An Ausonian Tale: the Kingdom of Naples in the XIX century

The Civil War

[FONT=&quot]A King goes South[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The main body of the Neapolitan army, under the direct command of King Joachim Murat advanced swiftly through Apulia without meeting any form of organized resistance (i) and, even when it crossed into the more unruly Basilicata, the only real obstacle that it encountered was the almost total lack of roads and infrastructure of any kind along the Ionian coast. Its march thus proceeded, although now at a much slower pace, in southern direction and soon it entered Calabria.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] The first real engagement happened in the plain of Sibari, where, before the ancient Hellenic colony, the avant-garde of the Neapolitan forces were met by the stiff resistance of several irregular bands. When caught in the open, these where easy prey to Murat’s cavalry, but the story was very different in the villages, that had been fortified with improvised barricades and even some old pieces of artillery.

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[FONT=&quot]The advanced forces took severe losses in storming these prepared positions, and the advance stalled until the main bodies of infantry and artillery could catch up with the avant-garde and proceed to methodically encircle, bombard and reduce those “village redoubts” and Murat could finally enter Sibari on the 26th of September.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]La tela del ragno[/FONT][FONT=&quot] (ii)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Meanwhile the light forces under Mahnés’ command, tasked with containing the threat of don Ciccio and his big insurgent band, had established their bases in Potenza and Matera, and from then started to secure villages and ways of communications in an always widening circle around these two towns. The problem of limited manpower was alleviated by the use of the provincial legions of the Guardia Civica that, once the surprise and chaos of the first days of the insurrection had waned, and with the support of the mobile and well trained light infantry and light cavalry forces of the regular army, proved capable enough to garrison the population centers.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The briganti found themselves more and more isolated in pockets centered around hill or forested areas, cut off from the towns and villages and from the support of the local population.
For the moment however they still controlled most of the land area of Basilicata, had many armed and determined men and fought back viciously in uncountable ambushes and raids against the royal forces, inflicting losses almost each day. However they also took heavy losses, and their ability to resupply and recruit from the local population was being rapidly degraded by Mahnés’ “spiderweb” strategy. Soon don don Ciccio would have to attack in force and severe some of those threads, or his forces would be defeated piecemeal or forced to surrender because of lack of food.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] The food situation was indeed becoming worrying, as Mahnés had reinstated the draconian decrees of some years ago, that prohibited bringing food in the fields on pain of death, and those decrees had been brutally enforced both upon briganti sympathizers and upon women and children bringing some bread and cheese to their male relatives working in the fields (iii).[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]At the same time the Neapolitan officers kept law and order fairly, if harshly in the villages, and managed efficiently the movement of foodstuff and other supplies, and even started some basic sanitation works, thus actually improving the material living conditions for most peasants, who had rarely experienced the government doing anything at all that affected in a positive way their everyday lives.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Therefore the resentment against the occupying forces was actually less than what was expected and the actual number of executions of civilians was relatively low (iv). Many peasants also saw the enrollment in the Guardia Civica as an attractive way to improve their families’ income and their social standing in the village communities.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A loyalist proclamation[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The slowdown in military operations caused by the Austrian ultimatum and by the resistance in the plain of Sibari enabled the Calabrese Sanfedisti enough time to organize their forces in a more regular way (v) and to finally overpower the garrison of Cotrone (vi). On the 26th of September they controlled all of Calabria, apart from Sibari, where Murat had entered that very morning, and Reggio, defended by an increasingly desperate and undersupplied 10th Line Infantry regiment.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] The improvements in the Sanfedisti organization were also of political nature, and leaders emerged, mostly aristocrats who hadn’t wanted to leave their lands to follow their King in Sicily but also despised Murat and hated the French for their administration of the process of liquidation of feudality.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]These barons had made the city of Cosenza the center of their activities, and it was there, on the 27th of September, that seeing how they could not hope to stop alone Murat’s advance, they issued a “Plea from the loyal peoples of Calabria and Basilicata to their legitimate Catholic King Ferdinand”, calling for an intervention from the Bourbon King to reclaim possession of his lands, oust the French usurper and protect his loyal subjects from Jacobin oppression. (vii)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]King Joachim couldn’t do much to answer to the proclamation, beside ordering his small fleet to depart from Napoli and move to the Strait of Messina. He had thought of marching with his cavalry to Cosenza and capturing the rebels before Ferdinand decided to act, but his forces were to limited to afford dividing them, and the rebels’ village redoubts had proved formidable against unsupported cavalry. Thus he decided to keep going south, skirting the briganti infested Sila mountains, and destroy the main rebel forces that were acting between Crotone and Catanzaro.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]In Palermo, King Ferdinand had already been pondering for a while the possibility of crossing the straits and reclaim his legitimate Kingdom, now that, with a little help from retired Bourbon officers and English weapons, it had risen against the French usurper and there were rumors of possible Austrian intervention.
Now this plead gave him the justification that he needed, and the English ambassador ensured him that Britain would not directly intervene in the war, but would support his efforts, now that it had become obvious that Murat was not able to keep law and order in its own country. Moreover a British squadron would be placed at the strait of Messina, to discourage the Neapolitan navy from acting against the crossing.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Sicilian army consisted of eight Line Infantry regiments, three made up of Sicilian recruits and five of foreign mercenaries (viii). To avoid insurrections in Sicily it was judged necessary to leave two foreign (ix) regiments in Palermo, the others were swiftly moved to Messina, where enough transports were being massed. To this a force of cavalry numbering 900 men was to be added, and some cannons.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The 8th of October the Sicilian army crossed the Strait of Messina (x), landing at Scilla, and occupying Reggio after three days. The garrison of Reggio surrendered after giving only symbolic resistance because it was decisively outnumbered, almost out of munitions and it didn’t see any possibility of relief from the still far Muratian forces.
Most officers were actually glad of the possibility of an honorable surrender to a “civilized enemy”, as till few days before they feared being eventually overran by the Sanfedisti militias, and the news of the atrocities that followed the capture of that city some weeks before were enough to make the most grizzled veteran blanch.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A King goes North[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However this lack of resistance in the most important city of Calabria would contribute to a severe judgment error in Ferdinand, who convinced himself that the Murat regime was crumbling, and, against the council of his court, crossed the Strait to take command of the army, convinced of leading it to a triumphal and mostly bloodless march onto Napoli against a demoralized and already beaten enemy.
This confidence was only enhanced by the very warm welcome that the local population gave him in Reggio and in all the villages and towns he liberated in the first days of his northerly march.[/FONT]




