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Chapter 53 The Sardinian Heresy
Chapter 53 The Sardinian Heresy
"Looking back on the whole affair, father really wasn't thinking through too much when he decided to embark on his grand conquest."- Prince Victor Emmanuel 1861
"My fellow soldiers of Christ. This war that we have found ourselves into is no longer one of nationalism, unification, or pure conquest. Rather, this is an offense of heresy, the highest account since Robespierre and the Satanic French Republic. As servants of His Holiness and defenders of the Church, it is our most sacred duty to wipe out this abominable state from the face of Italy. Burn the Heretics!! Ave Pius!"- Major Roberto Giuliani 1852
"This is why we separate Church from state."- President David Burnet 1852
In 1852 began the the War of Italian Unification, or the Sardinian Heresy as it is alternately called in Italy and much of the Catholic world (the title gaining much popularity in usage after the release of the Horus Heresy series). What would develop in this war was a situation similar to that of Germany six years prior, two grand states of the nation would battle each other for the right of leadership, only one would unify Italy at the end of it. When Charles Albert set out to conquer Italy and unify the state under his rule, he thought that it would be a relatively simple affair that would soon see the whole Peninsula fall within months. Despite the fact that the Papal Soldiers were some of the fiercest fighters in the Lombard-Venetian War, Charles planned for the laxness of the Confederation borders and the surprise of the attack to take his neighbors by storm before they could mobilize his armies. Indeed had Charles been using the modern doctrine of blitzkrieg and had started the war two decades later with larger popular support, he might've succeed rather quickly. However, there were several problems that would prevent this from happening, mainly his attempted enticement of King Ferdinand into the affair. While it is true that Ferdinand was a very ambitious man who would've done much to try and either preserve his independence or gain leadership in Italy, he was at heart a conservative and faithful Catholic. When Ferdinand received a letter from a Sardinian diplomat which detailed Charles's plans, he was offered the right of conquest to half the Papal territory and the right to continue existing as sovereign of Sicily. At first Ferdinand was intrigued by the offer, but when faced with the moral dilemma of starting an offensive war against the Pope, he soon backed away from it for moral reasons. Instead a plan formed in his head where he would emerge out of this war with a higher position and would potentially become the most powerful state in Italy with a Sardinian defeat. Ferdinand quickly traveled to Rome after receiving knowledge and let Pius knew of Charles's designs against the Papal States. At first Pius did not believe it as he thought Charles would not dare incur the wrath of the faithful within his kingdom, that and the fact that much of the Confederation's success had actually been directed towards Sardinia-Piedmont, Why ruin it over greed? Still Pius agreed to mobilize the Papal Army in case of an attack and agreed to let Sicilian troops and ships enter the borders. His doubts were erased when on August 18th, Charles declared war and had his armies march into the neighboring states of Italy. When Pius had heard of Charles's false reasoning for attacking the Papal States, he became extremely livid over the allegations that Pius was plotting to conquer his kingdom, and the war goals which stated Pius was to be overthrown for his tyranny and Rome to become the capitol of Charles. This was the gravest insult to the Church and Pius's personal image that he could've taken. Making a grand speech before St. Peter's later that day. Pius declared Charles to be a warmonger and an enemy of the Church for his unchristian actions and attempts to eliminate the Pope. Pius then excommunicated the entirety of the House of Savoy and declared that to be fighting under the flag of Savoy was not only a sign of treason against the Italian Confederation, but it was a mark of heresy and the souls of the soldiers could be damned to hell for their actions. Pius stated that the excommunication would only be lifted if Sardinia surrendered unconditionally, and that salvation shall come for the Kingdom only if peace reigns once more. Later on in the Confederate Parliment, Pius used his powers as President to rally the states to declare war against the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, something that was easily done given that the entirety of Italy was about to be attacked. The Papal Armies along with the Sicilian forces marched west in order to meet the so called heretics and drive the enemy across their borders. Garibaldi was also sent on a secret mission to Sardinia-Piedmont so that he could rally the revolutionaries to the side of the Confederation. War had begun.
