The first period of French rule in the Ionian Islands lasted from June 1797 to March 1799. Following the fall of the Republic of Venice in May 1797, the Ionian Islands, a Venetian possession, were occ
Portrait of Carlo Aurelio Widmann, last Venetian governor of the Ionian islands
Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole. Napoleon's victories in Italy led to the demise of the ancient Republic of Venice and the French occupation of the Ionian Islands.
The Tree of Liberty is erected in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, on 4 June 1797
Antoine Gentili, first French governor of the Ionian Islands
Siege of Corfu (1798–1799)
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The Siege of Corfu was a military operation by a joint Russian and Turkish fleet against French troops occupying the fortified island of Corfu; ended in Coalition victory. Corfu fortifications had a s
Corfu city and its fortifications in 1800, engraving by André Grasset de Saint-Sauveur
Layout of the fortifications of Corfu city, c. 1780
1999 postal stamp of Russia commemorating the siege