Thus the whole Italian peninsula was de pendent directly or indirectly on Napoleon. The House of Savoy retained only the island of Sardinia; and the Bourbons of Naples Sicily, Napoleon, who moved the kings about as though they were chessmen, in 1808 raised his brother Joseph to the throne of Spain, and sent to Naples in his stead his cousin, Joachim Murat.
A great change had taken place, materially, intellectually and socially, in the Napoleonic dominions. New roads were opened, large canals dug, splendid monuments erected, agri culture encouraged, industry and commerce favored, letters and the fine arts promoted. But his despotic will alienated Napoleon's sub jects, especially when they remembered that having attained such great power, nothing could hinder his ambitious aims, and that to satisfy his own vanity he was always ready to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers. Hence, when his hour of disaster came he found little support in Italy.
In the autumn of 1813 Austria advanced threateningly on the kingdom of Italy. The viceroy, Eugene Beauharnais, attempted to de fend it, but in vain, particularly as the king of Naples, Joachim Murat, in order to retain his own throne, had entered into secret negotia tions with Austria, and had also led an army toward upper Italy. The Austrians had already occupied a great portion of the kingdom when the news arrived in Italy that Napoleon had been forced to abdicate. Then arose an in surrection in Milan against the French govern ment. Count Prina, Minister of Finance, was
massacred by the mob (April 1814). In conse quence of these outrages, the viceroy, Eugene Beauharnais, left the kingdom. Milan was oc cupied by the Austrian troops.
Almost all the former governments were re stored. The Pope, Pius VII, re-entered Rome, Duke Ferdinand III took back Tuscany. The duchies of Parma and Modena were re-estab lished. Victor Emanuele I of Savoy re-entered Turin.
Joachim Murat alone retained the kingdom of Naples; but he soon had reason to doubt that Austria would keep the promise she had made him. He, therefore, became reconciled to Napoleon, who was then in the island of Elba, and when he left it to set out on the marvelous 100 days, Murat took up arms against Austria, inviting Italy to assist in a war of independence. He was defeated, and obliged to renounce the throne (20 May 1815). From Corsica, whither he had fled, he tried to reconquer Naples, but was made prisoner at Pizzo in Calabria, and shot (13 Oct. 1815).
Bibliography.— Consult Ranke. L. von, 'Sammtliche Werke> (Leipzig 1874); Lavisse et Rambaud, (Histoire generale) (Vol. IV et seq., Paris 1894-97) ; Villari, P., 'Life and Times of Savonarola> (trans., London 1909); Symonds, J. A., 'Catholic Reaction) (New York 11&137); Orsi, Pietro, 'Modern Italy) (trans., New York 1900) • 'Cambridge Modern History) (Cambridge 1903-07).