Mid-Nineteenth Century European Wars (Military History)

Introduction
Wars in the mid-19th century reflected the changing nature of European society, politics, and economy. The Napoleonic Wars led to an understanding by the major European powers that a general European conflict should be avoided at all costs. The principles accepted at the Congress of Vienna formed the foundation of 19th-century diplomacy. This was particularly so through 1848. Revolutions became the greatest threat to European peace, and military interventions to suppress or prevent the exportation of revolution abounded between 1820 and 1849. Thereafter the origins and course of the Crimean War offered the first major crisis, which threatened to expand into a general European war. The Risorgimento, the movement for Italian unification, failed as a revolutionary idea, but its acceptance by the House of Savoy, the rulers of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, became the basis of active diplomacy to force Austria from its Italian possessions. The First War of Italian Unification (1848–1849) began with promise, but the skill of the local Austrian commander in Lombardy-Venetia and the ill-coordinated Italian efforts doomed the campaign of 1848 and the foolhardiness of 1849. Although the war failed to eject Austria from northern Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s reputation as a determined Italian nationalist soared. During the Second War of Italian Unification (1859–1861), a coordinated effort by Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, Napoléon III, and Garibaldi succeeded in bringing much of the peninsula under the Savoyard banner. The war in 1859, followed by the Garibaldian and Piedmontese campaigns in 1860, succeeded in establishing a Kingdom of Italy. The Third War of Unification (1866) was tied directly to Prussia’s bid for supremacy in Germany, and while the Austrians defeated the Italian army in Venetia, Prussia’s victory in Bohemia led to the eventual transfer of that Habsburg-controlled kingdom to Italy. Most notably, the wars of the mid-19th century witnessed the employment of modes of transportation and weaponry that were direct products of the Industrial Revolution. Trains, steam-powered navies, the telegraph, percussion-cap rifled muskets using the minié ball, and rifled artillery all played a central role in the conduct and course of war.
European Wars at Midcentury
The military history of Europe during the 19th century is ground well trodden at the chronological ends, the Napoleonic Wars (1800–1815) at one end and the Wars of German Unification (1864–1871) and Wars of Imperialism at the other. Nevertheless, there is a shortage of European military histories that address the wider developments of war in the 19th century. The most cogently written is Black 2009. McNeill 1984, a classic history of technology and war, remains vital for 19th-century military developments. For more specialized works relating to the two primary conflicts of midcentury, the Wars of Italian Unification and the Crimean War, there are fewer. The latter war has a significant literature, but an excellent general work is Goldfrank 1994. Goldfrank’s book is part of a significant series on the origins of wars in which Coppa 1992 addresses the Wars of Italian Unification. Perhaps the best general military history of the Risorgimento is Pieri 1962, followed by the most comprehensive military history of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Paoletti 2011. An important overview of Habsburg strategy in Italy at this time is Wawro 1996.
Black, Jeremy. War in the 19th Century, 1800–1914. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2009.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An eminently readable account of the transformation of war during the age of the Industrial Revolution, it should be consulted by those unfamiliar with the nature of war in the industrial age.
Find this resource:
Coppa, Frank J. The Origins of the Italian Wars of Independence. London: Longman, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This history is a concise one-volume examination of the complicated interplay of European and Italian politics of the Risorgimento.
Find this resource:
Goldfrank, David M. The Origins of the Crimean War. London: Longman, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author provides a well-thought-out diplomatic and domestic history of the participants; its perspective provides a broader view of the origins and scope of the Crimean War.
Find this resource:
McNeill, William H. The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Forces, and Society since AD 1000. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Although there are quite a number of books on technology and war, McNeill’s is perhaps the most insightful. The chapters on war in the industrial age will be critically important for getting one’s feet wet in the subject of war at midcentury.
Find this resource:
Paoletti, Ciro. Dal Ducato al Unità: Tre secoli e mezzo di storia militare piemontese. Rome: Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell Esercito, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Paoletti’s three-volume military history of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia is well researched, and the volume covering 1815–1861 provides a comprehensive narrative. It examines the evolution of Piedmontese military power and places the Risorgimento in the context of the kingdom’s military history.
Find this resource:
Pieri, Piero. Storia militare del Risorgimento: Guerre e insurrezioni. Turin, Italy: Einaudi, 1962.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Pieri’s classic military history of the Risorgimento must be consulted before embarking on detailed studies. Pieri’s narrative is smooth and his discussion of events clear. It should be a foundation for further research.
Find this resource:
Wawro, Geoffrey. “Austria versus the Risorgimento: A New Look at Austria’s Italian Strategy in the 1860s.” European History Quarterly 26 (October 1996): 7–29.
DOI: 10.1177/026569149602600102Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author is the expert on 19th-century Habsburg and German military history. His research is based on archival material and is absolutely necessary for research on this period.