[FONT=&quot]NOTES[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]i)In Apulia the insurrection hadn’t been so generalized as further south, and the chief threat was that of small briganti groups assaulting and robbing travelers, but not enough to hamper the advance of Murat’s corps.
ii) Italian for “the spiderweb” as Mahnès’ anti insurgency campaign would become popularly known.
iii) this happened some years before in OTL
iv) but still too many. Mahnés’ actions against the briganti will become a very controversial in TTL’s historiography.
v) with the alleged help of English officers.
vi) the ancient Kroton, in OTL renamed Crotone in 1928.
vii) their confidence of a favorable response of Ferdinand had been reinforced in them by Bourbon agents in direct contact with the Crown.
viii) as in OTL.
ix) Swiss.
x) under the noses of the small Neapolitan squadron, that didn’t dare to intervene as the English had declared that they would act to prevent any hostilities from interrupting the free navigation in the Strait of Messina.[/FONT]
 
Why I feel like there will be a reversed Pizzo? :rolleyes:

The British are probably unaware of this, but they just aimed straight at their foot... :D
 
Would the Bourbon army be led by the king, who is well into his sixties, or by the crown prince, Francis? It is more of a nitpick than an actual criticism (unless you want to take the opportunity of getting rid of the old king).

If the barons of Calabria have come out openly in revolt it would be a good opportunity to declare a policy of land forfeiture (and land reform) for their possessions. Calabria had traditionally been a difficult region to govern for any Naples based government but it would make a good test for a major land reform trial.
 
Would the Bourbon army be led by the king, who is well into his sixties, or by the crown prince, Francis? It is more of a nitpick than an actual criticism (unless you want to take the opportunity of getting rid of the old king).

If the barons of Calabria have come out openly in revolt it would be a good opportunity to declare a policy of land forfeiture (and land reform) for their possessions. Calabria had traditionally been a difficult region to govern for any Naples based government but it would make a good test for a major land reform trial.

I know it might be stretching plausibility a bit having the old Ferdinand coming in Calabria. However he won't be leading from the front: his idea is to act as a rallying point for the loyalists, real battlefield command is delegated to his generals. Anyways he put himself in a dangerous situation, should his army be defeated .

Land reform is necessary, and you are right, this could a good moment for a land forfeiture decree (it could also put into line other barons who might have had thoughts about declaring for Ferdinand but haven't done so yet).

To Ryudrago: there won't be exactly a reverse Pizzo. For sure Ferdinand won't meet a firing platoon! Also the English can rest assured that Murat won't try to cross the strait. However this time their schemes are not working out as they might have hoped.
 
I know it might be stretching plausibility a bit having the old Ferdinand coming in Calabria. However he won't be leading from the front: his idea is to act as a rallying point for the loyalists, real battlefield command is delegated to his generals. Anyways he put himself in a dangerous situation, should his army be defeated .

