The Revenge of the Crown : An Alternate 1812 and Beyond.
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
Not exactly. The 1768 Austrian map shows huge speckles of French in Flanders and huge deckles of Dutch in wallonia. And to be frank the people don't really matter. The elite of the area matter. And the elite were all french. As it was however Brussels was around one third french in 1820.
Brabant admittedly has been partitioned, however it is more of a.....division if you will. Also the creation of a free state under the PU of the Orangists was actually supported by the Flemish otl so it's really not a huge issue for the Flemish.
Chapter 33: The Beginning of a war.
Chapter 33: The Beginning of a war.
***
“The Kingdom of Sardinia always did have designs on the rest of the Italian peninsula before, during and after the Napoleonic Wars. Under their then king, King Charles Albrecht, these designs would come to fruition. His predecessor would die in 1829, leading him to become king. Having had a liberal education in France during the Napoleonic Wars, he had initially been a total liberal, however events soon changed to be a moderate, seeking a middle path between liberalism and conservatism. Charles Albrecht also sought to have a neo-Guelph unified Italian state, creating a federal kingdom between the Kingdoms of Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, Tuscany, Parma etc, headed by the Pope, at least on nominal terms, wherein each kingdom was equal with one another.
Charles Albrecht of Sardinia.
Of course, a good theory, horrible in practice. None of the other kingdoms responded to this idea positively. Why should they? They would lose their power after all. King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, Francis IV of Modena, Charles Louis of Lucca and Parma were all loathe to give their power into a circular division of power. Pope Pius VIII himself did not see fit to lead a new Italian confederation when he was trying to create divisions between the Latium population and the rest of Italy. This refusal of course hit King Charles Albrecht hard. He was an Italian first, not Sardinian, and as such the refusals of his fellow Italian monarchs hit him hard.
Nonetheless at first he sought a conciliatory stance with the other Italian states. However the situation turned against, forcing his hand. Napoleonic France had directly annexed the Sardinian region during its reign as the French Empire. During that time, Napoleon had instilled values of them being not Sardinian, not Savoyards, but Italian. Italian revolutionary feeling was greater in Sardinia than any place in Italy. In fact some places in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had very few revolutionaries advocating for Italian unification, most of them advocated for democratic reform and nothing else.
However, the partition of Belgium raised tensions throughout the continent of Europe. Austria was blistering mad at Prussia for taking part in the partition and was angered at Russia’s refusal to move against Prussia, with whom they were heavily tied. As tensions rose between the Central and Eastern European powers, Austria was forced to withdraw much of its troops from Venetia and Lombardy to reinforce the border with Prussia and Russia. The border with Austria had never been so weakened in the eyes of the Sardinians. And riots encouraged and even conducted by pan-Italians started to rock the Sardinian kingdom, asking their monarch to start a ‘war of independence’ as they called it.
Giuseppe Mazzini.
Italian activists throughout the peninsula and abroad also asked the monarch to move and act, before Austria wizened up to the threat forming in the northern Italian mountains and plains. Giuseppe Mazzini, a prominent Italian nationalist, who had good ties with the Sardinian king also pressured the man to go to war. Charles Albrecht himself had to admit the idea of being the sole monarch of Northern Italy, was tempting. His generals, and his politicians all (mostly) advised to move against Austria when the time was opportune. Finally Charles gave into the pressure, and he signed a secret treaty with Prussia. In it he received monetary aid from Prussia, and military supervisors, whilst Prussia would increase their border force with Austria to keep much of the Austrian troops tied down to garrison their border with Prussia.
On March 18th, 1832, Charles Albrecht, after two years of resisting the calls for war with Austria, finally declared war on the Empire of Austria.
The declaration of war was quite frankly a surprise in the court of Vienna. Emperor Francis I of Austria is said to have been blistering mad about the situation. His son, Ferdinand, the future Ferdinand I of Austria, in a rare time in which he managed to speak coherently through his seizures also called the entire declaration of war a ‘dastardly affair’.
Austria was without a doubt the military behemoth of central Europe. With 300,000 soldiers in peacetime, and a capability to raising the numbers to 600,000 in wartime, the Austrian Empire was a powerful military machine. However it had to secure its borders with Prussia, Russia and the Ottoman Empire and its satellite states of Moldavia and Wallachia. It also had the burden of garrisoning troops in its German satellite states and allies like in Baden and Wurttemberg. As such the amount of troops that Austria could present in Northern Italy was a scant 60,000, merely a fifth of their entire army. In contrast, Charles Albrecht had an army of 98,000 and they were all going to be fighting in only one direction.
