Five Days of Milan

Five Days of Milan
Part of the First Italian War of Independence

Episode from the Five Days, by Baldassare Verazzi (1819-1886)
Date 18 March – 22 March 1848
Location Milan, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
Result Milanese victory[1]
Radetzky retreats from Milan[2]
Belligerents
Milanese Rebels[1] Austrian Empire[3]
Commanders and leaders
Carlo Cattaneo
Count Luigi Torelli
Augusto Anfossi †
Luciano Manara
[2][4][5][6]		 Marshal Radetzky
Ludwig von Wohlgemuth
Eduard Clam-Gallas
Count Ferencz Gyulai
[7][8][9][10]
Strength
1,700 Barricades[11]
Milanese armament:
600-650 Firearms[11][12]
Other Milanese armament:
Stones, Bottles, Clubs,
Pikes and Swords[12]		 12,000-13,000[8][13]
Garrison
Casualties and losses
409-424 Killed[4][7]
Including 43 Women
and Children
600+ Wounded[7]		 181 Killed[14]
Including 5 Officers
235 Wounded[7]
Including 4 Officers
150-180 Captured [14]
Milan - Pastrengo - Santa Lucia - Goito - Peschiera
Vicenza - Custoza - Mestre - Novara - Brescia
Revolutionary States 1848-49
Prov. Gov. of Lombardy - Republic of San Marco
Roman Republic
Provisional Government of Milan
Governo provvisorio di Milano (it)
←
 18–22 March 1848 →
Capital Milan
Government Republic
Podestà Gabrio Casati
Historical era Revolutions of 1848
 - Congress of Vienna grants
   Lombardy-Venetia
   to Austrian Empire		  
 
9 June 1815
 - Insurrection against
   Habsburg rule		  
18 March 1848 1848
 - Radetzky withdraws to
   Quadrilatero		  
22 March 1848 1848
 - Battle of Solferino
   wins Lombardy for Italy		  
24 June 1859

The Five Days of Milan was a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 and the start of the First Italian War of Independence. On March 18th, the city of Milan, rose, and in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his men from the city.[8]

In 1848, the Milanese launched an anti-Austrian campaign as early as the first of January.[15] On New Years Day the Milanese started to boycott gambling and tobacco products, which were Austrian monopolies and ensuered the Austrian Empire over 5 million lire a year.[11] Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria, viceroy of Lombardy and Venetia, retaliated by ordering out police with cigars to provoke the crowd.[15]
The boycott culminated in a bloody street battle on the third of January, when Austrian soldiers, in batches of 3 were being insulted and pelted with stones by an angry crowd.[4][3] Now, the soldiers gathered together in groups of a dozen and charged the crowd with swords and bayonets, killing 5 and wounding another 59.[3]
Radetzky was horrified at the doings of his troops and confined them to five days barracks.[3] The protests were over, but two months later, when news reached Milan of the uprising in Vienna and the fall of Metternich, the Milanese took to the streets again, on the 18th of March.[11]

Contents

History

Almost simultaneous with the popular uprisings of 1848 in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, on 18 March that year, the city of Milan also rose. This was the first evidence of how effective popular initiative, guided by those in the Risorgimento, was able to influence Charles Albert of Sardinia.

The Austrian garrison at Milan was well-equipped and commanded by an experienced general, Josef Radetzky, who - despite being over 80 years old - was energetic and rigid, the true expression of Austrian military severity. Radetzky had no intention of yielding to the uprising.

However, the whole city fought throughout the streets, raising barricades, firing from windows and roofs, and urging the rural population to join them. They formed a provisional government of Milan presided over by the podestà, Gabrio Casati and a council of war under Carlo Cattaneo. The Martinitt (orphanage children) worked as message-runners to all parts of the town.

Radetzky saw the difficulty of resisting in the city centre, under siege with his force, but - afraid of being attacked by the Piedmontese army and peasants from the countryside - preferred to withdraw. On the evening of 22 March 1848, the Austrians withdrew towards the "Quadrilatero" (the fortified zone made up of the four cities of Verona, Legnago, Mantua and Peschiera del Garda), taking with them several hostages arrested at the start of the uprising. Meanwhile, the rest of Lombard and Venetic territory was free.

In memory of these days, the official newspaper of the temporary government was born, called simply Il 22 marzo (the 22nd March), which began publication on 26 March at the Palazzo Marino under the direction of Carlo Tenca.[16] A monument to the uprising by the sculptor Giuseppe Grandi was also built, at what is now Porta Vittoria.

Sources

  1. ^ a b Grenville, John Ashley Soames (2000). Europe reshaped, 1848-1878. Oxford. 
  2. ^ a b Stillman, William James (1898). The union of Italy, 1815-1895. Cambridge. 
  3. ^ a b c d Berkeley, George F.-H. (1940). Italy in the Making January 1st 1848 to November 16th 1848. Cambridge. 
  4. ^ a b c Ginsborg, Paul (1979). Daniele Manin and the Venetian revolution of 1848-49. Bristol. 
  5. ^ Godechot, Jacques Léon (1887). The Revolutions of 1848-9. New York. 
  6. ^ American Bibliographical Center (1991). Historical abstracts: Volume 42, Issues 3-4. Santa Barbara. 
  7. ^ a b c d Rüstow, Wilhelm (1862). Der italienische Krieg von 1848 und 1849. Zürich. 
  8. ^ a b c Whyte, Arthur James Beresford (1975). The political life and letters of Cavour, 1848-1861. Santa Barbra. 
  9. ^ Svoboda, Johann (1870). Die Zöglinge der Wiener-Neustädter Militär-Akademie. Wien. 
  10. ^ de Marguerittes, Julie (1859). Italy and the War of 1859. Philadelphia. 
  11. ^ a b c d Chapman, Tim (2008). The risorgimento: Italy 1815-71. Penrith. 
  12. ^ a b Stearns, Peter N. (1974). 1848: the revolutionary tide in Europe. New York. 
  13. ^ Whittam, John (1977). Politics of the Italian Army, 1861-1918. London. 
  14. ^ a b Wilhelm Meyer-Ott, Wilhelm Rüstow (1850). Die Kriegerischen Ereignisse in Italien in den Jahren 1848 und 1849. Zürich. 
  15. ^ a b Gooch, John (1986). The unification of Italy. London. 
  16. ^ (Italian) Storiadimilano.it

See also

Bibliography

External links