Find this resource:
Armies
European armies underwent a significant transformation in the post-Napoleonic era. The technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution combined with the political and social reforms at midcentury dramatically impacted the nature and composition of armies. Institutional reforms and logistical and tactical innovations followed industrial and political developments. The French army between the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian Wars lacks a solid comprehensive history, although Cox 1994 provides an institutional and doctrinal examination. Thoumas 1887 provides both a broad brush and a detailed analysis of changes to the French army from the French Revolution to the Second Empire. On the Habsburg army, Rothenberg 1976 remains the standard work, while Schmidt-Brentano 1975 offers a focused examination of the army at midcentury. Deák 1990 provides an important in-depth exploration of the Habsburg officer corps. The Russian army is covered well in Curtiss 1965. The Piedmontese army lacks a military history in English, but Ales 1990 is a good one-volume Italian source. On the Neapolitan Bourbon army during the Risorgimento, Boeri, et al. 1998 is an informed two-volume history. Alvarez 2011 is the first English-language history of the papal army during this era. This alone makes it an important source to consult.
Ales, Stefano. Dall’armata sarda all’esercito italiano (1843–1861). Rome: Ufficio Storico State Maggiore dell’Esercito, 1990.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book is part of a series published by the Italian Army Historical Office, which deals with preunification armies in Italy during the 19th century. This volume includes a discussion of the organization, composition, and conduct of the Piedmontese army.
Find this resource:
Alvarez, David. The Pope’s Soldiers: A Military History of the Modern Vatican. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Military histories of the Papal States are impossible to find if the subject addresses events beyond the 16th century. Alvarez contributes a modern historical narrative and analysis of the military history of the Papal States, particularly during the Risorgimento.
Find this resource:
Boeri, Giancarlo, Piero Crociani, and Massimo Fiorentino. L’Esercito Borbonico dal 1830 al 1861. 2 vols. Rome: Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
As with Ales 1990 on Piedmont, these two volumes provide a detailed examination of the Neapolitan army in its last decades before the absorption of the kingdom. The books include artistic renderings of soldiers and photographs of uniforms.
Find this resource:
Cox, Gary P. The Halt in the Mud: French Strategic Planning from Waterloo to Sedan. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Surprisingly, there are few books on the French army from the fall of Napoléon through the Second Empire. Cox’s book focuses on strategic planning and French military policy.
Find this resource:
Curtiss, John S. The Russian Army under Nicholas I. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1965.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author remains one of the foremost authorities on the Russian army in the 19th century. His book is required reading for research on the Crimean War.
Find this resource:
Deák, István. Beyond Nationalism: A Social and Political History of the Habsburg Officer Corps, 1848–1918. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The multinational and multiethnic nature of the Habsburg army necessitated a detailed socioethnic/national study. Deák’s examines the composition, loyalty, and performance of the officer corps under the strains of the age of revolutions and nationalism.
Find this resource:
Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Army of Francis Joseph. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author was the leading authority on the army of the Habsburg Empire from the 18th century through World War I. This single volume is an institutional history of the imperial army during its final century. Anyone interested in Habsburg military affairs must start here.
Find this resource:
Schmidt-Brentano, Antonio. Die Armee in Österreich: Militär, Staat und Gesellschaft 1848–1867. Boppard am Rhein, Germany: Harald Boldt, 1975.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book is based almost exclusively on archival documents, and its chronological focus makes it one of the most important volumes for any study of the Habsburg army during the Italian and German wars of unification.
Find this resource:
Thoumas, Charles Antoine. Les transformations de l’armée française. 2 vols. Paris: Berger-Levrault, 1887.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Although terribly dated, Thoumas’s book provides a highly readable and perceptive discussion of the evolution of the French army through the Second Empire.
Find this resource:
Navies
Naval operations tend to receive limited coverage in military history, particularly during the 19th century between Trafalgar in 1805 and Jutland in 1916. Navies were greatly affected by the Industrial Revolution, with the advent of steam power and the ability to export military power more quickly across the oceans. The naval dimensions of European wars at midcentury included limited naval combat during the Crimean War but most importantly their role as transporters of people and material. As significant as railroads, steam-powered navies moved vast numbers of people and provided vital logistics during this era. Curiously, there is little on Napoléon III’s navy, although Battesti 1997 provides a comprehensive and detailed account. Bazancourt 1858 is the official court history of the naval campaign and remains a vital source of information on French naval operations. The small imperial navy of the Habsburg Empire is treated very well in Sondhaus 1989. The royal Sardinian (Piedmontese) navy was slightly larger than the Habsburg fleet and played a pivotal role in 1859. Romiti 1950 provides a thorough history of the Piedmontese and Italian navies of the Risorgimento. More recently Gabriele 1999 deals with the organization and performance of the nascent Italian navy. The only major naval engagement of the Wars of Italian Unification, at Lissa (1866), is covered well in Guerrini 1907 and Ferrante 1985.
Battesti, Michèle. La marine de Napoléon III: Une politique navale. 2 vols. Paris: Service historique de la marine, 1997.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A lacuna in the histories of the French army of Napoléon III is followed by a lack of naval histories. Napoléon III directed a massive naval building and modernization program during his reign. This work in two volumes, originally a doctoral dissertation, is essential. It provides technical, organizational, institutional, and military history of the French imperial navy.
