JUNE 24TH, 1859 the BATTLE of SOLFERINO and SAN MARTINO Piero Bartoloni and Rocco Cassandri Rome, Italy

JUNE 24TH, 1859 THE BATTLE OF SOLFERINO AND SAN MARTINO Piero Bartoloni and Rocco Cassandri Rome, Italy 19th century French watercolor. “The battle is beautiful when described by the poets and painted by the painters because they only paint its heart; one has to see the silent and scary field after the battle. When you fight, you are not thinking as you are inebriated with blood, and by the sight of so many dead and wounded around you, however after the battle, when compassion and pain take the place of indifference, then... hoi! Then if your eyes don’t cry, it’s your heart crying...“ 24 02_POST HORN Fig. 1: Letter from the Sardinian Military Fig. 3: Photo of Henry Dunant. Post n. 1 of 25th June 1859. Henri Dunant, a Swiss who for business The letter, for Isola Dovarese, where it Fig. 4: “A memory of Solferino” written reasons in those days was in the areas arrives on the 30th of the same month, not by H. Dunant on the events related to the stamped, is taxed for 10 cents. battle of Solferino and San Martino. of the battle, coordinated the rescue operations to the wounded in which the local populations participated. He later reported, in a book titled “A memory of Solferino ”, that in fact it took 3 days to bury all the dead. Dunant, struck by the suffering of the wounded - whose rescue for treatment was often difficult - drew inspiration to create an organization above the belligerent parties: thus the International Red Cross was born. Fig. 2: Letter from the Sardinian Military Post n. 5 of 11 July 1859 for Parma where it arrived on the 14th of the same month. The title of this article mentions two battles, apparently of the struggle and the field strewn with the dead. distinct, because they were fought on the same day and Another voice is that of soldier Fantini, with the Casale very close to each other. Brigade of the V Division, who in a letter dated 11th July Although history has always considered the one fought (Fig. 2) says: at Solferino as a Napoleon III and French battle, and that fought at San Martino as Piedmontese, we like to think “... in the battle, among the dead and the wounded, of it as one single battle because it was fought against were between 10 thousand Piedmontese, 15 thousand the same enemy, with the same objective and fought on Germans... the French were twice as many. It will take us 3 the same day.The peculiarity of this Battle, or rather of days to bury those who died in the battle of St. Martino. “ the combination of the two battles, is that it has always been considered as the bloodiest in the history of the And in fact by nightfall, after a day of intense fighting Italian ‘Risorgimento’. The sentence at the beginning of this between the three armies of Piedmont, France and Austria, article is from a letter (Fig. 1) written, on June 25, 1859, by more than 40,000, between dead and wounded lay on the Francesco Pistoia, a volunteer with the 1st Regiment of the field. The two letters shown here are a perfect chronicle Savoy Brigade. The letter contains the true meaning of the that the authors sent to their family to share the drama of suffering of a soldier who has seen first-hand the carnage the moment they were living. 26 02_POST HORN 27 Fig. 5: Napoleone III. Fig. 6: Entrance of Vittorio Emanuele II and Napoleone III to Milan. But how did this war, involving three states, and this battle Franco / Austrian conflict that might have ensued. the Sardinian state on 27 April. Cavour’s strategy had won: the first French contingents began to arrive and gradually come about? All nations involved, including Austria, were in favour of the European chancelleries would have to take note that positioned themselves to face and block the Austrian It all began with Cavour’s strategic intuition to involve an agreement, even though the basic condition was the Piedmont was being attacked by Austria and that, as a advance. This was the first of the Austrian “disasters” Piedmont in the Crimean war as an ally to France and Great disarmament of the armies of all states involved and, consequence, France had “the obligation” to respect the caused by indecisions or wrong strategic decisions. Britain, who had rushed to aid the Ottoman Empire against above all, of Piedmont which was instead at the peak agreement of alliance as established by the treaty signed So much so that the Austrians started to withdraw from Russia. In fact, this participation caused the “patronage” effort of strengthening its army. Austria, however, vetoed in Plombières on 22 July 1858. Austria was hoping to the positions they had gained in order to avoid being cut of Napoleon III to the Savoys, a fundamental and decisive Piedmont’s