The Mare Nostrum doctrine: an alternate Italian Empire

Capitulum XVI: Italian Islands of the Aegean
Capitulum XVI: Italian Islands of the Aegean

The Italian Islands of the Aegean (Italian: Isole italiane dell'Egeo; Greek: Ἰταλικαὶ Νῆσοι Αἰγαίου Πελάγους) are a group of 32 major islands (the biggest being Euboea, now Negroponte, the Sporades, the Cyclades and the Saronic Islands) in the Aegean Sea, that — together with the surrounding islets — were ruled by the Kingdom of Sardinia (later on the Kingdom of Italy) from 1847.

Administration of the islands was far from easy, compared to Morocco which, although having problems with the native population, was at least easy to colonize once pacified. On March 31 1850, for example, a typhus epidemic swept the island of Negroponte, in a period nicknamed the plague of Negroponte. Government actions were immediate and ordered a quarantene of the island.

It didn't help the fact that nationalism in the area was strong. On May 29 1850 a Greek nationalist attempted to kill the islands governor Raffaele Rubattino, with no success. He was captured and sent into the newlyfunded prison of Makronisos, in the island of the same name. It did not help that on July 17 1853 and July 02 1854 an anonymous Greek poet begun writing several nationalistic articles and poems, which became popular in the islands. Fearing a possible rebellion, the Sardinian government decided to not intervene, as long as the author didn't write anything that could cause an uprising.

Starting in 1850, civil governors replaced the military commanders. The Italian politics towards the native population was mostly pacific compared to the harsh treatment of the Moroccans. Rubattino delegated land for Sardinian settlers and encouraged intermarriage with local Greeks. In 1856, scholarships at the University of Sassari for Aegean students were promoted to disseminate Sardinian culture and language among the local professional class. Some years before, on October 01 1851, it was decided that streets had to bear Greek language, in favor of the local population.

The only sector where Rubattino was unaccommodating was religion: The Sardinian authorities also tried to limit the power of the Greek Orthodox Church without success by trying to set up an autonomous Aegean church. The Italianization of names was encouraged by the Sardinian authorities. The juridic state of the islands was an intermediate one (possedimento) between a colony and a part of the motherland: due to that, local islanders did not receive full citizenship and were not required to serve in the Sardinian armed forces.


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Greek ruins discovered during Sardinian occupation

Efforts to bring Sardinian settlers to the islands were not notably successful at first. By 1863, Sardinians in the Aegean numbered 16,711, most of them living on Negroponte and Naxos. Sardinians of Negroponte and Naxos were farmers involved in setting up new agricultural settlements, while Sardinians of the remaining islands were either fishermen or sailors. Major Sardinian archaeological efforts from the 1860s onward were intended to discover Roman antiquities and thus strengthen the Sardinian claim on the islands. A series of massive public works in the archipelago were undertaken. New roads, monumental buildings and waterworks were constructed, sometimes using forced Greek labor.

I hope you guys like this new update! Be sure to like(if you like it), comment(please comment so I can learn what your opinion is) and.....follow I guess. I would like to introduce you to two of my latest works as for now:


Our Cold War: An Alternate History Interactive Cold War. As it is an interactive scenario, I need your votes in order to progress into the story!

And:


Mark Felton Productions in The elephant, the lynx, the two wolves, the dragon, the eagle, the griffon vulture and the bull, based on one of my longest timelime so far. What if Mark Felton existed in my timeline?

Mark Felton is a British Youtube Historian which covers various largely unknown events of WW1, WW2, the Korean War, the Vietnam war and so on. Here's his channel:


And here is the The elephant, the lynx, the two wolves, the dragon, the eagle, the griffon vulture and the bull timeline link for context

 
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Capitulum XVII: Art in Sardinia/Italy
Capitulum XVII: Art in Sardinia/Italy

As Sardinia and, later on, the North Italian Federation welcomed more and more artists and writers within its country, many begun to influence Sardinian tastes in the arts, such as painting. Here we will see these new styles and artists.