Find this resource:
Bazancourt, César. L’expédition de Crimée: La marine française dans la mer Noire et la Baltique. 2 vols. Paris: Amyot, 1858.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Court historian to Napoléon III, the author provides the expected favorable account of events, but his proximity to the throne granted him access to military documents that make this naval history valuable.
Find this resource:
Ferrante, Ezio. La sconfitta navale di Lissa. Rome: Vito Bianco editore, 1985.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author looks at the Battle of Lissa and analyzes the respective navies and their performance in combat.
Find this resource:
Gabriele, Mariano. La prima marina d’Italia (1860–1866): La prima fase di un potere marittimo. Rome: Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The unification of military forces in northern Italy in 1859–1860 included a significant naval dimension. The author, a historian for the Italian Naval Historical Office, offers a concise history of the first years of the unified Italian navy.
Find this resource:
Guerrini, Domenico. Lissa. Turin, Italy: Casanova, 1907.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author was one of the leading Italian military historians at the turn of the 20th century. His account is highly recommended.
Find this resource:
Romiti, Sante. Le marine militari italiane nel Risorgimento, 1748–1861. Rome: Italgraf, 1950.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The navies of the Italian states played important roles in the Risorgimento. Romiti explains in detail the evolution and use of the various Italian navies during the wars of the Risorgimento. The breadth of the work is impressive, and the narrative is also quite readable.
Find this resource:
Sondhaus, Lawrence. The Habsburg Empire and the Sea: Austrian Naval Policy, 1797–1866. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1989.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Sondhaus specializes in naval warfare and the Habsburg Empire. This book was the first in English to properly and expertly address the imperial navy, which played a central role, as many of its officers and crew prior to 1866 were Venetian. As with Rothenberg 1976 (cited under Armies), this must be consulted for work on Habsburg military history in Italy.
Find this resource:
First War of Italian Unification (1848)
The First War of Italian Unification was not premeditated but was the immediate result of revolutions in Lombardy and Venetia in March 1848. Charles Albert, king of Piedmont-Sardinia, in concert with his parliament, directed the invasion of the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia shortly after the Milanese Revolution. Encouraged by the disarray in the Habsburg Empire, Charles Albert hoped to seize Milan and then defeat the Austrian army under the venerable field marshal Joseph Radetzky, headquartered at Verona. The Piedmontese campaign succeeded in forcing the Austrian army to take shelter at Verona and Mantua. Armies from Tuscany, the Papal States, and Naples marched north to join the Piedmontese. Austria lost Lombardy but successfully contested Venetia due to the stubbornness and skill of Radetzky. Lack of coordination among the Italian contingents and political dysfunction in Rome and Naples led to the failure to press the advantage. Reinforced, Radetzky defeated the papal forces in Venetia and then in July 1848 achieved a significant victory over Charles Albert’s army at Custoza. Paoletti 2011 provides an account, and Ravioli 1883 is the classic Italian narrative. Schneid 2012 covers the military origins and conduct of the campaign. The Austrian perspective is best found in two outstanding works on Radetzky, Regele 1957 and Sked 2011. Rothenberg 1976 provides a broader view of the war in Italy and the larger military problems faced by the Habsburg Empire in 1848. K. K. Generalstab 1852 is detailed and useful. Although the French did not intervene in support of Piedmont, the possibility was very real. Boyer 1965 and Jennings 1970 offer political and diplomatic discussions of this dimension of the war.
Boyer, Ferdinand. “L’armée des Alpes en 1848.” Revue Historique 233 (January–March 1965): 71–100.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The government of the Second French Republic seriously considered sending military assistance to Piedmont during the first war of unification. The author explores military preparations in France.
Find this resource:
Jennings, Lawrence C. “Lamartine’s Italian Policy in 1848: A Reexamination.” Journal of Modern History 42.3 (September 1970): 331–341.
DOI: 10.1086/243993Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Jennings looks at the political debates concerning French intervention in Italy in 1848. The article assumes a Piedmontese desire for military support. The Italian histories disagree.
Find this resource:
K. K. Generalstab. Der Feldzug der Österreichischen Armee in Italien im Jahre 1848. Vienna: K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1852.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This volume is the official Austrian military history of the campaign in Italy in 1848. Although it is shaded by its contemporary opinions, the author’s access to military documents and the narrative of events make it a useful source.
Find this resource:
Paoletti, Ciro. Dal Ducato al Unità: Tre secoli e mezzo di storia militare piemontese. Rome: Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell Esercito, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The publication of this book provides historians with a discussion of events based on early-21st-century scholarship.
Find this resource:
Ravioli, Camillo. La campagna nel Veneto del 1848 tenuta de due divisioni e da corpi degli stati Romani sotto la condotta del generale Giovanni Durando. Rome: Tipografia Tibernia, 1883.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The Piedmontese campaign of Charles Albert is well known in the English-speaking world, but the campaign in Venetia is not properly examined. Ravioli’s history is a thorough portrayal of Durando’s operations with papal volunteers. It was a critical part of the First War of Italian Unification.
Find this resource:
Regele, Oskar. Feldmarschall Radetzky: Leben, Leistung, Erbe. Vienna: Herold, 1957.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Radetzky is considered the great hero of 1848, having saved the empire from implosion. His campaign in Italy ended the hopes of the Piedmontese and Italian revolutionaries in 1848. Regele’s biography is the standard work on the life of the famed Habsburg field marshal.
