Since I'm suffering from writer's block on the American front, here's an update on what's happening in Europe.
***
Story of a Party - Chapter IX
"I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor food; I offer only hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart, and not merely with his lips, follow me."
- Giuseppe Garibaldi
***
From "A Guide to 19th Century Europe" by John Julius Cooper
Star Publishing, 1994
"Chapter IX: Risorgimento
The Revolutions of 1848 resulted in liberal reform in most of the Italian states, but the conservative leadership repealed most of the reform laws within a few years. A notable exception was Sardinia, where the king, Charles Albert, had implemented a liberal constitution, gone to war against Austria, and, when he failed, abdicated the throne in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel II, who continued the liberal reforms.
However, in 1859, things were set in motion once again. King Victor Emmanuel stood ready to oppose Austrian rule in Lombardy seriously, and once again, he had popular support…"
***
Milan
Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, Austrian Empire
29 March, 1859
Pietro stood behind the desk of the butcher's shop, looking out at the tumult out on the street. This time, the ruckus was worse than ever, and the imperial troops had been called out to defend the governor's palace from the rioters. Pietro certainly sympathised with them, but what was the use of getting oneself killed in a fight with no hope of winning.
A man in a long brown coat entered the shop, and took off his hat. It was signor Nenni, a doctor who had his clinic near the shop, and whose services were often bought by Pietro's family.
"Ah, signor Nenni," he said, as the doctor approached. "How can I help you today?"
"Have you got any smoked ham?"
"Of course." He went into the back room and fetched a pound. "That will be one florin."
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
"By the way, have you heard the news? A patient told me that he saw some shady-looking men walking around the city, carrying French-made guns. If you remember, the French are allied to Piedmont…"
"Does this mean that the Piedmontese are sponsoring rebellions out in the country? If so, it seems like a good omen."
"Definitely. Maybe Napoleon III is planning to attack the austriacos?"
"Let us hope."
"Well, we shall have to look and see. Give my regards to Emilio, and to your mother."
"Good-bye."
***
From*"Risorgimento: The road to Italian unification, 1789-1866" by Emilio Marconi
Translated into English by Junius B. Walker
Popolo d'Italia Printing Company, 1987
"In early May, the blow was finally struck. As the Sardinians [1] could not find a way to provoke the Austrians into declaring war, they started to quickly and visibly mobilise along the Ticino River, gaining the attention of the Austrians. This prompted the governor of Lombardy-Venetia, the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian [2], to send Cavour an ultimatum, demanding the withdrawal of troops from within ten kilometres of the border or face war. When no reply was given, war was declared by Vienna, and the Austrian army crossed the Ticino. Days later, Napoleon III declared war on Austria in support of Sardinia, and prepared an army of his own to cross the Alps.
The two armies met in battle at Vercelli, on the 21st of May. The small Sardinian force of 15,000 infantry, backed by only 18 6-pounder guns, faced off against an Austrian force of 23,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 59 guns. However, unlike the Count Gyulai's Austrian troops, which consisted mainly of parade-ground troops and officers chosen for social standing and inexperienced in battle [3], the Sardinian troops were gruffier, but more willing to die for their cause, and many of the officers were veterans of the last war. As a result, they did quite well in battle, and although they lost, the Austrians suffered heavy casualties. Count Gyulai now decided that the original strategy of moving quickly and capturing much of Piedmont before the French could arrive could not be executed properly, or (as he wrote to Archduke Ferdinand in a letter) "we shall be knee-high in the blood of our lost comrades"; as such, he advanced slowly, capturing Vercelli by the 2nd of June.
By now, of course, almost the entire French expeditionary army had arrived in Turin, by rail, under Napoleon III's personal leadership, bolstering the Sardinian lines with 134,000 men and over 300 guns. Having heard news of this, and of an alleged enemy plan to attack his southern flank, Count Gyulai decided to retreat across the Ticino. This is where it started to go wrong for the Austrians.
As events would prove, the French and Sardinian armies were not to Gyulai's south; that was a rumour spread by the Sardinians to deceive the Austrians. To support this, the French had sent a corps of their army south, to attack the Austrians at Lungavilla; this happened, and only served to strengthen Gyulai's resolve to defend his southern flank [4]. However, this would prove fatal; the Franco-Sardinian army was largely to his north, and stood poised to strike at Gyulai as he turned north to cross the Ticino.
Napoleon III decided to make a bold move, by crossing the Ticino at Novara and deciding to rout the Austrians as they crossed the river. This was done, using railroad transport to great success, and large portions of the Franco-Sardinian army took up positions at the railway hub of Magenta, west of Milan."
