Battle of the Volturno

Battle of the Volturno
	Part of the Expedition of the Thousand
	; Scene from the battle
Date	1 October 1860
Location	Volturno River, northern Campania
Result	Garibaldine victory
Belligerents
Southern Army	Two Sicilies
Commanders and leaders
Giuseppe Garibaldi	Giosuè Ritucci
Strength
20,000	28,000
Casualties and losses
306 killed; 1,327 wounded; 389 missing; Total: 2,022 men	260 killed; 731 wounded; 2,253 captured; Total: 3,244 men

Last updated November 09, 2024

The Battle of the Volturno refers to a series of military clashes between Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers and the troops of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies occurring around the River Volturno, between the cities of Capua and Caserta in northern Campania, in September and October 1860. The main battle took place on 1 October 1860 between 30,000 Garibaldines (mostly defected Sicilians, including from Calabria) and 25,000 Bourbon troops (Neapolitans).

Background

Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand had conquered Sicily and much of southern Italy with a startling speed, entering Naples on the 7 September while King Francis II of the Two Sicilies took refuge in the strong fortress of Gaeta, midway between Rome and Naples. In the meantime the Neapolitan army was rebuilt in Capua under Marshal Giosuè Ritucci, the first skirmishes with Garibaldi's volunteers occurring on the 26 and 29 September.

On 30 September a Neapolitan corps crossed the River Volturno at Triflisco, marching towards Santa Maria a Vologno, but was halted by two Garibaldine brigades. The following day Ritucci then decided on a frontal attack with two divisions against Garibaldi's centre, which occupied a line running from Sant'Angelo in Formis and Santa Maria a Vico. After defeating the enemy, Ritucci was to reach Caserta and then Naples itself.

Garibaldi wanted to cross the Volturno, keeping the Neapolitan Army against Capua, while he prevented King Francis II from reaching Gaeta. However, the Neapolitan Army attempted a double-envelopment of Garibaldi between their Capua forces, and those of Mechel and Ruia at Dugenta.^[3]

Battle

On 1 October, before 6 am, Neapolitan General Anfan de Rivera attacked Giacomo Medici at Sant'Angelo, Tabacchi and Ruggeri attacked Milbiz at Santa Maria, and Mechel advanced upon Nino Bixio at Maddaloni. Garibaldi sent reinforcements to Milbiz and Medici. At 2 pm, Medici and Milbiz counterattacked, forcing the Neapolitans towards Capua. Later in the afternoon, Mechel also withdrew.^[3]

Consequences

According to Schneid, "Garibaldi narrowly won the Battle of Volturno. The Southern Army placed Capua under siege, and the Piedmontese forces marched on Gaeta where the erstwhile Neapolitan king had taken refuge."^[3]

The cost for Garibaldi in men was higher: 306 killed and 1,326

wounded, but the Neapolitan forces had lost almost 1,000 in killed and wounded themselves and over 2,000 taken prisoner. The Bourbon army was unable to use its victory to capture Caserta. Both armies showed bravery, except perhaps for the Royal Guards and troops of Ruiz de Ballesteros, who were the largest cause of the defeat.

Garibaldi was forced to request troops from the Royal Sardinian Army. Yet while Francis II wished to use the impasse for the Garibaldi forces, to attack again, his generals recommended that the troops be reorganised. Thus he left Capua for Gaeta, and was unable to retake his throne. Soon Piedmontese reinforcements arrived, defeating the royal troops at Gaeta, and causing the King to depart after a long siege.^[4]

Related Research Articles

The unification of Italy, also known as the Risorgimento, was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian Peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of Sardinia, resulting in the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. Inspired by the rebellions in the 1820s and 1830s against the outcome of the Congress of Vienna, the unification process was precipitated by the Revolutions of 1848, and reached completion in 1871 after the capture of Rome and its designation as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis II of the Two Sicilies</span> King of the Two Sicilies from 1859 to 1861

Francis II was King of the Two Sicilies. He was the last King of the Two Sicilies as successive invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia ultimately brought an end to his rule, as part of Italian unification. After he was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Sardinia were merged into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.

The Volturno is a river in south-central Italy.

The Battle of Maida, fought on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a French force outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,236 Anglo-Sicilian troops to victory over about 5,400 Franco-Italian-Polish troops under the command of French general Jean Reynier, inflicting significant losses while incurring relatively few casualties. Maida is located in the toe of Italy, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Catanzaro.

The province of Caserta is a province in the Campania region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Caserta, situated about 36 kilometres (22 mi) by road north of Naples. The province has an area of 2,651.35 square kilometres (1,023.69 sq mi), and had a total population of 924,414 in 2016. The Palace of Caserta is located near to the city, a former royal residence which was constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Expedition of the Thousand was an event of the unification of Italy that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto al Mare near Genoa and landed in Marsala, Sicily, in order to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled by the Spanish House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The name of the expedition derives from the initial number of participants, which was around 1,000 people.

Maria Sophie Amalie, Duchess in Bavaria was the last Queen of the Two Sicilies as the wife of Francis II of the Two Sicilies. She was one of the ten children of Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. She was born as Duchess Maria Sophia in Bavaria. She was the younger sister of the better-known Elisabeth of Bavaria ("Sisi") who married Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

The siege of Gaeta was the concluding event of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, part of the unification of Italy. It started on 5 November 1860 and ended on 13 February 1861, and took place in Gaeta, in today's Southern Lazio (Italy).

