Battle of Solferino

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Battle of Solferino
Part of: Sardinian War
Napoleon III at the Battle of Solferino
Napoleon III at the Battle of Solferino
date June 24, 1859
place Solferino , Lombardy
output Decisive Franco-Sardinian victory
Parties to the conflict

Sardinia kingdomKingdom of Sardinia Sardinia France
Second empireSecond empire 

Austrian EmpireEmpire of Austria Austria

Commander

Second empireSecond empire Napoleon III François Canrobert Adolphe Niel Patrice de Mac-Mahon
Second empireSecond empire
Second empireSecond empire
Second empireSecond empire

Austrian EmpireEmpire of Austria Franz Joseph I. Franz Schlick Franz von Wimpffen
Austrian EmpireEmpire of Austria
Austrian EmpireEmpire of Austria

Troop strength
151,200 men with 370 guns, 118,600 of them in combat 133,250 men with 413 guns
losses

15,000 dead and wounded;
over 2,000 missing persons and prisoners

14,000 dead and wounded;
over 8,000 missing and prisoners

Battles of the Sardinian War (1859)

The Battle of Solferino was the decisive battle in the Sardinian War between the Empire of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia and its ally France under Napoléon III. With the defeat of the Austrians at Solferino on June 24th, 1859, the war of Sardinia was won and the way to the unification of Italy was opened.

prehistory

The Sardinian War broke out due to the support of the Italian freedom fighters by the Kingdom of Sardinia in the then Austrian provinces of Lombardy and Veneto . Sardinia was in his aspirations by the French Emperor Napoléon III. supported.

On April 29, 1859, the Austrians invaded Piedmont , and Feldzeugmeister Count Gyulay was in command . The Austrian troops settled for a short time on a long line from Biella to Pavia and, after several failures, went back behind the Ticino . On June 4, the Austrians fought in the Battle of Magenta , but were defeated by the enemy allied troops. After the loss of Milan and the defeat at Melegnano on June 8th, the Austrians retreated further behind the Mincio, surrendering almost all of Lombardy, in order to rely on the fortress quadrangle Mantua - Peschiera del Garda - Verona - Legnago . General Gyulay was recalled as a result of the defeat on June 18, after which the young Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria , who had arrived in the theater of war, nominally assumed supreme command of the troops. Feldzeugmeister Heinrich von Hess continued to be in charge of operational management of the newly organized and considerably strengthened Austrian army .

Course of the battle

Emperor Napoleon III.
Map of the battle (1871)

Fighting strengths

The Austrian army had been divided into two armies for the purpose of easier troop leadership, which together came to a total strength of 198,035 men and 19,289 horsemen. The northern 2nd Army with the I., V. and VII. Corps remained under the direction of General of the Cavalry Franz Schlick , the southern 1st Army with the III., IX. and XI. Corps and the main mass of cavalry at Medole led FZM Franz von Wimpffen . Between Goito , Medole, Solferino and San Martino , a total of 146,635 men and 16,489 horsemen were deployed with the Austrians, the rest of the troops remained on the eastern bank of the Mincio in the fortress square as a protective garrison. The too far south dislocated II. Corps was not used in battle. At the main battlefield between Solferino and Medole , only about 120,000 men stood in the morning in the morning, and in the afternoon after the intervention of the X. Corps, about 133,000 Austrians were directly involved in the action.

The French armed forces in Lombardy numbered 173,603 men (of which 14,353 horsemen), of which only about 151,000 men were assembled in the battle between Chiese and Mincio. The V Corps under Prince Bonaparte , operating in northern Tuscany, was not available. The French army marched on both sides Castiglione with five corps, in the following battle near Solferino only about 118,600 soldiers were in direct contact with the enemy. On the orders of his emperor, the Frenchman Gaspard Felix Nadar rose in a balloon to enlighten the Austrian troops, and he took the first aerial photographs in history.

On the orders of Napoleon III. the allied troops began to leave their bivouacs between two and three in the morning and advanced in three columns. Already around 4 a.m., the armies almost unexpectedly hit the enemy security. The dispute developed on a front about 15 kilometers long and dragged on, with multiple marches and retreats on both sides, for almost the entire day.

Northern section at Pozzolengo

On the northern wing of the allies, which reached as far as Lake Garda , four Sardinian divisions were advancing towards Pozzolengo . Almost independently of the main battle between the Sardinians (around 36,000 men) under King Viktor Emanuel II and the Austrian VIII Corps (around 28,000 men) under FML Ludwig von Benedek, a separate battle broke out on hilly terrain. The Sardinian 2nd Division maintained the connection to the Corps of Marshal Baraguey at Malocco and the heights there, while the 1st Division ( Durando ) and the 5th Division ( Cuacchiari ) - from Lonato and the 3rd Division (Filiberto Mollard) from Rivoltella and Monte Cavaga advanced on Pozzolengo, where the Austrian VIII Corps (Benedek) soon stopped them in the battle of San Martino .

