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  The Italian Dimension

  Like much of Europe, the Austrian Empire and the Italian peninsula were convulsed by revolution in early 1848. Much of the immediate cause of this in Italy had been the election of a new Pope, two years before. Although there was always some form of nationalist feeling in the peninsula, it was not focused, local allegiance often being more important. The Pontiff would do much to change this, albeit some unintentionally.

  Pius IX

  Upon the death of Pope Gregory XVI, on June 1st 1846, the conservative establishment of Metternich’s Europe lost a great and important friend. Almost universally loathed in Rome, Gregory spent his last hours untended. Undoubtedly, change was in the wind.

  Throughout the Papal States, and indeed, throughout Italy, the mood for a radical break with the past was apparent. The horse-trading for the election of the next Pontiff immediately began. After the nine days of official mourning, the Conclave was held. 50 of the 62 Cardinals assembled in the Quirinal Palace, in Rome. The building was locked both inside and out, and the assembly protected by the Swiss Guard.2 For a candidate to be chosen, he was required to receive two-thirds of the votes. After four votes had been taken, a relatively unknown Cardinal, almost by accident, was elected on June 16th 1846. He was 56 year old Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti, of Diocese of Imola.

  The new Pope accepted his election reluctantly, choosing to be known as Pope Pius IX. His Papal Coronation took place five days later. His senses of humour, charity, and kindness made him very popular, but he inherited a situation that was far from ideal. Many factions in the Papal States, let alone the rest of Italy, were clamouring for social and political change. His first major edict was an amnesty for some 1,000 political prisoners held in the Papal States.

  Though he was more conservative than perhaps was obvious early on, the Pope was ready to grant reforms which benefited the people of the Papal States, provided that these did not affect the legal position of his secular authority. It was not always easy to differentiate between the two. He established a secular advisory body, which appeared more important than it was, but, under pressure, did allow the formation of a Civic Guard, quite separate from the regular Papal military forces. His first year in office was greatly assisted by the support of a man who, in earlier times might have been referred to as the leader of the mob. The British Consul in Rome described this man in a report in the summer of 1847:

  The influence of one individual of the lower class, Angelo Brunetti, hardly known but for his nickname of Ciceruacchio, has for the last month kept the peace of the city more than any power possessed by the authorities, from the command which he exerts over the populace.

  Nevertheless, agitation grew for more political reform. Street violence, always present, was now directed towards demands for a constitution. After the granting of one in Naples, the clamour increased. On February 10th 1848 Pius produced a Papal Initiative entitled, ‘Oh Lord God, Bless Italy’. This was immediately seized upon by those who claimed the Pope to be in favour of a United Italy. At the same time, it appeared to some that the Constitutional issue was being sidelined. Pressure in favour of the adoption of one, though, was now unstoppable. A document establishing a constitution for the Papal States was duly announced of March 15th. The fundamental issue of papal authority in secular matters was somehow to be quantified.

  Turbulence in the Two Sicilies

  The first, tentative steps to revolution did not occur in the Austrian-occupied north, but in Sicily, where demands for a Constitution had echoes of the Napoleonic Wars, when the island had effectively been ruled by the British, with a form constitutional government. On January 12th, King Ferdinando’s birthday, small groups of lightly armed men began to assemble on the streets of Palermo, the capital. By the end of the day, there had been a few small clashes with street patrols of troops, resulting in the deaths of 10 soldiers and two ‘insurgents’, with a number of wounded on both sides. Misjudging the situation, the fortress commander, General Vial, and the Military Governor, Lieutenant-General De Majo, who were in any case not on the best of terms, decided to await further developments. Had prompt action been taken by Vial’s garrison of 5,000, the situation most probably would have been kept under control.3

  Within days the city was in full-scale revolt, and, although it was bombarded, the garrison had to be evacuated by sea. There were other outbreaks across the island. These events encouraged discontent on the mainland, where there were also constitutional demands. Crucially, though, the interests of the two groups did not coincide. King Ferdinando would exploit this. As the number of street demonstrations in Naples itself grew, and The Pontifical Government refused permission for Austrian troops to cross the Papal States to assist the King, Ferdinando unexpectedly pulled the rabbit out of the hat. On January 29th, he accepted the principle of a Constitution. Almost immediately, the opposition fragmented.

