The people's leader versus the viceroy: the power struggle between Pascal Paoli and Gilbert Eliott in the Anglo-Corsican kingdom
Verchenkova Victoria
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, which belonged to France since 1768, except for two years of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom (1794–1796). Creating a common state, the British and Corsicans pursued different goals: the first needed to gain a navy base in the Mediterranean, the second – to obtain external protection for their sovereignty. The two most influential political figures in the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom were its Viceroy, the Briton Gilbert Elliott and the Corsican Pascal Paoli, the long-term leader of the islanders' struggle for independence. They were two completely different people, both in their political beliefs and in their characters. Elliot had a developed sense of tact and a good sense of humor, which, however, made little impression on Corsicans. Paoli, who was already at an advanced age, but was very popular among his compatriots, did not want to completely cede the reins of government to the British and did not trust them. Each of the two leaders wanted to become the rightful ruler of the island, which could not but affect their relationship. An important factor that aggravated these relations was Elliott's support for the young Corsican politician Pozzo di Borgo, in whom he saw a convenient replacement for the intractable Paoli. In the end, Elliot succeeded in sending Paoli to an honorable exile in England. However, after that, nothing stopped ordinary Corsicans, disappointed with British rule, from expressing their dissatisfaction with it. Only a year after the departure of the Corsican leader from the island, the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom ceased to exist.
The study is realized in the State Academic University for the Humanities within the framework of the state task of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (project FZNF–2023–0003 Traditions and values of society: mechanisms of formation and transformation in the context of global history).
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