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Part of
Bismark’s preparation for the Austro-Prussian War was a Prussian-Italian
alliance aimed firmly at Austria. The Third War of Italian Unification began
when Austria refused to allow Italy to buy Veneto from them, and, concerned
about the Italian alliance with Prussia, accused the Italians of
strengthening their army in Lombardy. Both sides began to mobilise and, when
the Prussians finally declared war on the Austrians on 16th June 1866, the
Italians and followed suit.
Although the Italians outnumbered the Austrians about 250,000 to 190,000,
this advantage was largely negated by the fact that the Austrians could
fight defensively from behind the Quadrilateral forts and had a shorter
supply chain through the valley of the Adige. This advantage was also
greatly increased by the fact that the Italian army had no clear chain of
unified command: Garibaldi unilaterally commanded 20,000 volunteers in the
Alps to the north; and the main Italian army was split into two forces
commanded by La Marmora and Cialdini, the latter being wildly jealous of the
other and refusing to take direct orders. Add the intervention of Vittorio
Emanuele, armchair strategist extraordinaire, and it is hardly surprising
that no sensible line of attack could be decided upon.
The first fighting was at Custoza: where La Marmora allowed himself to get
sucked into an unexpected battle fighting an Austrian force under Archduke
Albrecht fighting from prepared positions on higher ground and with internal
lines. Casualties were about even in this inconclusive fight; but La
Marmora, lacking intelligence (of the military, not cerebral, sort), reacted
as if the Italians had suffered a great defeat. This feeling spread
throughout the army, and succeeded in demoralising the entire country!
The Austrians, however, did not follow up and, after their northern army was
soundly defeated by the Prussians at Sadowa, recalled Albrecht and the bulk
of his force to defend Austria itself. The Italians, with the main force now
wholly under Cialdini, started forward again, bypassed the Quadrilaterals,
and began to take Venetian cities behind them. Garaibaldi also managed to
clear the Austrians from some of the Alpine valleys, although he was now
leading his men from a carriage after taking a wound to his leg.
Unfortunately for the Italians, this was the high point of their campaign.
They lost a naval battle at Lissa despite outnumbering the Austrians twelve
ironclads to seven (the Austrians, under von Tegethoff, using the ram rather
than their inferior guns) and, when the Prussians broke the terms of their
Prussian-Italian alliance and signed a peace treaty with the Austrians,
found themselves facing the entire Austrian army of some 300,000 troops!
An armistice was signed on 12th August which led to a treaty that gave Italy
control of Veneto and recognition by Austria as a nation. The Third War of
Italian Unification had led to political, if not military, gains.
Garibaldi was still, however, not content: the unification of Italy required
Rome and the reduced Papal States. The Italian/Sardinian government,
recognising that they did not have the backing of the European powers for an
invasion, was content to try to negotiate themselves into Rome but, after a
year of furious politiking, Garibaldi lost patience and led a volunteer army
into the region.
Although the Garibaldini succeeded in capturing the Papal city of
Moterotondo, he and his ten thousand volunteers then found themselves facing
the Papal army of 15,000 and a newly-arrived French force landing at
Civitavecchia, armed with new-fangled breech-loading rifles. Even worse, the
Italian/Sardinian government had also announced that it would not tolerate
this latest ‘rebellion’, and was planning to send Italian troops to
arrest Garibaldi and the volunteers!
With men leaving his army in droves, Garibaldi fought a battle at Mentana:
where his 4,000 remaining troops faced a combined Papal and French army of
9,000. Although Garibaldi tried his usually tactics of inspirational
charges, the odds were too great, and the volunteers already too dispirited.
After suffering a conclusive defeat, Garaibaldi and the survivors were
forced to retreat back across the border: Garibaldi being arrested as he
attempted to return home to Caprera.
Postscript: Rome was eventually joined to Italy towards the end of the
Franco-Prussian war. After the French defeat at Sedan, their troops in Rome
were withdrawn to help defend Paris. The Italians ‘seized the day’, and
sent an overwhelming force (30,000 plus artillery) into the Papal States
and, after a short fight with the Papal army, Rome was formerly annexed to
the Kingdom of Italy. The Risorgimento was over.
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