Gourt Home::Gourt :: Austro-Sardinian War
Austro-Sardinian War (also known as Franco-Austrian War) was fought by Napoleon III of France and Kingdom of Sardinia against Austria in 1859. In respect to Italian unification process, this war is also known as the Second Independence War.
The War
Background
The Sardinian army, allied to France, wanted to conquer the northern Italy Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, then under Austrian rule.
In 1859, emperor Napoleon III and Camillo Benso di Cavour, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, signed a secret treaty of alliance against Austria: France would help Sardinia to fight against Austria if attacked, and Sardinia would then give Nice and Sabaudia to France in return. This secret alliance served both countries: it helped with Sardinian (Piedmontese) plan of unification of the Italian peninsula under House of Savoy, and weakened Austria, a fiery adversary of Napoleon III's French Empire.
Cavour, being unable to get the French help unless the Austrians attacked first, provoked Vienna with a series of military manoeuvers close to the border. Austria issued an ultimatum on April 23, asking for the complete de-militarization of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and when it was not heeded Austria started a war with Sardinia (April 29), thus drawing France into the conflict.
Forces
The French army for the Italian campaign had 130,000 soldiers, 2,000 horsemen and 312 guns, half of the whole French army. The army was under the command of Napoleon III, divided into five corps: the Ist Corp, led by Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, the IInd, led by Patrice MacMahon, the IIIrd, led by François Certain Canrobert, and the IVth, led by Adolphe Niel, and the Vth, led by prince Napoleon Eugene. The Imperial Guard was commanded by Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély.The Sardinian army had about 70,000 soldiers, 4,000 horsemen and 90 guns. It was divided into five divisions, led by Casterlbrugo, Manfredo Fanti, Giovanni Durando, Enrico Cialdini, and Domenico Cucchiari. Two volunteers formations, the Cacciatori delle Alpi and the Cacciatori degli Appennini, were also present. The commander in chief was Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy, supported by Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora.
The Austrian army fielded more men: it was composed by 220,000 soldiers, 824 guns and 22,000 horsemen. It was led by Field Marshal Ferencz Graf Gyulai.
The operations
Marshal François Certain Canrobert moved to Italy, massively using, for the first time, railways. The Austrian forces counted on a swift victory over the weaker Sardinian army, before French forces could arrive in Piedmont, but the Sardinians flooded the extensive rice fields close to Vercelli, and managed to slow down their advance.
The Austrians, led by Gyulai, arrived to Vercelli, menacing Turin, but the Franco-Sardinian move to strengthen Alessandria and Po River bridges around Casale Monferrato forced them to fall back. On May 14, Napoleon III arrived to Alessandria, taking the command of the operations.
French and Sardinian armies defeated Austrians in several battles (Montebello 20 May, Palestro 30 May, Magenta 4 June and Solferino 21 June) and took Milan, which was a province of the Austrian Empire. At the same time, in the northern part of Lombardy, the Italian volunteers of Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps defeated the Austrians at Varese and Como.
The Peace
Fear of involvement by the German states led Napoleon to seek a way out of the war, so he signed an armistice with Austria in Villafranca. Lombardy, with its capital Milan, was transferred from Austria to France, which gave it to Sardinia. The rulers of Central Italy, who had been expelled by revolution shortly after the beginning of the war, were to be restored.
This deal, made by Napoleon behind the backs of his Sardinian allies, led to great outrage in Sardinia — Cavour himself resigned in protest. However, the terms of Villafranca were never to come into effect: although they were reaffirmed by the final Treaty of Zurich in November, by then the agreement had become a dead letter. The central Italian states were occupied by the Sardinians/Piedmonteses, who showed no willingness to restore the previous rulers, and the French showed no willingness to force them to abide by the terms of the treaty. The Austrians were left to look on in frustration at the French failure to carry out the terms of the treaty.
The next year, in 1860, with French and British approval, the central Italian states — Duchy of Parma, Duchy of Modena, Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal Legations — would be annexed by Kingdom of Sardinia, and France would take its deferred reward, Savoy and Nice. This latter move was vehemently opposed by Italian national hero Garibaldi, a native of Nice, and directly led to Garibaldi's expedition to Sicily, which would complete the preliminary unification of Italy.
Timeline
- 26 April, Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps confronts Austrian forces led by Field Marshal-Lieutenant Carl Baron Urban at Varese;
- 20 May, French infantry and Sardininan cavalry defeat the Austrian army, which retreated, near Montebello;
- 27 May, Hunters of the Alps defeat Urban at San Fermo, entering in Como.
- 30 May, Sardininans defeat the Austrian army at battle of Palestro;
- 4 June, in the battle of Magenta, French and Sardinians defeat Austrians;
- June 21/June 24, in the battle of Solferino, Sardinians and Napoleon III of France defeat an army commanded by Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph himself in northern Italy. Battle also reputedly inspires Henri Dunant to found Red Cross;
- July 11, Austrian Emperor Franz Josef, faced with the revolution in Hungary, meets Napoleon III at Villafranca, where they signed an armistice.
References
Wars of Austria | Wars of Italy | Wars of France | 1859 | Risorgimento
Sardinischer Krieg | Seconda guerra di indipendenza italiana | Segunda Guerra de Independência Italiana
"Austro-Sardinian War"