The social context of the war on the Apennine Peninsula in 1799 has rarely attracted the attention of Russian historians till now. While the authors of the 19th century not only noted the positive attitude of the population of Northern Italy to the Russian-Austrian troops, but also described the facts of the participation of local insurgents in hostilities on the side of the allied forces, researchers of the 20th century stopped focusing on this issue, which really deserves special research. At the same time, the Russian-language documents that have come down to us contain information about individual facts of support for the allied army by the local population, but do not allow to conclude that this was a general trend for the entire region. Knowing about the growth of anti-French and anti-republican sentiments, Suvorov, publishing proclamations, tried to enlist the support of both the civilian population and the military personnel of the former Piedmontese army. However, his efforts were met with mutual distrust of the parties to each other. The population of Northern Italy, who knew about the claims of the Viennese court to these territories, often refrained from actively supporting the coalition forces. This distrust was reinforced by the fact that Suvorov could not keep his promise to return the exiled king of the Sardinian dynasty to Turin and to abstain from forcing the Piedmontese soldiers to swear allegiance to anyone other than their monarch. Nevertheless, some of the Piedmontese soldiers and officers supported the allied forces, primarily during the siege of fortresses. In the summer of 1799, Suvorov reported to the emperor that he was receiving support from the rebels under the command of J. Lagotsa in the central and southern part of the peninsula. However, Russian-language sources practically do not contain information about the help of the allied army from the Christian army (Massa cristiana) under the command of Branda Lucioni, though it is mentioned by a number of modern authors.
Italian insurgents and the army of A. V. Suvorov in 1799 (according to Russian sources)
Bolt Valentina
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, grant № 23–18–00011 (https://rscf.ru/project/23-18-00011/).
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