Corsican Crisis
The Corsican Crisis was an event in British politics during 1768–69. It was precipitated by the invasion of the island of Corsica by France. The British government under the Duke of Grafton failed to intervene, for which it was widely criticised. The crisis was one of the many factors that contributed to its downfall in early 1770.
Background[edit]
Corsica had been owned by Republic of Genoa for five centuries when a major rebellion broke out on the island in the 1750s. In 1755 their leader Pasquale Paoli had declared the Corsican Republic establishing rule over much of the island. After nine years of attempts to re-establish their rule over the island, the Genoese sold the island to the French in 1764 in a secret treaty.
Paoli had created a liberal Corsican Constitution heavily influenced by that of Britain. He created the most extensive voting franchise in the world, and attempted radical reforms in education. Because of Britain's enmity of France, and because the British had historically been supportive of Corsican exiles — Paoli sought to establish an alliance with Great Britain. Britain opened a consulate on the island, but events in Corsica did not feature prominently in Britain until 1768.[1]: 556
Britain's relations with France had remained strained since the Treaty of Paris had brought the Seven Years' War to an end. Since that treaty, France had expanded its territory, inheriting Lorraine and reasserting itself in Guiana.
Aftermath[edit]
The fall of Corsica was attacked in the Junius Letters which asserted that Corsica would never have been invaded had Britain showed firmness.[1]: 562 The other major powers of Europe took note of the British failure to act, and severe damage was done to Britain's international standing.[2]: 127 This had the knock-on effect of discouraging the Russians from concluding a treaty of alliance with Britain, leaving the British without a major ally entering into the run-up to the American Revolutionary War.
The failure of the Grafton ministry to act was compared unfavourably with the firmer action of the North ministry during the Falklands Crisis of 1770, when the Royal Navy was successfully mobilised to prevent Spain from occupying the Falklands Islands. A number of Corsican exiles served with British troops during the American War of Independence, and many made their home in Britain. British forces later tried to restore an independent Corsica in the 1790s, during the French Revolutionary Wars, in the form of an Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.