Find this resource:
Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Army of Francis Joseph. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Rothenberg’s chapter on 1848–1851 examines the broad implications of the revolutions of 1848 on the Habsburg Empire and its military institutions while providing insight and detail on this critical time.
Find this resource:
Schneid, Frederick C. “War and Revolution in the Age of the Risorgimento, 1815–1849.” In The Projection and Limitation of Imperial Powers, 1618–1850. Edited by Frederick C. Schneid, 196–217. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The essay examines the changing nature of military leadership in the Piedmontese army with the inclusion of former revolutionaries turned military professionals and later employed by Victor Emanuel after 1848.
Find this resource:
Sked, Alan. Radetzky: Imperial Victor and Military Genius. London: Taurus, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author is a renowned Habsburg historian. His biography uses the work of Regele 1957 and provides greater illumination on the wily field marshal through the use of Austrian and Italian archival material.
Find this resource:
First War of Italian Unification (1849)
Despite the failure of the Italian offensives in Lombardy-Venetia in 1848, the continuing revolutions throughout the Austrian Empire and the continued resistance in Venice inspired Italians to take up arms. In Turin, Charles Albert mistakenly believed that he could succeed by conducting a second campaign. He mobilized his army in preparation for another invasion of Lombardy. Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky preempted the offensive by launching a surprise attack into Piedmont, defeating Charles Albert at Novara. Regele 1957 and Sked 2011 are the best sources for the Austrian narrative, but Corpo di Stato Maggiore 1911 and Giacchi 1928 provide well-informed analyses of the short-lived Piedmontese campaign.
Corpo di Stato Maggiore. Relazioni e rapporti finali sulla campagna del 1849 nell’Alta Italia. Rome: Stato Maggiore del Regio Esercito, Ufficio Storico, 1911.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The short-lived campaign in 1849 is covered using primary documents in this volume. Nicola Brancaccio, a primary author, was a well-known officer and Italian military historian.
Find this resource:
Giacchi, Nicolò. La campagna del 1849 nell’Alta Italia. Rome: Comando del Corpo di Stato Maggiore del Regio Esercito, Ufficio Storico, 1928.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Like Nicola Brancaccio, Giacchi was a well-established Italian military historian who was assigned to the Royal Italian Army Historical Office. His campaign history should be read alongside Corpo di Stato Maggiore 1911.
Find this resource:
Regele, Oskar. Feldmarschall Radetzky: Leben, Leistung, Erbe. Vienna: Herold, 1957.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Radetzky’s operations are presented clearly and with good detail in this classic biography.
Find this resource:
Sked, Alan. Radetzky: Imperial Victor and Military Genius. London: Tauris, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author provides a well-written account of Radetzky’s brilliant preemptive strike against the Piedmontese.
Find this resource:
The Sieges of Rome and Venice
The Italian Revolutions of 1848 were quelled in Lombardy, and Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky retook Milan. Venice, however, continued to defy imperial authority, and its geographic peculiarity enabled the revolutionaries under Daniele Manin to resist. Radetzky could do no more than observe the city and conduct occasional assaults on its landward defenses. The Habsburg navy proved impotent, as Venetians comprised the majority of captains and crews. Sondhaus 1989 and van Nuffel 1957 illuminate the impact of the Venetian Revolution on the imperial navy. Revolutionary tempers flared in Rome, and Pius IX fled the city for the safety of the Neapolitan fortress of Gaeta. The Roman Republic was proclaimed. Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Red Shirt volunteers arrived in Rome after the revolution. Garibaldi was appointed second in command of the republic’s army. The flight of the pope led King Francis II of Naples and French president Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to send expeditionary forces to restore Pius IX to Rome. In the spring of 1849, Garibaldi struck twice against the Neapolitan army advancing on the city, routing it. In May a French force was repelled beneath the walls, only to return in June with more troops and siege artillery. The city was taken after the walls were breached in July, and Garibaldi and his men fled across the Apennines. Trevelyan 1907 presents the defense of Rome in detail, and the French siege is in Vaillant 1851. Venice remained defiant, but after the fall of Rome and with a lack of food it surrendered to the Austrians.
Sondhaus, Lawrence. The Habsburg Empire and the Sea: Austrian Naval Policy, 1797–1866. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1989.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The Venetian Revolution benefited from the peculiar geography of the city. Nevertheless, the substantial role of Venetians in the Habsburg navy paralyzed the fleet for much of 1848.
Find this resource:
Trevelyan, G. M. Garibaldi’s Defense of the Roman Republic. London: Longmans, Green, 1907.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book remains the classic English-language account of the defense of Rome against Neapolitan and French armies. It is dated, but the narrative is without peer.
Find this resource:
Vaillant, Jean Baptiste Philibert. Siége de Rome en 1849 par l’armée française: Journal des opérations de l’artillerie et du génie. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1851.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This official account is drawn from General Vaillant’s war diaries and is a meticulous recollection of the conduct of the siege of Rome.
