Treaty of Campo Formio
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The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on October 17, 1797 (26 Vendémiaire, Year VI of the French Republic) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Ludwig von Cobenzl as representatives of France and Austria. It marked the collapse of the First Coalition, the victorious conclusion to Napoleon's campaigns in Italy and the end of the first phase of the Napoleonic Wars.
Beyond the usual clauses of "firm and inviolable peace" the treaty passed a number of Austrian territories into French hands. Lands ceded included the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) and certain islands in the Mediterranean, including Corfu and other Venetian islands in the Adriatic. Venice and its territories (Venetia) were divided between the two states: Venice, Istria and Dalmatia were turned over to the Austrian emperor. Austria recognized the Cisalpine Republic and the newly-created Ligurian Republic, formed of Genovese territories, as independent powers.
The treaty also contained non-public clauses, which divided up certain other territories, made Liguria independent, and also agreed to the extension of the borders France up to the Rhine, the Nette, and the Roer. Free French navigation was guaranteed on the Rhine, the Meuse and the Moselle. The French Republic had been expanded to its "natural" boundaries and, in Italy, beyond them.
The treaty was composed and signed after five months of negotiations. It was basically what had been agreed earlier at the Peace of Leoben in April 1797, but the negotiations had been spun out by both parties for a number of reasons. During the negotiating period the French had to crush a royalist coup in September. This was used as a cause for the arrest and deportation of royalist and moderate deputies in the Directory.
Napoleon's biographer, Felix Markham, wrote "the partition of Venice was not only a moral blot on the peace settlement but left Austria a foothold in Italy, which could only lead to further war." In fact the Peace of Campo Formio, though it reshaped the map of Europe and marked a major step in Napoleon's fame, was only a respite.
As a result of the treaty, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, a prisoner from the French revolution, was released from Austrian captivity.
Campo Formio, now called Campoformido, was a village west of Udine in north-eastern Italy; the treaty was signed at an inn there.
