Capitulum IV: The Greek Wars: The First Greek War, part 1
While the Sardinians continued their efforts against the Moroccans, in the Eastern Mediterranean problems continued to arise with the young kingdom of Greece. Back on April 30 1839 the Ottomans and the Sardinians signed a treaty of non aggression, as the Ottomans had little to no intention to start any sort of conflict with the "little tiger of the Mediterranean", as Sardinia was nicknamed at the time. While the Ottomans had no fear of the Sardinians themselves, they feared that the French might intervene in case incidents with the Sardinian navy ever occurred. This sat poorly with some extremist organizations within Greece. However, the biggest clashes between the Sardinians and the Greeks did not occur with the Greeks themselves, but rather with their Cretan brothers. The Christian Cretans had risen up together with the rest of Greece in the Greek Revolution of 1821, but despite successes in the countryside, the Ottomans held out in the four fortified towns of the northern coast (Chania, Rethymno, Irakleio and Agios Nikolaos) and the island was eventually reconquered by 1828, becoming an Egyptian province (Muhammad Ali's Egypt was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, but a powerful and semi-independent one with its own military). Various Cretan rebel cells had begun to develop, harassing Ottoman and Egyptian ships with the support of Greece, but on September 02 1843 the ship targeted by these Crete nationalists was not Ottoman, nor Egyptian. It was a Sardinian ship.
The Sardinians at first demanded the Ottomans reparations, threatening to cancel the non aggression pact of 1839, but soon realized that the Ottomans did not practice piracy on the same scale as the Moroccans. As relations with the Ottomans resumed, the Sardinians accused the Greeks of the attack and demanded reparations. The British, who had strong interests in the Mediterranean and were wary of Sardinian expansion and alliance with France, promised to defend Greece, which decided to refuse the Sardinian demands.
British Punch magazine potrayed the Sardinian declaration of war against greece as an analogue of an Eritrean fable, in which a leopard cub (the Sardinian ship) is killed by a herd of elephants (the Ottoman empire), but when the cub father (the kingdom of Sardinia) demanded to know who the killer was, and when he was told that it was the elephants, he instead called the goats (Greece) guilty of the murder. In reality, Sardinia was more than willingly to bring the war with the Ottomans, something that the French themselves were interested in and were keen in entering the conflict with Sardinia. None the less, on September 10 1844, after Morocco was fully conquered by France and Sardinia, the Italian kingdom and its allies declared war against Greece, accusing them of supporting dangerous cells that could threaten the stability of the Mediterranean.
While the war was technically declared on September 10 1844, the Sardinian population remained unaware of the situation until November 22 1844, when Britain entered the war against Sardinia and her allies. Sardinia guaranteed France that the sole purpose of the French in the conflict was to contain the British navy as best as possible, in order for the Sardinians to land on Greece. While France would do most of the naval work, Sardinia main mission was to conquer Greece as fast as possible. However, before this plan could be placed in action, the British managed to launch a daring raid on Savona and Nice, resulting in the occupation of the two cities. After that, Britain proceeded to consolidate her position near the coast, and advanced inland. However, the British army greately underestimated the Sardinian one.
Near Cairo Montenotte, the Sardinian Army faced a smaller foe, and their cavalry on the left flank outflanked the British as the British and Sardinians infantry set up firing lines in a wooded area in the center of the battlefield. The British army was destroyed, with 363 British troops and 87 Sardinian troops being killed during the battle.
Sardinian cavalry charge at Cairo Montenotte
In the Mediterranean, active naval collaboration took place between France and Sardinia to fight against British forces. The French forces, led by Patrice de MacMahon, and the Sardinian forces, led by Maurizio Gerbaix de Sonnaz, launched an attack on British occupied Niece. Macmahon had already attempted to make a surprise attack on Nice once, but had been repulsed by British forces.
A fleet of 110 french ships under François d'Orléans left from Marseille against the British. d'Orléans arrived with his fleet, accompanied by the Sardinian Ambassador. As almost nothing had been prepared on the Sardinian side to assist the French fleet, Carlo Alberto attempted to scramble a fleet to support the French. Meanwhile, d'Orléans went to the harbour of Genoa on 20 December where he was received with honours. The combined fleet sailed out of Genoa on the 13th of January.
The French force first landed at Monaco. The French and Sardinian forces then collaborated to attack the city of Nice on 14 January 1845. The Franco-Sardinians were confronted by a stiff resistance, culminating with a major battle on 23 January, but the British garrinson surrendered on 26 January.
Cannons used by the British in their defense during the siege of Nice
Despite their victories, Carlo Alberto was afraid that, unless the Sardinian army finally landed on Greece, there would be a revolution at home. There had been too many wars by now, and the local population was growing unhappy. In order to have at least the government on his side, he accepted the creation of the Senato Subalpino, the Sardinian parliament. On February 16 1845, Carlo Alberto renounced his absolute powers and decided to partially limit his powers, with Sardinia becoming a semi-constitutional monarchy. On February 19 1845, the first elections occurred in Sardinia.
The news of the proclamation of the Sardinian parliament were not the only good news for the kingdom of Sardinia. On 27 February 1845, the Sardinian forces attacked the last British forces in Savona. During February 31 and March 01 in the initial Sardinian attack, nearly 1,500 British prisoners were taken after fierce fighting. The Britishmanaged to evaquate the majority of their forces none the less.
Army movements during the Piemontese campaign, with 1) being the battle of Cairo Montenotte, and 2) being the siege of Nice
Areas occupied by Britain at their maximum extent before Sardinian and French counterattacks
After the British were kicked out of Piedmont, the Sardinians finally begun their attack against Greece. While the majority of the naval battles were fought by France during the war, there was one battle, at the Strait of Messina, which resulted in a Sardinian victory, and while small compared to other battles during the war, it was the beginning of Italian experience in the Mediterranean sea.
The Greek navy supported however possible the British in bombarding the island of Sardinia for their anticipated invasion of the island, but one Greek ship quickly found herself isolated in the Strait of Messina after the British went to attack what they believed to be a Sardinian or French ship. While the Greek ship was returning to Greece, it was attacked by 13 Sardinian ships and sunk.
With no one to oppose the fleet, the Sardinians finally landed in Greece on April 10 1845, near Kyparissia. The Sardinians advanced inland, taking Mouriatada without much of a fight. As this occurred, the British landed in Sardinia, taking Cagliari easily. While the British slowly but steadily moved inland in Sardinia, the Sardinians themselves took Calamata in Greece. The Sardinian army, under Gantano Sofilari, advanced north, taking Patrasso.
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