Radetzky's Marches Read online

  On the morning of the 18th, still without firm news of the situation in Vienna, crowds again appeared, eager for information. Also, signs of impending lawlessness were becoming apparent, and business premises closed. Troops were again posted in St. Mark’s and elsewhere, particularly the Rialto Bridge, the only crossing point of the Grand Canal. This latter was largely pointless, however, since the Venetians simply used water transport to cross it. In St. Mark’s Square matters soured, and paving stones were dug up, and hurled at the troops. Inevitably, violence escalated, and fire was opened in the square, killing five people, and wounding more18. Though the square itself was thereby cleared, the mobs were simply driven to rooftops and buildings, and to the hastily barricaded side streets.

  St. Mark’s Square, Venice, March 18th 1848 (contemporary lithograph)

  The authorities in Milan and Venice both demonstrated weak leadership at the key moment. O’Donnell, in Milan, was as compassionate and ineffective as Palffy was in Venice. The difference was that behind O’Donnell was Radetzky, whereas Palffy had no-one senior to stiffen his spine. He was also opposed, in Manin, by a man of formidable intellect and determination. In addition, Manin also dreaded chaos and all that it entailed. Horrified by the prospect, he met the Mayor, Count Correr, and together they drew up a request for the formation of a National Guard, which was duly presented, with the support of the Patriarch, Cardinal Monico, to Count Palffy. Already mentally beaten, Palffy consented to a Civic Guard of 200 men, as specified by the Viceroy from Verona. Manin quickly recruited at least 2,000. The initial ‘uniform’ item consisted of a white scarf. Arms initially consisted of whatever individuals could obtain for themselves. After an ineffectual effort by the Police to extend some form of authority over the force was rebuffed, Palffy made equally ineffectual attempts to appear to be governing. Manin’s Civic Guard began to patrol the streets, to the joyous approval of the citizenry.

  A wet Sunday, March 19th, passed almost in an air of unreality. Firm details of Kaiser Ferdinand’s political concessions had been received overnight. The Civic Guard was increasingly visible throughout the city, replacing troops in many places. Both Civic Guard members and citizens openly fraternised with Italian troops of the garrison. No one could be sure who was actually in charge or control of the city.

  On the 20th, a deputation from the Civic Guard requested that Zichy withdraw the two Peterwardeiner companies guarding the Government Building, in the interests of tranquility, to be replaced by Civic Guards. By now thoroughly cowed, Zichy conceded the principle, save only for the token presence of two officers and fifty men19. Further extension of authority in this manner took place at various strategic points during that day, and the next, although there was no clear sign as to who was exercising it. Finally, on the evening of the 21st, Manin himself determined, despite the opposition of Tommasseo, to take control of the city the next day, and to declare a Republic. Though many of his followers, and the titular head of the Civic Guard, General Mengaldo, refused to participate, enough were found willing to make the attempt. The key points were the Arsenal, and St. Mark’s Square, where four loaded cannon stood, guarded by an infantry company. Manin himself would deal with the former, and 28 year old Carlo Alberto Radaelli, the latter.

  Earlier, the Superintendent of the Arsenal (Naval) Captain Marinović, had been escorted out of the Dockyard by a Civic Guard detachment, and spent the night on a corvette in the harbour. Rumours had spread that he was behind a plan to bombard the city with rockets. Marinović, already hated by his workers, but seemingly oblivious of any threat to himself, was advised by Admiral Martini not to report for duty the next morning. As he was due to make an inspection tour with the Admiral himself, he did not heed this advice.

  March 22nd – The Day of Revolution

  At the Arsenal, Marinović had arrived for work to find an ugly mood. A platoon of Peterwardeiner had been allocated for his protection, but Admiral Martini, fearing that this would exacerbate the situation, dismissed them. An attempt was made to smuggle the Captain out of the Arsenal, but this failed. He surrendered himself to the mob, and was promptly murdered.