Find this resource:
van Nuffel, Robert O. J. “Intorno alla perdita della flotta all’inizio della rivoluzione veneziana.” Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento 44 (1957): 789–791.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author explores in detail the Venetian Revolution in relation to the imperial navy. Venetians represented the vast majority of ship’s captains and crews in the Habsburg navy, and the revolution in Venice threatened to result in widespread mutinies and desertions in 1848.
Find this resource:
The Crimean War (1853–1856)
The Crimean War upset forty years of general peace among European states. The revolutionary conflagration in 1848 disturbed the foundations of Europe, but Britain, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire had not experienced any revolutionary waves. The origins and course of the Crimean War had the potential to creep toward a general European conflict, but Austrian circumspection and Prussian caution prevented it. The histories of the war in the English language have a largely British perspective, although the French contributed far more to the conflict. Schroeder 1972 covers the diplomacy of the war expertly. The place of the war in British global strategy is in Lambert 1991. The Russian perspective is explored in Curtiss 1979 and more recently in Figes 2010. Orlando Figes follows Baumgart 1999 in arguing that the Crimean was the first “modern war.” The French army in the Crimea was discussed in great detail by the court historian César Bazancourt in Bazancourt 1856 and later the French military leadership Brison D. Gooch in Gooch 1959. Badem 2010 is an examination of the Ottoman perspective. The Piedmontese participation, like that of the Ottomans, was largely discounted in British, French, and Russian narratives. Manfredi 1956 is an outstanding account of Piedmontese actions in the Crimea.
Badem, Candan. The Ottoman Crimean War (1853–1856). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2010.
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004182059.i-432Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The narrative of the war is often cast as an Anglo-French effort with minimal discussion of the Piedmontese or Ottomans. This history is an important contribution to the study of the war, as substantial Ottoman forces were present in the Crimea.
Find this resource:
Baumgart, Winfried. The Crimean War, 1853–1856. London: Arnold, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An excellent history of the war. Baumgart argues that the conflict reflected the changing nature of war in the industrial age. It should be one of the first military histories consulted.
Find this resource:
Bazancourt, César. L’expédition de Crimée jusqu’a la prise de Sebastopol: Chroniques de la guerre d’orient. 2 vols. Paris: Amyot, 1856.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author was the court historian for Napoléon III, but his access to military documents and eye for detail make these volumes indispensable for the French narrative.
Find this resource:
Curtiss, John S. Russia’s Crimean War. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1979.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The noted Russian historian John S. Curtiss was one of the only historians to approach the history of the war from a Russian perspective. He was followed thirty years later by Orlando Figes (Figes 2010).
Find this resource:
Figes, Orlando. Crimea: The Last Crusade. London: Allen Lane, 2010.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is the history of the war from a renowned Russian scholar. Figes presents the war from a Russian perspective, which is unique compared to the largely Anglo historiography. He follows Winfried Baumgart’s argument that the war represented the first modern conflict.
Find this resource:
Gooch, Brison D. The New Bonapartist Generals in the Crimean War: Distrust and Decision-Making in the Anglo-French Alliance. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1959.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is the classic work on French military leadership in the Crimea and a study of the leading officers of the army of the Second French Empire. It is quite good on the roles of Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud and François Certain de Canrobert as commanders of the French army in the Crimea.
Find this resource:
Lambert, Andrew D. The Crimean War: British Grand Strategy against Russia, 1853–1856. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1991.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Placing the war in the greater scope of Britain’s global interests and its fear of Russian expansion in Asia makes this volume an important contribution to the histories of the Crimean War.
Find this resource:
Manfredi, Cristoforo. La spedizione sarda in Crimea nel 1855–1856. Rome: Regionale, 1956.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Piedmontese participation in the war was a calculated risk by Count Camillo Benso di Cavour and Victor Emanuel, but the contribution of the entire Piedmontese navy and twenty-five thousand troops made this a major military effort by the Italian Kingdom. This history is quite thorough on Piedmontese participation and actions during the campaign.
Find this resource:
Schroeder, Paul. Austria, Great Britain, and the Crimean War: The Destruction of the European Concert. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The place of the Crimean War in the international system is crucial to understanding the evolution of European diplomacy from the Congress of Vienna to the First World War. The author, one of the great European diplomatic historians, addresses the impact of the war on the Vienna system and discusses how it changed relationships and diplomatic alliances.
Find this resource:
The Second War of Italian Unification (1859–1861)
The war in Italy between 1859 and 1861 led to the successful unification of the Italian Peninsula excluding Venetia and Rome. The conflict comprised three distinct campaigns: the war of 1859 between Austria and a Franco-Piedmontese alliance, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s campaign in Sicily and Naples in 1860, and the Piedmontese invasion of the Papal States and Naples in 1860. The origins and course of the war involved complex and clandestine diplomatic activity by Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, and Napoléon III, emperor of France. The war was purposefully limited to the Italian Peninsula, with little desire to encourage a general European conflagration. The Franco-Piedmontese victories at Magenta and Solferino led to the Peace of Villafranca, which ceded Lombardy to France, then Piedmont. Thereafter Garibaldi, at the encouragement of Sicilian revolutionaries, such as Francesco Crispi, and the Italian National Society invaded Sicily with 1,089 volunteers and defeated the Neapolitan forces at Calatafimi, Palermo, and Milazzo. Garibaldi’s victory in Sicily led to his invasion of Naples. This was followed three weeks later by a Piedmontese invasion of the Papal States. Within a month central and southern Italy were under military occupation. The king of Naples, Ferdinand II, was besieged in the city of Gaeta, and Pope Pius IX was left with the city of Rome and its environs.