  Carlo Alberto and Sardinia-Piedmont

  In March 1848, Carlo Alberto, King of Sardinia, Cyprus, and Jerusalem, Duke of Savoy and Montferrat, Prince of Piedmont, was 49 years old, and had been on the throne since 1831. He had briefly served as a cavalry officer in Napoleon’s army, and had been exposed to the ideas and attitudes of the French Revolution and Empire. His eventual succession was agreed at the 1815 Congress of Vienna, as the Kingdom was ruled by Salic Law, and neither the present King Vittorio Emannuele I, nor any of his brothers had a son.

  The Italian Peninsula and Adriatic Sea 1848

  In 1820 there were revolutionary outbreaks in Sicily and Naples, which were put down, in March of the following year, by Austrian troops, sent at the request of King Francesco I. That same week, an attempted rising, mainly organised by Piedmontese army officers, took place in Turin, with the objective of establishing a Constitutional Monarchy, and perhaps attacking the Austrian forces in the south. Carlo Alberto was approached by some of these officers to join them, and accounts vary as to what he said and did. The conspiracy rapidly ended in farce, with no one other than Vittorio Emannuele coming out of it with any credit. The King abdicated in favour of his brother, Carlo Felice. Upon the death of the latter, in 1831, the throne passed to Carlo Alberto.

  Upon his accession, he was taunted in a letter from the extreme republican, Guiseppe Mazzini, founder of the Young Italy movement. Mazzini, fresh from masterminding other conspiracies, effectively asked Carlo Alberto whether he was part of the solution, or of the problem. When he was ignored, Mazzini took steps to infiltrate the Army. By 1833, he felt strong enough to strike, but the plot was discovered and foiled. Some 50 conspirators were punished, including an officer and nine NCOs who were shot.

  Mazzini attempted another operation against Piedmont in February of the following year, a truly madcap scheme to invade Savoy via Switzerland with about a thousand men, after having started a revolt in Genoa. The Swiss authorities rapidly put a stop to the affair, notable only for the participation of Girolamo Ramorino, Giacomo Durando, and one Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to have fomented a mutiny in the Piedmontese navy. Both Mazzini and Garibaldi were sentenced to death in absentia, and fled, the former to London, and Garibaldi to South America.

  Carlo Alberto himself was a mass of contradictions. Deeply religious, he believed that he had visions, and was often wracked with self-doubt. Though he was certain that he ruled by Divine Right, and that it was his holy duty to serve, he frequently agonised over what that duty was. He considered himself a good soldier. Personally brave, he sometimes lacked staying power, and focus. He was not the man for long term planning, but rather for the opportune moment. Nevertheless, he introduced a number of measures, known as the Albertine Reforms, which involved overhauls of the Army, Civil Administration, and justice, as well as measures to develop commerce.

  His attachment to the cause of a united Italy has often been questioned. In the autumn of 1845, the King was visited by Massimo, Marquis D’Azeglio, a Piedmontese who had lived outside the country for many years. D’Azeglio, at the behest of like-minded men, had gone on
a tour, mainly of the Papal States, to visit eminent liberals to convince them not to support isolated revolts or Mazzini, but to await a greater movement, and also to convince them to put their faith in Carlo Alberto. His logic in this was impeccable. Whatever the King’s faults, he was the only contender with an army.

  In October, D’Azeglio went to Turin, where he asked for an Audience with Carlo Alberto. This was granted, and at 06:00 on the 12th of October, D’Azeglio was announced to the presence of the King. After listening to what the Marquis told him about his fact-finding tour, and a short discussion, Carlo Alberto said to him:

  Inform those gentlemen to remain quiet and not to move, as there is at present nothing to do, but let them be assured that, when the occasion presents itself, my life, the life of my sons, my arms, my treasure, my army, all shall be expended for the Italian cause.4

  For any Piedmontese ruler, foreign affairs were always a tightrope walk. The Kingdom bordered two great states, one of which ruled Italian-speaking lands, and the other had designs upon French-speaking regions of the Kingdom. Without doubt, Carlo Alberto wished the Austrians out of Italy, and hoped for some assistance from France to that end, but he was always, rightly, suspicious of her.

