Chapter 96: Giving Someone a Handle

What drove the European countries was not only their hatred for France, which had become increasingly aggressive and greedy since the time of Louis XIV, but also their potential interests. Facing a chaotic France, the traditional ambitions of various countries complicated the conflict between France and Europe from the beginning.

When the anti-French alliance countries went to war, they did not only want to strangle the French Revolution: the continental powers also wanted to dismember France, and Britain wanted to seize France's colonies and destroy its commerce and navy in order to end the Anglo-French competition since Louis XIV and restore its maritime hegemony that was endangered by the American War of Independence.

However, the problems that caused the great powers to conflict with each other during the 18th century were not all resolved: the Prussian-Austrian alliance finally collapsed because of the Polish issue; Russia's ambitions in the East and the Mediterranean made Pitt uneasy; Spain was always worried about Britain.

The allies never effectively coordinated their war efforts; the benefits they each obtained were disparate, which only helped to deepen their divisions.

The continental states were defeated; France was able to make peace with Prussia, and to win over Spain to form an alliance with itself, and to reach and cross its "natural boundaries".

In the original time and space, in 1799, the Second Coalition regained Italy and part of Switzerland, but like the First Coalition, it was already in the process of disintegration.

On the contrary, Britain won at sea, but it lacked an army and could not defeat France on its own, and its economic situation was not without weaknesses. The question was whether France, which benefited from the division of Europe, could win and enter a lasting peace to maintain its "natural boundaries".

And now, it is the first stage of France's accumulation of strength for itself. The most powerful country on the European continent has taken this step earlier than in history, which has also further stimulated Pitt's already tense nerves.

Fortunately for Pitt the Younger, Emperor Leopold of the Holy Roman Empire did not intend to sit back and watch Napoleon, or the French general, continue to plunder the wealth of the poor Italian people in Italy. This was the sphere of influence of the Habsburg family, not the French.

Unfortunately, Napoleon did not intend to pay attention to the emperor. He rushed to Rome with his army. This time, it was the Gauls who entered Rome.

Since the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which declared the end of the "Thirty Years' War", the political influence of the Roman Curia has been much less than before.

From Innocent X to the contemporary Pope Pius VI, successive Roman popes have tried to restore the influence of the Curia, but it was useless.

After repeated failures, the popes realized that they were neither natural politicians like Urban II nor conspirators like the poisonous pope Alexander VI, so they returned to Rome with peace of mind and started doing public welfare.

This was the case with Pius VI, who built an orphanage and workshops on the Janiculum Hill and a school for poor children in Piazza San Salvatore Laurel.

He expanded the Holy Spirit Hospital, designed the Pinecone Garden in the Vatican Palace, expanded and increased the collections of the Vatican Museums, decorated the Muses Room in the Pius-Clement Museums, and built a beautiful staircase and mask room in the Pius-Clement Museums.

He erected obelisks near the Church of the Holy Trinity on the Hill, in the Piazza della Signoria Italiana, and next to the giant statue of the Horse Tamer in the Piazza Quirinale. He launched a major public works project in the Pontina Marshes, reclaiming more than 600 hectares of land and restoring and paving the Via Appia.

Despite his philanthropic zeal and his discerning benefactor, Pius VI was not a politician.

When the French Revolution broke out, he was completely unable to cope with the problems of the Roman Catholic Church.

At that time, the French Parliament issued a document called the "Civil Charter of the Clergy", which required that both bishops and priests must be elected by universal suffrage, and all clergy would no longer have any connection with the Roman Catholic Church.

The French Church called on Pope Pius VI to approve their acceptance of the charter to avoid the possible split of the French Church.

But Pope Pius VI was very hesitant and delayed in responding.

So the French Parliament asked all clergy in France to swear allegiance to the charter. Some priests did so, while others did not.

The French Church was also divided into two factions: one was willing to obey the parliament's loyalty to the charter, and the other refused to obey. In the end, Pope Pius VI condemned the charter, which caused riots in Paris.

Now, Napoleon wanted to use this to comfort his dear Pope. Of course, out of respect, he sent a delegation first. After all, the new France had not yet been recognized by the Pope. After knowing that he had taken Milan, Roland and Robespierre tacitly put aside their prejudices and sent a delegation to him.

The Paris government thought that they had not yet settled accounts with the Pope. Because of this, the Pope would certainly treat the French delegation with care. Unfortunately, the Romans were not as good as the Parisians.

At first, the Romans thought that the French Revolution had nothing to do with them and sneered at it. But a few months later, when the Roman immigrants in Paris were trapped and unable to return home immediately, the Romans became more and more disgusted with the revolutionaries.

The Vatican's property in France was nationalized, its territory in France was confiscated, France's donations to Rome were decreasing, and there were very few French tourists and pilgrims coming to Rome. All of these made the Romans hate the French Revolution.

French envoys paraded around wearing hats with blue, white and red cockades.

They supervised others to remove all the portraits of the pope and cardinals on the walls of the French Academy and replace them with portraits of people who support the French Republic.

That afternoon, after removing the fleur-de-lis decoration on the exterior of the French embassy, ​​which symbolized the French royal family, and replacing it with the logo of the National Convention, the French envoys took a carriage to Corso Avenue.

They still wore hats with tricolor cockades, and the tricolor flag was still on the carriage.

At first, people on the street just cursed at them, but then the mob started throwing stones at the carriage, which scared the driver and rushed into Piazza Colonna, then along the Via Struzioro towards the Palombara Palace, the residence of the French banker.

The carriage rushed into the gate of the palace, but before the gate was closed, the mob caught up. One envoy escaped by chance, but the other envoy was hit in the abdomen with a razor. When the envoy was dragged away, the mob still did not let him go, and they threw stones at the body.

Most of the mob also went to smash the windows of the homes of Francophiles, including the windows of other houses of Torlonia, the owner of the Palombara Palace. They looted the Palombara Palace and the French Post Office, attacked the French Academy, and set fire to the gate of the academy.

Throughout the night, the streets were filled with slogans of "Long live the Pope!" and "Long live Catholicism!" People stopped carriages on the street and asked the people in the carriages to shout with them.

"The flames of revolution have not been ignited in Rome," the Venetian ambassador to Rome recorded, "there are no supporters of revolution in every corner of Rome."

A week later, on the outskirts of Milan.

"Soldiers, you may have heard about the tragedy in Paris. It seems that we have to make the Pope understand, "Give to God what is God's, and give to Caesar what is Caesar's!"

Napoleon said to the soldiers, and the army shouted loudly. They headed towards Rome, just as Caesar led his army to the Senate. The Pope had to give an explanation that satisfied France.