The first engagement of this war happened on March 25th, when a small Austrian scouting army of a scant 1000 men stumbled upon the entire 1st Army of the Sardinian Forces, numbering some 45,000 near Besatte. The small scouting party tried to escape but with futility as it was nearly wiped out in the ensuing Battle of Besatte.
von Radetzky
However this was also a blessing in disguise for the Austrian commander commanding the forces in Northern Italy, Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. Von Radetz was an able commander who had distinguished himself in battle during the Napoleonic Wars, and had been one of the drivers of Austrian military reform during the one and a half decade of peace. Now with the Battle of Besatte he knew that the 1st Sardinian Army was marching towards Milan, whilst the 2nd Army (some 30,000) army was moving south, probably toward the smaller Italian city states near Genoa, all of whom were allied with Austria. The Sardinian 3rd Army, some 23,000 strong was probably being kept in reserve. Von Radetz decided to divide his army into 2 groups equally, keeping 30,000 under his direct command whilst he gave Marshal Frederick Bianchi, the Duke of Casalanza command of his second army group, which he called the 2nd Italian Army.
Casalanza was ordered to move south to protect the flanks of the Austrian allies in Modena and Lucca, whilst von Radetz did the audacious thing. He used his small outnumbered army and marched to Milan to face the Sardinians head on. The Sardinians, lead personally by their monarch were caught off guard by this move. Charles Albrecht nonetheless still went forward and tried to lay siege to the city of Milan. Milan was a highly fortified city, and von Radetz was initially not worried about the city. However unfortunately for him, the commander of the city, a pan-Italian himself, Stefano Ricci, let the city walls open without a fight, and gave the city up to the Sardinian monarch. Beset with rage, von Radetz decided towards a new plan. He detached 5000 of his best grenadiers and let them lay siege to Milan and instead turned towards the army of Charles Albrecht.
The Sardinians entering Milan.
Charles Albrecht was caught completely off guard by the attack by von Radetz who had only 25,000 men with him versus Charles’s own 35,000. Nonetheless, Charles decided to fight and fight they did at the fields of the historic city….of Pavia.” An Introduction of the Great Italian War, University of Napoli, 2009.
“The Battle of Pavia was one of von Radetz’s masterpieces in battle. Even though the aftermath of the battle was not in favor of Austria, any man would be foolish to call the battle anything but an Austrian victory. The battle began on the 18th of April, 1832 when Radetz’s guns began to bombard the positions of the Sardinians. The Sardinians responded with a great barrage of their own. However, the Austrians quite boldly used the timing between the barrages to launch a massive offensive. The troops at the front were caught off-guard, and Radetz, who had still not committed his cavalry in battle put them away from the battle, instead wishing to use them at a most opportune moment instead of wasting them during the heat of modern warfare.
The Battle of Pavia.
The moment came when the frontlines of the Sardinians and the Austrians collided in a furious melee. Charles Albrecht had left his northern flank thinly defended due to his overconfidence in his superior numbers, and Radetz ordered his cavalry to come forward and attack the Sardinians from the north. The cavalry troops, some of veterans of the Wars of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Coalitions cut through the northern flank of the Sardinians with ease, and the Hungarian dragoons managed to even breach several center lines before grouping up with the other cavalry troops. Radetz knew this was the moment, and he ordered his troops to regroup and then attack with all of their ferocity once again. The troops did as such and by the evening of the day, the Sardinians were being pushed back to the city of Pavia itself. With the city lightly defended and not prepared for urban warfare, Charles Albrecht reluctantly gave the order for his men to retreat beyond the Ticino river. By the end of the day, the Battle of Pavia was over, a decisive Austrian victory as now, the Sardinians would not be able to threaten Southern Lombardy and the Po Valley, at least for the time being.
Leopold II of Tuscany.
However the victory did not last long for the Austrians. Another place which had been under direct French rule was a hotbed for pan-Italian feeling. This was the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Leopold II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was a Habsburg and as such pro-Austrian. He spoke out against the pan-Italian feelings publically during a time of revolutionary fervor. Many of his own ministers, caught on by the revolutionary fervor deposed his family from the Tuscan throne and declared the Republic of Tuscany in May 2nd, 1832, declaring themselves for the ‘Italian’ and ‘Sardinian’ cause led by Gino Capponi. Capponi called for the Italian peoples to rise up against foreign oppressors, namely Austrian and French and to unify the nation as one. Bad idea.