View attachment 301645
King Ferdinand II of Sicily (Right) A photograph of St. Peter's where Pius declared war and heresy. (Left)
When the operations began the Sardinians were able to quickly conquer the Duchies of Parma and Modena in a matter of days while they had made some progress into Tuscany. Venice was the hardest front to enter as the Papal Armies had prepared their defenses in advance and they had many leftover fortifications from the Austrians. The local population was also quick to volunteer and rallied in the thousands to defend their homes and freedom from the new foreign invaders. Slowly the Sardinian offensive on the Papal side was grounded down to a halt, the army having only gained 10 miles of territory within Verona. There were multiple problems with the Sardinian Army however besides the fight that their enemies put up. When the Pope issued an excommunication to the House of Savoy and declared fighting for them to be a heresy, this severely lowered the morale of many the common soldiers in the Sardinian Army. Most were Catholic and were devout in listening to the teachings of the church, so hearing their holy father proclaim that they were heretics was something that made many think that they were fighting an unholy war for the devil. It was a rather awkward situation for many of the priests in the army who had to keep the men's spirits high but could not openly encourage dissent. One effort to solve this problem was a suggestion by Charles Albert to make his own Church of Sardinia much like the English did with King Henry, though this idea was quickly shot down by his advisors as much of the kingdom's population was not fond of Protestantism, thus any move towards it would launch an open revolt, not that they weren't facing it right now. With the deceleration of war upon all of Italy, many nationalists within Sardinia-Piedmont started protesting the war as an unjust one that was declared by a tyrant to make himself head of Italy. After the first few days of protests, King Charles Albert rescinded the constitution and unleashed the Royal Guard upon the protestors, wounding dozens and killing some outright. With the destruction of the constitution being the last straw for the nationalists and liberals, many began starting to revolt against the king by attacking army garrisons and launching partisan attacks against government stations. This resistance was further bolstered by the arrival of Garibaldi who set out to teach the nationalists guerilla tactics and soon trained a large volunteer army who began targeting supply lines of the Sardinian armies while attacking the properties of the nobles who supported the King. Soon many cities within Lombardy and Tyrol were in open revolt with Milan once again becoming a center of revolution.
Encouraged by the reports of high resistance in Sardinia-Piedmont and motivated by the lackluster progress of the Sardinian armies since the outbreak of hostilities, the Sicilian-Papal forces began to plan a mass counterattack that would liberate Modena and Parma while making a deep drive for Piedmont. A combined army of around 130,000 from the totality of the Italian Confederation came to face off against the 100,000 men of the Sardinian Army. Already there was a huge difference in quality due to the rather high fervor that was spreading across the Italian armies. further supported by priests who preached of the holiness of their mission. Meanwhile the Sardinian men were soon beset with division over what would be the right course to take in the war.The first actions of the Italian Confederation would be to entirely stop the Sardinian offensives all across Northern Italy. This objective was achieved with the Battles of Florence and Bologna on September 2nd and 4th respectively. In both battles the Papal and Sicilian armies were able to meet up with the Sardinians on the city limits and had formed a strong defensive line with support from defenses erected by the local civilians. The large majority of the battles were undertaken by the actions of the infantry due to the fact that artillery fire was limited on both sides in order not to cause a great amount of damage to the two large cities. It was hear that the Sicilian/Papal forces quickly gained the advantage due to the extremely high morale and the fierce fighting undertaken by the men to protect their homelands. Italian nationalists had also managed to recruit thousands of the citizens were they were unleashed in mob tactics to annihilate individual Sardinian battalions. Add to that the encirclement actions that closed off many escape routes, which were done by the cavalry, the Sardinians were decisively defeated and had to retreat. The combined casualties of both battles had caused near 15,000 casualties for the Sardinians while the Italians lost 9,000. After the Sardinians lost the battle, the Italians were able to go on the offensive and whatever Sardinian muster was lost as the land of Tuscany were declared to be liberated on September 20th, and the Papal States on September 26th. Meanwhile in the North, the Papal forces under General Vittorio Romano were undergoing an offensive to liberate the Lombardy province from the control of Sardinia. Much like the previous war with the Austrians, Italian Nationalists were key in granting victory to the Papal forces as they had managed to launch multiple rebellions in every major city in Lombardy with Garibaldi leading the People's Revolutionary Army from Milan to engage the Sardinian forces defending the area and to help the Papal Armies when they marched in. While the famous Quadrilatero fortresses were expected to be of an issue, a mutiny led by Colonel Luigi Russo, a highly devout Catholic, had overthrown the command at the Mantuva fortress and soon opened up the citadel to the Papal army. This action caused a repetition for the Peschiera fortress, eliminating the threat of a prolonged siege to win back Lombardy. On All Saints Day, all Sardinian forces had been pushed back across the border with Modena and Parma launching their own revolts against the Sardinian occupiers. This was seen by Pius as a sign that God was on their side. Orders were then given out to the Confederation to head west towards Piedmont, in order to overthrow Charles by Christmas.