As I said it's no big thing. However IIRC Ferdinand proclaimed Francis Lieutenant General of the Realm in 1812 (although he kept the title of king) and this position was abolished only after the Bourbon restoration in Naples. It might also make sense from a dynastic perspective to put forward the heir to the throne since both Ferdinand and his British adviser are confident that the interloper in Naples will be toppled from his throne. The fact that the crown prince was said to have liberal leanings (not true as it was proven when he took the throne) might also count as a kind promise that the White Terror of 1799 would not be repeated
 
The Calabrese Campaign

As I said it's no big thing. However IIRC Ferdinand proclaimed Francis Lieutenant General of the Realm in 1812 (although he kept the title of king) and this position was abolished only after the Bourbon restoration in Naples. <snip>
Well you are probably right and I could change this without affecting too much the story, but I left Francis in Sicily as I thought that the title of Lieutenant General referred to Sicily itself, and not to all the Realm.
However here comes an update and the prelude to the decisive battle:


The Calabrese campaign

The Sicilian army kept its northward advance, securing villages and towns along the Tyrrhenian coast up to Monteleone (i). From there the initial plan provided for an advance to Cosenza along the old roman Via Popilia, but by now it was clear that Murat had breached the defenses at Sibari and was now advancing on Cotrone. After that he could easily capture Catanzaro and take control of the Calabrian Isthmus, cutting off the Sicilian Army. To avoid this it was decided to turn east and march on Catanzaro, hoping to capture the strategic city before the Neapolitan forces had time to arrive.


Murat position meanwhile was far from secure: he had broken the sanfedisti defense lines around Sibari and now he was in sight of the walls of Cotrone, but the Sila mountains were teeming with rebels ready to fall on his already thin supply lines and the Sicilian army was marching on Catanzaro and becoming bigger by the day, and probably they already outnumbered him. Sure the quality of the sanfedisti militias wasn’t nearly equal to that of his regulars, and they lacked cavalry and artillery, but still there was a very real danger of being trapped between Cotrone and the Sila mountains and then his carefully preserved Kingdom would crumble in a matter of days.
There was only one solution to the equation; taking Cotrone by storm, occupying Catanzaro before the arrival of the Bourbon forces and forcing a field battle that would decide the question of his legitimate rule of Southern Italy once and for all.


The fall of Cotrone



Luckily for Murat the defenses of Cotrone weren’t impressive at all, as the walls and the castle had been designed in the 16th century to defend against Turk corsairs and were no match for modern cannons. Moreover most of what cannons the rebels had managed to acquire had been used to reinforce the village redoubts near Sibari, and there most of the best trained militias had been killed or captured. Therefore after half a day of bombardment two breaches were opened in the city’s walls and the Grenadiers of Murat’s Guardia Reale entered Cotrone. After a brief but very intense firefight at the breaches, the defenders saw the hopelessness of their position and surrendered.


Murat could thus resume his march towards Catanzaro sooner than expected, leaving behind only a small detachment to keep control of Cotrone. There were no more organized sanfedisti forces between him and his objective, also because most had been flocking to the Bourbon army, whose numbers appeared to have almost doubled. Thanks to the swiftness of this march, Murat’s cavalry managed to reach Catanzaro two days before the Bourbon army reached it and the city was occupied without a fight.


The Decree of Forfeiture



In Catanzaro Murat’s first act was to proclaim a royal decree that ordered the seizing and expropriation of all the lands of the barons and other landowner that had joined the rebellion and subscribed the Plea to Ferdinand IV. These lands would become temporarily property of the State, but were to be in due time distributed to the farmers that worked on them (ii). To this purpose [EDIT: and to avoid abuses in the land distribution process] the Commissione Feudale (iii) was reinstated [EDIT: under the name of Commissione Fondiaria (land rights commission), and would later receive] an enlarged mandate of preparing for a future and more comprehensive land reform.
The reasons behind this decree lie in Joachim’s will to gain the benevolence of the Calabrese peasantry, and his desire to punish the rebel barons.





Prelude to battle



Of more immediate concern was however the matter of the conflict with the Sicilian King. The two armies met on the 21st of October along the course of the Corace river, a couple of kilometers to the west of Catanzaro. Both armies started fortifying the respective end of the only bridge that crossed the river and preparing to the decisive battle.


The Muratian forces counted about 12.000 infantrymen, 1.500 cavalrymen and 24 guns. The infantry was made up of the I Infantry division under Lt. General Carrascosa. and the Guardia Reale infantry division under Lt. General Pignatelli-Strongoli . The cavalry comprised the Guardia Reale cavalry division (iv) under Lt. General Livron.



The Sicilian army had about 11.000 regular infantry and about 10.000 Sanfedisti militia. Their cavalry was 900 men strong and they had 18 guns.



The first skirmishes had started already on the 21st, but the main battle didn’t start until the first hours of light on the 22nd October 1815.

