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| Five Days of Milan | |||||||
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| Part of theFirst Italian War of Independence | |||||||
.jpg) The Five Days of Milan byCarlo Bossoli | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Milanese insurgents |  Austria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Carlo Cattaneo Gabrio Casati Luciano Manara [2][3][4][5] | Joseph Radetzky Ludwig von Wohlgemuth [6][7][8][9] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,700 barricades[10] armed with 600–650 firearms along with stones, bottles, clubs, pikes and swords[10][11] | 12,000 garrison[7][12] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 409–424 killed[3][6] including 43 women and children 600+ wounded[6] | 181 killed[13] including 5 officers 235 wounded[6] including 4 officers 150–180 captured[13] | ||||||
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TheFive Days of Milan (Italian:Cinque giornate di Milano[ˈtʃiŋkwedʒorˈnaːtedimiˈlaːno]) was aninsurrection and a major event in theRevolutionary Year of 1848 that started theFirst Italian War of Independence. On 18 March, a rebellion arose in the city ofMilan which in five days of street fighting droveMarshal Radetzky and hisAustrian soldiers from the city.
In 1848, the Milanese launched ananti-Austrian campaign as early as 1 January.[14] OnNew Year's Day the Milanese started to boycott gambling and tobacco products, which were government monopolies that brought in over 5 million lire a year.[10] The boycott culminated in a bloody street battle on 3 January, when Austrian soldiers, in batches of three, were being insulted and pelted with stones by an angry crowd.[15][3] The soldiers then gathered together in groups of a dozen and charged the crowd with swords and bayonets, killing five and wounding another 59. Radetzky confined his troops to barracks for five days.[15] The protests were over, but two months later, when news reached Milan of theuprising in Vienna and the fall ofMetternich, the Milanese took to the streets again, on 18 March.[10]
_-_Monumento_alle_5_giornate%2c_(1895)_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%2527Orto.jpg)
Almost simultaneously with the popular uprisings of 1848 in theKingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, on 18 March of that year, the city of Milan also rose up. This was the first evidence of how effective popular initiative, guided by those in theRisorgimento, was able to influenceCharles Albert of Sardinia.
The Austrian garrison at Milan was well equipped and commanded by an experienced general,Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, who despite being over 80 years old, was energetic and rigid. 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. The populace was backed by the archbishop and at least 100 priests joined in the fighting against the Austrians. A bust ofPope Pius IX was hoisted onto the barricades.[16] A provisional government of Milan was formed and presided over by thepodestà,Gabrio Casati and a council of war underCarlo Cattaneo. TheMartinitt (orphanage children) worked as message runners to all parts of the town.
Radetzky saw the difficulty of resisting under siege in the city centre, but while afraid of being attacked by the Piedmontese army and peasants from the countryside, he preferred to withdraw after losing control of the Porta Tosa (nowPorta Vittoria) to the rebels. On the evening of 22 March, the Austrians withdrew towards the "Quadrilatero" (the fortified zone bounded by the four cities ofVerona,Legnago,Mantua andPeschiera del Garda), 120 km eastwards, 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 called simplyIl 22 marzo (22 March), which began publication on 26 March at the Palazzo Marino under the direction ofCarlo Tenca.[17] AMonument to the Five Days of Milan by the sculptorGiuseppe Grandi was inaugurated in 1895 at what is now Porta Vittoria.
Almost a century later, in 1943, the uprising ofNaples against WWII Nazi occupation was namedThe Four Days of Naples, in conscious emulation of the earlier Milan event.