Romanticist art: Romanticist art developed towards the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century in Germany, and then spread to France, England, Italy and Spain. Romantic art mainly involves painting, although it has given impetus to a new way of conceiving architecture and restoration. Some Sardinian/Italian Romanticist painters include:

Francesco Hayez: Francesco Hayez was from a relatively poor family from Venice. His father, Giovanni, was of French origin while his mother, Chiara Torcella, was from Murano. Francesco was the youngest of five sons. He was brought up by his mother's sister, who had married Giovanni Binasco, a well-off shipowner and art collector. Hayez displayed a predisposition for drawing since childhood. His uncle, having noticed his precocious talent, apprenticed him to an art restorer in Venice. Hayez would later became a pupil of the painter Francesco Maggiotto with whom he continued his studies for three years. He was admitted to the painting course of the New Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in 1806, where he studied under Teodoro Matteini. In 1809 he won a competition from the Academy of Venice for a one year residency at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. He remained in Rome until 1814, then moved to Naples where he was commissioned by Joachim Murat to paint a major work depicting Ulysses at the court of Alcinous. In the mid-1830s he attended the Maffei Salon in Milan, hosted by Clara Maffei. Maffei's husband would later commissioned Hayez a portrait of his wife. In 1850 Hayez was appointed director of the Brera Academy.

Over the course of a long career, Hayez proved to be particularly prolific. His output included historic paintings designed to appeal to the patriotic sensibility of his patrons as well as works reflecting the desire to accompany a Neoclassic style to grand themes, either from biblical or classical literature. He also painted scenes from theatrical presentations. Conspicuously absent from his oeuvre, however, are altarpieces - possibly due to the Napoleonic invasions that deconsecrated many churches and convents in Northern Italy. Art historian Corrado Ricci described Hayez as a classicist who then evolved into a style of emotional tumult.

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Francesco Hayez, The Kiss (1855)

Giuseppe Bezzuoli: He studied as a young man under Jean-Baptiste Desmarais at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, and afterward spent some time at Rome between 1813 and 1820. He became a candidate to the professorship of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence after Pietro Benvenuti's death in 1844.

His large picture in the Academy include The Entry of Charles VIII into Florence (1822–1829). Some of his smaller works, such as The Galatea and the small copy of Raphael's School of Athens (1819), in the Galleria Tosio Martinengo at Brescia, give a more favorable idea of his talent. He painted one of the lunettes in the Tribune of Galileo at the Natural History Museum (La Specola Museum) in Florence, and the more important series of scenes from the life of Caesar (1836) in one of the rooms on the ground floor of the Pitti Palace. His Assumption of the Virgin is found in the Museo dell'Opera of the church of Santa Croce.

Other principal works include a Baptism of Clovis and a Madonna in fresco for the Pitti Palace. He painted two ceilings for the Borghese Palace at Rome representing Toilet of Venus, and Venus carrying Ascanius. He died in Florence.

Francesco Podesti: Podesti was born in Ancona to a family of modest means; his father Joseph, was a tailor. He began studies of in Pavia. At twelve, his mother, Teresa, died; his father died three years later, leaving Podesti destitute. His precocious talent gained him a stipend to study at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome; this was partly subsidized by the Marquis Bourbon of Monte Santa Maria and by the city of Ancona. In Rome, he became a pupil of Gaspare Landi and Vincenzo Camuccini. The sculptor Canova served as a mentor and also helped him financially. In Rome, he also met Jacques-Louis David.

Thankful for their stipend over the years, in 1824, he donated to the city of Ancona, two paintings of Eteocles and Polynices. It also gained him commissions for two altarpieces in town: an Annunciation for the church of the Vergine Annunziata, and a Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (1825–1827) in Ancona Cathedral (destroyed during World War II and replaced by a copy). The Prince Torlonia purchased from him a large canvas of Tasso che legge la sua Gerusalemme alla Corte di Ferrara. Podesti was to make variants of this painting also for the Prince Galitzin and count Paolo Tosi of Brescia.

In 1826, then traveled through Italy. In Milan, by commission he painted a Raphael paints the Madonna of San Luca in his studio, with la Fornarina as a model, and monsignor Bembo and Bussolante in the studio. Also for the casa Busca, he frescoed casa the Myth of Psyche.

He returned to Rome in 1835–1836 to paint frescoes for Prince Alessandro Torlonia commissioned a series of frescoes for Villa Torlonia. In the first-floor gallery, he painted I fasti denti Dei; in the second floor, The myth of Diana. When the palace was demolished during the restructuring of Piazza Venezia, some frescoes were salvaged. In 1835 he was elected to the Academy of St Luke.