Notes:
i)Today Vibo Valentia
ii)In reality the land allotments would often be too small to be economically viable and would be sold or seized after the default of their owners, so the peasants’ economical conditions didn’t improve much. However this was also the start of a budding class of small/medium landowners who cultivated their lands with more modern principles and with the aim of improving its commercial productivity.
iii) Headed by David Winspeare, it operated from 1808 to 1810
iv)minus the lancer regiment that had been detached to D’Ambrosio forces in the Abruzzi.
 
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In Catanzaro Murat’s first act was to proclaim a royal decree that ordered the seizing and expropriation of all the lands of the barons and other landowner that had joined the rebellion and subscribed the Plea to Ferdinand IV. These lands would become temporarily property of the State, but were to be in due time distributed to the farmers that worked on them (ii). To this purpose the Commissione Feudale (iii) was reinstated with an enlarged mandate of preparing for a future and more comprehensive land reform.
The reasons behind this decree lie in Joachim’s will to gain the benevolence of the Calabrese peasantry, and his desire to punish the rebel barons.

Not bad. However if you allow me a couple nitpicks:
- the Commissione Feudale was set up to deliberate on disputes between the aristocracy and the townships after the abolition of Feudalism. It worked pretty well (in particular under the influence of Giuseppe Zurlo) and by 1810 had completed its task. This would be a different type of agency, maybe it might be called Commissione Agraria. I suppose Zurlo is still the right man to supervise it (the more so since Zurlo studied under and was a great friend of Gaetano Filangieri, the author of The Science of Legislation and possibly the best example of Neapolitan illuminism).
- IMHO there should be something better than a desire for revenge and an attempt to bribe the Calabrese peasants at the bottom of the decree. Once again I point you in the direction of Filangieri and his political philosophy (fun fact" Gaetano Filangieri was a correspondent of Benjamin Franklin smack across the period of the American revolution. Pity he died just 35 years old.)
 
LordKalvan, first thing thank you for the feedback, it's very welcome and important to improve the TL.

As to the Commissione Feudale I concede that keeping the same name was lazy and inappropriate, as feudalism has been already abolished. I will edit the post and change it. I used the Commissione Feudale as it did a good work in solving the controversies arising from the eradication of feudalism, so probably they can manage this too, also it would have been a pity to let this expertise unused.
I can also explain better the motives behind it, but I wanted it to be, at least initially, a spur of the moment decision by Murat.
Filangieri is a great personality, one of the most important Italian "illuministi" and one of the reasons behind this TL is trying to implement some of his thought in his own country. Zurlo at the moment is the interior minister/de facto prime minister and he will certainly have a great influence over the commission, however the president of the commission was Davide Winspeare, author of "history of feudal abuses", and hebwill keep his place.
 
A spur of the moment decision by Murat is fine, and I believe it would come from a desire to punish the barons who rose in revolt. It should also be an opportunity for cooler heads to build upon.

I'm also quite aware that Winspeare was the president of the original Commissione feudale, and most likely will perform equally well in this new task. However Zurlo was the man who put together the original CF, and I would be surprised if he were not the true motivator of this new commission.

We are on the same page, don't worry.
 
The Battle of the Isthmus of Calabria part I

[Here comes the (first part of the battle) sorry if I didn't complete it in a single post, but I think that dividing it might be better for "dramatic" purposes]

The Battle of the Isthmus of Calabria
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What was to become known as the Battle of the Istmus of Calabria, or the battle of the Corace began on the early morning of the 22nd, when the battle lines were drawn across the valley of the Corace.


An insignificant river, the Corace runs for less than 50km from his springs in the Sila mountains before flowing into the Ionian sea some kilometers south of Catanzaro.
As it is common with many rivers in the southern Mediterranean, it’s flow is very irregular, and the river almost dries up during summer, but can impetuously overflow after autumn or winter rains. That year the autumn rains had been rather late in coming and so the river was not overflowing, but neither was it easy to ford.



Both armies concentrated their forces near the only bridge over the Corace and built barricades to prevent a crossing. Owing to their numerical superiority the Sicilians could afford to keep many troops in reserve. Also they could afford to keep a defensive posture more than Murat, as their supply lines were more secure and their numbers were still swelling with volunteers.



The Neapolitan army instead, although technically being the defending one, was practically isolated in hostile territory, and although in numerical inferiority had to force a decisive battle and inflict a clear defeat on the Sicilian forces to put a quick end to the war and avoid getting encircled and swarmed by Sanfedisti guerrillas.
So, when at dawn’s break Joachim gave the advance order, he knew that he was probably risking his Kingdom with a bold gamble hinged chiefly on the better quality of his troops, and the disorganization of the Sicilian army, and especially the many Sanfedisti bands that accompanied it.


