, Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was proclaimed king of Naples. When he became king of Spain in 1808, he was replaced by one of the most famous
French generals, Joachim Murat. Despite this change, the nine years of French rule in southern Italy were a period of continuity, and, consequently, French reforms had a lasting impact. Joachim Murat was more independent
of Paris than Joseph Bonaparte had been. During his reign there were fewer French ministers and advisers in proportion to Neapolitan officials, and he opposed the enforcement of the Continental System. Feudal privileges
and immunities were finally abolished, although the landed aristocracy retained extensive power in the countryside. By purchasing the property confiscated from the church and from exiled landowners, southern notables
subverted Murat’s plan to distribute small landholdings to peasant families. Much common land, originally usurped by large landowners, was recovered, but this worked to the benefit of bourgeois notables known in the south
as galantuomini (“honourable men”). Fiscal, judicial, and educational reforms, similar to those introduced in the Kingdom of Italy, were implemented in Naples.
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