Professor of History
Venice Betrayed: The Birth of Democracy and Napoleon’s War
“Venice Betrayed” tells the story of the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. Under threat of military siege, Venetians abolished a government that had functioned largely unchanged for nearly 500 years. Napoleon then ordered authorities to embrace a democracy modeled on principles of the French Revolution. “Venice Betrayed” explores the elements of Venice’s short-lived experiment in democracy. What sense did ordinary Venetians make of these disorderly months? What change did they embrace? What was the legacy of this loss over the next six decades of occupation? “Venice Betrayed” will combine the appeal of Venice’s enduring mystique with this harrowing and mostly unknown story of its fall.