The battle was opened up by a barrage of artillery from the Neapolitan 12 pounder battery, aimed at the barricades on the Sicilian held side of the bridge. The position of this artillery, on a hill just behind the river, was better than that of the Bourbons’ artillery, and thus their positions were hit by plunging fire and soon several cannons were damaged or outright demolished.
At this point, with most of the enemy sources of grapeshot neutralised, the Neapolitan infantry fixed bayonets and charged across the bridge. They were welcomed by the murdering fire of the defenders and suffered severe casualties. Some men however managed to reach the ruined barricades and routed their defenders.
This bridgehead couldn’t be held though, as the number and ferocity of the counterattacking Sicilians proved to be overwhelming. The first wave retreated in relative order, but left behind many wounded and dead.



However the fact that they managed, although briefly, to cross the bridge, worried mightily the Sicilian command, that, convinced that this was the point where Murat would try to breach their lines, took the decision to move the best among his reserves, two regiments of foreign mercenaries, closer to the bridge.


Meanwhile, most of the Sanfedisti auxiliaries had been deployed in small detachments all along the course of the Corace, with the task of blocking any infiltration or outflanking attempt. They skirmished across the river with pickets from the light infantry regiment of the Neapolitan first division.
If an attempt at crossing in force was attempted, the skirmishers would have had to harass it and ask for support from the reserves, that were placed more or less centrally, in the village of Martelletto.



The movement of two regiments from that village towards the bridge didn’t go unnoticed by the Neapolitan observers, and provided Murat with an opening to the flanking attack that he was aware to be the only possibility to break the bloody stalemate that was developing on the bridge.
 
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Cliffanger till the end, I like it. :cool:

I am wondering if Murat eventually will establish later an extensive conscription to enlarge his army or moving more towards a smaller, professional army...
 
Cliffanger till the end, I like it. :cool:

I am wondering if Murat eventually will establish later an extensive conscription to enlarge his army or moving more towards a smaller, professional army...

A better question to ask would be, is there enough manpower around to support such a large army?
 
A better question to ask would be, is there enough manpower around to support such a large army?

Campania and Naples were quite populated, after all.... but guess it's the only available manpower basin for the kingdom.

Surely, an eventual recovery of Sicily will help, but until the British around... don't know but I I guess Sicily if there will be a Neapolitan leaded unification will be the last one to be retrieved.

Even if Ferdinand will be killed or captured, Murat can't force him to handle Sicily, and the island didn't seems rip for a revolt in 1816... but I could be wrong in my evaluation somewhere.
 
Manpower and Sicily

At the moment the manpower pool of the Kingdom is pretty exhausted after intense participation in the late Napoleonic campaigns. In otl the bourbons had a, officers loyalty apart, rather high quality army, based on long term conscription of a limited part of each eligible class (If I am not mistaken 1 man in 1000 in the 18-25 years old class, serving 5 years in the regualrs and 5 in the reserve). However most of the ranks were filled up with volunteers and thus the actual number of conscripts was generally low. This however meant that the Kingdom had very few quality reserves and in time of crisis had to rely on scarcely trained fresh conscripts. The army and navy also accounted for more than 1/3 of the budget of the Kingdom.
As for sheer manpower Naples at the time was the biggest city in Italy, with more than 300.000 inhabitants, while in 1840 the continental part of the kingdom had about 6 mil people, while Sicily had about 2 mil.

Sicily will be complicated... If they are weakened they will become even more a British protectorate, and won't dare to alienate the English like they did in 1840 with the sulphur mines crisis. They will also be fiercely independent and, as in otl, won't like to be subject to Naples. On the other hand they might grow very restive toward their current government and in the coming years will probably at least attempt rebellion, especially if the bourbons, as it is very possible, diregard the 1812 constitution. Naples could use this upheaval to acquire Sicily, especially if it promises to respect its autonomy and the prerogative of the sicilian parliament. However the English this time won't support a Garibaldi-like expedition and will oppose any kind of annexation. Anyways this will be some years in the future, I was tempted to have Murat take Sicily in the aftermath of the battle (update coming very soon) but I discarded the idea as ASBish.
 
The Battle of the Isthmus of Calabria part II

[Sorry, it turned out to be longer than expected, so there is another cliffhanger at the end.]


The Battle of the Isthmus of Calabria part II



All the line infantry of the Neapolitan army was engaged near the bridge, while the light infantry regiment had been divided into skirmisher pickets, who had been now for a couple of hours been probing the lower course of the Corace to find weakly defended and fordable areas.


The Guardia Reale was being kept in reserve, with the Grenadier regiment near the bridge along with the cavalry and the two Veliti regiments divided into battalion strong forces and deployed along the river, but at some distance from the skirmishing line.
When it became clear that the enemy was committing his reserves, Murat ordered his light forces to begin the crossing of the river downstream from the contested bridge and moved in southern direction his hussars and Cavalleggeri, while keeping with him the Curassiers and his Gardes du Corps company.


