La Bataille de Deutsch Wagram 1809

Memorable Year 1809–France versus Austria

for war when the time came. The Imperial Guard was ordered back to France from Spain and would soon be moved into Germany. Napoleon probably did more in 30 days than the Austrians were able to do in 30 weeks. The Austrians moved with glacial speed, slowly but certainly, towards war. On February 8, 1809, the Austrians decided to go to war. The Austrians recalled their troops from leave on February 12, and the emperor Francis I’s brother, the Archduke Karl, was named commander of the main Austrian Army in Central Europe. There were also smaller armies (in Italy under the Archduke Johann) and in Galicia (to take on the relatively new Grand Duchy of Warsaw). Meetings were held and plans were made (and then changed and changed again) by the Austrians. The Hapsburg machine was slowly cranking up and the Austrians were planning to soon take on the French. More importantly than what was going on in, or about Vienna, was what was going on in Rome. Napoleon and the French had occupied Rome on and off since Berthier established the Roman Republic and its adjoining environs since 1798 with a French revolutionary army. Napoleon had made a brief but unsatisfying peace with Pius VII with the Concordat of 1801. But that unraveled over the course of the next seven years and the French finally occupied Rome permanently in 1808 and annexed it directly to the French Empire. Both Joachim Murat, who was in 1808 made King of Naples, and the French military governor of Rome, General Sextius Millios, received letters from Napoleon ordering to them to deter the Pope from his anti- authoritarian activities even if that meant arresting the pope. There has been historical debate what Napoleon meant by his letters to Murat and Millios. There is an excellent article on this subject by Peter Hicks in the napoleon.org website which reviews these events in more detail. The Liberation of the Papal States

General Etienne Radet, the man who would arrest the Pope

Whether Napoleon meant to arrest the Pope or not, the fact was that on the night of July 5 and July 6, 1809, French General Étienne Radet entered the Pope’s palace in Rome and arrested the pontiff. Napoleon has claimed he was misunderstood and had never wanted the Pope arrested.

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