Republican French

Venetian rule on the island ended in 1797 when Napoleon Bonaparte conquered the Republic of Venice. By the Treaty of Campoformio between Austria and France Corfu and the other Ionian islands were ceded to the French Republic.

Bonaparte sent a naval force of eleven French and four venetian ships to the island under general Gentili. On their arrival in Corfu the French were considered as liberators from 4 centuries of medieval Venetian rule. The Ionian islands became a dependency of France and were divided into 3 Departments: Corcyra, Ithaca and the Aegean Sea.

The French established in 1798 a school in the Monastery of San Francesco where French was taught to Corfiot children. They also founded in the same monastery the first printing press on Greek soil. In the same year they established a library in the Tenedos monastery.

The Corfiots soon were disappointed by the French who put new taxes, confiscated church property and showed no respect towards the Greek Orthodox Church.

Russians & Turks

After the defeat of the French at the Battle of Nile by admiral Nelson, Russia and Turkey formed an alliance and declared war on France, conquering all the Ionian islands except Corfu. The French authorities realizing that the enemy soon would attack the island, took all the defensive measures.

General Chabot, the French commander, having a garrison of only 1,800 men ordered a general disarmament of the population whose sentiments leaned strongly in favour of the Russians. On the 4th of November 1798 a combined fleet of 7 Russian and Turkish ships sailed through the Channel of Corfu. The Russians sent a party of officers and men ashore to demand the surrender of the city and its fortresses but general Chabot rejected the proposals. The allied troops on the 20th of November landed in the Bay of Palaepolis near the suburb of Garitsa to the south of the city and also near the river Potamos to the north. The landing forces were greeted as liberators by the population mainly because of their religious ties with the Russians.

The allied forces begun bombarding the city and the fortresses and prepared to capture the city itself, starting a four-month siege by the end of which food and supplies were short and the population is suffering from starvation. The French were forced to surrender when the island of Vido, who was the key to the harbour, was taken by assault on the 9th of February 1799.

On the 3rd of March 1799 the French authorities finally delivered the city of Corfu to the Russians and Turks. One of the first official acts of the Russians was the reinstatement of a Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Corfu.