The Invasion of Venice (late February 1797) was a siege of the French Revolutionary Wars that occurred when the French armies of generals Jean Seruier and Barthelemy Catherine Joubert, totalling some 2,511 troops, laid siege to the Venetian capital of Venice and took it by storm. The French capture of Venice put an end to the Republic of Venice after 1,100 years of prosperity and enlightenment, and the French plundered the city's finest works of art and treasures, bringing them back to Paris to be placed in the Louvre.
Background[]
In spite of their long-standing neutrality, the Republic of Venice found itself at odds with the French forces in Italy by December 1796. Conflicts between the two nations drove Venetian insurgents to commit acts of aggression against French citizens in the region. Napoleon Bonaparte decided to conquer Venice and strip it of its power and dignity, and he ordered his subordinates Jean Seruier and Barthelemy Catherine Joubert to launch a preemptive attack against the Venetians in Lombardy from December 1796 to January 1797. The Venetians lost their strongholds of Verona, Brescia, and Padua in quick succession, and it was not long before 2,511 French troops were waiting outside of Venice, preparing to storm the city.
Siege[]
The French armies of Seriuer and Joubert faced 2,349 Venetian troops under Alessio De Rossi, a brigadier who had been hastily called upon to take command of the Venetian garrison. The French armies stormed the city, braving a resolute defense by the Venetian garrison, and the French suffered 1,054 losses during the onslaught. 2,272 Venetian soldiers were killed or captured during the storming of the city, and the Venetian forces were forced to capitulate. After centuries of vainglorious independence, the Republic of Venice was brought to heel by the Armee d'Italie. Venice had known many a year of enlightenment and expression, and the city was rife with treasures and prestigious artifacts. As well as furthering France's war efforts against Austria with the indemnities and the assets reaped at Venice that day, Napoleon furthered the republic's glory, as well as his own, by returning the city's finest works of art to Paris where they could become a part of the Musee Napoleon (Louvre).
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