The elite light infantry battalions managed to ford the Corace in three points, brushing aside the Sicilian advanced pickets and starting a firefight with bands of Sanfedisti Militias, that soon started retreating in confusion.
At this point it was ordered also to the cavalry to cross the river at the southernmost and most secure ford, while the Light Infantry regiment, that had been dispersed in a skirmishing line, was to reform and prepare to ford the Corace in support of the Cavalry. Meanwhile the main force prepared to a last charge across the bridge.


The Sicilians had still uncommitted forces outnumbering the light elements that had crossed the Corace, but these forces consisted almost exclusively of Sanfedisti volunteers, who, although ferocious and brave, were not well trained, and suffered especially from poor command, as they didn’t have a very formalized chain of command. Also their contacts with the regular army where not easy, due to the fragmented and informal nature of their bands.


This explains how the headquarters of Ferdinand army were almost overwhelmed by runners reporting wildly contradicting news of crossings by Muratian forces all along the Corace and thus its unwillingness to detach forces from the defense of the bridge and the lack of a coordinated response by the Sicilian army until the Muratians had been able to cross in force and were already advancing on the village of Martelletto and threatening to envelop the Bourbons’ positions.


The Veliti kept advancing, pushing back the Sanfedisti towards Martelletto, while the Cavalry had reformed after the crossing and was moving through the open terrain on the right hand bank of the Corace towards the Sicilianreforming on the other side of the river.
It looked like Murat’s outflanking maneuver was becoming a success.


Joachim grew impatient however, and had only a blurred idea of the progress of his forces on the other side of the river, so he ordered yet another charge across the bridge, this time spearheaded by the elite and still relatively fresh Grenadiers of the Guardia Reale.
Their French commander however hesitated before ordering the advance, as he didn’t want his grenadiers to be cut down in yet another pointless attack against superior numbers. The young Prince of Satriano, Carlo Filangieri, who was part of Murat’s retinue, spurred his horse forward, and followed by two dozens of horsemen charged at full speed across the bridge.


For a moment the defenders were stunned at such reckless courage, and the cavalrymen managed to pass the river and almost get among their lines before they could shoot.



However the Sicilian officers finally got their troops out of their stupor, and a point blank volley devastated the tiny troop. Filangieri had been hit too, but managed to disentangle himself from his dying horse, and fired his pistols at the Sicilians, before single handedly charging them with his sabre. He was almost immediately overwhelmed and collapsed for his numerous wounds.(i)

His mad charge had however distracted the Sicilians and galvanized the Neapolitan grenadiers, who run across the bridge and charged wildly with the bayonet the defenders, who started routing. Now that a bridgehead had been established, the rest of the Neapolitan army surged forward across the bridge, but so did the Sicilian reserves, and soon the Neapolitans at the bridgehead were surrounded on three sides, while the cuirassiers were mostly still on the bridge, and didn’t have any room to charge and give some time to the infantry to reorganize.


Things looked like they were about to turn for the worse for Murat’s main force, and general Carrascosa, head of the 1st Infantry division, was running out of options, as sending in what reserves there were could worsen the “traffic jam” on the bridge, and ordering retreat, while being kept under such strong pressure from the enemy, meant running a very real risk of it turning into a complete rout.

“Where is Pignatelli-Strongoli?” he cursed under his breath “the enemy must have committed everything they had to stop such a charge: if only our flanking force could be here soon, we could still break them!”



Pignatelli-Strongoli’s Veliti had been advancing quickly, overwhelming several Sanfedisti detachments and were now entering the village of Martelletto, where according to plans, they would have had to tie up enemy reinforcements, enabling the cavalry to have a clear path to the flank of the defenders.


By now the village was however empty, as the Bourbon army had committed all the infantry in the desperate attempt to crush the Neapolitan bridgehead, while their cavalry was galloping towards a regiment of light infantry that had not been seen before (ii) and had now crossed the Corace at less than a kilometer from the main engagement.
Pignatelli-Strongoli marveled at his good luck, and after leaving some troops in the village, sent a detachment to the nearby Sarrottino, thus cutting the retreat of the Sicilian army, and advanced with the rest of his light troops towards the enemy artillery and the back of their formation.



General Guglielmo Pepe had not been happy at all with his role as commander of the Light Infantry regiment, that would play probably only a very limited part in the battle. However his troops, advised by a local peasant, had found a suitable crossing just 900 meters south from the bridge, were such a bloody carnage was happening.
Thus he, after reassembling his troops in a somewhat closer order (a process that required so much more time than he had hoped), decided to cross there and relieve the endangered flank of his King’s army.


However the enemy still had his cavalry, and, recognizing the deathly threat he posed, choose to deploy it in full force against his light troops.
Pepe saw this movement, and realized that, in the open, he wouldn’t stand a chance, so he ordered his troops to occupy a small olive grow about one hundred meters to his left, and meet there the enemy charge.
The maneuver was executed brilliantly, but the cavalry was not deterred by the rough terrain and sound the charge.



