Sardinischer Krieg#

Sardinian War, 1) 1848/1849: The Revolution of 1848 had the character of a national revolution against foreign rule in the Italian provinces held by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, i.e. Lombardy and Veneto. After the March Revolution in Vienna, Venice (March 17) and Milan (March 18) rose up and drove out the Austrian military which, under the command of J. Radetzky retreated at first to its fortresses. The Italian kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) supported the rebellion, invaded Lombardy and seized the capital, Milan. But the Austrian army defeated the Sardinians under the leadership of Radetzky at Santa Lucia (May 6) and Custozza (July 25), and again in 1849, when the armistice concluded thereafter was broken by the King of Sardinia, at Mortara (March 21) and Novara (March 23). The city of Brescia was defeated by General J. v. Haynau with particular force. The Treaty of Milan (August 6, 1849) restored conditions in the region to what they had been before the uprisings, which included reinstating the Habsburg archdukes who had been driven out of the Italian provinces (Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany and Duke Franz V of Modena). On August 22, 1849 even the rebellious Venice (which had again become a republic) was forced to capitulate to Radetzky, whose fame and popularity in Austria stemmed primarily from these victories.

2) 1859: War broke out when the Italian Kingdom of Sardinia, allied with France (Napoleon III), supported the Italian nationalists in the then Austrian provinces of Lombardy and Veneto. The Austrian army under the leadership of Field Marshall F. Gyulai suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the Sardinian and French armies at Magenta (June 4) and at Solferino (June 24). Under terms agreed upon at the Conference of Zurich (November 10, 1859) Austria ceded Lombardy (with the exception of the fortresses Mantua and Peschiera) to Napoleon III, who then gave them to Sardinia. The house of Habsburg was also forced to accept the loss of its Italian secundogenitures (Grand Duke Leopold III of Tuscany and Duke Franz V of Modena were removed from power by means of plebiscites) and Italy was united as a nation-state. The defeat shook Austria ( Neoabsolutism ) and became one of the catalysts for Emperor Franz Joseph´s democratisation measures. - The tremendous loss of life and bloodshed at the Battle of Solferino was the stimulus for the founding of the Red Cross.

Literature#