As one of the great powers of Europe since the end of the Middle Ages, France has a deep cultural heritage and a highly developed economy for thousands of years, and the capital, Paris, is known as the most romantic city in the world, but even France, which looks so beautiful, has its inexplicable troubles, for example, corsica, a territory that has been ruled for more than two hundred and fifty years, is still constantly making independence.
Corsica, as the hometown of Napoleon, the First Emperor of France, is located in the Mediterranean Sea, 170 kilometers away from the French mainland, is the largest island in France and the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean, with an area of about 8680 square kilometers, a population of more than 330,000 people, beautiful natural scenery, known as "Beautiful Island".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > first independence</h1>
On corsica, the main inhabitants are native Corsicans, because of the location of Corsica, it has been in contention for thousands of years, constantly occupied and ruled by outsiders, but the Corsican sense of independence has never left, has been constantly fighting with outsiders.
At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the Carthaginians first occupied Corsica, and after three Punic wars, Carthage was defeated by Rome and destroyed, and the land that once belonged to Carthage was also returned to Rome, and Corsica was no exception. But the Corsicans did not succumb so easily, and it took the Romans nearly a century and many battles to successfully conquer the entire island.
During Roman rule, there was a brief period of peace in the island, and the Latin language of the Romans formed the basis of today's Corsican language, and the Corsicans also believed in Christianity ever since. But the good times did not last long, with the gradual decline of the Roman Empire, the island began to suffer from many kinds of invasion and occupation, from the Vandals to the Lombards to the Arabs, over and over again invasion and occupation, the established towns were dilapidated, the residents who lived on the island for a long time were expelled, the coastal farmland was gradually shelved, in the following hundreds of years, the situation in Corsica was like a scattered sand, many forces were divided, and the whole could be divided into the indigenous Corsican resistance forces and the colonial invading suzerainty forces. The fighting is ongoing.
After years of war and a change of ownership, Corsica eventually fell into the hands of the Italian Republic of Genoa in the late 13th century.
The Republic of Genoa was a powerful merchant state with business throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Corsica, for Genana, was a colony for raw materials and money, so corsica was heavily regulated, not allowing Corsicans to participate in local administration and imposing a very heavy tax burden on them.
In 1729, corsicans suffered a famine due to agricultural failures, but the Genoese, instead of reducing taxes, intensified, which led to the long-oppressed Corsicans, who, under the leadership of leader Pauli, began to arm against Genoese rule.
Under the attack of the Corsicans, the Genoese first withdrew into the coastal fortresses and then sent an army to suppress them, but because the Corsicans had no professional military training, it was difficult to resist the genoese regular army, and they were soon defeated. Although the Genoese won the victory, they suffered heavy losses and were unable to penetrate deep into the inland mountains of Corsica, so they had to rely on coastal fortresses to confront the Corsicans. This revolt lasted for 26 years, with neither side being able to completely defeat the other, and finally, in 1755 AD, the national hero of the Corsicans, Poly, declared the independence of the island and established a democratic "Republic of Corsica".
Off the coast of Corsica, a military fortress established by the Genoese
Pauli then led the construction of Corsica. He built roads on the island, established cities inland, developed minerals, and in addition, Poly established the first university in Corsica, the University of Corsica. It can be said that the whole process of modernization in Corsica began with him. Unfortunately, the establishment of the Republic of Corsica was not internationally recognized at the time and remained within the territory of the Republic of Genoa.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > attributed</h1>
Genoa was very reluctant to allow Corsica to become an independent country, and began to look for a successor, how to maximize its own interests, and finally. Genoa found France, which had just suffered a defeat in the Seven Years' War. Corsica is a strategic node in the western Mediterranean, and If France wants to have a say in the Mediterranean, Corsica is indeed a good choice.
In 1768, France and the Republic of Genoa secretly signed the Treaty of Versailles, and Corsica was sold to France, after which France publicly declared the island of Corsica to merge with France and sent troops to occupy it.
The Corsicans were furious at the deal between Genoa and France, who had just had their own independent state and were so casually bought and sold without any human rights. So, under the leadership of its leader Pauli, Corsica once again confronted outsiders, but little Corsica was no match for France.
