French control of the Ionian Islands promised more than a military position against Austria. The government also hoped to reopen a Levant trade system weakened by Portuguese ocean routes and later British and Dutch competition. Restoring that commerce could redirect wealth toward France while undermining rival maritime economies. The plan did not mature because the Second Coalition brought Russian and Ottoman forces against the new French possessions. French strategy at Corfu therefore joined economic warfare to the larger struggle over Mediterranean trade routes.
Notable Point · 29:34-30:35
French Levant trade and Ionian strategy
France wanted the Ionian Islands as an eastern Mediterranean base and as a route toward reviving Levant trade at British and Dutch expense.