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Main article: History of Corsica
Prehistory and antiquity[edit]
Main article: Prehistory of Corsica
Carthage and its dependencies in 264 BC
The Romanesque-Pisan style of the Church of Aregno
Corsica has been occupied since the Mesolithic era, otherwise known as the Middle Stone Age. The permanent human presence in Corsica is documented in the Neolithic period from the 6th millennium BC.
After a brief occupation by the Carthaginians, colonization by the ancient Greeks, and a slightly longer occupation by the Etruscans, it was incorporated by the Roman Republic at the end of the First Punic War. In 238 BC, along with Sardinia, the islands became a province of the Roman Republic The Romans established colonies at Mariana and Aléria on the east coast, but they had little control over the interior. The Greeks, who had earlier built a colony in Aléria, considered Corsica to be one of the most backward regions of the Roman world. The island produced sheep, honey, resin and wax, and exported many slaves. Moreover, it was known for its cheap wines, exported to Rome, and was used as a place of exile; one of the most famous Romans exiled there was the philosopher Seneca.
Corsica was integrated into Roman Italy by Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305). Administratively, the island was divided into pagi, which in the Middle Ages became the pievi, the basic administrative units of the island until 1768.
Middle Ages[edit]
Main article: Medieval Corsica
In the fifth century, the western half of the Roman Empire collapsed, and the island was invaded by the Vandals and the Ostrogoths. Briefly recovered by the Byzantine Empire, it soon became part of the Kingdom of the Lombards. This made it a dependency of the Duchy of Tuscia, which used it as an outpost against the Saracens. Pepin the Short, king of the Franks and Charlemagne's father, expelled the Lombards and nominally granted Corsica to Pope Stephen II. In the first quarter of the 11th century, Pisa and Genoa together freed the island from the threat of Arab invasion. After that, the island came under the influence of the Republic of Pisa. Many polychrome churches which adorn the island date from this period. Corsica also experienced a massive immigration from Tuscany, which gave to the island its present toponymy and rendered the language spoken in the northern two-thirds of the island very close to the Tuscan dialect. This led to the traditional division of Corsica into two parts, along the main chain of mountains roughly going from Calvi to Porto-Vecchio: the eastern Banda di dentro, or Cismonte, more populated, developed, and open to the commerce with Italy, and the western Banda di fuori, or Pomonte, almost deserted, wild and remote.
The Tour de Capu di Muru, a Genoese tower in the commune of Coti-Chiavari. Towers were built as Barbary pirates frequently attacked Corsica
The defeat experienced by Pisa in 1284 in the Battle of Meloria against Genoa had among its consequences the end of the Pisan rule and the beginning of the Genoese influence in Corsica: this was contested initially by the King of Aragon, who in 1296 had received from the Pope the investiture over Sardinia and Corsica. A popular revolution against this and the feudal lords, led by Sambucuccio d'Alando, got the aid of Genoa. After that, the Cismonte was ruled as a league of comuni and churches, after the Italian experience. The following 150 years were a period of conflict, when the Genoese rule was contested by Aragon, the local lords, the comuni and the Pope: finally, in 1450 Genoa ceded the administration of the island to its main bank, the Bank of Saint George, which brought peace.
In the 16th century, the island entered into the fight between Spain and France for supremacy in Italy. In 1553, a Franco-Ottoman fleet occupied Corsica, but the reaction of Spain and Genoa, led by Andrea Doria, reestablished the Genoese supremacy on the island, confirmed by the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Sampiero Corso (Sampiero di Bastelica) would later come to be considered a hero of the island. Their power reinstated, the Genoese did not allow the Corsican nobility to share in the government of the island and oppressed the inhabitants with a heavy tax burden. On the other hand, they introduced the chestnut tree on a large scale, improving the diet of the population, and built a chain of towers along the coast to defend Corsica from the attacks of the Barbary pirates from North Africa. The period of peace lasted until 1729, when the refusal to pay taxes by a peasant sparked the general insurrection of the island against Genoa.