Meanwhile the Sicilian artillerymen had been utterly surprised by the appearance of enemies from behind their lines, and managed just to spike their cannons before being overrun by the Veliti.


The Hussars and Cavalleggeri, under the command of general Giuliani, found their way surprisingly free of enemy forces and continued riding towards the now exposed Sicilian right flank, soon they could be at charging distance.


Giuliani however noticed the enemy cavalry charging towards the river, and thinking they were about to cross it, he detached his Hussars to pursue and stop them, while he himself prepared to charge the Bourbon infantry, or better to say, the confused melee that had developed near the original Sicilian positions.

The battle was at his decisive junction.


Notes:
(i) This actions may appear incredible, but they are rather closely modeled on what Filangieri actually did at the Battle of the Panaro in the OTL 1815 Austro-Neapolitan war.
(ii) because they had been dispersed in a skirmisher line and they had reformed in close formation while the attention of the Bourbon's headquarters was being drawn in many different directions at the same time.
 
The Battle of the Calabrian Isthmus, part III



[And here it comes the last part of the battle!]



The Battle of the Calabrian Isthmus, part III


The tactical position of Murat’s army was now clearly better, has they had managed to get to the flank and rear of the enemy formation.
Numerically, however, the battle still saw the Bourbon forces as clear favorites, as in the main engagement Murat had only about 6.000 men still capable of fighting, and they were opposed by more than 14.000 regulars and militia. The Neapolitan flanking movement had surprised and scattered their opponents, but still the Cavalleggeri were only 600, and the Veliti marching on the rear of the Sicilian army were no more than 2.000. Finally Pepe’s light infantry, 1.200 strong, risked being wiped out by the concentrated charge of 900
Sicilian cavalrymen.


The battles' culmination


The latter was the first engagement to be resolved.
The Neapolitan light infantry held their fire until the last moment, before releasing a point blank volley that sent most of the Sicilian first line crashing in a confused heap of dead and dying men and horses. The charging cavalry was disarrayed, but it was too late to stop their momentum, and they crossed the olive grove, cutting down several infantrymen, while most threw themselves to the ground or hid behind tree trunks.
The Sicilians emerged on the other side of the grove having inflicted severe losses, but without routing or destroying the infantrymen. They tried reforming their ranks for another charge while the Neapolitans were still recovering, but they were caught by the onrushing hussars while still reorganizing and completely routed.



Now the Sicilian flank was completely open, however both light infantrymen and hussars had, thank to the sacrifice of the Bourbon cavalry and couldn’t participate in the assault on the Sicilians’ right flank, that was thus left to the Cavalleggeri regiment alone.


Endgame


The news of enemy behind the lines is dangerous even to the most experienced and well trained army. If it is combined with an imminent assault on the flank, it is very rare for the defending army to keep its cohesion and repulse it.

Probably British or Prussian regulars would have quickly overcome the initial shock and, assessed the low number of the attackers, proceeded to shift their positions and repel them.



But the Sicilian troops, although well trained, were no Prussians or British, apart from the foreign mercenaries this was their first true battle, while most of the Muratians were veterans of Napoleon’s campaigns, and finally among their lines there were too many ill disciplined militiamen.


As soon as stragglers from the overrun artillery batteries started arriving, panic and voices of betrayal spread like wildfire among the Bourbons’ lines, and when the Cavalleggeri sounded the charge and started rushing their lines, the irregular melted away even before contact.
The main body of Muratian infantry launched another furious bayonet charge, and sent the enemy lines reeling, while the Curassiers, who had finally enough space to maneuver, prepared to charge the Sicilian left flank.


At this point the Bourbons’ command, hoping at least to regain control of its forces, ordered the retreat.
Predictably, seen the situation of confusion prevailing among the troops, the retreat devolved rapidly into a confused rout, especially after the devastating charge of the Curassiers.
Some battalions managed to keep their cohesion while retreating, but then met the murdering fire coming from the Veliti entrenched between Martelletto and Sarrottino, and surrendered.


No combat capable forces escaped the encirclement, but small groups were pursued and taken prisoner or, especially in the case of the Sanfedisti irregulars, cut down by the Muratian cavalry.



Without doubt, the most important prisoner would however be caught only the day after: King Ferdinand, although not personally commanding the army, had insisted to be brought as near as possible to the frontlines, once it was clear that a great field battle was inevitable. So he had set his camp, together with his staff and a cavalry bodyguard detachment, near Settingiano, a tiny village located on a hill that commanded a remarkable view over the whole Calabrian Isthmus.
When it appeared clear that enemy troops had gotten behind the lines, it was deemed necessary to move the King to a more secure position, so he left Settingiano, directed towards St.Eufemia Lamezia, on the coast, where he could, in case the battle went for the worse, be taken aboard a ship and brought safely to Palermo.


