Why did the English use Sicily as a naval base during the Napoleonic period + how did this help Sicily?

What would the advantages/disadvantages of the English/British being in Sicily in 1805 -1815 be?


And why were they there in the first place?


Were there short term and long term benefits to Sicily because of English occupation there?


Are there differences in Sicily today because of it?








Any help would be much appreciated|||Sicily is a strategic location within the Mediterranean Sea. From there they would be able to monitor and respond to any action going on the Napoleonic fleet that they couldn't watch from across the English channel.





I don't think the pros and cons of a foreign military on your native soil has changed much since then. On the pro side, it is a stimulus to your economy and links to outside resources.





On the con side, throughout the world and history, military people are notoriously combative and offensive, both by training and displacement factors of being so far from home. Problems include violent confrontations locals, illegitimate children, rape, drunkenness, and inter-racial issues. At that time, the English and Sicilians still saw themselves as radically different races and there was still no National Geographic or TV documentaries to give commoners any cultural awareness.|||Being under British protection the Bourbon Sicily did not receive any of the liberal reforms that Bonapartist Naples enjoyed under Murat, however the Bourbon rule did provoke in Sicily a taste for revolution.





In the longer term when Garibaldi and the Thousand landed in Sicily in 1860 they were under the guns of two Royal Navy warships which dissuaded the Bourbon ships from attacking the landing. The ships were actually there to protect the source of Marsala wine which was valued in Britain at the time not to protect the landing, from this start Garibaldi went on to unify Italy under Victor Emmanuel.