Editing Dubrovnik (section)

=== Early modern period ===

[[File:Ragusa.png|thumb|left|upright=1.25|Territory of the Republic before 1808]]

On 27 May 1806, the forces of the [[First French Empire|Empire of France]] occupied the neutral [[Republic of Ragusa]]. Upon entering Ragusan territory without permission and approaching the capital, the French General [[Jacques Lauriston]] demanded that his troops be allowed to rest and be provided with food and drink in the city before continuing on to take possession of their holdings in the [[Bay of Kotor]]. However, this was a deception because as soon as they entered the city, they proceeded to occupy it in the name of Napoleon.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=187–189}} Almost immediately after the beginning of the French occupation, Russian and Montenegrin troops entered Ragusan territory and began fighting the French army, raiding and pillaging everything along the way and culminating in [[Siege of Ragusa (1806)|a siege of the occupied city]] during which 3,000 cannonballs fell on it.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=240–241,247}} In 1808 [[Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont|Marshal Marmont]] issued a proclamation abolishing the [[Republic of Ragusa]] and amalgamating its territory into the French Empire's client state, the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy]]. Marmont claimed the newly created title of "Duke of Ragusa" ({{lang|fr|Duc de Raguse}}) and in 1810 Ragusa, together with [[Istria]] and [[Dalmatia]], went to the newly created French [[Illyrian Provinces]].

[[File:Ragusa, Jesuit Church and military hospital, Dalmatia, Austro-Hungary-LCCN2002710792.jpg|thumb|upright|Dubrovnik's former [[Collegium Ragusinum|Jesuit college]] and Jesuit stairs c. 1900]]
After seven years of French occupation, encouraged by the desertion of French soldiers after the failed [[French Invasion of Russia|invasion of Russia]] and the reentry of Austria in the [[War of the Sixth Coalition|war]], all the social classes of the Ragusan people rose up in a general insurrection, led by the patricians, against the Napoleonic invaders.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=147}} On 18 June 1813, together with British forces they forced the surrender of the French garrison of the island of [[Šipan]], soon also the heavily fortified town of [[Ston]] and the island of [[Lopud]], after which the insurrection spread throughout the mainland, starting with [[Konavle]].{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=150–154}} They then [[Siege of Ragusa (1814)|laid siege to the occupied city]], helped by the British [[Royal Navy]], who had enjoyed [[Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814|unopposed domination over the Adriatic sea]], under the command of Captain [[William Hoste]], with his ships HMS ''Bacchante'' and {{HMS|Saracen|1812|6}}. Soon the population inside the city joined the insurrection.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=191}} The [[Austrian Empire]] sent a force under General Todor Milutinović offering to help their Ragusan allies.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=172–173}} However, as was soon shown, their intention was to in fact replace the French occupation of Ragusa with their own. Seducing one of the temporary governors of the Republic, [[Biagio Bernardo Caboga]], with promises of power and influence (which were later cut short and who died in ignominy, branded as a traitor by his people), they managed to convince him that the gate to the east was to be kept closed to the Ragusan forces and to let the Austrian forces enter the City from the west, without any Ragusan soldiers, once the French garrison of 500 troops under General [[Joseph Hélie Désiré Perruquet de Montrichard|Joseph de Montrichard]] had surrendered.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=194}}

After this, the Flag of Saint Blaise was flown alongside the Austrian and British colors, but only for two days because, on 30 January, General Milutinović ordered Mayor Sabo Giorgi to lower it. Overwhelmed by a feeling of deep patriotic pride, Giorgi, the last Rector of the Republic, refused to do so "for the masses had hoisted it". Subsequent events proved that Austria took every possible opportunity to invade the entire coast of the eastern Adriatic, from Venice to [[Kotor]]. The Austrians did everything in their power to eliminate the Ragusa issue at the [[Congress of Vienna]]. Ragusan representative [[Miho Bona]], elected at the last meeting of the Major Council, was denied participation in the Congress, while Milutinović, prior to the final agreement of the allies, assumed complete control of the city.<ref name="Cosic2000">{{cite journal |title=Dubrovnik Under French Rule (1810–1814) |first=Stjepan |last=Ćosić |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/12648 |format=PDF |journal=[[Dubrovnik Annals]] |year=2000 |issue=4 |pages=103–142 |access-date=11 September 2009}}</ref>{{rp|141–142}}

Regardless of the fact that the government of the Ragusan Republic never signed any capitulation nor relinquished its sovereignty, which according to the rules of [[Klemens von Metternich]] that Austria adopted for the Vienna Congress should have meant that the Republic would be restored, the Austrian Empire managed to convince the other allies to allow it to keep the territory of the Republic.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=208–210}} While many smaller and less significant cities and former countries were permitted an audience, that right was refused to the representative of the Ragusan Republic.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=270–272}} All of this was in blatant contradiction to the solemn treaties that the Austrian Emperors signed with the Republic: the first on 20 August 1684, in which [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]] promises and guarantees inviolate liberty ("inviolatam libertatem") to the Republic, and the second in 1772, in which the Empress [[Maria Theresa]] promises protection and respect of the inviolability of the freedom and territory of the Republic.{{sfn|Vojnović|2009|p=217–218}}