On This Day in Napoleonic History – 26 October 1797

napoleon-115-obvTreaty of Campo-Formio is ratified by the Directory

The treaty was signed on 18 October by General Bonaparte representing France and Count Philipp von Cobenzl representing Austria. It ended the War of the First Coalition.

Having defeated Austria’s most celebrated generals before his 28th birthday, crossed the Apennines and the Alps, signed peace treaties with the Pope, the kings of Piedmont, Naples and now Emperor of Austria, in eighteen months Napoleon went from an unknown moody soldier to a famous general and the talk of all of Europe.

The defeated Austria was to cede Austrian Netherlands, Corfu and other Venetian islands in the Adriatic Sea. Venice and its territories (Venetia) were divided between the two states. Austria recognised the Cisalpine Republic and the newly created Ligurian Republic. Although the Treaty of Campo-Formio wouldn’t bring a lasting peace to Europe, it secured General Bonaparte’s reputation as a peace giver.

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