He painted a series of scenes of the Decameron, both original and copies, for patrons including the King of Naples, the Marchese Ala Ponzoni, and the sig. Giacomelli of Treviso. For the same marchese Ponzoni he painted Rape of Persephone and the Rape of Europa: subjects also duplicated for marchese Antonio Busca. For a Milanese banker The Bath of Venus and The Judgement of Paris for an English patron. More copies were made by his pupils. For the Cathedral of Chiari he painted: Santi Faustino e Giovita; for the Academy of Mexico: The Angel of Justice, for King Carlo Alberto he completed the Judgement of Salomon. For this painting, he was awarded the Cross of Civil Merit of Savoy. Podesti later on accepted the offer of a professorship at the Albertina Royal Academy at Turin.

All these painters managed to create several patriotic pieces, who were used greately by the Sardinian government as a propaganda tool to show themselves as the ones destined to unify Italy and kick foreigners out for good. Romanticist literature itself increased in production, and Manzoni continued to be a strong supporter of Italian unification under the semi constitutional house of Savoy, the closests to a democracy in Italy and the most advanced and powerful of the Italian states.

Romanticist music: Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western orchestral music associated with the period of the nineteenth century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the intellectual, artistic and literary movement that became prominent in Europe from approximately 1800 until 1910.

Romantic composers sought to create music that was individualistic, emotional, dramatic and often programmatic; reflecting broader trends within the movements of Romantic literature, poetry, art, and philosophy. Romantic music was often ostensibly inspired by (or else sought to evoke) non-musical stimuli, such as nature, literature, poetry, or the fine arts.

Two of the most famous Sardinian romantic composers were Gioachino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi, who were essential in the creation of patriotic pieces of work, alongside various other operas.

But, on August 20 1858 the first examples of realism in Sardinia, by now the North Italian Federation. Realism, sometimes called naturalism, in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements. Realism has been prevalent in the arts at many periods, and can be in large part a matter of technique and training, and the avoidance of stylization. Among Italians, two of them are remembered: Gioacchino Toma and Antonio Rotta

Gioacchino Toma: Toma was born to a well-known doctor from Galatina — subsequently to be orphaned by his father at age six and by his mother at age eight. At age ten, he was entrusted to a paternal uncle and rejected — sent first to a convent and then to the free Hospice of Giovinazzo, a poorhouse. There, Toma learned to draw, making a number still life sketches. He was otherwise self-taught. After leaving the hospice, Toma severed ties with his family at age 18, and fled in 1855 to Naples. There, Toma apprenticed with painter Alessandro Fergola and Domenico Morelli, producing sketches and becoming proficient in ornamental paintwork.

From 1854 to 1855, he worked as an ornamental painter in Naples. In 1857, he was suspected of being an Anti-Bourbon conspirator and was exiled to Sardinia. While there, he first took up painting seriously, producing a portrait of Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia and noted still life works.

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Milan or Death!, a commemorative piece of art by Gioacchino Toma celebrating Italy's victory over Austria, showing members of Garibaldi's Red Shirts

Antonio Rotta: Rotta was born on 28 February 1828 in Gorizia in the Kingdom of Illyria. He enrolled at the Accademia Reale di Belle Arti of Venice, where he studied under Ludovico Lipparini. His early genre paintings of Venetian scenes were followed by a number of religious and history paintings, among them Tiziano istruisce Irene di Spilimbergo ("Titian teaching Irene of Spilimberg"). He returned to genre painting, and produced many scenes of Venetian life, often featuring children. One of the best-known of these was Il Ciabattino, "the cobbler".

In the aftermath of the Italian War of Independence against Austria, a wave of anti-Italian sentiments plagued the Austro-Hungarian empire, leading to many Italian painters, writers and intellectuals to be persecuted by the Austrians, believing them to be fifth columnists. As such, Rotta was forced to move from Venice to the North Italian Federation, alongside many other writers and painters.

Even in music realism took a hold of Italian society with Verismo, Italian Realist Music.