View attachment 301644
Battle of Tuscany (Right) Mantuva Uprising (Center) The People's Revolutionary Army in Milan (Left)
When the outbreak of the war first came out, the Sardinian Navy was deployed rapidly in order to blockade the Duchy of Modena and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Due to almost no time in warning and the superior size and quality of the Sardinian fleet, the ships of Modena and Tuscany were destroyed immediately in their ports while the remaining vessels as sea scrambled for either the ports of the Papal States and Sicily, or that of the neutral nations. A blockade was then set in for the two small Italian states, although it was of little effect due to the land connection to the Papal States and the availability of agricultural goods from Sicily. The Papal States and Sicily on the other hand, were able to have much of their fleets protected due to them being out of range and on patrol for any Sardinian vessels. Those few that dared to approach their territory where swiftly sunk or captured with only one Sicilian vessel sunk and two Papal ships damaged in the first week of fighting. The Papal States and Sicily also had the advantage of having two of the finest shipbuilding centers in all of Italy with their control of Venice and Naples respectively. After organizing the fleets under the joint command of Admiral Giradelli with a combined total of 112 ships. 60 from Sicily, 52 from the Papal States. Their first objective was to prevent any blockading of their homes by gaining naval superiority in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Battle of the Tyrrhenian, was a series of battles and skirmishes that lasted from September 3rd to November 10th and would come to be a war of attrition between the two fleets over control of the most important corridor on the Italian navigation route. While Sardinia Piedmont did indeed have a large navy of 83 ships, the problem was that Charles Albert had decided to spread out his forces instead of concentrating them into one armada. 15 ships were present in Piedmont at all times so as to prevent the capitol from invasion. 20 ships stayed on the island of Sardinia to protect the home of the House of Savoy from a seaborne invasion, 20 ships were dedicated to the blockade, and the remaining 27 were sent to the Tyrrhenian. Overall around 47 ships were able to fully participate in the battle, but the Sardinians did not have the natural talent of the Sicilians or the ship management of the Venetians. Through the use of hunting packs and diversionary tactics meant to look as though it were to brake the blockade or invade Sardinia, Admiral Giradelli was able to surround the Tyrrhenian on all sides and then slowly form a pocket to hunt down any Sardinian ships that were traveling in the waters. Thanks to the recent development of the telegram, an effective communication had been set up between Sicily and the mainland that was able to detect enemy ships and relay their location quickly so that an convoy could be deployed. Nationalists on Sardinia were also effective in causing sabotage operations and damaging the port, causing troops to be diverted and for maintenance of damaged ships to be extended. By the end of the battle the Sardinians had lost 24 ships while the Italians had lost a smaller 13. The Sardinian Navy then broke off its attempts to surround Sicily and then the Confederate navy was soon able to begin operations to brake the blockade and begin its own blockade of Sardinia, while occasionally launching raids against the Piedmontese coast. Due to the success that came on the land campaigns, the Sardinians abandoned its blockade operations and soon retreated to their homelands and attempted to protect merchant convoys. Initiating a cat and mouse game that would continue for the rest of the war.