  Later that morning, Manin was informed of the death of Captain Marinović at the hands of a mob of his workers.20 Although this was a stroke of luck for him, typically, he was horrified at what he saw as another spectre of the outbreak of chaos. Although the situation had changed, he went to the Arsenal, gathering about a hundred indifferently armed men of the Civic Guard on the way, hastily forming them into two small companies. Here, they found matters in a state of flux, and a number of them, including Manin, were able to pass the gate.21 Inside the installation, they found that Admiral Martini, completely overwhelmed by events, had taken no action. Manin, with his son, Giorgio, made their way to Martini’s office, and effectively told the Admiral that he was going to inspect the facility. The latter could do little but comply.

  Manin was taken by several Italian naval officers on a careful examination of the installation, as more and more Civic Guards entered it. The only place which was inaccessible to him was the Arsenal proper, which lay between the two main docks. This, containing powder and ordnance, was still occupied by troops of I/Peterwardeiner Grenzer. Civic Guard members were stationed to watch the gate here.

  Whilst this was taking place, the Naval Infantry Battalion, Major Buday, and troops of IR/Wimpffen, all Italians, had been ordered to the Arsenal to safeguard it. Upon arrival at the main gate, and finding it occupied by Civic Guardsmen who would not withdraw, Buday ordered his men to fire upon them. They did not, and Buday himself was wounded by his own men.22 Similarly, the officers of Wimpffen were made prisoner by their own men. Both units joined the revolutionaries, discarding their Imperial insignia.

  On his return to the gate, Manin found the aftermath of this incident, and had the Arsenal bell rung to summon the workers, and ordered the distribution of arms from the armoury. He then addressed the crowd, asking them for order and discipline. Admiral Martini was made prisoner, his place, after consultation with the naval officers present, being taken by (Naval) Captain Leone Graziani. Manin then took his leave, and made his way towards St. Mark’s.

  Whilst these important events took place, Radaelli’s equally important enterprise took place. With some 300 men armed with a few muskets and pistols, and a variety of other weapons, he approached the guard defending the Naval Artillery manned cannon outside the Governor’s palace in St. Mark’s Square. By great good fortune, these were Italian grenadiers, who had replaced the Grenzer. At Radaelli’s call for the post to be given up, the grenadier captain bristled and gripped his sword hilt. Some of his men, however, restrained him, and the post along with the guns, was in the hands of the insurgents by 14:00. The grenadiers, removing their Imperial insignia, joined the revolutionaries23.

  At this point, Mayor Correr and members of the City Council, later joined by Mengaldo, attempted to convince Count Palffy to relinquish his authority to them. As this discussion took place, at about 16:30, Manin, carrying a sword and a tricolour flag, arrived in St Mark’s to huge acclamation from the crowds. A table was soon found for him to stand upon, from which he made a short but rousing speech in favour of establishing a republic and for Italian unity. He then, utterly exhausted and unwell, went home and collapsed onto his bed. He would not have a night’s sleep. Celebrations and parades began all across the city.

  Seemingly oblivious to Manin’s clear influence, Correr and his Councillors continued their own negotiations with Palffy and Zichy, the advocate Gian Francesco Avesani taking the lead. At length, the two men were forced to concede a withdrawal from the city. The Governor, considering any capitulation to be a military matter, transferred his authority to FML Zichy. Finally, at around 18:30, Zichy signed a Capitulation. This document stipulated the following:

  From this moment, the Civil and Military Government has ceased on both land and sea. This authority is exercised by a Provisional Government which will be officially established, and which will include
, by right, the undersigned citizens.

  The troops of Regiment Kinsky, the Croats, the artillery, and the engineer corps will evacuate the city and forts, and the Italian officers and men will remain.

  The materiel of war will remain in Venice.

  The transport of the troops will take place immediately, by sea, and they will be directed to Trieste.

  The families of those officers and soldiers who depart will be protected, and the provisional government, as soon as it has been installed, will place every means of transport at their disposal.

  The security of all civilian employees, Italian and non-Italian, will be guaranteed, together with that of their families and property.

  His Excellency, Count Zichy, upon his word of honour, will remain in Venice until the execution of these conditions.

