page_title: Fall of the Republic of Venice
section_title: The "Preliminaries of Leoben" and the "Veronese Easter"
hierarchical_section_title: Fall of the Republic of Venice / Occupation of the Terraferma / The "Preliminaries of Leoben" and the "Veronese Easter"
caption_attribution_description: English&#x3a;&#32; Fort San Andrea in San Andrea island in Venice – seen from the lagoon. It protected the entrance of the lagoon by the pass ofLido. Was strengthened byMichele Sanmicheli from 1545 to 1550 and then in 1571 by Francesco Malacrida.Français&#x202f;&#x3a;&#32; Fort San Andrea sur l’île éponyme à Venise – vus de la lagune. Il protégeait l'entrée de la lagune par la passe (bouche portuaire) du Lido. Il fut fortifié par Michele Sanmicheli de 1545 à 1550 puis par Francesco Malacrida en 1571.Italiano&#x202f;&#x3a;&#32; Fort San Andrea in isola di San Andrea (Venezia) – visto della laguna. Ha protetto l'ingresso della laguna dal Lido pass (porto bocca). È stato costruito da Michele Sanmicheli 1545-1550 e poi nel 1571 da Francesco Malacrida.
context_page_description: The Fall of the Republic of Venice was a series of events in 1797 that led to the dissolution and dismemberment of the Republic of Venice at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte and Habsburg Austria.
context_section_description: On 17 April 1797, Napoleon signed a preliminary armistice at Leoben in Styria, with the representatives of the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II. In the secret annexes of the treaty, the territories of the Terraferma were already conceded to the Habsburg empire, in return for French possession of the Austrian Netherlands. On the same day, however, events precipitated themselves at Verona. The population, and a part of the Venetian troops quartered there, tired of French arrogance and oppression, rose in revolt. The episode, known as the "Veronese Easter", quickly reduced the occupation troops to the defensive, reducing them to the city's forts.
  On 20 April, although the ban on foreign warships entering the Lagoon of Venice had recently been reiterated, the French frigate Le Libérateur d'Italie (transl. Italy's Liberator) tried to enter the Porto di Lido, the northern entry to the Lagoon. In response, the artillery on the Fort of Sant'Andrea opened fire, sinking the ship and killing its captain. The Venetian government, however, still hesitated to seize the moment, and still hoped to avoid an open conflict, even at the loss of its mainland possessions: it refused to mobilize the army, or send reinforcements to Verona, which was forced to capitulate on 24 April.
  On 25 April, on the feast day of Venice's patron, Mark the Evangelist, at Graz, the bewildered Venetian emissaries were openly threatened with war by Napoleon, who boasted that he had 80,000 men and twenty gunships ready to overthrow the Republic. The French general announced that:
  I want no more Inquisition, no more Senate, I shall be an Attila to the state of Venice.
  — Napoleon Bonaparte
  On the same occasion Napoleon accused Venice of having refused an alliance with France, that would have consented to the restoration of the rebellious cities, with the sole purpose of maintaining its army under arms and thus cut the path of retreat for the French army in case of a defeat.
  During the next days, the French army proceeded to definitively occupy the Terraferma, up to the shores of the Lagoon of Venice. On 30 April a letter from Napoleon, who was now at Palmanova, informed the Signoria that he intended to alter the Republic's system of government, but offered to maintain its substance. This ultimatum was to expire in four days. The Venetian government made attempts to affect a reconciliation, informing Napoleon on 1 May that it intended to reform its constitution on a more democratic basis, but on 2 May the French declared war on the Republic.
  On the other hand, on 3 May Venice revoked the general recruitment order for the cernide of Dalmatia. Then, in yet another attempt to appease Napoleon, on 4 May the Great Council of Venice, with 704 votes in favour, 12 against, and 26 abstentions, decided to accept the French demands, including the arrest of the commandant of the Fort of Sant'Andrea, and the three Inquisitori di Stato, an institution that was particularly offensive to Jacobin sensibilities due to its role as the guarantor of the oligarchic nature of the Venetian Republic.
  On 8 May the Doge, Ludovico Manin, declared that he was ready to depose his insignia at the hands of the Jacobin leaders, and invited all magistrates to do the same, even though the ducal councillor Francesco Pesaro urged him to flee to Zara in Dalmatia, which was still securely in Venetian hands. Venice still possessed a fleet, and the still loyal possessions in Istria and Dalmatia, as well as the intact defences of the city itself and its lagoon. However, the patriciate was seized by terror at the prospect of a popular uprising. As a result, the order went out to demobilize even the loyal Balkan troops (Schiavoni) present in the city. Pesaro himself was forced to escape the city, after the government ordered his arrest in an effort to please Napoleon.
  On the morning of 11 May, in the penultimate convocation of the Great Council, and under the menace of an invasion, the Doge exclaimed:
  Tonight we are not secure even in our own bed.
  — Doge Ludovico Manin
caption: The Fort of Sant'Andrea, whose artillery sunk the Le Libérateur d'Italie [fr]
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