Battle of the Tyrrhenian
When Charles Albert had heard of Ferdinand's siding with the Pope, he was livid. The King had expected that his Sicilian counterpart would naturally come to the aid of Charles in order to prevent becoming a vassal of Rome. Had Sicily joined the Sardinian forces, then Rome would've fallen in a matter of weeks and all of Northern Italy would be under the control of Charles. Charles then reached out to other nations through his foreign affairs ministry and asked for aid to drive the Confederate armies out and secure a friend in a future united Italy. What he had gotten in response was entirely negative. Nearly all Catholic nations had universally condemned Charles and declared him a heretic who would not be worth a single drop of blood of their manpower. Britian was already engaged in the newly waged Crimean War and their traditional friend on the peninsula had been Sicily. Germany stated they weren't interested in the affairs of Italy and that they would merely form a new relationship with the victor. President Webster had condemned the action as that of an unjust war and Texas cancelled its negotiations over the possibility of opening up an embassy. Sardinia-Piedmont was truly alone in the world with virtually no friends that would save them soon. Charles would've prayed for a miracle, but it seemed that even God was on Pius's side. Still the man was stubborn and he refused to surrender. Charles had ordered his generals to dig in on the borders and fight to the last man if the Italian armies attempted to enter. Sardinia-Piedmont had been secure from invasion ever since Napoleon's demise, and that was not something Charles wished to happen anytime soon. Civilians had started to erect trenches on the border and defenses in the city (although under gunpoint from the guard) and the Sardinian Navy would be on intercept duty for any Italian ships that dared to come near Sardinia or the Piedmontese shores. On November 4th, Charles had received word from his generals that the borders of the Kingdom were being invaded along with amphibious landings in Sardinia. They were not in the east however. Rather, the targets were primarily Nice and Imperia. What made the situation worse was that the men sighted were reported not wearing any Italian uniforms, but that of the French Imperial standard. Napoleon had joined the war.
View attachment 301641
Occupation of Nice (Right) French Invasion of Sardinia (Left)
"Looking back on the whole affair, father really wasn't thinking through too much when he decided to embark on his grand conquest."- Prince Victor Emmanuel 1861
"My fellow soldiers of Christ. This war that we have found ourselves into is no longer one of nationalism, unification, or pure conquest. Rather, this is an offense of heresy, the highest account since Robespierre and the Satanic French Republic. As servants of His Holiness and defenders of the Church, it is our most sacred duty to wipe out this abominable state from the face of Italy. Burn the Heretics!! Ave Pius!"- Major Roberto Giuliani 1852
"This is why we separate Church from state."- President David Burnet 1852
In 1852 began the the War of Italian Unification, or the Sardinian Heresy as it is alternately called in Italy and much of the Catholic world (the title gaining much popularity in usage after the release of the Horus Heresy series). What would develop in this war was a situation similar to that of Germany six years prior, two grand states of the nation would battle each other for the right of leadership, only one would unify Italy at the end of it. When Charles Albert set out to conquer Italy and unify the state under his rule, he thought that it would be a relatively simple affair that would soon see the whole Peninsula fall within months. Despite the fact that the Papal Soldiers were some of the fiercest fighters in the Lombard-Venetian War, Charles planned for the laxness of the Confederation borders and the surprise of the attack to take his neighbors by storm before they could mobilize his armies. Indeed had Charles been using the modern doctrine of blitzkrieg and had started the war two decades later with larger popular support, he might've succeed rather quickly. However, there were several problems that would prevent this from happening, mainly his attempted enticement of King Ferdinand into the affair. While it is true that Ferdinand was a very ambitious man who would've done much to try and either preserve his independence or gain leadership in Italy, he was at heart a conservative and faithful Catholic. When Ferdinand received a letter from a Sardinian diplomat which detailed Charles's plans, he was offered the right of conquest to half the Papal territory and the right to continue existing as sovereign of Sicily. At first Ferdinand was intrigued by the offer, but when faced with the moral dilemma of starting an offensive war against the Pope, he soon backed away from it for moral reasons. Instead a plan formed in his head where he would emerge out of this war with a higher position and would potentially become