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Capitulum XVIII: The War of Italian Independence
Capitulum XVIII: The War of Italian Independence

By 1850, both Austria and Britain had begun to partially fear Sardinia, the little tiger of the Mediterranean which had taken controll of Morocco and parts of Greece. It's alliance with France only cementified Britain and Austria's fear. Austria could not allow Sardinia to become an Italian regional power, and Britain had no intention to sacrifice the Mediterranean sea. Lucca was a close ally to the Sardinians, the Papal States were also allied to Sardinia. Parma, Tuscany and Lucca, however, were still under the influence of the Austrians, and the Two Sicilies were neutral. On top of that, Austria had Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg as spheres of influences in Southern Germany as a possible attack point.

As such, on November 06 1855, the Austro-Hungarian empire invaded Sardinia, alongside its puppet states. A few hours later, France entered the war against Austria, with Britain declaring war both against Sardinia and France, although it would see limited combat.

Austrian troops begun the assault by invading Genoa. The surprised Sardinian troops had no time to react against the Austrians, as the majority of the Royal Army was in Savona for training. By December 1955, Sardinia was entering a state of total war against the invaders. Meanwhile, in the French fronteer, the French were busy against the Bavarian army, only giving minimal support to Sardinia and its allies. Lucca fell rather quickly and, by the end of December, the Austrians could focus completely on Sardinia. Turin itself was besieged by the Austrians, and although the Sardinian army had managed to relieve the siege, the Austrians still were close. Novara and Alessandria were both taken.

In the south, the Papal army was faring much better, having taken Grosseto from Tuscany, but having to deal with the Austrians in Ferrara. Meanwhile, the French had recovered from their shock in the French border, and had fully occupied Baden by February 27 1856.

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Map showing the initial stages of the Italian War of Independence

By February 1856, the Austrians, initially in a situation of advantage, had begun to lose ground. With Baden, Wuttenbourg and Baden on the verge of collapsing, the French and Sardinians could now focus on the Italian front, liberating various regions which the Austrians had occupied, alongside capturing ground. By April 20 1856, various regions of Lombardia were captured by combined Sardinian and French troops, Lucca had been liberated, Modena, Parma and Tuscany occupied. Bavaria resisted in the North, but could not count on any Austrian reinforcements. Some clashes with the Royal Navy occurred near the island of Erba, but nothing major from the British part. The only major British action done during the war was the occupation of Corsica and the island of Sardinia.

On September 12 1856, Milan was liberated from Austrian controll. On April 05 1857, during the battle of Venice, Sardinian general Eusebio Bava died in battle. It was a sad day for Sardinia; Bava had been considered one of the most skilled generals the Sardinian military had. On November 04, the Austrian government was forced to surrender by the French and Sardinians.

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Italy during the latter stages of the Italian War of Independence, 04 November 1857

Britain did not intend to surrender and give Corsica and Sardinia back unless Austrian punishment was limited, so unfortunately both France and Sardinia had to been lean on the Hapsbourg. In the following peace treaty, Sardinia was awarded Lombardia, was returned the island of Sardinia, and could unite with Modena, Lucca and Parma, alongside gain some territories from the Papal States, which in exchange would gain the entirety of Tuscany. France was awarded the region of the Palatine, Nice and Savoy.

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Map of Italy on November 09 1857

The War of Italian Independence, from November 06 1855 to November 09 1857, was one of the stepping stones for the unification of the Italian peninsula, and cementified Sardinia, now the North Italian Federation, as a dominant power in the region. Austria's position would be limited simply to the Veneto region, while later on the North Italian Federation would go on to take controll of the Papal States and the Two Sicilies. It is still too early for controll of the Mediterranean, but soon, the Italian unification would unfold.

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I really like your style of foresgadowing in a way, but sometimes it feels as if there is simply no pushback against Sardinia. Maybe its me, but i think in that period that type of expansion would be hard for so small a power. That, and the certainty of italian victory leaves it feeling somewhat marysuish at times, this type of thing is normally covered by ingent ammounts of historical minutia but your to the point writting leaves that out for an easier write and read (even if the easyness of reading has been my most liked part)
 
November 11 1853: United States and United Kingdom divide Oregon on the 49th parallel.