Southern section at Medole

View over the battle plain of Medole

The French 3rd Corps left their camp at Mezzane at 2.30 a.m. and crossed the Chiese on a crossing that had already been prepared. The left wing of the Austrian 1st Army (FZM Wimpffen) was by the III., IX. and the approaching II Corps secured. The XI. Corps was in reserve in the second meeting. The leftmost division, Jelačić, was supposed to advance over Marcaria and Mosio and try to encompass the opponent's right flank. The opposite French 3rd Corps ( Canrobert ) had its two divisions Trochu and Renault advance towards Castel Goffredo . The cavalry division under General Partouneaux, assigned to the command of General Niel , advanced on the places Carpenedolo and Guidizzolo , while General de Luzy-Pelissac's infantry division advanced against Medole . In order to stop this movement from the outposts, the Austrian IX. Corps two brigades (Division of the FML Handel) advanced to the threatened point, while one brigade remained at Guidizzolo as support. At around 8:30 am, the French 4th Corps stormed with the Division de Luzy-Pelissac deployed on the right in battle with the Austrian IX. Corps (General of the Cavalry Johann Franz von Schaffgotsch ) entered the village of Medole and advanced to Guidizzolo, where the battle remained undecided for the following hours.

Middle section at Solferino

Napoleon III instructs his guard under Marshal Regnaud to attack Solferino

The French 2nd Corps under Marshal Patrice Maurice de MacMahon left Castiglione around 3 a.m. and marched in a column on the main road to Mantua so as not to hinder the two wing corps advancing on a broad front . The cavalry brigade deployed as vanguard under General Gaudin de Villaine met the Austrian outposts at Casa Morino at around 4 a.m. and began to initiate the battle. Marshal Mac Mahon went to nearby Monte Medolano to see the strength of the troops already fighting. Around 5:30 a.m., Napoleon III. the beginning of the Austrian advance communicated. As planned, the French units marched in the middle section against the line between Solferino and Cavriano - on the left the 1st Corps under General Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers , in the middle somewhat later - the 2nd Corps, on the right the 4th Corps of the General Adolphe Niel .

The corps under Marshal Baraguey d'Hilliers, with the 2nd Ladmirault Division ahead, had advanced from Esenta on the mountain road towards Solferino and reached the valley of Padercini around 5.30 a.m. The Austrians had already heavily occupied the surrounding hills, which gradually rise up to Solferino. Ladmirault formed several columns to bypass it, the left one under General Douay , the right one under General Negrier . The 1st Division under General Forey had advanced on the road which stretched at the foot of the heights at Le Fontane, and encountered the enemy at Le Grole. The Austrian V Corps under FML von Stadion had the slopes of Rosso and Valscuro occupied with tirailleurs . General Forey had driven the opposing troops on the Rosso Ridge and out of the village of Le Fontane before the 3rd Division under General Bazaine had caught up behind him.

At 6.30 a.m., Napoleon III. Arrived in Castiglione and climbed the Castello ridge to better coordinate the deployment of his associations. He soon ordered the first general assault on Solferino, where the center of gravity of the enemy position had been recognized. The breakthrough at this point would have forced the breakthrough to the Mincio. The attack was transferred to the 1st Corps (Baraguey), which deployed the two divisions Bazaine and Ladmirault . The strong resistance of the Austrians (VII. Corps) could not be broken for several hours despite the massive deployment of the troops. The reinforcements that arrived with Count Montenuovo's division strengthened the Austrian defense.

Attack of the Austrian Hussar Regiment No. 13 on French infantry, Solferino, June 24th 1859

At 1 p.m., the French 2nd Corps (Mac Mahon) started another breakthrough in the center against the village of Cavriana , which was defended by the division of Prince Alexander of Hesse . The attacks of the French divisions of Generals Decaen and La Motterouge retook the village of San Cassiano , which had already been taken , and then broke through the defense of the Austrian VII Corps under FML Zobel near Cavriana. In the center, the French Imperial Guard under Marshal Regnaud was advancing from Castiglione and finally intervened in the battle to reinforce the 1st Corps. The deployment of the X. Corps ( Wernhardt ) and the 2nd division of the I. Corps under General Eduard Clam-Gallas , which had already been greatly decimated at Magenta , could no longer stop the collapse of the Austrian center at 4 p.m. After the drought and heat at the beginning of the fighting, the weather situation changed at 4 p.m. Storm and rain allowed the defeated Austrians around 6 p.m. to break off the battle and to begin the orderly retreat to Verona.

Finale

Although the northern wing of the Austrians at San Martino still held out against the Sardinians, the battle was lost after the loss of Solferino. The dispositions of the young emperor Franz Joseph had a considerable part in the defeat, the bypassing of the French left wing was not done properly at all, the masses of the II., X. and XI. Corps was not in combat. The possible use of the superior number of troops was also probably not done because the Austrians feared an attack by the Tuscan volunteer corps under General Ulloa , which was on the march against their own southern flank via Piacenza .