  After the election of Pius IX, and his initial liberal reforms, pressure in Piedmont grew for more reform. From late 1847, demonstrations became commonplace in Turin, whilst in Genoa, the birthplace of Mazzini, a city allocated to Piedmont in 1815, there were calls for a return to the Republic. With pressure growing on him from all sides, and the state of affairs in other parts of the peninsula also deteriorating, Carlo Alberto called an assembly of his Council of State on February 3rd, 1848. After a series of meetings lasting until the night of the 7th, a formal constitution, or Statuto, was agreed. The document was published on March 4th, to great rejoicing.5

  _______________________

  1

  This quip is attributed to Chancellor Metternich, in regard to the French revolution of 1830, which brought King Louis Philippe to the throne.

  2

  The remaining 12 Cardinals were unable to reach Rome in time to participate. The Swiss Guard, a separate organisation, should not be confused with the Swiss Regiments in the Papal service.

  3

  The remaining 12 Cardinals were unable to reach Rome in time to participate. The Swiss Guard, a separate organisation, should not be confused with the Swiss Regiments in the Papal service.

  4

  Thayer, Vol I, p471-472, quoting D’Azeglio.

  5

  Costa de Beauregard, pp. 81-101.

  2

  Insurrection in Lombardy and Venetia

  Milan

  As in so many other cases, the matter of taxation was a major spark in the road to revolution in Lombardy. The tax on tobacco provided considerable revenue for the Imperial Treasury, which held the monopoly on supply. This caused great resentment, which in turn fostered a movement to effectively boycott the substance. On New Year’s Day, 1848, a Tobacco Party, formed to protest the monopoly, demonstrated in Milan, urging people not to smoke. The protest was widely followed by the Milanese, but naturally Imperial soldiers went to the other extreme, making a point of smoking to annoy the protesters.

  The first serious incident in the city occurred on January 3rd. From early morning, off-duty Austrian soldiers were walking the streets, ostentatiously smoking and drinking, some with handfuls of cigars. Though accounts inevitably differ as to how the atmosphere deteriorated, by lunchtime, the troops were gathering in large groups, either of their own accord, or because of a perceived threat from the populace, almost certainly both. In any case, equally inevitably, violence broke out, which rapidly became serious, with the soldiers using the sidearms which they carried. The result was five dead, and some 60 injured, the former including a 74 year old man, and the latter a woman and a girl of four.

  Radetzky subsequently confined the troops to barracks for five days and spoke of regret, but the damage had been done. Massimo D’Azeglio published a pamphlet denouncing the violence, and relations continued to worsen, with people sporting the colours of the House of Savoy and the Papacy. Such was the tumult, that Martial Law was imposed on the city on February 22nd. Two days later, the news of the revolution in France was made known, and with it, the establishment of a republic there. Tensions in Milan continued to rise over the next three weeks.

  Into this polarised tinderbox, on March 17th, plunged the news of another revolution, this time in Vienna, and of the flight of Chancellor Metternich to Britain. That morning, the Viceroy, Archduke Rainier, and Governor Spaur left the city for Verona, so as to be in closer telegraphic contact with Vienna. Left in civil charge of the city was the Vice-Governor, Count O’Donnell. O’Donnell, an intelligent and reasonable man, was treading a tight-rope, and events would soon prove to be beyond his control. One of the key issues was that neither he, nor anyone else, knew what was actually happening.