Gino Capponi
The deposition of a monarch was so reminiscent of the Napoleonic years in which Napoleon deposed monarchies as he saw fit whenever he ruled led to a bad reaction back in Rome and Naples. Pope Pius VIII was furious and denounced the Republic of Tuscany in public calling for the Romans and Latins of his country to stay strong with the Papal government. In the Two Sicilies, King Ferdinand II too had a knee jerk reaction against the deposition of Leopold II and denounced the entire war.
However soon crisis enveloped the Papal States as well. The Latium region of the Papal States was largely in favor and in line with the Pope and his reformist and Papal-nationalist ideas. However his eastern region of Ferrara and Bologna were hotbeds of Italian nationalism within the Papal States, and seeing their chance, Northeastern Papal States went into outright rebellion declaring secession and the Duchy of Bologna-Ferrara, with an absent monarchy for the moment. The Papal Military, which had been reforming and growing under Pope Pius VIII to say the least was not amused.
The Papal Military some 30,000 strong was deployed to crush the rebellion. However the Sardinian 2nd Army had managed to defeat Lucca and Modena in battle, and had occupied the two states. Then it linked up with the rebels in Bologna and Ferrara. Radetzky was being held up by pro-Italian riots and protests in Venice and was also being held up by the siege of Milan and he would not be able to stop the Sardinians from aiding the rebels in Bologna. The rebels also concluded an alliance with Sardinia, and as such this was the last straw that broke the proverbial back. The Papal States declared war on the kingdom of Sardinia the next month in August, 1832.” The Crisis deepens: Italy in the 1830s, University of Salzburg, 1998.
“Ferdinand VII of Spain had died in 1831, leaving the throne to his 3 year old son, Alfonso who was crowned Alfonso XII. His regent was the Count of Alcudia, Antonio de Saavedra. Saavedra was a Spanish nationalist and irredentist. He was furious at the loss of prestige that Spain had suffered after the Napoleonic Wars and had ever since the death of the meddling Ferdinand VII, devoted his time in increasing the military strength of Spain.
Antonio de Saavedra.
The declaration of war on the part of the Papal States let out a chain reaction. France had designs on the Savoy valley and Nice area. However when the Papal States declared the excommunication of Charles Albrecht and declared war on Sardinia, this gave Charles X a new motive to move against Sardinia. Sardinia and France historically did not get along, and this was no different. In secret he forged a treaty of alliance with the Papal States, and instead of acting himself, he forced Pope Pius VIII to active the treaty of alliance and in December 1832, Charles X was called to honor his ‘old’ alliance with the Pope. Charles X who ruled over a dominantly Catholic country first gauged the reaction of his citizens. The government of Lafayette was against the war. However the people, Catholics all of them, demanded war against an excommunicated king, and a country that had tried to annex the Pope’s ‘holy’ territory. Lafayette who did not really have a choice when the people were barging into governmental offices asking for war, acquiesced and on December 20th, the Kingdom of France declared war on Sardinia.
Seeing an opportunity to regain lost prestige and influence during this growing crisis, de Saavedra began preparing the Spanish military to intervene in the war in Italy. Not now, he would intervene in 1833.” The Mediterranean Crisis.
“The crisis unfolding in the Italian peninsula was of course not neglected by other powers in Europe. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia was disgusted with the liberal ideals which was being used to espouse the pan-Italian cause, and he largely stayed out of it, instead focusing on his own problems, Poland for one, and the growing tensions with Austria. Prussia would not get directly involved, as they were sorting out the annexed Francophone territories in Wallonia, however they continued to send more troops to the border with Austria and her allies in the German Confederation to keep the Austrians on their toes. However the last great power of Europe, the Great Power of the World by this point, Great Britain and its prime minister Lord Landsdowne was caught off-guard by this war.
He tried to preserve the post-Congress of Vienna accord, however he was unsuccessful in diffusing the unfolding crisis. He was humiliated by the European continental press so badly for his failures to broker a treaty, that he resigned as the leader of the whigs and instead Lord Grey succeeded him as the Whig leader. He remained prime minister however until the General Elections of 1832 (the Great Reform stipulated a general election to take place every five years). In the 1832 General Elections in December, 1832, the Whig government held their ground and won majority in the parliament and formed a new government under Lord Grey, who took over as Prime Minister.
Lord Grey took a different approach to the Italian Crisis. He admitted quietly that the post-Vienna era was at an end, and digging their heads in the sand to state that it wasn’t was quite futile. However in return Lord Grey also became focused on other affairs. British interests in Malta and the Ionian islands were not threatened and Gibraltar was safe. As long as British interests were not disrupted, Lord Grey instead turned to profit from the war. He started to sell weapons from British industries to the warmaking countries and instead used the money to accelerate the growth of the British economy, using the funds appropriated to start the construction of the newfangled railroads and such. The Tories lambasted this view of the war, with many agitating for an intervention in the war, especially as France entered the fray. Lord Grey quite logically asked, on which side would they intervene. The Tories answered by stating that they would intervene as a third side, to stop both sides from fighting. Lord Grey would ask “And unite every power against us?”
