El Reino Anglo-Córcega ( italiano : Regno Anglo-Corso ; corso : Riame anglo-corsu o Riamu anglu-corsu ), también conocido oficialmente como Reino de Córcega (italiano: Regno di Corsica ; corso: Regnu di Corsica ), fue un Estado cliente del Reino de Gran Bretaña que existió en la isla de Córcega entre 1794 y 1796, durante las Guerras Revolucionarias Francesas . [1]
Durante la época de la Revolución Francesa , Córcega había sido parte de Francia durante sólo dos décadas. El líder corso Pasquale Paoli , que había estado exiliado bajo la monarquía, se convirtió en una especie de ídolo de la libertad y la democracia y, en 1789, fue invitado a París por la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente , donde fue celebrado como un héroe frente al asamblea. Posteriormente fue enviado de regreso a Córcega con el grado de teniente general.
However, Paoli eventually split from the revolutionary movement over the issue of the execution of King Louis XVI and threw in his lot with the royalist party. Accused of treason by the French National Convention, he summoned a consulta (assembly) at Corte in 1793, with himself as president, at which Corsica's formal secession from France was declared. He requested the protection of the British government, then at war with revolutionary France, and suggested the Kingdom of Ireland as a model for an autonomous kingdom under the British monarch. For Britain it was an opportunity to secure a Mediterranean base.
In 1794, Britain sent a fleet to Corsica under Admiral Samuel Hood. It was during the fighting to capture Calvi that then-Captain Horatio Nelson lost the sight in his right eye. For a short time, Corsica was added to the dominions of King George III, chiefly by the exertions of Hood's fleet, and Paoli's cooperation.
The constitution was democratic, with a viceroy (Sir Gilbert Elliot) representing the King, an elected unicameral Parliament, and a Council that was the executive body of the Kingdom, with Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo as procureur-general-syndic (chief of the civil government) and later president of the council of state, at its head.
The relationship between Paoli's government and the British was never clearly defined, however, resulting in numerous questions of authority; in particular, tensions arose from the conflict between Sir Gilbert's loyalty to the British monarchy, and Paoli's republican leanings and desire to defend Corsican autonomy. The Viceroy was also given the right of a veto of policy in the Constitution.[1] There was also a pronounced division between Corte, the traditional capital and an inland stronghold, and Bastia on the coast, where Sir Gilbert moved the capital in early 1795, and which was the centre for French and Corsican royalists.[2] With Spain coming in on the side of the French, the British realised their position in the Mediterranean was precarious and withdrew their forces from the island by October. The Crown invited Paoli to resign and return to exile in Britain with a pension, which, having no alternative, he was forced to do, joining the British in their retreat from the island. On 19 October 1796, the French reconquered Bastia[3] and Corsica became two French départements (Golo and Liamone).