the most powerful state in Italy with a Sardinian defeat. Ferdinand quickly traveled to Rome after receiving knowledge and let Pius knew of Charles's designs against the Papal States. At first Pius did not believe it as he thought Charles would not dare incur the wrath of the faithful within his kingdom, that and the fact that much of the Confederation's success had actually been directed towards Sardinia-Piedmont, Why ruin it over greed? Still Pius agreed to mobilize the Papal Army in case of an attack and agreed to let Sicilian troops and ships enter the borders. His doubts were erased when on August 18th, Charles declared war and had his armies march into the neighboring states of Italy. When Pius had heard of Charles's false reasoning for attacking the Papal States, he became extremely livid over the allegations that Pius was plotting to conquer his kingdom, and the war goals which stated Pius was to be overthrown for his tyranny and Rome to become the capitol of Charles. This was the gravest insult to the Church and Pius's personal image that he could've taken. Making a grand speech before St. Peter's later that day. Pius declared Charles to be a warmonger and an enemy of the Church for his unchristian actions and attempts to eliminate the Pope. Pius then excommunicated the entirety of the House of Savoy and declared that to be fighting under the flag of Savoy was not only a sign of treason against the Italian Confederation, but it was a mark of heresy and the souls of the soldiers could be damned to hell for their actions. Pius stated that the excommunication would only be lifted if Sardinia surrendered unconditionally, and that salvation shall come for the Kingdom only if peace reigns once more. Later on in the Confederate Parliment, Pius used his powers as President to rally the states to declare war against the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, something that was easily done given that the entirety of Italy was about to be attacked. The Papal Armies along with the Sicilian forces marched west in order to meet the so called heretics and drive the enemy across their borders. Garibaldi was also sent on a secret mission to Sardinia-Piedmont so that he could rally the revolutionaries to the side of the Confederation. War had begun.
View attachment 301645
King Ferdinand II of Sicily (Right) A photograph of St. Peter's where Pius declared war and heresy. (Left)
When the operations began the Sardinians were able to quickly conquer the Duchies of Parma and Modena in a matter of days while they had made some progress into Tuscany. Venice was the hardest front to enter as the Papal Armies had prepared their defenses in advance and they had many leftover fortifications from the Austrians. The local population was also quick to volunteer and rallied in the thousands to defend their homes and freedom from the new foreign invaders. Slowly the Sardinian offensive on the Papal side was grounded down to a halt, the army having only gained 10 miles of territory within Verona. There were multiple problems with the Sardinian Army however besides the fight that their enemies put up. When the Pope issued an excommunication to the House of Savoy and declared fighting for them to be a heresy, this severely lowered the morale of many the common soldiers in the Sardinian Army. Most were Catholic and were devout in listening to the teachings of the church, so hearing their holy father proclaim that they were heretics was something that made many think that they were fighting an unholy war for the devil. It was a rather awkward situation for many of the priests in the army who had to keep the men's spirits high but could not openly encourage dissent. One effort to solve this problem was a suggestion by Charles Albert to make his own Church of Sardinia much like the English did with King Henry, though this idea was quickly shot down by his advisors as much of the kingdom's population was not fond of Protestantism, thus any move towards it would launch an open revolt, not that they weren't facing it right now. With the deceleration of war upon all of Italy, many nationalists within Sardinia-Piedmont started protesting the war as an unjust one that was declared by a tyrant to make himself head of Italy. After the first few days of protests, King Charles Albert rescinded the constitution and unleashed the Royal Guard upon the protestors, wounding dozens and killing some outright. With the destruction of the constitution being the last straw for the nationalists and liberals, many began starting to revolt against the king by attacking army garrisons and launching partisan attacks against government stations. This resistance was further bolstered by the arrival of Garibaldi who set out to teach the nationalists guerilla tactics and soon trained a large volunteer army who began targeting supply lines of the Sardinian armies while attacking the properties of the nobles who supported the King. Soon many cities within Lombardy and Tyrol were in open revolt with Milan once again becoming a center of revolution.