October 29 1852-February 02 1854: Mexican-American War, American Victory, America gains huge ammounts of lands, mostly Mexican Alta California
In OTL, the 49th parallel was the border only as far as the Salish sea and all of Vancouver Island remained British. This is 7 years later than OTL. Similarly, the Mexican-American war is later. A POD which might have delayed these events is if the Whigs win the 1844 US presidential election, and Texas was annexed later. In regard to Oregon, the US & British positions had been reasonably close for some time, the US wanting the 49th parallel (including some of Vancouver Island) and the British wanting the 49th parallel turning South at the Columbia River. OTL was certainly a compromise between these positions, but it suggests that either the US or Britain played hard ball between 1846 & 1853. If the Americans felt some urgency to resolve the matter because the MAW was imminent, they may have conceded more of Oregon to the British, and hardening American attitudes between 1848 & 1854 would probably have led to more of Mexico being demanded.

A cute POD which might have had significant but unpredictable butterflies is if the Texans executed Antonio López de Santa Anna after the battle of San Jacinto. He then wouldn't have been alive to lead Mexican forces in the MAW or to conclude the Gadsden Purchase in 1854. The border between the US and Mexico West of the Rio Grande is entirely arbitrary, they would have certainly not been in the same place, and a later MAW, or even just the absence of Santa Anna might have led to an even more comprehensive victory, and the cession of Baja California.
 
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I really like your style of foresgadowing in a way, but sometimes it feels as if there is simply no pushback against Sardinia. Maybe its me, but i think in that period that type of expansion would be hard for so small a power. That, and the certainty of italian victory leaves it feeling somewhat marysuish at times, this type of thing is normally covered by ingent ammounts of historical minutia but your to the point writting leaves that out for an easier write and read (even if the easyness of reading has been my most liked part)
In OTL, the 49th parallel was the border only as far as the Salish sea and all of Vancouver Island remained British. This is 7 years later than OTL. Similarly, the Mexican-American war is later. A POD which might have delayed these events is if the Whigs win the 1844 US presidential election, and Texas was annexed later. In regard to Oregon, the US & British positions had been reasonably close for some time, the US wanting the 49th parallel (including some of Vancouver Island) and the British wanting the 49th parallel turning South at the Columbia River. OTL was certainly a compromise between these positions, but it suggests that either the US or Britain played hard ball between 1846 & 1853. If the Americans felt some urgency to resolve the matter because the MAW was imminent, they may have conceded more of Oregon to the British, and hardening American attitudes between 1848 & 1854 would probably have led to more of Mexico being demanded.

A cute POD which might have had significant but unpredictable butterflies is if the Texans executed Antonio López de Santa Anna after the battle of San Jacinto. He then wouldn't have been alive to lead Mexican forces in the MAW or to conclude the Gadsden Purchase in 1854. The border between the US and Mexico West of the Rio Grande are entirely arbitrary, they would have certainly not been in the same place, and a later MAW, or even just the absence of Santa Anna might have led to an even more comprehensive victory, and the cession of Baja California.

So far Sardinia was in part supported by France, with the exception of Morocco which was simply a small incursion. Later on in the Timeline, Italy will have a much harder time, I promise you.

As for the New World, this timeline doesn't really devolve much detail for the new world (save for a small exception later on in the timeline), but I might consider these ideas.
 
Capitulum XIX: The Evolution of North Italian society
Capitulum XIX: The Evolution of North Italian society

During the War of Italian Independence, many Sardinians which did not hold power begun to question just how much liberal and democratic their kingdom really was. Very few people had the right to vote, and those who could were the ones with money essentially. By December 1855, the first Sardinian Sociologists analized the elements of modern day Sardinian society, and noticed how the richer classes held more power, so much that there wasn't much difference between the aristocrats of Austria and the bourguesie of Sardinia. Conservatives and Reactionaries were still a majority, although far more challenged by the liberals, and even after the war with Austria, political party harassment was still common against the liberals. It did not help that even in 1860 voting was not anonymous.

On January 04 1857, in order to keep the population fighting against the Austrians, the Sardinian government was forced to improve its voting franchine, but it would not be until August 06 that the voting franchise become universal. Many members of the bourguesie, however, still justified that they deserved to be rich, because they were better than the poor. In the future, this concept would be nicknamed Social Darwinism.