That shut the Tories down. Britain was not a landbased power. Sure it had enough to defend itself, and in times of great crisis like the Peninsular War, enough to project power, but it first and foremost, a naval power. The conflict enveloping Mainland Europe was not a revolutionary war like the 1790s or early 1800s in the opinion of Britain. It was a plain old continental war like that of the Seven Years War or the Wars of Succession. With all sides ripe for the weakening, Britain would stand on the sidelines, for the moment. However if one side received too much influence, or too much power, Lord Grey promised that Britain would be ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. Quietly London also warned Charles X that any designs on Northern Italy would be rebuked harshly with the might of the Royal Navy and British Army, operating from Hannover.
For the moment, Charles X kept up his charade of being a protector of the Papacy and nodded towards London.
Charles X in fact did have designs on Northern Italy. But in an ironic twist of fate, the French monarch died in February 1833. His son, Louis ascended to the throne of France as King Louis XIX of France. Louis XIX did not share his father’s designs on the Savoy region and Nice, instead preferring the current French border as more defensible, and also he did not wish to gain the ire of Great Britain by annexing territory more than what he needed. As a devout Christian, even more so than his father, Louis XIX instead made the entire war to become entirely about religion instead, not intending to annex territory, which he knew would make more people suspicious about France, so quick after the Napoleonic Wars. In his diary he writes….
……Father was prideful. And that went to his head. I know he had designs when he went into this war, and well, I know not what those designs were, however they were foolish. We cannot afford to take land especially at this time when the great powers looked at our annexation of Wallonia with distrust. This war is for another reason. The Sardinians have attacked the Pope and the Papacy. France attacked the Papacy during Napoleon’s time. This war will show that France has moved on from the specter of the past. We are a great power, however we will stay within the modicum of diplomacy and regional influence. The Sardinians have upset the peace in the region and the post-Vienna era. For that, they must be put down. Even if it means allying with the wretched Habsburgs for the moment. I must also admit, the force being shown by the Sardinians in Lombardy, coupled with their allies in Tuscany and Bologna, does make them a formidable regional power. And with Austria on guard against the Turks, Russians and Prussians, Austrian will be unable to fight at full strength. My only hope is that we do not provoke Great Britain. This needs to be a short war. One or two years at most…….
Louis XIX of France.
Unfortunately for him, this was would be anything but short.” A History of the Great Italian War, University of Napoli, 2008.
***
“The Kingdom of Sardinia always did have designs on the rest of the Italian peninsula before, during and after the Napoleonic Wars. Under their then king, King Charles Albrecht, these designs would come to fruition. His predecessor would die in 1829, leading him to become king. Having had a liberal education in France during the Napoleonic Wars, he had initially been a total liberal, however events soon changed to be a moderate, seeking a middle path between liberalism and conservatism. Charles Albrecht also sought to have a neo-Guelph unified Italian state, creating a federal kingdom between the Kingdoms of Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, Tuscany, Parma etc, headed by the Pope, at least on nominal terms, wherein each kingdom was equal with one another.
Charles Albrecht of Sardinia.
Of course, a good theory, horrible in practice. None of the other kingdoms responded to this idea positively. Why should they? They would lose their power after all. King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, Francis IV of Modena, Charles Louis of Lucca and Parma were all loathe to give their power into a circular division of power. Pope Pius VIII himself did not see fit to lead a new Italian confederation when he was trying to create divisions between the Latium population and the rest of Italy. This refusal of course hit King Charles Albrecht hard. He was an Italian first, not Sardinian, and as such the refusals of his fellow Italian monarchs hit him hard.
Nonetheless at first he sought a conciliatory stance with the other Italian states. However the situation turned against, forcing his hand. Napoleonic France had directly annexed the Sardinian region during its reign as the French Empire. During that time, Napoleon had instilled values of them being not Sardinian, not Savoyards, but Italian. Italian revolutionary feeling was greater in Sardinia than any place in Italy. In fact some places in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had very few revolutionaries advocating for Italian unification, most of them advocated for democratic reform and nothing else.
