Carlo Giuseppe Guglielmo Botta (November 6, 1766, San Giorgio Canavese, Piedmont – August 10, 1837, Paris) was an Italian historian.He was born at San Giorgio Canavese in Piedmont. He studied medicine at the University of Turin, and obtained his doctors degree when about twenty years old. Having rendered himself obnoxious to the government during the political commotions that followed the French Revolution, he was imprisoned for over a year; and on his release in 1795 he withdrew to France, only to return to his native country as a surgeon in the French army, whose progress he followed as far as Venice. Here he joined the expedition to Corfu, from which he did not return to Italy till 1798. At first he favored French policy in Italy, contributed to the annexation of Piedmont by France in 1799, and was an admirer of Napoleon; but he afterwards changed his views, realizing the necessity for the union of all Italians and for their freedom from foreign control Less