  All of the public funds are to remain in Venice, and the monies necessary for the transport and payment of the troops will be paid. Pay will be given for three months.

  Expedited in two copies, Count Zichy. Feldmarschall-Lieutenant, Commander of the City and Fortress.

  (Signed)

  Count Zichy

  Giovanni Correr

  FML

  Luigi Michiel

  Commander of the City and Fortress

  Pietro Fabris

  Dataico Medin

  Gian Francesco Avesani

  Angelo Mengaldo, Commander

  Leon Pincherle

  Doctor Francesco Beltrane – Witness

  Antonio Muzani – Witness

  Constantino Alberti – Witness24

  The Municipal authorities then issued a short proclamation announcing that they themselves had initiated a Provisional Government consisting of themselves, due to the exigencies of the situation. Posters to that effect were posted around the city, and the announcement was very badly received by supporters of Manin. As this realisation sank in, the new administration, in the early hours of the 23rd, transferred its authority to Mengaldo alone, as head of the Civic Guard. The latter went, some hours later, to Manin’s house, where the exhausted and unwell man rose from his bed, and accompanied Mengaldo to the Municipal Offices. Here, Manin specified whom he wished to be in the Government of the Republic of Venice, and their respective posts. These were:

  Daniele Manin – President & Foreign Affairs

  Niccolò Tommaseo – Religious Affairs and Education

  Jacopo Castelli – Justice

  Francesco Camerata – Finance

  Francesco Solera – War

  Antonio Paolucci – Marine

  Pietro Paleocapa – Interior

  Leone Pincherle – Trade

  Angelo Toffoli – Unspecified, but with responsibility for labour

  The Venetians were as anxious to be rid of their former overlords as the latter were to go. Hasty arrangements were made for Counts Palffy and Zichy, with their respective suites, to leave the city on the Lloyd mail steamer that evening. In addition to these distinguished passengers, the vessel also carried a despatch from the new Venetian Government. This document, entrusted to the steamer’s master, Captain Maffei, was addressed to the main body of the Imperial fleet at Pola, to where the vessel was to divert, before continuing its scheduled crossing to Trieste.

  The document instructed the fleet, by order of the Government of the Republic, to sail immediately to Venice. Several naval officers and others had insisted that the order should be sent by other means, but were overruled. In addition, Count Palffy had himself heard of the contents. Upon sailing, the Imperial party aboard prevailed upon Captain Maffei to ignore the detour, and his vessel plied its normal route. The document ended up on the desk of FML Franz Count Gyulai, the Governor of Trieste, who was already taking active steps in preparing the city for the conflict to come. He informed the command in Pola, It is impossible to say what might have happened had the order been delivered as planned.

  The Imperial authorities, however, now understood the folly of attempting to retain the fleet on its existing basis. On the 26th, Italian officers and men of the fleet were released from their oath, and allowed to choose whether or not to leave the service. Of some 5,000 personnel (including officials, clerks, workers, etc), there remained only 72 officers and 665 loyal men. It was a seminal moment for the Imperial Navy. One navy had become two. Both had a great deal to think about.

  At 14:00, on March 23rd 1848, after a service in the Basilica, in the Square of St. Mark, in the presence of citizens and men of the Civic Guard, Imperial Sovereignty was formally renounced, and a Republic declared. President Manin and his Cabinet were duly elected by Public Acclamation.25 Venice had officially declared itself free.

  That morning, Manin had had an unexpected visitor, a French officer in the Imperial service. Lieutenant Count Georges de Pimodan, completely unaware of events, had landed from the overnight steamer from Trieste, carrying despatches for FML Zichy. Confused by the chaotic scenes around him, Pimodan made his way to the Governor’s Palace, where all was confusion. Attempting to deliver his despatches, he was taken into custody, but the documents were not discovered. He was later, as he confided to his memoirs, brought before Manin.