  In the event of any major outbreak of civil insurrection, the city would be extremely difficult to hold, as described below, even without further concerns:

  In 1848, Milan had 160,000 inhabitants. The Austrian garrison numbered about 15,000 troops; the police and gendarmes 900. The city had not yet been modernised: its streets, except for a few avenues leading to the gates, were narrow and irregular, often mere alleys in which two carts could not pass abreast. The dwellings, built of stone, with lower windows heavily barred, could easily withstand an ordinary assault, and their spacious courtyards afforded shelter to a goodly squad of defenders. The city lay like a nearly circular shield on the Lombard plain, the spire of the Cathedral glistening boss-like in its centre. Like all Italian towns, it was surrounded by walls strong enough to repel an enemy unprovided with heavy guns. Between the circumference and the centre a canal, not more than a few yards broad, formed an almost complete ring inclosing the densely populated heart of the city. On the northwest, about half a mile from the Cathedral and still within the fortifications, was the massive Castello or Citadel, once the stronghold of the Visconti and the Sforza, beyond which stretched the drilling-ground, three-sevenths of a mile long and of almost equal width. On the northeast lay the Public Garden, in area nearly equal to the drilling ground, sloping upwards to the level of the bastion, which here was a favourite promenade The belt between the canal and the walls, being less thickly built upon, had many open spaces and gardens. The city as a whole was admirably adapted to a prolonged resistance by the insurgents: its flatness gave the cannon at the Citadel no commanding point, mortars being needed to throw bombs into the centre: its streets were nearly all too narrow for a cavalry charge and too crooked to be effectively swept by artillery, and the few squares too small for the massing of any considerable body of infantry.1

  Northern Italian Theatre of Operations 1848-49

  In fact, the garrison was somewhat smaller than the figure given in the above account. In mid March, it primarily comprised the brigade of General Wohlgemuth, and elements of those of Clam and Rath. These, and other units, were stationed within the city as follows:

  Castle

  Grenadier Batallion Freysauff six companies 1,080

  III/IR Archduke Albrecht six companies 1,140

  I/Ottochaner Grenz IR four companies 840

  Hussar Regiment Sardinia two squadrons 300

  Artillery five batteries 660

  San Francesco Barracks

  I & II/IR Paumgarten 12 companies 2,280

  9 & 10/II Kaiser Jäger two companies 400

  I/IR Reisinger one company 190

  San gerolamo Barracks

  I/Ottochaner Grenz IR two companies 420

  I/IR Reisinger two companies 380

  S. Vittore Barracks

  I/IR Reisinger four companies 760

  Cavalry one squadron 150

  delle grazie Barracks

  Cavalry one squadron 150

  Gendarmerie 250

  San Eustorgio Barracks

  II/IR Reisinger six companies 1,140 />
  Sant’Angelo Barracks

  IR Kaiser six companies 1,140

  dell’Inconorata Barracks

  IR Kaiser four companies 760

  San Sempliciano Barracks

  IR Kaiser two companies 380

  Cavalry two squadrons 300

  Train Reserve 120

  San Lucca College

  Cadet Company 150

  San Bernardino (and various police stations)

  Police 800

  Total: 13,7902

  The Glorious Five Days

  Day 1

  March 18th

  Overnight, the news from Vienna had spread rapidly through the city, with, inevitably, the most outlandish rumours multiplying alongside it. At the same time, Vice Governor O’Donnell had placards announcing the Imperial Concessions posted in public places. He then, inexplicably, took two mutually incompatible steps. First, he drafted instructions to Marshal Radetzky, to occupy all strategic points in the city. Then, he sent a Vice-Secretary of the Governor, Giovanni Kolb, to Count Casati, and Provincial Delegate, Dr. Antonio Bellati, to ask their advice on the subject. Both men advised that the orders not be sent to Radetzky. Instead, on their advice, he wrote to the Marshal asking him to keep troops off the streets unless specifically requested to do so. Mayor Casati had intimated that the presence of troops would incite the growing crowds. In fact, as he was only too aware, no further incitement was needed. O’Donnell had, unwittingly, created the possibility that serious disorder could take place without an initial response.

  17 Year old Cadet Corporal Josef Bruna was serving in I/Paumgarten that morning, in command of 18 men in a police station in City District 3, close to the Cathedral, and fully understood that something had been brewing,

  The rising sun found me on this fateful day, of which I will tell, on duty. I was on watch. This post needed my full attention as the signs of a commencement of action were many. It was the so-called City District No. 3, in a police station, in a frightening neighbourhood.