Napoleon, the Greatest Conqueror Since Alexander the Great, Proclaims the Rights of a Victor and States How He Will Rule the Conquered

As he welcomes Venice into the new Kingdom of Italy, he gives his clear opinion that as victor, he will take the spoils: “I have treated Venice as a conquered country, without any doubt. Did I obtain it other than through victory?”

The Kingdom of Italy was born on March 17, 1805, when the Italian Republic, whose president was Napoleon, became the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King of Italy, and his step-son, the 24-year-old Eugène de Beauharnais his viceroy. Austria still held much territory in Italy and its adjacent provinces. But events in late 1805-early 1806 would change all that. In December 1805, after Austrian defeats at Ulm and at Austerlitz, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Pressburg, which took Austria out of the Third Coalition and the war. More importantly, the treaty ceded territory to Napoleon, the most consequential of which was Venetia, Istria and Dalmatia, which would be incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. This was the northeast portion of Italy and major parts of what would become Yugoslavia. At the same time victories in Calabria and elsewhere in southern Italy gave France uncontested control of land and sea in the Adriatic region. So in just three months, the French had occupied Vienna, decimated two opposing armies, and humbled the Austrian empire. It also altered the map of Europe and gave Napoleon territories in which to recruit whole armies worth of new soldiers for his conquests. These soldiers would serve all over Europe, with some 27,000 of them amongst those marching into Russia in 1812.

On March 31, 1806, Napoleon created hereditary duchies in Venetia The creation of the dukedoms caused immediate concern in Italy. Eugene reported on April 7 that the consensus of the Council of State was that only the royal family should enjoy hereditary rights. The Council objected to the creation of dukes on the ground that probably Napoleon would not confer a dukedom upon an Italian, and therefore the holders of the duchies would not have the welfare of Italy at heart. Eugene told the Emperor that Italians feared Napoleon would give all the national domain of Venice to such dukes.

In 1806, Napoleon made his sister Pauline sovereign Princess and Duchess of Guastalla; however, she soon sold the duchy to Parma for six million francs, keeping only the title of Princess of Guastalla.

Napoleon is the greatest conqueror since Alexander the Great. In this letter, in remarkably frank and brutal ways, this great warrior showed his feelings toward his subjects and how he intended to rule.

Letter signed, St. Cloud, April 21, 1806, to Beauharnais. “My son, I have received your letter on the public spirit of Venice. I authorize you to publish the speech you have to the state Council. My intention is not to call a single Italian, nor one Venetian, to the duchies, which must be the exclusive reward of my soldiers. I have treated Venice as a conquered country, without any doubt. Did I obtain it other than through victory? We must keep this idea close at hand. But the right of victory established, I will treat them as a good sovereign, if they are good subjects. I forbid you to ever let any Italian or Venetian hope to be named to any duchy. Regarding the principality of Guastalla, I see only one way, which is to enact the proposal of the minister of finance to buy it back from the princess. It’s a country that I conquered and which I disposed of. If the duchy of Parma wanted to cede Guastall to the Kingdom of Italy, how much would it take to buy it?”