All of these problems were addressed in the August 20 1856 elections, the first elections of the North Italian Federation. An increase of military spending was decided, in order to not get caught by surprise in the case of war with any other nations, especially Austria. Industries were nationalized by the government, gaining a bit of ire from the bourguesie but this allowed for better controll of the economy. This would bite the government later on, when the ministry of trade, Quintino Sella, protested against the government essential full controll of the economy, which leaded to the royal government to find for a compromise.. There were some minor religious issues, but they were largely ignored. As Vittorio Emanuele II states, "religion is not a political issue." For trade, the North Italian Federation prederred protectionism, in order to protect its still weak economy from foreign nations. By the end of the elections, however, once again the conservatives and reactionaries won against the liberals. It didn't help that it seemed like the king and the Senato Subalpino established an unfair political advantage for the "Moderati", the alliance between the conservatives and the reactionaries. This was known as "Gerrymandering".

Various intellectuals criticized this system, leading to many of them to be persecuted with "legal methods", with the most notable example being the arrests of November 24 1859, where in the entirety of the North Italian Federation several intellectuals, considered troublesome for the North Italian government, were arrested. Till the very end, Sardinia, now the North Italian Federation, supported prohibitionism and colonization of new areas.

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Capitulum XX: The evolution of the armed forces
Capitulum XX: The evolution of the armed forces

As Sardinia, and later on the North Italian Federation, increased in power and prestige, it made many enemies, in particular Austria and Britain. As such, it realized that it must improve its armed forces in order to keep up with the rest of the world.

Here are some of the weapons and tactics developed by the Kingdom of Sardinia and, later on, the North Italian Federation.

-The M1856 Musket:
The Sardinian M1856 Musket was a muzzle-loading firearm invented in 1856 and used by the Sardinian Army. The M1856 was the first standardized long gun utilized by the Sardinian Army and was deployed immediately in August 05 1856, where it saw action against the Austrians in the War of Italian Independence.

Proving typically conventional for the period, the weapon maintained a long service life under the Savoy crown and was deployed to its various frontline forces across the various Sardinian/North Italian holdings.

The M1856 saw some later modifications in 1858 and 1859.

The Model 1856Musket featured design qualities associated with this period of land-based warfare (in general line infantry)—these were long, heavy guns made primarily with a single-piece wooden stock housing the steel barrel and works of the gun lock. As muzzle-loading weapons, they were loaded down the muzzle end of the gun which necessitated use of a ramrod held in a channel in the stock under the barrel. The stock was affixed to the barrel at multiple points, usually two brass barrel bands and a cap [nose cap] at front and which had a ramrod pipe cast to it. The firing mechanism was of the flintlock method requiring a piece of flint to be seated in a vice and cocked rearwards prior to firing. Additional steps included the loading of black powder in the frizzen (pan) as well as gunpowder down the barrel prior to inserting the rest of the ball ammunition consisting of both projectile(s) and cartridge case and which also doubled as wadding. The wooden stock incorporated a straight grip handle that was slightly angled downwards and extended to become the shoulder support (or shoulder stock) which had a butt plate. The Sighting was through fixtures along the top of the weapon. The trigger was set within an oblong ring (trigger guard) under the action as normal.

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Sardinian M1856 Musket

-Strategic mobility: Strategic mobility is the ability to move an army to the area of operations. As the Sardinian empire grew in side, turning eventually in the North Italian Federation in November 09 1857, the North Italian army had to learn how to ship soldiers from one place to another quickly in order to avoid getting caught up by surprise like in the Moroccan uprising or the Austrian invasion. These lessons would provide to be useful against the Greeks in August 06 1859. Strategic mobility would improve even further when the first North Italian railroads appeared on December 28 1858.

-Field fortifications: Field fortifications, which are constructed when in contact with an enemy or when contact is imminent, consist of entrenched positions for personnel and crew-served weapons, cleared fields of fire, and obstacles against advancing formations. The North Italian Federations realized that in case of war with the Austrians, at this current stage, it would be the Austrians invading, and not the other way around. In order to prevent a breakthrough, the North Italian army must learn to create fortifications on the spot in order to bleed the Austrians dry and counter attack.

