Battle of the Volturno
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Battle scene
| date | September to October 1860 |
|---|---|
| place | Volturno , Campania |
| output | Garibaldi's victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 24,000 men | 41,000 men |
| losses | |
|
306 dead |
308 dead, |
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On the Volturno , a river that flows into the Mediterranean north of Naples , Giuseppe Garibaldi and his troops ("red shirts") defeated the army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies on October 1, 1860 .
background
After defeating the combined forces of France and Sardinia in the Battle of Solferino ( " Sardinian War ", 1859) organized Garibaldi invaded Sicily and southern italy to the prevailing Bourbons distribute and throughout Italy for one. This invasion of Sicily, known as the “ Train of a Thousand ”, began on May 11, 1860 with the landing in Marsala, western Sicily . With the battles at Calatafimi , Palermo and Milazzo , he first brought Sicily under his control and then crossed to the mainland on August 8, where he initially encountered no further significant Bourbon resistance and entered Naples with a ceremony at the beginning of September . Its originally 1,000 volunteers had grown to 24,000, including Sardinian soldiers in civilian clothes and Neapolitan defectors. The King of Naples had holed up in the fortress of Gaeta further north and was planning a decisive battle there against Garibaldi and his "red shirts".
Course of the battle
The 41,000 Neapolitan soldiers, led by the aged Marshal Ritucci, attacked on October 1st on the Volturno Line, between Maddaloni and Santa Maria Capua Vetere . The approximately 25,000 soldiers of the first line (Neapolitans, Swiss and Bavarians) faced about 24,000 "red shirts" who were initially surprised by the energetic Neapolitan attack and who seemed to lose the battle in this first phase. Garibaldi's presence in the first line brought some calm to the ranks of his troops, which then withstood the Neapolitan attack. The two sides fought heavy fighting throughout the day, the outcome of the battle remained uncertain until the end. It was not until shortly before sunset that a determined counter-attack by the “red shirts” under General Ninio Bixio caused the Neapolitans to retreat. Of the 24,000 "red shirts" Garibaldi, 1,600 soldiers were killed or wounded on October 1st.
Further course
The Sardinian Prime Minister Cavour , a liberal-conservative politician who tried to curb Garibaldi's revolutionary spirit, sent further Sardinian troops south to secure the territories of the Crown of the House of Savoy that Garibaldi had conquered . Because of Garibaldi's successes in southern Italy, he feared an uncontrollable strengthening of the left, revolutionary and republican wing of the Italian unification movement. In addition, they wanted to stop the advance of Garibaldi to the Papal States or to Rome to forestall, the u. U. would have triggered an international intervention to protect the Pope . Inevitably, the Sardinian army had to pass through papal territory on its march south. In the battle of Castelfidardo they defeated the papal troops led by the French general Larmoricière and occupied large parts of the Papal States (not Lazio and Rome, which was not incorporated into Italy until September 20, 1870). On October 26, 1860, Garibaldi and the King of Sardinia met at Teano (Naples) , Victor Emmanuel II. Garibaldi greeted Victor Emmanuel as "King of Italy " and handed him the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , which immediately became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia has been. King Francis II, entrenched in the fortress of Gaeta, renounced the throne and surrendered to the Piedmontese army under General Cialdini on February 13, 1861. This concluded the so-called “Second Italian War of Independence” and the most important section of the Italian “ Risorgimento ”.
consequences
The political, social and economic consequences of the annexation of southern Italy to the Kingdom of Sardinia are described in the article “ Battle of Calatafimi ”.
