On this day, May 12th, 1797, the Greater Council of the Republic of Venice voted to dissolve itself.
Napoleon, with his army occupying the mainland part of the Venetian state, had issued an ultimatum to the Republic, which the Venetian aristocracy couldn’t accept, but neither did they have the means to oppose him.
In the ultimatum, Napoleon demanded a democratisation of the aristocratic Venetian republic. Unwilling to accept such a dramatic break with tradition, the Venetian elite voted to dissolve the state.
The Maggior Consiglio was the constitutional backbone of the Venetian Republic, and with its dissolution, the state was no more.
Membership of the council was hereditary, so no new council could legitimately replace it.
The Doge, whose limited authority rested on that of the council, consequently abdicated.
At the end of the day of May 12th, 1797, the Venetian Republic no longer existed, and the following day a provisional municipal government of mostly Jacobins took over, and allowed the troops of Napoleon to enter the city unopposed.
A thousand years of Venetian statehood had come to an end.
Further reading
- The Fall of Venice
- A Chronology of the Fall of Venice
- The Consiglio Maggiore
- The Doge
- The Republic of Venice
- The fortress of Sant’Andrea
Venetian Stories
- Domenico Pizzamano (newsletter)
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