Origins of the War
The secret diplomacy conducted by Cavour and Napoléon III was instrumental to preparing for the war with Austria. The most detailed account of the diplomatic preparations for war is in Blumberg 1990. A comprehensive examination of diplomacy among the Italian states and the Europeans is in Coppa 1992. Thurston 1977 is concerned with negotiations between France and Russia, which were critical to Napoléon III’s plans to limit the war and increase pressure on Austria.
Blumberg, Arnold. A Carefully Planned Accident: The Italian War of 1859. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1990.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is a detailed, comprehensive account of prewar diplomacy followed by a lengthy discussion of diplomatic interplay during and after the war. It is required for any research on the topic of the Second War of Italian Unification.
Find this resource:
Coppa, Frank J. The Origins of the Italian Wars of Independence. London: Longman, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The book is an excellent source on the diplomacy and politics of the Wars of Italian Unification. It does particularly well on the interplay of diplomacy among the Italian states.
Find this resource:
Thurston, G. J. “The Italian War of 1859 and the Reorientation of Russian Foreign Policy.” Historical Journal 20.1 (1977): 121–144.
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X00010967Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The article explores the critical nature of prewar diplomacy and the significance of the Franco-Russian agreement in limiting the war to northern Italy. The agreement was critical to Napoléon III’s plans to wage war against Austria without fearing a general European conflict.
Find this resource:
Campaign in Piedmont and Lombardy (1859)
The Franco-Piedmontese campaign against Austria was premeditated. Schneid 2012 clearly demonstrates the extensive Franco-Piedmontese prewar planning. Austrian operations are covered in full in Generalstabs-Bureau für Kriegsgeschichte 1872–1876, the official Austrian military history. The French too produced a one-volume account, Dépôt de la Guerre 1862. The Italians did not produce an official military history until fifty years after unification, La guerra del 1859 per l’indipendenza d’Italia. Perhaps the most widely used source on the war is the Prussian General Staff study, Moltke 1862. Lecomte 1860 can balance these official and semiofficial accounts.
Dépôt de la Guerre. La campagne de Napoléon III en Italie. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1862.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This volume is the official French military history of the campaign of 1859 in northern Italy. Based on the campaign documents, the book is quite important, although its publication within a year of the war lends Bonapartist perspectives to certain aspects of the narrative.
Find this resource:
Generalstabs-Bureau für Kriegsgeschichte. Der Krieg in Italien 1859. 3 vols. Vienna: Generalstabes in Commission bei C. Gerold’s Sohn, 1872–1876.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A highly detailed three-volume official Habsburg military history of the campaign. It is based on the campaign documents, but many of the command faults of the imperial army are whitewashed, because Emperor Franz Josef had taken personal command before Solferino and the minister of war at the time of publication was the former chief of staff of the Austrian army in Italy.
Find this resource:
La guerra del 1859 per l’indipendenza d’Italia. 5 vols. Rome: Comando del Corpo di Stato Maggiore, 1910–1912.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
These volumes are the official Italian military history of the campaign in 1859. They rely extensively on Italian archival documents, an advantage over French and Austrian accounts. This is a comprehensive history from the Italian perspective.
Find this resource:
Lecomte, Ferdinand. La relation historique et critique de la campagne d’Italie en 1859. 2 vols. Lausanne, Switzerland: Corbaz and Rouiller, 1860.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Lecomte’s work is probably the best contemporary analysis of the campaign. The author was the Swiss military attaché to the French army. His perspective is clear, and the book is a compilation of his campaign narratives written during and after the war.
Find this resource:
Moltke, Helmuth Carl Bernhard von. Der Italienische Feldzug von 1859. Berlin: Mittler und Sohn, 1862.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This campaign history by the Prussian army’s historical section is often credited to Moltke’s analysis. The book provides an in-depth examination of French and Austrian armies and their leadership and a critique of their respective performances. It is a valuable edition but overshadowed in its analyses by Moltke’s desire to portray his future enemies as lacking.
Find this resource:
Schneid, Frederick C. “A Well-Coordinated Affair: Franco-Piedmontese War Planning in 1859.” Journal of Military History 76 (April 2012): 523–556.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Based on Italian and French archival documents, this article dispels the historical perception that the military dimension of the war was conducted in an ad hoc fashion, showing that detailed military planning by Piedmont and France began months before the start of the war.
