Nor were the Italians devoid of a similar
national feeling. The fame of Napoleon, a man of Italian blood, the
temporary establishment of a "kingdom of Italy," the title of "king of
Rome" conferred upon the infant heir to Napoleon's fortunes, the social
reforms and the patriotic awakening throughout the peninsula,--all
betokened a national destiny for the whole Italian people.
[Sidenote: Minor Political Happenings]
In minor political ways the Napoleonic Era was not without
significance. The Tsar was enabled finally to acquire Finland, Poland,
and Turkish land as far as the River Pruth, Minor thus completing the
work of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, and rounding out the
European frontier of Russia to its present extent. Sweden secured
Norway and a new dynasty, which, descended from Marshal Bernadotte, the
interesting son of an obscure French lawyer, has reigned ever since. In
the case of Portugal, the flight of the royal family to Brazil in 1807
had the curious effect of causing them for several years to hold their
court in their principal colony and to govern the mother-country
through regents.
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