Leader of the Corsican independence movement, Pasquale Pauli
In May 1769, France defeated the resistance of the Republic of Corsica and made Corsica its own territory, and Pauli was forced into exile in England.
Immediately after the French occupation of Corsica, it was constitutionally clear that it was part of France, and a series of assimilation policies were used to consolidate its rule here. France closed the University of Corsica, required other schools to use French as the language of instruction and banned any language, while French political ideas and culture were widely disseminated.
In the centuries since, Corsica has changed hands only twice from France, once during the French Revolution, when it was occupied by the British in 1794 and subsequently recovered by the French in 1796. The other was occupied by Germany and Italy in 1942 during World War II, but was retaken by France in 1943 with Italy's surrender and Allied counteroffensive.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > difficult nationalist movement</h1>
Although Corsica has been under French rule for more than two hundred years, there are still some Corsicans on the island who are constantly protesting and wanting national independence, whether it is the beginning of French rule or now, but it has never succeeded.
Corsica has been occupied and ruled by other countries in history, but its national identity has not changed, and it has its own language and deep cultural heritage, which makes it very difficult for France to transmit its language and culture to it at the beginning of its rule.
At the same time, Corsica was far from mainland France and closer to Italy, which had previously ruled it, which made Corsica's sense of belonging to France even weaker. In contrast to the French culture, which was difficult to invade Corsica, Italian culture prevailed on Corsica, where wealthy local people sent their children to school in Italy, and the island's codes and other writings were written in Italian.
After World War II, when colonies around the world were demanding independence, In order to appease the French expatriates returning from overseas colonization of Algeria, France sent some people to Corsica and allocated land to them, according to statistics, there were only more than 100,000 Corsicans on the island at that time, and as many as 17,000 immigrants were received, which caused a huge impact on the original social structure of Corsica.
Algerian National Liberation Movement
Before the 19th century, the Corsicans had been developing on self-sufficient agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries, the economic level was not high, and the livelihood was bare, and the large number of immigrants from France came over, in the eyes of the Corsicans, this was to rob the few resources.
In addition, france treats immigrants much better than they do, not only giving land but also a large number of subsidies, which makes Corsicans feel deeply discriminated against, they feel that they are second-class citizens in France, and their dissatisfaction will become more and more serious, and their desire for independence will become deeper and deeper.
From the 1960s onwards, the Corsicans launched a nationalist movement in this situation, which gradually divided into two factions: moderate autonomists and radical independenceists. The pro-independence faction advocates the revitalization of Corsican's economy and the struggle for a certain degree of autonomy, while the pro-independence faction advocates the violent struggle for Corsica's independence.
Ordinary people on the island marched in droves holding high the flag symbolizing "Corsican nationalism" and calling for national independence, while radicals organized the "Corsican National Liberation Front", which not only engaged in armed clashes with the police and ethnic minorities, but also carried out bomb attacks, attacks on French army garrisons and partial assassinations of political leaders. According to statistics, in the three years of the organization's armed activities, more than 115 bomb attacks were carried out on the island, not only hurting soldiers and immigrants from France, but even their own ethnic groups.
Organization of the Front nationales de libération of Corsica
However, it is precisely because of the presence of this part of the radicals that most corsicans have chosen to stay under French rule, after all, for ordinary people, a safe and secure life is important.
At the same time, in order to appease the people's dissatisfaction, France also began to focus on improving the people's livelihood and economic problems in Corsica. Due to Corsica's unique natural beauty, the French government has built infrastructure such as railways and roads, opened up sea and air routes, and focused on developing tourism here and changing its economic industry chain.
In addition, France respects the language and culture of Corsican itself, protects the historical and cultural heritage of the Corsican people, and promotes bilingual teaching of French and Corsican in education. Politically, in order to show equal treatment, Corsica was classified as a region and established a parliament four years earlier than other regions in France, with various powers of local administration, economic development, education, transportation and so on.
In the face of France's tender offensives and radical violence, more and more Corsicans have changed their minds about France, and in recent polls, 80% of Corsicans want to remain in France. After all, the dividends of visible peace and development are more realistic for Corsicans than violent resistance and illusory independence.