kingdom · Italy
Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)
Origins
When Napoleon became emperor of the French, the Italian Republic (1802–1805) was turned into a kingdom. On 26 May 1805 Napoleon crowned himself king of Italy in Milan Cathedral with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, and appointed his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais as viceroy.
Rule and society
The kingdom grew to include Venetia in 1806, the Marche in 1808 and South Tyrol in 1810, and for a time Istria and Dalmatia, which passed to the Illyrian Provinces in 1809. It had departments and prefects on the French model, the Napoleonic Code, public schools and an efficient tax system. Its conscript army fought in Spain and Russia, where tens of thousands died in 1812.
Decline and legacy
After Napoleon's defeats, Eugène signed an armistice in April 1814. A riot in Milan killed the finance minister Giuseppe Prina, and Austrian troops took over; the territory became the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and other restored states.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic) in personal union with French Empire1805 CE – 1814 CE
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic). In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-italy-napoleonic
- MLA
- “Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic).” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-italy-napoleonic. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic).” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-italy-napoleonic.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-italy-napoleonic (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