Battle of Treponti

Second Italian War of Independence
Date	15 June 1859
Location	Treponti, Lombardia
Result	Austrian victory
Belligerents
Austria	Sardinia
Commanders and leaders
Karl von Urban	Giuseppe Garibaldi
Units involved
Division Urban (IX. Army Corps)	Hunters of the Alps (Cacciatori delle Alpi)
Strength
4,000	12,000 aprox.
Casualties and losses
109: 89 wounded, 12 killed, 8 missing	154: 117 wounded, 27 killed, 10 prisoners

Last updated March 08, 2024

The Battle of Treponti, also known as Battle of Castenedolo, took place on 15 June 1859, during the Second Italian War of Independence. The encounter opposed the Austrians led by Field Marshal Karl von Urban and the Sardinians commanded by Giuseppe Garibaldi. Von Urban employed a cunning stratagem that led to his victory over Garibaldi.

Prelude to battle

After the Battle of Magenta, the Austrian army started a retreat to the defensive position of the Quadrilatero. Karl von Urban was charged to defend the Austrian rear-guard from enemy's attacks.

At this juncture, Garibaldi was relentlessly pursuing the retreating Austrian forces with a formidable contingent that had increased from 3,000 to around 12,000 volunteers and reinforced by Piedmontese troops of the brigade Voghera.^[1]^[2]

Battle

Urban orchestrated a sequence of events designed to entice Garibaldi into a trap, with an attack on the Italian positions at Treponti executed by elements of the Rupprecht Brigade. The Hunters of the Alps, eager to confront the challenge, took the bait and launched an assault en force against the Division Urban, strategically positioned in proximity to Castenedolo.^[3]

Having successfully breached the initial Austrian lines of defense, the Italian forces soon found themselves entrapped, surrounded from three directions, and subjected to relentless and withering enemy fire. Von Urban had strategically positioned his central forces upon a plateau, in an impregnable fortified semi-circular formation. As the Italian forces discovered themselves entrapped within this intricate web, Von Urban executed a meticulously coordinated maneuver, ordering an attack in pincers by his right and left flanks.^[3]

Confronted by this relentless onslaught and entrapped within the tactical scheme, the Italian forces were compelled to retreat in a disorderly rout, retracing their steps in a desperate effort to regain their initial positions.^[3] Despite Garibaldi's energetic efforts to quell the rout and reorganize the remnants of his forces for a renewed offensive, his second attack met again with failure and he was forced to retreat to Brescia^[1]^[2]

Aftermath

Karl von Urban was appointed the following day as supreme commander over the Fortress of Verona, the Imperial Headquarters.^[4] He had already been honored previously by the Emperor Franz Joseph for his performance in the Battle of Montebello.^[5]

On the next day Garibaldi received orders to redirect his forces to the north, effectively stopping his pursuit of the main Austrian army, which continued its retreat in an orderly way in the direction of the river Mincio and the Quadrilatero.^[1]

Importance

The Battle of Treponti represents one of the only two victories by the Austrians during the Second Italian War of Independence, the other one being the Battle of San Salvatore. Both were won by Field Marshal-Lieutenant Karl von Urban.^[6]

After this defeat, Garibaldi and his Hunters of the Alps were diverged to an unimportant theater of the war, effectively removing the force of 12.000 men from joining the decisive Battle of Solferino.^[1]

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References

1 2 3 4 Trevelyan, George Macaulay (2022). Garibaldi and the Thousand (1st: reprint of the original, 1909 ed.). Frankfurt: Longmans, Green and Co. p. 121. ISBN 978-3-37509-585-7.
1 2 Blackett, Howard (1888). Life of Giuseppe Garibaldi. London: Walter Scott. p. 195.
1 2 3 Redaelli, Alberto (1979). Le grandi battaglie della storia bresciana (The Great Battles of Brescia's History) (in Italian). Brescia: Edizioni Grafo. pp. 95–119. ISBN 978-8873852919.
↑ Pallua-Gall, Julian (1895). Urban, Karl Freiherr von. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie - ADB (Universal German Biography). Band 39 (in German). Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 349–351.
↑ von Wurzbach, Constantin (1884). Urban, Karl Freiherr. In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich[Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Wien: Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. pp. 116–123.
↑ "Karl Von Urban, Un Oficial Contrarrevolucionario". Suprahistoria (in Spanish). 9 August 2019. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2020.

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[:1-1] 1 2 3 4 Trevelyan, George Macaulay (2022). Garibaldi and the Thousand (1st: reprint of the original, 1909 ed.). Frankfurt: Longmans, Green and Co. p. 121. ISBN 978-3-37509-585-7.

[:2-2] 1 2 Blackett, Howard (1888). Life of Giuseppe Garibaldi. London: Walter Scott. p. 195.

[:0-3] 1 2 3 Redaelli, Alberto (1979). Le grandi battaglie della storia bresciana (The Great Battles of Brescia's History) (in Italian). Brescia: Edizioni Grafo. pp. 95–119. ISBN 978-8873852919.

[4] Pallua-Gall, Julian (1895). Urban, Karl Freiherr von. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie - ADB (Universal German Biography). Band 39 (in German). Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 349–351.

[5] von Wurzbach, Constantin (1884). Urban, Karl Freiherr. In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich[Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Wien: Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. pp. 116–123.

[6] "Karl Von Urban, Un Oficial Contrarrevolucionario". Suprahistoria (in Spanish). 9 August 2019. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2020.

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