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North Italian Field fortifications near the Austrian border

-Carcano Mod. 60: The Carcano mod. 60 was a revolving-sliding needle bolt rifle in 17.5 mm caliber, which was adopted for a few years by the North Italian Royal Army. Rather than a new weapon it was rather an arrangement of the reloading system (known precisely as the Carcano System) to modify the old muzzleloading rifles and equip the armed forces of the newborn kingdom with a rifle that is at the same time modern but inexpensive.
The Carcano mod. 60 was presented as a modernization of the M1856 Musket: the engineer Carcano found himself facing the distrust that the North Italian commanders had towards metal bullets, so he had to fall back on the adoption of a needle system with paper cartridges that had already been adopted by the Chassepot and the Dreyse rifle .

However, the aforementioned systems were unsuitable to be applied on the old muzzle-loading rifles of the North Italian army, unless the breech and the wood of the weapons to be retransformed were completely redesigned. He therefore decided to create a system inspired by the unrecognized Doersch-Baumgarten, similar to the Prussian Dreyse but in need of fewer precautions to be adapted to the breech of weapons.

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Carcano Mod. 60

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Capitulum XXI: the North Italian-Greek war
Capitulum XXI: the North Italian-Greek war

The Aegean sea, while still being a strategic location for Sardinia and, later on, Italy, was a problematic location. The Greek government, while having recognized Sardinia ownership of the Aegean isles, was still unable to prevent various incidents between the Sardinians and the Greeks.

During the War of Italian independence, for example, Greek natives attacked Sardinian fortifications and civilians, promting a small government action against them, by sending the San Michele frigate. While portion of the Sardinian government intended to send a punitive action against Greece, believed to support the small uprising, the war with Austria prevented any sort of action.

However, after the end of the War of Italian independence, and with the birth of the North Italian Federation, plans were drawn for a final invasion of Greece, in order to calm the situation in the Aegean sea. Plans for a final offensive in Greece were made on January 19 1859. On March 18, April 05 and August 05 of the same year, various confrontations between the North Italian and Greek artillery between the Greeks in the Peloponnese and the North Italians in the island of Cervi (Elafonisos in Greek), the North Italian Federation declared war on the Kingdom of Greece on August 06 1859.

The first course of action was the capture of Athens. The North Italians landed on Lagonisi on August 10 1859, meeting light resistance. After consolidating easily the beach-head, they moved inland. On 06 August 1859, Colonel Ioannis Dimakopoulos's force of about 3,000 Greek soldiers with three cannons tried to repel the North Italian attack from about 2700 North Italian Soldiers. General Ettore de Sonnaz's pickets warned of the Greeks' counteroffensive at 5 AM, and de Sonnaz called out the regiment to begin assembling it for battle.

Dimakopoulos's initial larger force surrounded the North Italian Army on three sides, with the Hymettus mountain range behind the North Italians. de Sonnaz found himself facing Greek cavalry and three gun battery. The North Italiand did not have the time to bring their artillery. However, the Greek's guns were a motley assortment supplied with only a few solid shot and improvised canister. In fact, it is said that those three cannons were the only heavy guns of the Greek army.

While the artillery spooked a cavalry scout, it had little other impact on the battle. The first shot from the artillery passed over the defenders. Another passed through an house.

As the Greeks advanced, firing became general. Other than the lack of artillery, de Sonnaz's small force was much better armed with rifled muskets and bayonets. Dimakopoulos's force contained many poorly equipped, untrained and untested recruits.

The advance faltered as they approached through a field. Dimakopoulos was wounded in the neck and his demoralized men began falling back. Seeing this, de Sonnaz commanded his men to fix bayonets. Then he ordered, "Forward! Charge! Bayonets!" This counterattack, combined with the arrival of 11.000 North Italian reinforcements sent the Greeks into headlong retreat. Most of the North Italian force was on foot so the pursuit was very short.

The battle for Athens would continue until August 25 1859, and would be the only real battle of the war. By December 03 1859 all that was left of the Greek army resistance felt, and Greece was forced to surrender.

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Ettore de Sonnaz, commander of the North Italian invasion of Greece

In order to prevent further conflicts in Greece, the North Italian government turned the region into a vassal state. Carlo III of Parma, who lost his position as king of the Duchy of Parma after the birth of the North Italian Federation, was placed as the new king of Greece. While the vassal state would be heavily autonomous, it would still serve the North Italian Federation, and would allow Italian colonists in the region. However, it would take some time before Greece would be pacified, with guerrilla being common in the mountainous terrain of Greece.

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Greece after the North Italian-Greek war

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