Transpadane Republic Repubblica Transpadana | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1796–1797 | |||||||||
 Flag: the Italian tricolore | |||||||||
 Northern Italy in 1796: the Duchy of Milan became the Transpadane Republic after the French occupation of 1796. | |||||||||
| Status | Puppet state of First French Republic | ||||||||
| Capital | Milan | ||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||
| Historical era | Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||
• Battle of Lodi | May 10, 1796 | ||||||||
| June 29, 1797 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
The Transpadane Republic (Italian: Repubblica Transpadana) was a revolutionary, provisional and internationally unrecognized government established in Milan by General Napoleon Bonaparte.
On May 10, 1796, the French army defeated the Austrian troops in the Battle of Lodi, and occupied the ancient Duchy of Milan. Napoleon set up a temporary authority, the General Administration of Lombardy, which replaced the Austrian officials and created a French client republic in Northern Italy, adopting the French revolutionary calendar.
The Administration received the full civil powers by a proclamation of Napoleon on Brumaire 8, year V (October 29, 1796), even if its orders had to be approved by the French military commander of Lombardy. The Administration was composed by four departments: one for religious and cultural affairs, one for transportaion and engineering affairs, one for finance and taxes affairs, and one for merchant and commerce affairs.
After the new victories of Napoleon's army, the territory of the republic grew up consequently: with the Preliminars of Leoben of April 17, 1797, France began the occupation of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, conquering Bergamo and moving towards east from Adda River to Oglio River the demarcation line with the venetian territories which was established more than three centuries before. On May 19, Napoleon transferred to Milan the territories of former Duchy of Modena from the bordering Cispadane Republic. On June 29, the General decided to give to the republic a final arrangement and a, at least formal, international indipendence: with its own decree, he proclaimed the birth of the Cisalpine Republic.