However the rapidity with which the final phase of the battle developed mooted this plan, as the King’s detachment was reached by an Hussar squadron just 6 kilometers short of reaching the coast, and King Ferdinand had to surrender to a young captain of the Hussars.


Obviously he was treated with the utmost respect and courtesy, but still, he was in the hands of the hated Jacobins, and almost all his army had been killed, dispersed or captured.

Aftermath

In the following days all remaining organized resistance collapsed and the Muratian forces could enter Reggio and Monteleone, from where Joachim, after a ceasefire was signed, sailed, together with his “guest” Ferdinand, towards Naples, where the Bourbon would be given one of the most luxurious palaces of Murat’s appannage as a “temporary residence for the duration of peace talks”.


The battle had been very bloody, considered the relatively small dimensions of the involved forces. The Neapolitans had lost 1.700 dead or wounded, mostly among the line Infantry, and the Grenadier regiment, that had been more than decimated.
The Sicilian army was destroyed as a fighting force, with more than 2.400 death or wounded, 11.000 prisoners and the rest dispersed.



The carnage at the bridgehead was utterly horrific, but among the heaps of bodies the Prince of Satriano, Carlo Filangieri, could be found, unconscious, bleeding from eight different wounds, but still alive. He was given the attentions of Murat’s personal medic, and in time he would make a full recovery, apart from a slight limp. [this is similar to what happened in OTL]


The country had still not been pacified, as don Ciccio still terrorized large tracts of Basilicata and the mountains of Calabria were a nest of Briganti and diehard Sanfedisti, but they couldn’t realistically challenge Murat’s rule anymore.


The international reactions to the battle were resounding: many feared an invasion of the now defenseless Sicily.


However this fear would not materialise, as England lost no time to inform the Muratian government that she extended her guarantee upon the independence of the island andany annexation attempt would have to get past the Royal Navy.
Luis XVIII and Czar Alexander were very loud in their indignation about the “captivity” of Ferdinand, as was the Pope, and they menaced war.

Austria was strongly disappointed by the results and the show of force on the part of the Kingdom of Naples, and kept for some other weeks its troops on the Neapolitan border.


Finally the Neapolitan Foreign Minister, the Duke of Campochiaro Ottavio Mormile proposed a conciliatory solution: Ferdinand would be permitted to return to Palermo immediately as a gesture of good will, and a Peace Conference, to which the Powers would participate, would be held in Rome, under the good offices of the Pope.

Metternich would have preferred the conference to be held, farther than Naples, maybe in Florence, that was much more under Austrian influence than the papacy, but the Ferdinand himself accepted the Pope’s mediation, stating that no good Catholic could refuse it and so the Conference of Rome opened its works on the 24th of November 1815.



Contracting parties were the Pope as host and arbiter, the Kingdom of Sicily, represented by Luigi de’ Medici and the Kingdom of Naples, represented by Ottavio Mormile. England, France, Prussia and Russia each sent numerous representatives, mostly the same that had been at the Vienna Congress.

[Next update will be about the negotiation and peace treaty, speculation about it is welcome :)

Also how did the battle feel? Was it credible? I hope my writing was not too horrible]
 
I have a fondness for Independent Sicily, so I hope Murat and his never conquer it. For that matter seeing the multi state era last longer in general would be interesting. My hope is that this conference actually does set up a lasting peace.

Though I can see the Murats and the Sicilian Bourbons competing over North Africa in the colonial era.
 
I think it was wise that the conference was in Rome and not Florence really. I had the sinking suspicion if that happened, Murat would've walked into a trap, and by trap I mean some guy paid off by the Austrians would kill the man and use the confusion to put Ferdinand back on Naples...
 
I have a fondness for Independent Sicily, so I hope Murat and his never conquer it. For that matter seeing the multi state era last longer in general would be interesting. My hope is that this conference actually does set up a lasting peace.

Though I can see the Murats and the Sicilian Bourbons competing over North Africa in the colonial era.

A lasting peace is difficult to achieve in xix century Italy, the unrest caused by nationalists is bound to bring new conflicts, but there will be some years of peace at least. I am still not sure what will be the ultimate destiny for Sicily, but you have to keep in mind, that it is still the number one expansion goal for Naples.
Colonial objectives in north Africa can be Tunis, Algiers and Tripoli, but the French competition will be very difficult to beat. In any case it is too soon to speak about colonies.

I think it was wise that the conference was in Rome and not Florence really. I had the sinking suspicion if that happened, Murat would've walked into a trap, and by trap I mean some guy paid off by the Austrians would kill the man and use the confusion to put Ferdinand back on Naples...

That's a wicked idea you had! It could be possible, but then it would also cut my timeline rather short... So no assassinations, at least not until the Kingdom is stable and widely recognized.
 
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