Find this resource:
Magenta, Solferino, and San Martino
The major battles of Magenta and Solferino determined the outcome of the 1859 campaign. Caemmerer 1902 is an effective analytic history of the operations and the Battle of Magenta. The Battle of Solferino is best explored in Cipolla 2009, whose four volumes detail the French, Austrian, and Piedmontese participants. The Battle of San Martino was fought on the same day as Solferino and represented the northern part of the battlefield. The engagement between two divisions of the Piedmontese army and the Austrian Eighth Corps has traditionally been separated from the Franco-Austrian battle a few miles south. The best narrative and analysis is Nava 1907, followed by di Lauro 2010.
Caemmerer, Rudolf von. Magenta: Der Feldzug von 1859. Berlin: Mittler und Sohn, 1902.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
General von Caemmerer’s history is an excellent critical analysis of the campaign up to Magenta. He questions the French and Austrian official histories and the standard narratives. It is an important work on the subject by a military professional with a critical eye.
Find this resource:
Cipolla, Constantino, ed. La battaglia di Solferino e San Martino. 4 vols. Milan: Franco Angeli, 2009.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Cipolla’s four-volume edited series was published for the 150th anniversary of the Battles of Solferino and San Martino. Three volumes address the French, Austrian, and Italian perspectives; the fourth is an account of the campaign and battles. Historians, sociologists, and political scientists author the chapters. The scope of the volumes extends beyond the military narrative to explore military culture.
Find this resource:
di Lauro, Ferdinando. L’armata sarda a San Martino. Rome: Ufficio Storio Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, 2010.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This reprint of di Lauro’s 1959 book for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification should be read in conjunction with Nava 1907. It includes biographies of the commanders and a clear discussion and analysis of the Piedmontese army and its performance in 1859 and during the battle.
Find this resource:
Nava, Luigi. L’armata sarda nella giornata del 24 giugno 1859. Rome: Enrico Voghera, 1907.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Luigi Nava’s history is the classic work on the Battle of San Martino. Nava, an Italian officer and historian, deconstructs the events by the hour and provides an accurate and detailed narrative of the events surrounding the battle between Benedek’s Eighth Corps and the Piedmontese divisions of Philibert Mollard and Domenico Cucchiari.
Find this resource:
Sicily and Naples (1860–1861)
Giuseppe Garibaldi’s campaign in Sicily and Naples has often been approached in English-language accounts from perspectives other than that of a traditional military campaign. Trevelyan 1909 remains the standard and an outlier in this regard. The most important sources on the campaign of the Thousand and the conquest of Naples are still in Italian. Agrati 1933 and Agrati 1937 are outstanding, detailed, critical analyses of the campaigns and should be consulted first. Abba 1993 and Bandi 1977 are primary sources written by participants of the expedition and exist in multiple reprints and editions. They are reliable and clear. The naval aspects of Garibaldi’s campaigns are covered well in Gabriele 1991. An indispensable source on the campaign in Sicily and Naples is Pecorini-Manzoni 1876. Cesari 1928 is very good for Garibaldi’s offensive in Naples and the Battle of the Volturno. The Piedmontese siege of Gaeta, which was the last chapter in the Second War of Italian Unification, is studied in detail in L’assedio di Gaeta e gli avvenimenti militari del 1860–61 nell’Italia meridionale.
Abba, Giuseppe Cesare. Da quarto al Volturno: Noterelle d’uno dei Mille. Palermo, Italy: Sellerio editore, 1993.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author was the most prolific of the Garibaldini. His personal account of the campaign of the Thousand provides wonderful insight into daily life and significant actions from April through November 1860.
Find this resource:
Agrati, Carlo. I Mille nella storia e nella leggenda. Milan: Mondadori, 1933.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Agrati’s first book is a thoroughly considered narrative and analysis of the Thousand from their origins to Palermo. Written as a military history with extensive discussion of the historiography to that date, Agrati provides a wonderfully thoughtful and critical text.
Find this resource:
Agrati, Carlo. Da Palermo al Volturno. Milan: Mondadori, 1937.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Agrati approaches Garibaldi’s campaign from Palermo to the Volturno with the intention of establishing a clear operational narrative. He also contends with the historiography of the campaign and challenges misconceptions of events. It is well researched and perhaps the best historian’s account of the campaign.
Find this resource:
L’assedio di Gaeta e gli avvenimenti militari del 1860–61 nell’Italia meridionale. Rome: Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, 2010.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This reprint is an excellent study of the Piedmontese campaign of 1860 from Ancona to Gaeta. The fortress city was the last refuge of Ferdinand II, king of Naples. The Piedmontese laid siege to the city from November 1860 to February 1861. The surrender of the fortress led directly to the unification of Italy.
Find this resource:
Bandi, Giuseppe. I Mille: Da Genova a Capua. Milan: Garzanti, 1977.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
By a Garibaldino officer, Bandi’s account should be read in conjunction with Giuseppe Cesare Abba’s diary (Abba 1993). Bandi’s perspective provides another detailed discussion of the events in Sicily and Naples. First published in 1903 (Florence: Salani).
Find this resource:
Cesari, Cesare. La campagna di Garibaldi nell’Italia Meridionale (1860). Rome: Libreria dello stato, 1928.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An official military history of the campaign, the study examines the operations of Garibaldi’s divisions in Naples from August through November 1860.
