Illyrian Provinces
The Illyrian Provinces[note 1] were an autonomous province of France during the First French Empire that existed under Napoleonic Rule from 1809 to 1814.[1] The province encompassed large parts of modern Italy and Croatia, extending their reach further east through Slovenia, Montenegro, and Austria. Its capital was Ljubljana (German: Laybach, Laibach). It encompassed six départements, making it a relatively large portion of territorial France at the time. Parts of Croatia were split up into Civil Croatia and Military Croatia, the former served as a residential space for French immigrants and Croatian inhabitants and the latter as a military base to check the Ottoman Empire.
"Croatie" redirects here. For the country, see Croatia.
Illyrian ProvincesProvinces illyriennes (French)
14 October 1809
27 January 1814
9 June 1815
In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the region with his Grande Armée after key wins during the War of the Fifth Coalition forced the Austrian Empire to cede parts of its territory. Integrating the land into France was Bonaparte's way of controlling Austria's access to the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea and expanding his empire east. Bonaparte installed four governors to disseminate French bureaucracy, culture, and language. The most famous and influential governor was Auguste de Marmont, who undertook the bulk of Bonaparte's bidding in the area. Marmont was succeeded by Henri Gatien Bertrand (1811–12), Jean-Andoche Junot (1812–13), and Joseph Fouché (1813–14).
Marmont pushed the Code Napoléon throughout the area and led a vast infrastructural expansion. During 1810, the French authorities established the Écoles centrales in Croatia and Slovenia. Although the respective states were allowed to speak and work in their native languages, French was designated as the official language and much of the federal administration was conducted as such. French rule contributed significantly to the provinces even after the Austrian Empire recovered the area in 1813-1814. Napoleon introduced a greater national self-confidence and awareness of freedoms, as well as numerous political reforms. He introduced equality before the law, compulsory military service for men, a uniform tax system, abolished certain tax privileges, introduced modern administration, separated church and state and nationalized the judiciary. French presence in this region saw to a diffusion of French culture and the creation of the Illyrian Movement.[1]
Etymology[edit]
The name "Illyrian" was probably suggested to Napoleon by Auguste de Marmont, who was influenced by the civic and revolutionary intelligentsia in Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Carinthia, and wanted to use it to support the sense of commonality of the peoples living in the Provinces, which went beyond Napoleon's basic geostrategic rationale to form the provinces, though historians have discussed the extents of the influence of historical ideas of Illyrism both in France and locally, as well as a Neoclassicist allusion to the ancient names of the Dalmatian coast, known as Illyria in antiquity and Illyricum during the Roman era.[2]
Legacy[edit]
Although French rule in the Illyrian Provinces was short-lived and did not enjoy great popular support, it significantly contributed to greater national self-confidence and awareness of freedoms, especially in the Slovene lands. The opinion of Napoleon's rule and the Illyrian Provinces changed significantly at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when liberal Croatian and Slovene intellectuals began to praise the French for liberation from Austrian rule.[4][7][5]
It could also be established today that the short period of the Illyrian Provinces marked the beginning of an enhanced awareness of the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.[3][7] The Congress of Vienna confirmed Austria in the possession of the former Illyrian Provinces. In 1816 they were reconstituted without Dalmatia and Croatia, yet now with all of Carinthia, as a Kingdom of Illyria, which was formally abolished only in 1849, even though the civil administration of the Croatian districts had already been placed under Hungarian administration in 1822.[3][7]
The memory of the French and of the Emperor Napoleon is embedded in Croatian and Slovene traditions, in their folk art and folk songs. The presence of the French on Croatian and Slovene territories reflects also in the surnames and house names of French origin, in frescoes, and other paintings depicting French soldiers as well as in rich immovable cultural heritage (roads, bridges, fountains).[3][7] In 1929, a national ceremony was held in Ljubljana during which a monument was erected to Napoleon and Illyria at French Revolution Square. It was filmed by Janko Ravnik.[7]
One of the central streets in Split city centre is named after Marshal Marmont, in appreciation of his enlightened rule in Dalmatia.[7]
