Restoration of 1799 in the Kingdom of Sardinia in the Assessments of Russian Diplomacy

Abstract

The author of the article analyzes the reports of Russian diplomats and synchronous documents from the French archives about the socio-political and military situation in Piedmont in the period from May 1799 to June 1800. During these months, under the patronage of the Austro-Russian troops in Turin, the provisional royal government was recreated under. The council or “giunta” was led by marquis C. F. Thaon de Revel de Saint-Andrea. This government was forced to search for a way out of the total crisis in the most difficult conditions, but instead only worsened the social and economic situation. This was facilitated by disagreements with the Austrian military administration and personally by general M. Melas. As can be seen from the reports to St. Petersburg by D. Mozenigo and A. Czartoryski, the real state of affairs was even worse than it was reported in the press and official Austrian and Italian proclamations. During this period the Russian court, however, was in no hurry to listen to the requests of the Sardinian court and its temporary cabinet. The last months of the existence of the Ancien Régime in Piedmont were marked by an acute financial crisis, which was caused by the March reform of count Prospero Balbo. Anti-French sentiments among the population were replaced by anti-Austrian ones, and in an atmosphere of general chaos in May 1800, the government ceased to control the situation. Peasant uprising again spread across several provinces. Analysis of the situation and Czartoryski’s predictions about the imminent return of the French and the republican regime were fully justified after the Battle of Marengo. The Restoration regime in Piedmont could have lasted longer if it had pursued a more balanced policy, initially abandoning the independent political role that ministers and advisers of the king Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia tried to play throughout the year. But the severity of the Austrian occupation and unsuccessful financial experiments of this cabinet undermined the confidence of the subjects and eventually contributed to the annexation of Piedmont by Napoleonic France in 1802.