Le forze armate nel Dipartimento del Rubicone (1797-1814)

This study analyses the organization and the operations of the troops quartered in the Rubicone Department (a Italian province located in Romagna region, formerly Papal State) under Napoleon’s rule. During the Cisalpine Republic (1797-1801) and the Italian Republic (then transformed in Kingdom of Italy, 1802-1814), in the territory of Rubicone as well military forces increased a lot, because local governments were forced to conscript thousands of young men, making a strong contribution towards the cost due to war and public order. In addition to National Guard, Gendarmerie and line regiments quartered in the main garrison towns (Forlì, Ravenna, Rimini), coastal defense involved several artillery batteries with hundreds of canoneers (cannonieri guardacoste). They were called, in the last years of Napoleonic wars, to face the overwhelming power of the British Royal Navy cruising through the Adriatic Sea.