Find this resource:
Gabriele, Mariano. Sicilia 1860 da Marsala allo Stretto. Rome: Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, 1991.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The book is an excellent naval history of Garibaldi’s campaign in Sicily and Naples. It clearly establishes the role of the Piedmontese navy in providing Garibaldi with supplies and reinforcements as well as running interference with the Neapolitan navy.
Find this resource:
Pecorini-Manzoni, Carlo. Storia della 15a Divisione Türr nella campagna del 1860 in Sicilia e Napoli. Florence: Tipografia della Gazzetta d’Italia, 1876.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A very difficult book to locate. Pecorini-Manzioni was chief of staff to General István Türr. His history of the division is an important source on the military campaign of the Garibaldini in Sicily. It clearly establishes that Garibaldi received open and material support from Piedmont after the fall of Palermo.
Find this resource:
Trevelyan, G. M. Garibaldi and the Thousand. London: Longmans, 1909.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The eminent British historian G. M. Trevelyan produced a beautifully written narrative. He is largely responsible for the common romantic perceptions of Garibaldi’s campaign in Sicily. Trevelyan based his history on numerous Italian primary accounts, including those of Giuseppe Cesare Abba and Giuseppe Bandi.
Find this resource:
The Campaign in the Papal States (1860)
Historians frequently overlook the Piedmontese campaign in the Papal States, as it was conducted at the same time as Giuseppe Garibaldi’s more romanticized invasion of Naples. The Piedmontese outnumbered and outmatched the papal troops, many of whom were volunteers. Alvarez 2011 provides scholarship on the campaign. The official Italian military history is the succinct account in Vigevano 1923. Although there were several battles fought, the most prominent was at Castelfidardo. Ufficio Storico Corpo di Stato Maggiore 1903 is a solid and detailed account of papal and Piedmontese actions. For naval operations at Ancona, see Gabriele 1999.
Alvarez, David. The Pope’s Soldiers: A Military History of the Modern Vatican. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The chapter on the campaign in the Papal States is the best English-language military history.
Find this resource:
Gabriele, Mariano. La prima marina d’Italia (1860–1866). Rome: Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The Piedmontese navy participated in the brief siege of Ancona. Gabriele discusses Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano’s actions against the city and the shelling of its fortifications by the royal Sardinian navy.
Find this resource:
Ufficio Storico Corpo di Stato Maggiore. La Battaglia di Castelfidardo (18 settembre 1860). Rome: Genio Civile, 1903.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This was the largest engagement of the 1860 campaign in the Papal States. The Bersaglieri played a central role in the Piedmontese victory. This official military history is a detailed relation of the battle and its place within the campaign.
Find this resource:
Vigevano, Attilio. La campagna delle Marche e dell’Umbria. Rome: Stabilimento Poligrafico per l’Amministrazione della Guerra, 1923.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is a concise but valuable history of the Piedmontese campaign in the Papal States. The broader strategy and operations are discussed. Based upon Italian archival documentation, it is a complete account of events.
Find this resource:
The Third and Fourth Wars of Italian Unification (1866 and 1870)
Italy’s alliance with Prussia in 1866 is often tied to the narrative of the Wars of German Unification, but from the perspective of Florence (the capital of Italy in 1866), the war with Austria offered the opportunity of completing the conquest of northern Italy. Perhaps the most readable and informed account from the Austrian perspective is Wawro 1996. The conduct of the Italian army is best seen in Corpo di Stato Maggiore 1875 and Scala 1981. The campaign outline and the detailed discussion of the Battle of Custoza are expertly handled in Pollio 1935. The failure on the field in 1866 led to the acquisition of Venetia at the negotiating table. Nevertheless, Rome remained the target of irredentists. In 1870 an Italian army attacked Rome and seized the city, completing the lion’s share of unification. Alvarez 2011 provides a good account of this short action.
Alvarez, David. The Pope’s Soldiers: A Military History of the Modern Vatican. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Alvarez presents a competent and well-constructed chapter on the Italian assault on Rome in 1870 and Pius IX’s decision to offer symbolic resistance.
Find this resource:
Corpo di Stato Maggiore. La campagna del 1866 in Italia. Vol. 1. Rome: Voghera, 1875.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Written less than a decade after the defeat at Custoza, this official history is based on military documents. It provides vital details but is too close to the event to be a definitive account.
Find this resource:
Pollio, Alberto. Custoza 1866. Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1935.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author was a decorated staff officer during World War I and an excellent military historian. This book is a solid military analysis of the battle and of the events surrounding the brief campaign.
Find this resource:
Scala, Edoardo. La guerra del 1866 e altri scritti. Rome: Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore Esercito, 1981.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Edoardo Scala commanded a division in World War II and was a good military historian. He provides a short but nonetheless complete and detailed account of the 1866 war from the Italian perspective. The study explores operations on land and sea and includes a discussion of the diplomacy and politics of the conflict.
Find this resource:
Wawro, Geoffrey. The Austro-Prussian War: Austria’s War with Prussia and Italy in 1866. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author approaches the campaign largely from the Austrian perspective but uses documents from several Italian archives along with extensive Austrian documents to develop an incisive narrative and analysis of the campaign in Venetia and the Battle of Custoza. This book is highly recommended.