Encouraged by the reports of high resistance in Sardinia-Piedmont and motivated by the lackluster progress of the Sardinian armies since the outbreak of hostilities, the Sicilian-Papal forces began to plan a mass counterattack that would liberate Modena and Parma while making a deep drive for Piedmont. A combined army of around 130,000 from the totality of the Italian Confederation came to face off against the 100,000 men of the Sardinian Army. Already there was a huge difference in quality due to the rather high fervor that was spreading across the Italian armies. further supported by priests who preached of the holiness of their mission. Meanwhile the Sardinian men were soon beset with division over what would be the right course to take in the war.The first actions of the Italian Confederation would be to entirely stop the Sardinian offensives all across Northern Italy. This objective was achieved with the Battles of Florence and Bologna on September 2nd and 4th respectively. In both battles the Papal and Sicilian armies were able to meet up with the Sardinians on the city limits and had formed a strong defensive line with support from defenses erected by the local civilians. The large majority of the battles were undertaken by the actions of the infantry due to the fact that artillery fire was limited on both sides in order not to cause a great amount of damage to the two large cities. It was hear that the Sicilian/Papal forces quickly gained the advantage due to the extremely high morale and the fierce fighting undertaken by the men to protect their homelands. Italian nationalists had also managed to recruit thousands of the citizens were they were unleashed in mob tactics to annihilate individual Sardinian battalions. Add to that the encirclement actions that closed off many escape routes, which were done by the cavalry, the Sardinians were decisively defeated and had to retreat. The combined casualties of both battles had caused near 15,000 casualties for the Sardinians while the Italians lost 9,000. After the Sardinians lost the battle, the Italians were able to go on the offensive and whatever Sardinian muster was lost as the land of Tuscany were declared to be liberated on September 20th, and the Papal States on September 26th. Meanwhile in the North, the Papal forces under General Vittorio Romano were undergoing an offensive to liberate the Lombardy province from the control of Sardinia. Much like the previous war with the Austrians, Italian Nationalists were key in granting victory to the Papal forces as they had managed to launch multiple rebellions in every major city in Lombardy with Garibaldi leading the People's Revolutionary Army from Milan to engage the Sardinian forces defending the area and to help the Papal Armies when they marched in. While the famous Quadrilatero fortresses were expected to be of an issue, a mutiny led by Colonel Luigi Russo, a highly devout Catholic, had overthrown the command at the Mantuva fortress and soon opened up the citadel to the Papal army. This action caused a repetition for the Peschiera fortress, eliminating the threat of a prolonged siege to win back Lombardy. On All Saints Day, all Sardinian forces had been pushed back across the border with Modena and Parma launching their own revolts against the Sardinian occupiers. This was seen by Pius as a sign that God was on their side. Orders were then given out to the Confederation to head west towards Piedmont, in order to overthrow Charles by Christmas.
