1797 - Political Events
Political Events
The Battle of Rivoli January 14 to 15 on the river Adige gives General Bonaparte his first decisive victory. The Austrians have mounted a major effort to relieve the besieged fortress of Mantua, Bonaparte's 23,000 men are outnumbered by General Alvintzy's 28,000, but General Masséna separates the enemy infantry from its artillery and routs the Austrians east of Lake Garda, taking 7,000 prisoners and leaving 3,300 Austrians dead or wounded while sustaining 2,500 casualties.
Mantua falls to Bonaparte February 2 after a siege of more than 6 months, during which time the French have beaten back four Austrian attempts to relieve the fortress. Romagna, Bologna, and Ferrara are ceded to France in the Treaty of Tolentino concluded by Pope Pius VI after Bonaparte has begun an advance on Rome and intimidated the pope into ceding the territory.
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent February 14 ends in victory for a Royal Navy fleet off the southern coast of Portugal. Admiral Sir John Jervis attacks a fleet of 27 Spanish ships as they run for Cádiz, divides their line in two, and from his flagship H.M.S. Victory orders his 16 vessels to tack in succession and thereby prevent the gap from being closed. Observing that this maneuver will not be completed in time, Captain Horatio Nelson quickly turns H.M.S. Captain into the gap and takes on seven Spanish vessels that include the Santissima Trinidad, largest ship in the world. He leads a boarding party through a hail of pistol and musket fire, and by nightfall the British have captured four of the Spanish ships and crippled 10 others. Nelson hears soon afterward that he has been promoted to rear admiral and knighted (Jervis is given an earldom); Lloyd's members subscribe £2,614 for the widows and orphans left behind by those killed in the battle.
Former German soldier Hieronoymus Karl Friedrich, baron von Münchhausen, dies February 22 at age 76, having told tall stories that were the basis of exaggerated tales published by others.
General Bonaparte crosses the Alps to challenge the archduke Charles at Vienna and is nearly cut off as the natives of Venetia and the Tyrol take arms against France.
The French proclaim a Cisalpine Republic composed of Milan, Modena, Ferrara, Bologna, and Romagna July 9, and the Republic of Genoa is turned into a Ligurian republic controlled by France. The Cisalpine Republic will survive until 1802.
A coup d'état carried out by General Augereau at Paris September 4 (18 Fructidor) nullifies the spring election, which has brought the royalist party to power, and drives out the party of reaction, giving the republican party control of the Council of 500. Lazare Carnot was elected to the Directory in 1795 and is widely credited with having organized France's military victories (for which other members of the Committee of Public Safety were equally responsible), but he also played a role in carrying on the Reign of Terror. His political enemies demand his arrest, and he goes into exile at Nuremberg, where he will remain until 1799.
The Battle of Camperdown off the Dutch coast October 11 ends in victory for a Royal Navy fleet under the command of Admiral Adam Duncan, 66, who has received orders May 28 to blockade the Dutch fleet of Admiral Jan Willem De Winter, 47, in the Texel. Running low on provisions, Admiral Duncan has had to return to Yarmouth with his 74-gun flagship H.M.S. Venerable to refit. De Winter has seized the opportunity to break out into the open sea, Duncan has caught him, some of the Dutch frigates escape in the dark after giving up, but after a 5-hour encounter that has cost the Dutch 250 killed and 300 wounded, Duncan forces De Winter to strike his colors, the first Dutch admiral ever to have surrendered (when he is freed in December following a prisoner exchange, a court-martial declares that he performed nobly in defense of Dutch honor). Admiral Duncan has lost more than 191 men killed, 565 wounded; members of Lloyd's subscribe £53,000 to the Patriotic Fund for the relief of the navy's widows and orphans.
General Bonaparte defeats an Austrian army outside Milan in mid-October; the Treaty of Campo Formio signed October 17 after 5 months of negotiations obliges Austria to cede her provinces in the Lowlands (later Belgium) to France, as arranged April 18 in a peace conference at Leoben. Austria agrees to recognize the new Cisalpine republic, indemnify the duke of Modena with the Breisgau, and—under terms of secret articles—make concessions that include letting France occupy the left bank of the Rhine. Austria's Brussels-born foreign minister (Johann) Ludwig (Jozef), graf von Cobenzl, 43, played a leading role 2 years ago in the third partition of Poland and signs the treaty with Bonaparte; Austria receives the territory of Venice as far as the Adige and obtains Dalmatia, Istria, and the city of Venice, whose last doge, Ludovico Manin, is deposed after more than 1,000 years of doges. But the peace will prove short-lived.