However, the partition of Belgium raised tensions throughout the continent of Europe. Austria was blistering mad at Prussia for taking part in the partition and was angered at Russia’s refusal to move against Prussia, with whom they were heavily tied. As tensions rose between the Central and Eastern European powers, Austria was forced to withdraw much of its troops from Venetia and Lombardy to reinforce the border with Prussia and Russia. The border with Austria had never been so weakened in the eyes of the Sardinians. And riots encouraged and even conducted by pan-Italians started to rock the Sardinian kingdom, asking their monarch to start a ‘war of independence’ as they called it.
Giuseppe Mazzini.
Italian activists throughout the peninsula and abroad also asked the monarch to move and act, before Austria wizened up to the threat forming in the northern Italian mountains and plains. Giuseppe Mazzini, a prominent Italian nationalist, who had good ties with the Sardinian king also pressured the man to go to war. Charles Albrecht himself had to admit the idea of being the sole monarch of Northern Italy, was tempting. His generals, and his politicians all (mostly) advised to move against Austria when the time was opportune. Finally Charles gave into the pressure, and he signed a secret treaty with Prussia. In it he received monetary aid from Prussia, and military supervisors, whilst Prussia would increase their border force with Austria to keep much of the Austrian troops tied down to garrison their border with Prussia.
On March 18th, 1832, Charles Albrecht, after two years of resisting the calls for war with Austria, finally declared war on the Empire of Austria.
The declaration of war was quite frankly a surprise in the court of Vienna. Emperor Francis I of Austria is said to have been blistering mad about the situation. His son, Ferdinand, the future Ferdinand I of Austria, in a rare time in which he managed to speak coherently through his seizures also called the entire declaration of war a ‘dastardly affair’.
Austria was without a doubt the military behemoth of central Europe. With 300,000 soldiers in peacetime, and a capability to raising the numbers to 600,000 in wartime, the Austrian Empire was a powerful military machine. However it had to secure its borders with Prussia, Russia and the Ottoman Empire and its satellite states of Moldavia and Wallachia. It also had the burden of garrisoning troops in its German satellite states and allies like in Baden and Wurttemberg. As such the amount of troops that Austria could present in Northern Italy was a scant 60,000, merely a fifth of their entire army. In contrast, Charles Albrecht had an army of 98,000 and they were all going to be fighting in only one direction.
The first engagement of this war happened on March 25th, when a small Austrian scouting army of a scant 1000 men stumbled upon the entire 1st Army of the Sardinian Forces, numbering some 45,000 near Besatte. The small scouting party tried to escape but with futility as it was nearly wiped out in the ensuing Battle of Besatte.
von Radetzky
However this was also a blessing in disguise for the Austrian commander commanding the forces in Northern Italy, Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. Von Radetz was an able commander who had distinguished himself in battle during the Napoleonic Wars, and had been one of the drivers of Austrian military reform during the one and a half decade of peace. Now with the Battle of Besatte he knew that the 1st Sardinian Army was marching towards Milan, whilst the 2nd Army (some 30,000) army was moving south, probably toward the smaller Italian city states near Genoa, all of whom were allied with Austria. The Sardinian 3rd Army, some 23,000 strong was probably being kept in reserve. Von Radetz decided to divide his army into 2 groups equally, keeping 30,000 under his direct command whilst he gave Marshal Frederick Bianchi, the Duke of Casalanza command of his second army group, which he called the 2nd Italian Army.
Casalanza was ordered to move south to protect the flanks of the Austrian allies in Modena and Lucca, whilst von Radetz did the audacious thing. He used his small outnumbered army and marched to Milan to face the Sardinians head on. The Sardinians, lead personally by their monarch were caught off guard by this move. Charles Albrecht nonetheless still went forward and tried to lay siege to the city of Milan. Milan was a highly fortified city, and von Radetz was initially not worried about the city. However unfortunately for him, the commander of the city, a pan-Italian himself, Stefano Ricci, let the city walls open without a fight, and gave the city up to the Sardinian monarch. Beset with rage, von Radetz decided towards a new plan. He detached 5000 of his best grenadiers and let them lay siege to Milan and instead turned towards the army of Charles Albrecht.
The Sardinians entering Milan.
Charles Albrecht was caught completely off guard by the attack by von Radetz who had only 25,000 men with him versus Charles’s own 35,000. Nonetheless, Charles decided to fight and fight they did at the fields of the historic city….of Pavia.” An Introduction of the Great Italian War, University of Napoli, 2009.
“The Battle of Pavia was one of von Radetz’s masterpieces in battle. Even though the aftermath of the battle was not in favor of Austria, any man would be foolish to call the battle anything but an Austrian victory. The battle began on the 18th of April, 1832 when Radetz’s guns began to bombard the positions of the Sardinians. The Sardinians responded with a great barrage of their own. However, the Austrians quite boldly used the timing between the barrages to launch a massive offensive. The troops at the front were caught off-guard, and Radetz, who had still not committed his cavalry in battle put them away from the battle, instead wishing to use them at a most opportune moment instead of wasting them during the heat of modern warfare.