Terra di Lavoro is the name of a historical region of Southern Italy. It corresponds roughly to the modern southern Lazio and northern Campania and upper north west and west border area of Molise regions of Italy.

Dugenta is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast of Naples and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Benevento.

The Battle of Campo Tenese saw two divisions of the Imperial French Army of Naples led by Jean Reynier attack the left wing of the Royal Neapolitan Army under Roger de Damas. Though the defenders were protected by field fortifications, a French frontal attack combined with a turning movement rapidly overran the position and routed the Neapolitans with heavy losses. The action occurred at Campotenese, a little mountain village in the municipality of Morano Calabro in the north of Calabria. The battle was fought during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

The siege of Gaeta saw the fortress city of Gaeta and its Neapolitan garrison under General Louis of Hesse-Philippsthal besieged by an Imperial French corps led by Marshal André Masséna. After a prolonged defense in which Hesse was severely wounded, Gaeta surrendered, and Masséna granted its garrison generous terms.

The Battle of Milazzo was fought on 17–24 July 1860 between Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers and the troops of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies at Milazzo, Sicily, then part of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

The Battle of Calatafimi was fought on the 15 May 1860 between Giuseppe Garibaldi's Redshirts and the troops of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies at Calatafimi, Sicily, as part of the Expedition of the Thousand. The battle was the first of Garibaldi's victory during his invasion of Sicily in 1860 and saw his 'Thousand' defeat a larger Neapolitan army sent from Palermo to block the roads to the Sicilian capital.

The Army of Naples was a French Army unit which took this name following its capture of Naples in 1799. It was related to the Army of Italy. The Army of Naples was virtually annihilated after the Battle of the Trebbia: more than half of the personnel were casualties.

Giuseppe Bardari was an Italian lawyer and writer. Although chiefly known today for having written the libretto for Donizetti's 1835 opera, Maria Stuarda, he played a prominent role in the judiciary of Naples in the years leading up to the unification of Italy.

The Invasion of Naples was a front during the War of the Third Coalition, in 1806, when an army of the French Empire led by Marshal André Masséna marched from Northern Italy into the Kingdom of Naples, an ally of the Coalition against France ruled by King Ferdinand IV. The Neapolitan army was defeated at Campo Tenese and rapidly disintegrated. The invasion was eventually successful despite some setbacks, including the prolonged Siege of Gaeta, the British victory at Maida, and a stubborn guerrilla war by the peasantry against the French. Total success eluded the French because Ferdinand withdrew to his domain in Sicily, where he was protected by the Royal Navy and a British Army garrison. In 1806, Emperor Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to rule over Southern Italy as king.

The Matese Legion was a group of 240 Italian volunteers that joined Giuseppe Garibaldi in the war for Italian unification in 1861. It was formed in Piedimonte D'Alife, now called Piedimonte Matese, in June 1860, and was officially established on 25 August of the same year. Membership in the legion gradually declined, and it broke apart on 3 March 1861.

The Southern Army was the force of around 50,000 Italian and foreign volunteers which formed as a result of the Expedition of the Thousand. The name was coined by Giuseppe Garibaldi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Landi (general)</span> Two Sicilian Brigadier General

Francesco Landi was a Brigadier General from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He was the main commander at the Battle of Calatafimi against Garibaldi's Redshirts during the Expedition of the Thousand.

References

1 2 3 Mundy, George Rodney (1863). H.M.S. 'Hannibal' at Palermo and Naples. London. p. 251.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
1 2 Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts. McFarland & Company. p. 182.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
1 2 3 Schneid, Frederick (2012). The Second War of Italian Unification 1859-61. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 67–70. ISBN 9781849087872.
↑ From Spanish Wikipedia

External links

Cerino Badone Giovanni, Volturno 1860. L'ultima battaglia, in Commissione Italiana di Storia Militare, Società Italiana di Storia Militare, L'anno di Teano, Atti del Convegno Nazione CISM-SISM su il Risorgimento e l'Europa, Roma 2011, pp. 273–307. Volume degli atti , testo dell'articolo , tavole ed illustrazioni .
Cesari, Cesare (1928). La campagna di Garibaldi nell'Italia Meridionale. (1860). Rome: Libreria dello Stato..

Notes

↑ "... one half of which were Calabrese recruits, the other half Northern Italians and Sicilians, with a few French and Hungarians." {G. R. Mundy p.251}

41°5′31″N14°5′40″E / 41.09194°N 14.09444°E / 41.09194; 14.09444

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[WIP-1] 1 2 3 Mundy, George Rodney (1863). H.M.S. 'Hannibal' at Palermo and Naples. London. p. 251.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[HUM-3] 1 2 Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts. McFarland & Company. p. 182.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[FS-4] 1 2 3 Schneid, Frederick (2012). The Second War of Italian Unification 1859-61. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 67–70. ISBN 9781849087872.

[5] From Spanish Wikipedia

[2] "... one half of which were Calabrese recruits, the other half Northern Italians and Sicilians, with a few French and Hungarians." {G. R. Mundy p.251}

[1]

[nb 1]

[2]

[3]

[4]