Prussia's Friedrich Wilhelm II dies of heart disease at Berlin November 16 at age 53, leaving his country bankrupt, the monarchy discredited, and the army weakened after an 11-year reign in which Prussia has been compelled to give up her territories west of the Rhine but has gained some Polish territory. The king's grandson, 27, will reign until 1840 as Friedrich Wilhelm III but will be little better.
The XYZ affair brings France and the United States to the verge of war. France has regarded Jay's Treaty of 1794 as evidence of U.S. support for the British. President John Adams takes office March 4 and sends a conciliatory mission to Paris, and three members of the French Directory, known only as X, Y, and Z, attempt to extort money from the Americans Charles C. (Cotesworth) Pinckney, 51, of South Carolina, John Marshall, 41, of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry, 52, of Massachusetts. Pinckney and Marshall return home indignant at the underhanded actions of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (Gerry remains at Paris in hopes that he will obtain the terms that Talleyrand refused to give the other two), Congress and the public are outraged, former congressman Fisher Ames is among those who want war with France in order to cleanse the United States of "Jacobinism," Secretary of State Timothy Pickering enters into preparations for war, but President Adams resists Federalist pressure to declare war.
A U.S. treaty of peace and friendship with the Bey of Tripoli wins ratification from the Senate June 7. It was signed November 4 of last year by poet and diplomat Joel Barlow while serving as consul to Algiers, President Adams signs it June 10, and it is published in the Philadelphia Gazette June 17. President Adams sends a message to Congress June 23 saying, "The Dey of Algiers has manifested a predilection for American-built vessels, and in consequence has desired that two vessels might be constructed and equipped as cruisers."
British statesman-orator-political thinker Edmund Burke dies on his estate at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, July 9 at age 68; General Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, at his native Sevenoaks, Kent, August 3 at age 80. He served as commander in chief of the British Army from 1772 until just 2 years ago; journalist and former member of Parliament John Wilkes dies at his native London December 26 at age 72.
The U.S.S. United States is launched at Philadelphia May 10 as the United States begins building a small fleet of naval vessels to protect her merchant ships (see 1794).
The U.S.S. Constitution launched at Boston October 21 becomes the second of two capital ships of the fledgling U.S. Navy and is soon followed by the U.S.S. Chesapeake, U.S.S. Constellation, U.S.S. President, and U.S.S. Congress launched at other ports. Except for some modifications on the Chesapeake, all have been designed by naval architect Joshua Humphreys, whose speedy and powerfully armed super-frigates will prove superior to foreign ships that carry more men and cannon.
A British fleet under the command of General Sir Ralph Abercromby seizes the Spanish island of Trinidad but fails in an attack on Puerto Rico, which is considered a major center for privateers and a sanctuary for runaway slaves (see 1796). Spanish colonial authorities have stimulated agricultural production on the island, liberalized its trade relations with the mother country, and integrated its military defense system into that of the crown. Sir Ralph returns to England in poor health, arrives in Ireland in December to command the troops, but finds the militia undisciplined, antagonizes politicians at Dublin Castle, and will soon resign his commission.
Venezuelan Creoles proclaim their independence from Spain, but Spanish troops put down the insurrection (see Caracas Company, 1778; Miranda, 1806).
Persia's shahanshah Agha Mohammad Khan leads a second expedition into Georgia but is assassinated by two of his servants near Shusha at age 55 (approximate) after a 3-year reign in which he has reincorporated Georgia into Persia, conquered Khorasan, had its blind ruler Shah Rokh tortured to death, seen Teheran grow from a village into a city of some 15,000, unified Persia, and founded the Kajar dynasty that will rule until 1925. The shahansha's 26-year-old nephew will reign until 1834 as Fath Ali Shah (see war with Russia, 1804).
A Madagascar chieftain who seized the throne of a Merina kingdom 10 years ago establishes himself as ruler of larger territory (see 1674). He will conquer the African island's three remaining kingdoms by 1806, unite them within the borders of what formerly was Imerina, make the fortified city of Antanarivo his capital, and reign until 1810 as Andrianampoinimerina.
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