View attachment 301644
Battle of Tuscany (Right) Mantuva Uprising (Center) The People's Revolutionary Army in Milan (Left)
When the outbreak of the war first came out, the Sardinian Navy was deployed rapidly in order to blockade the Duchy of Modena and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Due to almost no time in warning and the superior size and quality of the Sardinian fleet, the ships of Modena and Tuscany were destroyed immediately in their ports while the remaining vessels as sea scrambled for either the ports of the Papal States and Sicily, or that of the neutral nations. A blockade was then set in for the two small Italian states, although it was of little effect due to the land connection to the Papal States and the availability of agricultural goods from Sicily. The Papal States and Sicily on the other hand, were able to have much of their fleets protected due to them being out of range and on patrol for any Sardinian vessels. Those few that dared to approach their territory where swiftly sunk or captured with only one Sicilian vessel sunk and two Papal ships damaged in the first week of fighting. The Papal States and Sicily also had the advantage of having two of the finest shipbuilding centers in all of Italy with their control of Venice and Naples respectively. After organizing the fleets under the joint command of Admiral Giradelli with a combined total of 112 ships. 60 from Sicily, 52 from the Papal States. Their first objective was to prevent any blockading of their homes by gaining naval superiority in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Battle of the Tyrrhenian, was a series of battles and skirmishes that lasted from September 3rd to November 10th and would come to be a war of attrition between the two fleets over control of the most important corridor on the Italian navigation route. While Sardinia Piedmont did indeed have a large navy of 83 ships, the problem was that Charles Albert had decided to spread out his forces instead of concentrating them into one armada. 15 ships were present in Piedmont at all times so as to prevent the capitol from invasion. 20 ships stayed on the island of Sardinia to protect the home of the House of Savoy from a seaborne invasion, 20 ships were dedicated to the blockade, and the remaining 27 were sent to the Tyrrhenian. Overall around 47 ships were able to fully participate in the battle, but the Sardinians did not have the natural talent of the Sicilians or the ship management of the Venetians. Through the use of hunting packs and diversionary tactics meant to look as though it were to brake the blockade or invade Sardinia, Admiral Giradelli was able to surround the Tyrrhenian on all sides and then slowly form a pocket to hunt down any Sardinian ships that were traveling in the waters. Thanks to the recent development of the telegram, an effective communication had been set up between Sicily and the mainland that was able to detect enemy ships and relay their location quickly so that an convoy could be deployed. Nationalists on Sardinia were also effective in causing sabotage operations and damaging the port, causing troops to be diverted and for maintenance of damaged ships to be extended. By the end of the battle the Sardinians had lost 24 ships while the Italians had lost a smaller 13. The Sardinian Navy then broke off its attempts to surround Sicily and then the Confederate navy was soon able to begin operations to brake the blockade and begin its own blockade of Sardinia, while occasionally launching raids against the Piedmontese coast. Due to the success that came on the land campaigns, the Sardinians abandoned its blockade operations and soon retreated to their homelands and attempted to protect merchant convoys. Initiating a cat and mouse game that would continue for the rest of the war.
Battle of the Tyrrhenian
When Charles Albert had heard of Ferdinand's siding with the Pope, he was livid. The King had expected that his Sicilian counterpart would naturally come to the aid of Charles in order to prevent becoming a vassal of Rome. Had Sicily joined the Sardinian forces, then Rome would've fallen in a matter of weeks and all of Northern Italy would be under the control of Charles. Charles then reached out to other nations through his foreign affairs ministry and asked for aid to drive the Confederate armies out and secure a friend in a future united Italy. What he had gotten in response was entirely negative. Nearly all Catholic nations had universally condemned Charles and declared him a heretic who would not be worth a single drop of blood of their manpower. Britian was already engaged in the newly waged Crimean War and their traditional friend on the peninsula had been Sicily. Germany stated they weren't interested in the affairs of Italy and that they would merely form a new relationship with the victor. President Webster had condemned the action as that of an unjust war and Texas cancelled its negotiations over the possibility of opening up an embassy. Sardinia-Piedmont was truly alone in the world with virtually no friends that would save them soon. Charles would've prayed for a miracle, but it seemed that even God was on Pius's side. Still the man was stubborn and he refused to surrender. Charles had ordered his generals to dig in on the borders and fight to the last man if the Italian armies attempted to enter. Sardinia-Piedmont had been secure from invasion ever since Napoleon's demise, and that was not something Charles wished to happen anytime soon. Civilians had started to erect trenches on the border and defenses in the city (although under gunpoint from the guard) and the Sardinian Navy would be on intercept duty for any Italian ships that dared to come near Sardinia or the Piedmontese shores. On November 4th, Charles had received word from his generals that the borders of the Kingdom were being invaded along with amphibious landings in Sardinia. They were not in the east however. Rather, the targets were primarily Nice and Imperia. What made the situation worse was that the men sighted were reported not wearing any Italian uniforms, but that of the French Imperial standard. Napoleon had joined the war.
View attachment 301641
Occupation of Nice (Right) French Invasion of Sardinia (Left)
- Kaiser Chris
- Word Count: 3k