participation in the negotiation while at the get military support from Prussia, in order to block the off from the supply lines. Meanwhile, on the 12th of May step in the achievement of the unification of Italy. The main same time requiring it to abide by the disarmament clause. continuous hegemonic actions of Napoleon III. Powerful Napoleon arrived on the theatre of operations taking character of this well-known chapter of history is Camillo Successively, with the mediation of France and Great armies entered the field for this war as had never been command of the two combined armies. Benso, Count of Cavour who with political intelligence took Britain, Austria was persuaded to accept the participation seen before on Italian territory. The Franco / Piedmontese The first real clash between the three armies occurred a big risk and made no mistakes, causing Austria to declare of the Kingdom of Sardinia in the negotiations. In Cavour’s coalition put together at least 200.00 soldiers, but that shortly thereafter, on May 20 in the proximity of Montebello. war on Piedmont, a condition necessary and essential for eyes everything appeared to be compromised: the armies was over a period of time; this was due to the logistics The Austrians were forced to an initial retreat, following a Napoleon III to enter the war. were to be disarmed and the possibility of a war against of transferring the transalpine troops from France, and to further defeat in Palestro on the 31st of the same month. His plenipotentiary minister in Paris, Constantino Nigra Austria with the support of France was removed. those necessary for the enrolment of new recruits for the The Franco-Piedmontese then pressed on to face the assisted him by lobbying chancelleries and salons alike. Strangely but fortunately, however, Austria went back to Piedmontese army. Also Austria, over time, was capable of Austrians who crossed back over the Ticino river, and in In the chancelleries he was the ambassador and faithful rejecting Piedmont at the negotiating table, at the same lining up several Army Corps, reaching a number that was Magenta, on June 4, were engaged in a new battle. executor of the orders of Cavour, in the Parisian lounges time giving to Piedmont an ultimatum to disarm within practically identical to that of the opposing coalition. This was very bloody compared to the previous ones, and boudoirs he acted both as confidant and “chevalier three days. History tells us that, at this point, and in On April 27, 1859, the Austrians started the offensive by perhaps a presage to what soon thereafter would be the servant” of the Empress Eugenie, but - above all - as agreement with Napoleon III, Piedmont communicated its crossing the border. Despite knowing that the Sardinian “carnage of Solferino and San Martino “. ‘prompter’ to Virginia Oldoini, countess of Castiglione, who acceptance of all the conditions necessary to participate army was unprepared and lacking the support of the On 8 June the cycle of battles was concluded with the was “very close” to the French emperor. in the international consensus proposed by the British, French army – still on the transfer journey – the Austrians triumphant entry of Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II One could summarize the whole story beginning from the including the functional disarmament to this end. lingered hesitated until May 7 in order to gain advanced into Milan amidst throngs of people cheering and praising Russian proposal, made at the end of the Crimean war, for a This attitude and behaviour was deemed unsatisfactory positions in Piedmontese territory. This mistake would cost the liberators. conference to tackle the political “Piedmont” issue and the by the Austrians who began military operations against the Austrians dearly because in the meantime, on 10 May, 28 02_POST HORN 29 Fig. 7: Napoleon’s III proclaims to Milan’s people. In the following days the armies of both sides tried to consolidate their positions, and to rearrange their ranks after the losses suffered in the battles just ended. On June 24, all three armies were therefore engaged in activities that did not aim to engage the enemy in a new battle. On that day, on the Piedmontese side, in the area of San Martino, the clashes began at dawn and were completely unexpected, as clearly reported in the letter (Fig. 8) which the Marquis Corsini Neri, Commissioner of the Provisional Tuscan Government, wrote to his wife in two stages on that very day. Reported here are the most significant excerpts, beginning with the description of what should have been a quiet day, initially characterized only by the relocation of the Headquarters, of which the writer was a member: “..

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