The Perugine Republic was a short-lived Italian republic that existed from 3 February to 17 March 1872. Pietro Figa ruled the republic as a presidential dictatorship with his Perugine Restorationists as the ruling party, and the republic of 195,550 people implemented state Catholicism as its program. However, the Perugine Revolution was crushed by the Royal Italian Army in March 1872.
History[]
Background[]
Pietro Figa declaring the Perugine Republic, February 1872
In 1870, Italy conquered the Papal States while the Second French Empire was focused on fighting against the North German Confederation during the Franco-Prussian War, forcing the Pope to become a virtual prisoner in the Castel Sant'Angelo. This move angered France, which had been the Pope's protector since 1848, and the French decided to intervene in Italy. While Italy succeeded in restoring order to the Papal States and conquering Rome, France took unilateral action against Italy to restore the status quo. After fighting on the border, Italy was forced to acknowledge the restoration of the Papal States, although it would not have nearly the same amount of land as it had possessed before 1870. The ruling Legitimists of France, harboring reactionary views, decided to install a reactionary presidential dictatorship in central Italy, and they chose the noted Italian Catholic politician Pietro Figa to lead the republic out of Perugia. The Perugine Republic was born.
Short-lived existence[]
The politics of the republic
The republic, home to 195,550 people, was a dictatorship ruled by Figa and the right-wing Perugine Restorationists, who advocated state Catholicism and decreasing the size of the military. Nominally republican, the rulers of the republic were factually French puppets, and they had designs on the recapture of Rome and the creation of an Italian republic to replace the Sardinian monarchy. Due to its short reign, the republic could only pass one reform, which changed the upper house from appointed members to members of the ruling party only, and some considered restoring slavery in the Roman fashion. The republic would be unable to make much progress before the Royal Italian Army was dispatched from Lombardy to crush the "Perugine Revolution", and the Perugine army of 3,000 troops under Marino Orsini was crushed. The Italians succeeded in conquering the republic, forcing its leaders into exile. No further attempts would be made to divide Italy.
Gallery[]