The island became known for the large number of mercenary soldiers and officers it produced. In 1743, over 4,600 Corsicans, or 4% of the entire population of the island, were serving as soldiers in various armies (predominantly those of Genoa, Venice, and Spain), making it one of the most militarized societies in Europe.
Corsican Republic[edit]
Main articles: Corsican War of Independence, Corsican Republic, and French conquest of Corsica
Pasquale Paoli, leader of the Corsican resistance, and the first and only General of the Corsican Republic
A view of Corsica and Martello tower, 1788 painting "A cutter and a man of war off Corsica" by Nicholas Pocock
In 1729, the Corsican Revolution for independence from Genoa began, first led by Luiggi Giafferi and Giacinto Paoli, and later by Paoli's son, Pasquale Paoli. After 26 years of struggle against the Republic of Genoa, including an ephemeral attempt in 1736 to proclaim an independent Kingdom of Corsica under the German adventurer Theodor von Neuhoff, an independent Corsican Republic was proclaimed in 1755 under the leadership of Pasquale Paoli and remained sovereign until 1769 when the island was conquered by France.
Following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Pasquale Paoli was able to return to Corsica from exile in Britain. In 1794, he invited British forces under Lord Hood to intervene to free Corsica from French rule. Anglo-Corsican forces drove the French from the island and established an Anglo-Corsican Kingdom. Following Spain's entry into the war, the British decided to withdraw from Corsica in 1796.
19th century[edit]
Saint-Nicolas church in Feliceto
Corsicans commemorating the anniversary of the birth of Napoleon
Despite being the birthplace of the Emperor, the island was slightly neglected by Napoleon's government. In 1814, near the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Corsica was briefly occupied again by British troops. The Treaty of Bastia gave the British crown sovereignty over the island, but it was later repudiated by Lord Castlereagh who insisted that the island should be returned to a restored French monarchy.
After the restoration, the island was further neglected by the French state. Despite the presence of a middle class in Bastia and Ajaccio, Corsica remained an otherwise primitive place, whose economy consisted mainly of subsistence agriculture, and whose population constituted a pastoral society, dominated by clans and the rules of vendetta. The code of vendetta required Corsicans to seek deadly revenge for offences against their family's honor. Between 1821 and 1852, no fewer than 4,300 murders were perpetrated in Corsica. During the first half of the century, the people of Corsica were still immersed in the Italian cultural world: the bourgeoisie sent children to Pisa to study, official acts were enacted in Italian and most books were printed in Italian. Moreover, many islanders sympathised with the national struggle which was taking place in nearby Italy in those years: several political refugees from the peninsula, like Niccolò Tommaseo, spent years on the island, while some Corsicans, like Count Leonetto Cipriani [fr; it], took active part in the fights for Italian independence.
Despite all that, during those years the Corsicans began to feel an increasingly strong attachment to France. The reasons for that are manifold: the knowledge of the French language, which thanks to the mandatory primary school started to penetrate among the local youth, the high prestige of French culture, the awareness of being part of a big, powerful state, the possibility of well-paid jobs as civil servants, both in the island, in the mainland and in the colonies, the prospect of serving the French army during the wars for the conquest of the colonial empire, the introduction of steamboats, which reduced the travel time between mainland France and the island drastically, and – last but not least – Napoleon himself, whose existence alone constituted an indissoluble link between France and Corsica. Thanks to all these factors by around 1870 Corsica had landed in the French cultural world.
From the 19th century into the mid-20th century, Corsicans also grew closer to the French nation through participation in the French Empire. Compared to much of Metropolitan France, Corsica was poor and many Corsicans emigrated. While Corsicans emigrated globally, especially to many South American countries, many chose to move within the French Empire which acted as a conduit for emigration and eventual return, as many young Corsican men could find better job opportunities in the far corners of the Empire where many other French hesitated to go. In many parts of the Empire, Corsicans were strongly represented, such as in Saigon where in 1926 12% of Europeans were from Corsica. Across the French Empire, many Corsicans retained a sense of community by establishing organizations where they would meet regularly, keep one another informed of developments in Corsica, and come to one another's aid in times of need.
