| Third Italian War of Independence | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the wars ofItalian unification and theAustro-Prussian War | |||||||||
 Austrian Uhlans charge ItalianBersaglieri during the Battle of Custoza. Painting byJuliusz Kossak | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Kingdom of Italy Prussia | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Johann II | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
Mincio Army
Total: 120,000 men Po Army
Total: 80,000 men Garibaldi's forces
Total: 20,000 men Total: 220,000 men | South Army
Liechtenstein Army Total: 80 men Total: 130,000–190,000 men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
11,197[1]
| 9,727[2]
| ||||||||
TheThird Italian War of Independence (Italian:Terza guerra d'indipendenza italiana) was a war between theKingdom of Italy and theAustrian Empire fought between June and August 1866. The conflict paralleled theAustro-Prussian War and resulted in Austria giving the region ofVenetia (present-dayVeneto,Friuli and the city ofMantua, the last remnant of theQuadrilatero) to theSecond French Empire (acting as intermediary in negotiations), which formally gave it to Italy. Italy's acquisition of this wealthy and populous territory, annexed with aplebiscite, represented a major step in theUnification of Italy.
Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy had been proclaimedKing of Italy on 17 March 1861 but did not controlVenetia or the much-reducedPapal States. The situation of theIrredente, a later Italian term for part of the country under foreign domination that literally meansunredeemed, was an unceasing source of tension in the domestic politics of the new kingdom and a cornerstone of its foreign policy.
The first attempt to seize Rome was orchestrated byGiuseppe Garibaldi in 1862. Confident in the king's neutrality, he set sail fromGenoa toPalermo. Collecting 1,200 volunteers, he sailed fromCatania and landed atMelito,Calabria, on 24 August to reach MountAspromonte with the intention to travel northward up the peninsula to Rome. The Piedmontese generalEnrico Cialdini, however, sent a division under Colonel Pallavicino to stop the volunteer army. Garibaldi was wounded at theBattle of Aspromonte and taken prisoner, along with his men.[3]
The increasing discord betweenAustria andPrussia over theGerman Question turned into open war in 1866, which offered Italy an occasion to captureVenetia. On 8 April 1866, the Italian government signed amilitary alliance with Prussia[4] through the mediation of French EmperorNapoleon III.
Italian armies, led by GeneralAlfonso Ferrero La Marmora, were to engage the Austrians on the southern front. Simultaneously, taking advantage of their perceived naval superiority, the Italians planned to threaten theDalmatian coast and to seizeTrieste.[5]
Upon the outbreak of the war, the Italian military was hampered by several factors:
Prussia opened hostilities on 16 June 1866 by attacking several German states allied with Austria. Three days later, Italy declared war on Austria and started military operations on 23 June.
The Italian forces were divided into two armies. One, under La Marmora himself, was deployed inLombardy, west of theMincio River, and aimed toward the powerfulQuadrilatero fortress of the Austrians. The second, under Enrico Cialdini, was deployed inRomagna, south of thePo River and aimed towardMantua andRovigo.
La Marmora moved first through Mantua andPeschiera del Garda but was defeated at theBattle of Custoza on 24 June and retreated in disorder back across theMincio river. Cialdini, on the other hand, did not act offensively for the first part of the war by conducting only several shows of force.
Following the defeat at Custoza, the Italians reorganised in preparation for a presumed Austrian counter-offensive; the Austrians, however, failed to take advantage of the Italian retreat and limited their actions to raids onValtellina andVal Camonica (battle ofVezza d'Oglio).
The course of the war turned to Italy's favour by Prussian victories in Bohemia, especially the decisiveBattle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa) on 3 July. The Austrians were compelled to redeploy one of their three army corps from Italy toVienna. The remaining Austrian forces in the theatre concentrated their defences aroundTrentino andIsonzo.
On 5 July, the Italian government received news of a mediation effort byNapoleon III for a settlement of the situation, which would allow Austria to receive favorable conditions from Prussia and, in particular, maintainVenice. The situation was embarrassing for Italy, as its forces had been beaten back in the only battle to date. As the Austrians were redeploying more and more troops to Vienna to defend it against the Prussians, La Marmora was urged to take advantage of his force's numerical superiority, score a victory and improve the situation for Italy at the bargaining table.
On 14 July, during a council of war held inFerrara, the new Italian war plans were decided:
Cialdini crossed the Po on 8 July and, after a part of his forces capturedBorgoforte in a siege, advanced toUdine on 22 July without encountering the Austrian Army.[5] This advance was overshadowed by the unexpected defeat of the Italian Navy at theBattle of Lissa on 20 July, where two Italian ships were sunk. In the meantime, however, Garibaldi's volunteers had advanced fromBrescia toward Trento during theInvasion of Trentino, winning clashes at Monte Suello, Forte d'Ampola, Condino, and winning thebattle of Bezzecca on 21 July. At the same time a force led by Giacomo Medici also advanced in Trentino, obtaining successes at Primolano, Borgo Valsugana and Levigo.
On 26 July, a mixed Italian force ofbersaglieri and cavalry defeated an Austrian force guarding the crossing of theTorre River and reached what is nowRomans d'Isonzo at theBattle of Versa. That marked the maximum Italian advance into Friuli. However, with the cessation of Austro-Prussian hostilities, the Austrians seemed ready to send reinforcements to Italy. Likewise, the Principality ofLiechtenstein being the southern ally of Austria had sent out its army into the region west ofStilfser Joch against the volunteers.[7] Garibaldi and Medici were nonetheless able to continue their advance on Trento. Austria agreed to cede Veneto via French intermediation to Italy and, on 9 August, Garibaldi was ordered in a telegraph by the Army High Command to evacuate Trentino to confirm the peace deal. His reply was simply "Obbedisco" ("I shall obey") and became famous in Italy soon after.
In July 1866, after the Prussian victory over Austria, theArmistice of Nikolsburg ended the hostilities between the two countries, provided that Italy obtained Venetia. The Austrians withdrew to the Isonzo River and left Venice to Italian hands.[8] France and Prussia pressured Italy to conclude an armistice on its own with Austria.[8] The Italian Prime MinisterBettino Ricasoli refused the call and insisted to obtain "natural" frontiers for Italy, including the cession of Venice and South Tyrol and that Italian interests in Istria were respected.[8] However, the Austro-Prussian armistice had strengthened Vienna's hand and Austrian admiralWilhelm von Tegetthoff had taken command of the sea.[8] Eventually, the cessation of hostilities was agreed to at theArmistice of Cormons signed on 12 August, followed by theTreaty of Vienna on 3 October 1866.
The terms of thePeace of Prague included the giving of theIron Crown of Lombardy to the Italian king and the Austrian cession of Venetia, consisting of modernVeneto, parts ofFriuli and the city ofMantua.Napoleon III, who was acting as intermediary between Prussia and Austria, ceded Venetia to Italy on 19 October, as had been agreed in a secret treaty in exchange for the earlier Italian acquiescence to the French annexation of Savoy and Nice.[9]
The Treaty of Vienna confirmed the cession of the territory to Italy.[10] However, the peace treaty stated that the annexation of Venetia and Mantua would have become effective only after aplebiscite allowed the population to express its will on its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy.[11] The plebiscite was held on 21 and 22 October, and the result was an overwhelming success, with 99.9% of participants in support of joining Italy.[11][12]
Meanwhile, an uprising also occurred in Sicily, theSeven and a Half Days Revolt. The unification of Italy was completed by theCapture of Rome[13] (1870) and the annexation ofTrentino, the remainder ofFriuli andTrieste at the end ofWorld War I, also called in Italy theFourth Italian War of Independence.
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