The Battle of Pavia.
The moment came when the frontlines of the Sardinians and the Austrians collided in a furious melee. Charles Albrecht had left his northern flank thinly defended due to his overconfidence in his superior numbers, and Radetz ordered his cavalry to come forward and attack the Sardinians from the north. The cavalry troops, some of veterans of the Wars of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Coalitions cut through the northern flank of the Sardinians with ease, and the Hungarian dragoons managed to even breach several center lines before grouping up with the other cavalry troops. Radetz knew this was the moment, and he ordered his troops to regroup and then attack with all of their ferocity once again. The troops did as such and by the evening of the day, the Sardinians were being pushed back to the city of Pavia itself. With the city lightly defended and not prepared for urban warfare, Charles Albrecht reluctantly gave the order for his men to retreat beyond the Ticino river. By the end of the day, the Battle of Pavia was over, a decisive Austrian victory as now, the Sardinians would not be able to threaten Southern Lombardy and the Po Valley, at least for the time being.
Leopold II of Tuscany.
However the victory did not last long for the Austrians. Another place which had been under direct French rule was a hotbed for pan-Italian feeling. This was the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Leopold II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was a Habsburg and as such pro-Austrian. He spoke out against the pan-Italian feelings publically during a time of revolutionary fervor. Many of his own ministers, caught on by the revolutionary fervor deposed his family from the Tuscan throne and declared the Republic of Tuscany in May 2nd, 1832, declaring themselves for the ‘Italian’ and ‘Sardinian’ cause led by Gino Capponi. Capponi called for the Italian peoples to rise up against foreign oppressors, namely Austrian and French and to unify the nation as one. Bad idea.
Gino Capponi
The deposition of a monarch was so reminiscent of the Napoleonic years in which Napoleon deposed monarchies as he saw fit whenever he ruled led to a bad reaction back in Rome and Naples. Pope Pius VIII was furious and denounced the Republic of Tuscany in public calling for the Romans and Latins of his country to stay strong with the Papal government. In the Two Sicilies, King Ferdinand II too had a knee jerk reaction against the deposition of Leopold II and denounced the entire war.
However soon crisis enveloped the Papal States as well. The Latium region of the Papal States was largely in favor and in line with the Pope and his reformist and Papal-nationalist ideas. However his eastern region of Ferrara and Bologna were hotbeds of Italian nationalism within the Papal States, and seeing their chance, Northeastern Papal States went into outright rebellion declaring secession and the Duchy of Bologna-Ferrara, with an absent monarchy for the moment. The Papal Military, which had been reforming and growing under Pope Pius VIII to say the least was not amused.
The Papal Military some 30,000 strong was deployed to crush the rebellion. However the Sardinian 2nd Army had managed to defeat Lucca and Modena in battle, and had occupied the two states. Then it linked up with the rebels in Bologna and Ferrara. Radetzky was being held up by pro-Italian riots and protests in Venice and was also being held up by the siege of Milan and he would not be able to stop the Sardinians from aiding the rebels in Bologna. The rebels also concluded an alliance with Sardinia, and as such this was the last straw that broke the proverbial back. The Papal States declared war on the kingdom of Sardinia the next month in August, 1832.” The Crisis deepens: Italy in the 1830s, University of Salzburg, 1998.
“Ferdinand VII of Spain had died in 1831, leaving the throne to his 3 year old son, Alfonso who was crowned Alfonso XII. His regent was the Count of Alcudia, Antonio de Saavedra. Saavedra was a Spanish nationalist and irredentist. He was furious at the loss of prestige that Spain had suffered after the Napoleonic Wars and had ever since the death of the meddling Ferdinand VII, devoted his time in increasing the military strength of Spain.
Antonio de Saavedra.
The declaration of war on the part of the Papal States let out a chain reaction. France had designs on the Savoy valley and Nice area. However when the Papal States declared the excommunication of Charles Albrecht and declared war on Sardinia, this gave Charles X a new motive to move against Sardinia. Sardinia and France historically did not get along, and this was no different. In secret he forged a treaty of alliance with the Papal States, and instead of acting himself, he forced Pope Pius VIII to active the treaty of alliance and in December 1832, Charles X was called to honor his ‘old’ alliance with the Pope. Charles X who ruled over a dominantly Catholic country first gauged the reaction of his citizens. The government of Lafayette was against the war. However the people, Catholics all of them, demanded war against an excommunicated king, and a country that had tried to annex the Pope’s ‘holy’ territory. Lafayette who did not really have a choice when the people were barging into governmental offices asking for war, acquiesced and on December 20th, the Kingdom of France declared war on Sardinia.