Modern era[edit]
Monument to the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Corsica during World War II in Solaro (plaine orientale)
After the collapse of France to the German Wehrmacht in 1940, Corsica came under the rule of the Vichy French regime, which was collaborating with Nazi Germany. In November 1942 the island was occupied by Italian and German forces following the Anglo-American landings in North Africa. After the Italian armistice in September 1943, Italian and Free French Forces pushed the Germans out of the island, making Corsica the first French Department to be freed.
During the May 1958 crisis, the French military command in Algeria mutinied against the French Fourth Republic and on 24 May occupied the island in an action called Opération Corse that led to the collapse of the government; the second phase of the coup attempt, occupying Paris, was cancelled following the establishment of a transitional government under Charles de Gaulle.
Corsican conflict[edit]
Main article: Corsican conflict
FLNC-CS militants during the Tralonca peace campaign, 1996
Banner at the Pasquale Paoli University erected by supporters of Corsican independence, calling for the release of Yvan Colonna
In the early morning of 5 May 1976, a series of 21 attacks occurred across the island. These were claimed by a previously unknown group, the National Liberation Front of Corsica (Fronte di Liberazione Naziunale di a Corsica, FLNC). This group, modeled after the Algerian National Liberation Front, carried out a series of guerrilla attacks, mostly bombings, in the name of Corsican nationalism. By the afternoon of 5 May, a series of demands, called the Manifesto of 5 May, was released, expressing desire to detach itself from the French state and pursue the interest of Corsicans, who they claimed had lived under a colonial state since the time of the Genoese. This is considered the beginning of the Corsican conflict.
From 5 May onwards, the FLNC carried out a large number of bomb attacks, ambushes, and other acts of guerrilla warfare against French forces, which they described as “colonial forces”. Notable attacks in the 1970s include the bombing of the Pigno transmitter in Bastia in 1977, the bombing of the air base in Solenzara in 1978, and the bombing of 23 buildings in Paris in one day in 1979.
In 1981, the FLNC called a truce and supported François Mitterrand’s socialist campaign for president in order to open discussion with the socialist party in hopes of securing a Corsican autonomy process that would lead to eventual independence. The resulting Defferre Agreements were marked with instability, including an attempted assassination of sitting president Giscard shortly before the 1981 election. The FLNC achieved the reopening of the University of Corsica, but withdrew from the agreements in early 1982. The following agreements between Corsican autonomists and other government officials resulted in the creation of the Corsican Assembly and other government institutions.
Following the departure of the FLNC from the agreements and the return of violence, the FLNC carried out larger operations in both number and scale; the 1980s is generally considered the deadliest period of the conflict.
In May 1988, The FLNC signed a truce with the government similar to the 1981 truce. This caused a rift in the movement and would result in a division within the FLNC. The pro-truce “habituels” led by Alain Orsoni, formed the FLNC-Canal Habituel (Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA). The anti-truce “historiques” formed the FLNC-Canal Historique (Canale Storicu, FLNC-CS). A smaller third split called Resistenza, led by members unhappy with both of the other two movements, also formed. These three groups engaged in warfare between each other for most of the 1990s. Resistenza would gradually lower their arms before becoming a pro-peace organization in 1996. The FLNC-CA would announce its self-dissolution in 1996, which would result in a split amongst pro-war members creating the FLNC-5 May. The FLNC-CS participated in failed negotiations with the French government in 1996. Militants associated with the FLNC-5M and FLNC-CA carried out an assassination of prefect Claude Érignac in 1998.
In 1999, the FLNC-Union of Combatants (Unione di Cumbattenti, FLNC-UC) formed out of a union between the FLNC-CS, FLNC-5M, an FLNC-CS splinter group called Fronte Ribellu, and a minor group called Clandestinu. In 2002, the FLNC-UC split, with more radical members forming the FLNC-22 October (22 Uttrovi, FLNC-22U). These groups led the nationalist in the conflict (with numerous minor groups) until 2014 and 2016, when the groups respectively signed truces.
In 2022, Corsican nationalist Yvan Colonna was killed by an inmate. This resulted in large waves of unrest in Corsica which reignited the conflict.
The August 2022 Corsica derecho swept across the island and killed six people, injured dozens of others, and caused significant damage.