***
Cinecittá, Milan
Piedmont, Italy
2 July 1958
Alberto Prodi stood on the small hillock in his independence-era uniform, pointing toward the "enemy lines" built a few hundred metres away. He shouted: "Why do you hesitate, why do you stand here, why do you not march forward to make your country great?"
The others stood still, watching the bloodshed in the distance. One of them pointed to the battle, indicating the simple answer to Prodi's question.
"The blood runs deep, and the death is great, but they die for a worthy cause. So, we should not fear, for so long as we are willing to give down our lives for humanity, the life of our fatherland is eternal."
The men in front of him started cheering, and soon they were out of their positions and running for the enemy lines. The scene had gone well, and as they approached the set backdrops made to look like the battle of Magenta, the director yelled "Cut!" and the filming of "La Nascita della Nazione" finished its twelfth day of filming.
***
From "Risorgimento: The road to Italian unification, 1789-1866" by Emilio Marconi
Translated into English by Junius B. Walker
Popolo d'Italia Printing Company, 1987
"After Magenta, the rebellions in Lombardy grew stronger and louder, and between them and the harassment by the Franco-Sardinian army, Gyulai found himself unable to advance, and his position gradually became untenable. As such, he and the Archduke abandoned Milan to the enemy on June 9. The Franco-Sardinian victory at Melegnano kept the Austrians in flight until they reached the Quadrilaterals, the great chain of fortresses that guarded Venetia from outside attack. However, before reaching the fortresses themselves, Gyulai decided to come back and strike at the Franco-Sardinians before they could follow him. However, he had made a miscalculation in predicting that the enemy would move slower than it did, and so at Ceresara the two armies found themselves attacked by each other, with the Franco-Sardinians believing that they only opposed the enemy rearguard, and the Austrians that they were only facing the enemy vanguard. The situation at the outbreak of battle was a confused one, and over the course of the day, with the lines moving back and forth over more than fifteen kilometres of land, the situation didn't improve much for either side. [5]
Eventually, the battle ended in defeat for the Austrians, but with heavy casualties on both sides. Napoleon III, believing Sardinia incapable of continuing the war without France (this would likely have been the case), now proceeded to Verona to sign an armistice with the Austrians, by which Lombardy, including Mantua but not the other Quadrilateral fortresses [6], was ceded to France (Austria did not want the humiliation of ceding land to the Sardinians), and the Dukes of Parma and Modena were to be restored, having been ousted by rebellion at the outbreak of war [7].
The Sardinians were outraged by this stroke of treachery on the French part, and Cavour even threatened to resign over the matter; however, cooler heads prevailed, and he stayed on as Chief Minister*[8]. The Great Powers, other than Austria and France, also felt that something should be done to reverse this, and called a conference at Geneva in November. There, the situation was mediated, and, thanks in part to Cavour's diplomatic skill, and in part to being backed by Prussian Minister-President Otto von Bismarck [9], the Sardinians got to keep Lombardy, as well as Savoy and Nice, and plebiscites were to be held in Parma, Modena, the Papal Legations and Tuscany, over whether to keep their old rulers or join Sardinia. It was a resounding diplomatic victory for the Sardinians, and when all four plebiscites ended in an overwhelming victory for integration, only the Two Sicilies and the Papal States lay in the way of Italian unification. Now, the Sardinians settled down to consolidate their gains, but Giuseppe Garibaldi would not have it. In early May of the next year, as another rebellion against Bourbon rule broke out on Sicily, he set out from Genoa with a thousand volunteers to come to the rebels' aid. This was the famous Expedition of the Thousand…"
***
[1] For those of you who are unfamiliar with 19th century Italian history, in a political context, "Sardinian" and "Piedmontese" are interchangeable. However, as military and cultural matters are concerned, "Piedmont" refers to the OTL Italian region of Piedmont, and also those parts of Lombardy located west of the Ticino, as these were considered part of Piedmont at the time.
[2] The future Maximilian I of Mexico.
[3] This was the case IOTL as well.
[4] This was largely what happened at Montebello IOTL; however, with the slight number of butterflies, the location is changed to Lungavilla, which is located a couple of kilometres north of Montebello.
[5] This was all true for Solferino IOTL as well.
[6] Here, things begin to diverge significantly from OTL. By the OTL armistice (which was signed at Villafranca), the Austrians got to keep Mantua; however, ITTL Napoleon III pushes harder and gets his way. Rest assured, however; he won't get so lucky in the future.
[7] This part, however, is as per OTL.
[8] IOTL Cavour did resign, so this is another divergence.
[9] Another rising diplomatic mastermind. More to come.