Seeing an opportunity to regain lost prestige and influence during this growing crisis, de Saavedra began preparing the Spanish military to intervene in the war in Italy. Not now, he would intervene in 1833.” The Mediterranean Crisis.
“The crisis unfolding in the Italian peninsula was of course not neglected by other powers in Europe. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia was disgusted with the liberal ideals which was being used to espouse the pan-Italian cause, and he largely stayed out of it, instead focusing on his own problems, Poland for one, and the growing tensions with Austria. Prussia would not get directly involved, as they were sorting out the annexed Francophone territories in Wallonia, however they continued to send more troops to the border with Austria and her allies in the German Confederation to keep the Austrians on their toes. However the last great power of Europe, the Great Power of the World by this point, Great Britain and its prime minister Lord Landsdowne was caught off-guard by this war.
He tried to preserve the post-Congress of Vienna accord, however he was unsuccessful in diffusing the unfolding crisis. He was humiliated by the European continental press so badly for his failures to broker a treaty, that he resigned as the leader of the whigs and instead Lord Grey succeeded him as the Whig leader. He remained prime minister however until the General Elections of 1832 (the Great Reform stipulated a general election to take place every five years). In the 1832 General Elections in December, 1832, the Whig government held their ground and won majority in the parliament and formed a new government under Lord Grey, who took over as Prime Minister.
Lord Grey took a different approach to the Italian Crisis. He admitted quietly that the post-Vienna era was at an end, and digging their heads in the sand to state that it wasn’t was quite futile. However in return Lord Grey also became focused on other affairs. British interests in Malta and the Ionian islands were not threatened and Gibraltar was safe. As long as British interests were not disrupted, Lord Grey instead turned to profit from the war. He started to sell weapons from British industries to the warmaking countries and instead used the money to accelerate the growth of the British economy, using the funds appropriated to start the construction of the newfangled railroads and such. The Tories lambasted this view of the war, with many agitating for an intervention in the war, especially as France entered the fray. Lord Grey quite logically asked, on which side would they intervene. The Tories answered by stating that they would intervene as a third side, to stop both sides from fighting. Lord Grey would ask “And unite every power against us?”
That shut the Tories down. Britain was not a landbased power. Sure it had enough to defend itself, and in times of great crisis like the Peninsular War, enough to project power, but it first and foremost, a naval power. The conflict enveloping Mainland Europe was not a revolutionary war like the 1790s or early 1800s in the opinion of Britain. It was a plain old continental war like that of the Seven Years War or the Wars of Succession. With all sides ripe for the weakening, Britain would stand on the sidelines, for the moment. However if one side received too much influence, or too much power, Lord Grey promised that Britain would be ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. Quietly London also warned Charles X that any designs on Northern Italy would be rebuked harshly with the might of the Royal Navy and British Army, operating from Hannover.
For the moment, Charles X kept up his charade of being a protector of the Papacy and nodded towards London.
Charles X in fact did have designs on Northern Italy. But in an ironic twist of fate, the French monarch died in February 1833. His son, Louis ascended to the throne of France as King Louis XIX of France. Louis XIX did not share his father’s designs on the Savoy region and Nice, instead preferring the current French border as more defensible, and also he did not wish to gain the ire of Great Britain by annexing territory more than what he needed. As a devout Christian, even more so than his father, Louis XIX instead made the entire war to become entirely about religion instead, not intending to annex territory, which he knew would make more people suspicious about France, so quick after the Napoleonic Wars. In his diary he writes….
……Father was prideful. And that went to his head. I know he had designs when he went into this war, and well, I know not what those designs were, however they were foolish. We cannot afford to take land especially at this time when the great powers looked at our annexation of Wallonia with distrust. This war is for another reason. The Sardinians have attacked the Pope and the Papacy. France attacked the Papacy during Napoleon’s time. This war will show that France has moved on from the specter of the past. We are a great power, however we will stay within the modicum of diplomacy and regional influence. The Sardinians have upset the peace in the region and the post-Vienna era. For that, they must be put down. Even if it means allying with the wretched Habsburgs for the moment. I must also admit, the force being shown by the Sardinians in Lombardy, coupled with their allies in Tuscany and Bologna, does make them a formidable regional power. And with Austria on guard against the Turks, Russians and Prussians, Austrian will be unable to fight at full strength. My only hope is that we do not provoke Great Britain. This needs to be a short war. One or two years at most…….