  After an hour, I was taken before Monsieur Manin. I saw a small man of about fifty, sitting in front of a desk. He wore spectacles, and seemed to have spent quite a few sleepless nights. His face was pale with fatigue, and his gaze vacant. He looked at me in astonishment, as if he were trying to guess what business had brought me to Venice at such a time. Then, he opened a drawer in which I could see gold. He put his hand into the drawer and, staring into my eyes, he said: “So, you want to join us, eh? Fight for our freedom”. All the time, he shuffled the gold around. His meaning was clear. “Sir”, I replied, “I am from a noble family and am an officer of the Emperor. I know where my duty lies”. “Very well”, he said ironically, “As you wish. For the time being, you will be detained here”.

  Pimodan requested to see Count Zichy, and to this, Manin acceded. He was taken to Zichy’s room in the Governor’s Palace, and attempted to make him realise that he had important papers to deliver, without his guards being aware of it. Zichy, however, was tired and preoccupied, and did not latch on to Pimodan’s hints, and the young officer was taken out. Subsequently, Pimodan was able to elude his guards, and, hiring a gondolier, nearly escaped the city. He was seen, however, and found himself in the hands of a detachment of the Civic Guard, with a hostile crowd in attendance. The young Civic Guard commander, sensing the danger to his captive, made a cursory check of an official paper in Pimodan’s possession, and allowed him to go free. Although he was still far from safe, by that night, the lieutenant had reached Castelfranco some 25 kilometres west of Treviso, still in Austrian possession. From there, he moved further west, to Verona, and the forces of FML D’Aspre, by then concentrated in the city. For Lieutenant Pimodan, it was the start of three exhausting months.26

  As per the terms of Zichy’s Capitulation, the non-Italian troops in Venice and the Lagoon, with their arms and equipment, were eventually shipped to Trieste. There were hitches. Major-General Culoz, back in the Incurabili Barracks, with most of IR Kinsky, was furious about the convention, and utterly rejected the idea that his troops would give up their weapons, as the Venetians interpreted the conditions of Clause 3. Not for three days would he accept the agreement, and then only with his men retaining their arms.

  The other three companies of the regiment were scattered in various forts and positions around the lagoon. On the island fort of San Spirito, directly south of the city, Corporal Franz Gornick and 15 men comprised the guard of a powder magazine there. Their first experience of the revolution was the appearance of two now Venetian gunboats demanding the surrender of the post, failing which they would open fire. Gornick’s reply was that he would blow up the magazine. He and his men remained there for three days, until orders were received from the Artillery Director of Venice, ordering that he and his men were to withdraw from the island to join the rest of the regiment, for transport to Trieste.
This, they duly did, arms in hand.27

  The total number of troops thus evacuated by the Venetians was 4,469. These were 2,671 men of IR Kinsky, 1,288 of II/Peterwardeiner Grenzer, 196 of 5/I Peterwardeiner Grenzer, the 38 man staff of the deserted Grenadier Battalion Angelmayer, and 276 officers and men of the artillery. 28

  Manin Prepares for War

  Although Venice and her lagoon possessions had been freed from occupying troops, some force was now required to defend them. Readily at hand were the Civic Guard and the Italian troops of the previous garrison. Initially, resources were not scarce. In the Arsenal were at least 15,000 muskets, about a hundred cannon, 2,600 sabres, 60,000 casks of powder, and a million rifle cartridges. 29

  The first problem was the former Austrian soldiers. It had been assumed by the Provisional Government that these men had thrown their lot in with the revolution. Their transformation into soldiers of the Republic of Venice was taken, by many, for granted. There was, however, now no-one to give them orders; nor indeed did the majority of them wish to be given any. Ulloa states that, ‘It would have been both dangerous and impolitic to keep them with the colours against their will. For the most part, the Italian troops embraced the revolution in the hope of avoiding military service.’ In any case, with everything in a state of flux, the authorities had no time or will to attempt what could have been a very unpleasant and unrewarding task. As it was, the War Minister, General Solera at one point threatened the men with physical punishment for disobedience. In the end, the troops were allowed to return home in uniform, some still with their weapons.