The Battle of Solferino was considered the bloodiest military confrontation since the Battle of Waterloo . Up to 30,000 soldiers were killed and wounded in the course of the battle. At least 10,000 soldiers were missing or captured. Around 40,000 other soldiers became ill in the days after the battle due to lack of food, overexertion and the completely inadequate sanitary conditions. Most of the soldiers did not die in the fighting, but later as a result of their wounds. There was an extreme lack of medical care for the victims through the necessary military medical services, which were completely overwhelmed on both sides, both in terms of personnel and equipment. Wounded people were often left to their own devices after being rescued or left entirely on the battlefield. Food and water were only available in insufficient quantities and, moreover, were of poor hygienic quality.

consequences

The Peace of Zurich on November 10, 1859 ended the Sardinian War. Austria entered Lombardy - with the exception of the fortresses Mantua and Peschiera del Garda , which were on the Mincio , the border river to Veneto - to Napoleon III. from, who then passed Lombardy on to Sardinia.

The cruelty of the battle and the helplessness of the wounded soldiers prompted Henry Dunant (1828–1910) to found the Red Cross and lead to the agreement of the Geneva Convention of 1863.

The spy of Italy (Italian: Spia d'Italia ), a 28-meter-high tower on an approx. 100-meter-high hill , became the symbol of the battle and ultimately of the victory of the troops of Piedmont-Sardinia and France . Today it forms an exhibition complex together with the small museum and the ossuary. To commemorate the Battle of Solferino, a torch relay ( Italian : Fiaccolata ) takes place every year on June 24th , during which thousands of Red Cross helpers move with torches from Solferino to Castiglione delle Stiviere at dusk . Napoleon III had a street in Paris named ( Rue Solférino ) in memory of the battle . That is why a station on the Paris Métro is also called Solférino .

reception

In the 1889 novel The Arms Down! by Bertha von Suttner the father of the protagonist comments on the defeat of the Austrians at the Battle of Solferino with the words: "Now it's all over, Martha: Solferino has decided: we are beaten."

In the novel Radetzkymarsch by Joseph Roth , published in 1932 , the Trotta family was raised to the nobility after a heroic deed by the grandfather of the main character during the Battle of Solferino: “The Trottas were a young generation. Your ancestor had received the nobility after the battle of Solferino. "

Troop units involved

Austrian Army

FZM Franz Graf Wimpffen
Gen. of the cavalry Franz Schlick

Supreme command: Emperor Franz Josef I. Chief of Staff: Feldzeugmeister Heinrich von Hess

1st Army Feldzeugmeister Franz von Wimpffen

II. Corps FML Eduard Franz von Liechtenstein

III. Corps FML Edmund zu Schwarzenberg

  • 1. Division FML Adolf Karl Schönberger
  • 2nd Division FML Joseph Habermann von Habersfeld

IX. Corps General of the Cavalry Johann Franz von Schaffgotsch

XI. Corps FML Valentin Veigl of war wages

  • 1st Division FML Anton Ritter von Schwarzel
  • 2nd Division FML Friedrich August Freiherr von Blomberg
  • Cavalry Division FML Friedrich Franz Graf von Zedtwitz

In reserve: X. Corps FML Stefan von Wernhardt

  • 1st FML Marziani Division of Sacile
  • 2nd Division FML Franz Ritter von Wallemare

2nd Army General of the Cavalry Franz Schlick

I. Corps FML Eduard Clam-Gallas

V. Corps FML Philipp von Stadion and Thannhausen

  • 1st Division FML Johann Karl Graf von Palffy
  • 2nd Division FML Leopold Graf von Sternberg-Serowitz

VII. Corps FML Thomas Friedrich von Zobel

VIII. Corps FML Ludwig von Benedek

  • 1st Division FML Joseph Edler von Berger
  • 2. Division FML Adolf Freiherr von Lang
  • Cavalry Division FML Alexander von Mensdorff

French army

Marshal Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers
Marshal Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély

Supreme command: Emperor Napoleon III. Chief of Staff: Marshal Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant

Imperial Guard Marshal Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angely

  • 1st Guard Division General Émile Henry Mellinet
  • 2nd Guard Division General Jacques Camou
  • Louis-Michel Morris Guards Cavalry Brigade

I. Corps Marshal Achille Baraguay d'Hilliers

II. Corps General Patrice de Mac-Mahon

  • 1st Division General Joseph Edouard La Motte-Rouge
  • 2nd Division General Claude Théodore Decaen
  • Cavalry Brigade Adrien Gabriel Gaudin de Villaine

III. Corps General François Certain de Canrobert

IV. Corps General Adolphe Niel

  • 1st Division General Louis Henri François de Luzy-Pelissac
  • 2nd Division General Joseph Vinoy
  • 3rd Division General Pierre de Failly
  • General de Rochefort cavalry brigade

Sardinian army

Supreme command: King Victor Emanuel II. Chief of Staff: Enrico Morozzo della Rocca

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Battle of Solferino  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

"A Memory of Solferino" (The Memories of Henri Dunant)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Oskar Regele: Feldzeugmeister Benedek. The way to Königgrätz. Herold, Vienna a. a. 1960, p. 143.
  2. ↑ a b Battle of Solferino. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.bridica.com/EBchecked/topic/553244/Battle-of-Solferino .