Louis XIX of France.
Unfortunately for him, this was would be anything but short.” A History of the Great Italian War, University of Napoli, 2008.
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It seem like Louis XIX is gonna pull a Louis XV let’s hope it doesn’t make him as unpopular as him . As how thing are now there no way for the war to last six years and the last sentence made me think Britain will join the war on the Italian side possibly even Prussia if thing truly snowball , at this rate it seem the Congress of Vienna harmony would die far earlier than OTL with a global conflict emerging quite early . Also that aside how the lack of Savoy and Nice make the border more defensible I might be blind but when I see a topographic map of the region I tend to think the reverse . Quite curious how in the end the thing will play out in Italy it can go on many way but right now I would bet on it not ending united as OTL
Well my first rteaction is that we see the exit of Charles X. I wonder how he will be viewed by France and history in general ITTL.
Yes the Vienna order is done and dead (mostly) by now.
Louis XV was actually well beloved during his time and was only disliked after his death so for the time being Louis XIX is fine.
Many wars in the 19th century could have snowballed extremely and that is what I am trying to do.
On regards to Nice, the small passes between nice and the rest of the southern french coast are defensible and the Sovoy valley whilst a better defensive barrier the Lyon region mountains are also acceptable as a defensive barrier. Not as good mind you, but good enough.
Why? Napoleon III essentially did the same thing and it helped him cement his support among the more traditionalist/rural French Catholics. The fall of the Papacy to Revolutionaries was quite shocking even for France.
Britain has no interest in Italy at the moment. If anything the Sardinians will be seen as the one going against the Status quo. Thanks to the Congress of Vienna Italy was basically the sphere of Austria and France. Northern/Central Italy wasn't really in Britain's interests in terms of the continent. Most of that focus was dedicated towards Germany and the Low Countries tbh.
Why would Prussia join in here. They're not the power they were in 1860, or even 1870. Austria during the War over Germany had a decent shot of defeating the Prussians. In the 1830's Prussia would not dare threaten Austria.
If anything Austria is the de-facto overlord of Northern Italy with its control over Lombardy-Venetia. France defending the traditional status quo, and not annexing territory would only really serve to improve its reputation rather than putting all of Europe on alert.
If the Bourbon Restoration is maintained which seems likely, he'd probably be remembered quite fondly. Overall, he was quite successful in terms of foreign policy, and had a decent amount of success domestically. And as Louis XIX was more moderate than his father, its very likely that the restoration is now cemented.
I have to agree here as well. French Kings for centuries have been trying to annex these regions.
I disagree. His return of the captured Austrian Netherlands cratered the French monarchy's popularity and did more to damage the prestige of the monarchy than Louis XVI did. A lot of Frenchmen were quite pissed when that happened. It was honestly a miracle he avoided assassination like his ancestor Henri IV.
Why though? Sardinia doesn't have the strength to go against France. They were easily crushed by the Austrians despite them facing many internal problems. It was Napoleon III's support that ultimately tipped the scales in otl.
Actually, Britain has an interest in making sure neither France nor Austria take too much to disrupt the balance of power. Other than that, Britain is sitting on the sidelines.
In regards to prussia, militarily they could go toe to toe with Austria during this time as well, but their problems were more economic than military during this time. They were saddled with the most post-Napoleonic Debt and had to stay down defunding their military to pay their debts. Because of this however by the 1840s Prussia's military was a shadow of itself. Being defeated by tiny Denmark? Ouch!
indeed.
His antics such as the King's Golden and Godly touch won't be remembered fondly though they may be pinned as some quirks, though yeah overall he would be remembered successfully. By this point the restoration is kinda cemented.
I did forget about that. Yes, the return of the Austrian Netherlands did dampen his legacy.
Well let's just say the Two Sicilies and a resurgent power have yet to be dragged in.
? I was tabout not annexing a wanted region because it wouldn’t be proper morally good or other misunderstood reason to the general French population
Agree neither Britain and Prussia have big interest or reason to go to war in the pan Italian side I just speculated because with the thing continuing going like that there no way the Italian nationalist to last six year against the combined power of Austria France and Spain .
i wot be detailing it as much as i do in the wars in America, but i will be going over the major points.
Something big will have to happen for the PanItalians to not get crushed soon it seems.
Seem like the kingdom of Two Silicies will join the war on the Italian side with a mysterious resurgent power I honestly doesn’t see that many candidate apart of the Ottoman Empire but they would be occupied internally and with little incentive or capacity and possibly Spain but they seem to go in the war to crush the rebel ?