1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the war, and redivides Italy. Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla are made into a duchy for Don Philip, brother of Charles III of the Two Sicilies. The Austrians keep Milan and Tuscany. Venice, Lucca, and San Marino remain free, so does Genoa, but, with the duchy of Modena, it is placed under the protection of France. Until the French Revolution Italy ceases to be a matter of dispute between the European nations.
1755 Pasquale Paoli takes command of the Corsicans in their continued struggle to free themselves from Genoa. He plans to establish a republic in the island.
1765 Death of the emperor Francis. Tuscany, which, since his assumption of the emperorship, has been practically an Austrian province, is given to his son Leopold and becomes a separate state once more.
1768 Genoa, wearied of the struggle with Corsica, cedes it to France.
1773 Death of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, succeeded by his son, Victor Amadeus III.
1790 Leopold, succeeding to the empire, makes his son, Ferdinand III, grand duke of Tuscany.
1792 The French army captures Savoy and Nice and makes them part of the republic.
1793 Victor Amadeus joins the alliance against France.
1796 The French army under Napoleon Bonaparte crosses the Alps. Victor Amadeus surrenders his claim to Savoy and Nice, and gives up Alessandria and Tortona after Bonaparte’s many victories. The French invade the Austrian dominions and enter Milan. Bonaparte enters Bologna and founds the Cispadane Republic, with Bologna as capital. Death of Victor Amadeus, succeeded by his son, Charles Emmanuel IV. Defeat of the Austrians at Arcola.
1797 Defeat of the Austrians at Rivoli completes conquest of Lombardy. Mantua surrenders to Bonaparte. He declares war on Venice and enters the city. Revolt against the republican party in Genoa; Bonaparte interferes and establishes the Ligurian Republic. He forms Lombardy, Parma, Modena, the papal state of Bologna, Ferrara, Romagna, and part of Venice into the Cisalpine Republic, with capital at Milan. Treaty of Campo-Formio recognises the new republics and gives the remainder of Venice to Austria.