The Holy Roman Empire ended by Napoleonic War recovered enough in the guise of the Austrian Empire to be at the top table with the other Victors – Russia, Prussia and Great Britain.
In 1815 the Vienna Congress led to a treaty where the 4 great powers attempted to create a balance of power in Europe to end major wars while also dismantling concepts of liberty and freedom.
By 1848 a reinvigorated Austria routed the Piedmontese liberation of Lombardy while France ended the short lived Roman Republic on behalf of the Pope.
So my wars of the italian unification project actually fits better into what I am calling the Vienna Treaty Wars. shortened to VTW with 5 key dates appended, they will make good categories on my blog.
VTW1815 – heralds the regression back to 18th century values
VTW1830 – sees the first significant european rebellions especially in France
VTW1848 – sees mass revolution break out across Europe
VTW1859 – the French (now an Empire again) end Austrian interest in much of Italy
These are my Piedmontese Line Infantry. They compliment the Bersaglieri which I posted earlier this year.
They also compliment the first unit in this Wars of the Italian Unification (WotIU) project which I completed. However in one respect they don’t – height. Some of these figures are 26mm tall so verge on the 28mm club!
That first unit was Hat ACW union troops so “kepi” men. I reckon that by 1860 Piedmontese troops would still be seen in frock style coats while sporting kepi’s.
The current offering here is soldiers wearing the small shako with a greatcoat. They also have short gaiters with baggy trousers. The french style is clear.
The figures are by Lucky Toys.
I just made up two sprues from the lucky toys sets – you get four in each set. And I took King Victor Emmanuel II from the Garibaldi redshirt set.
The Plastic Soldier Review gave them a muted response being very unhappy with the moulds – lack of undercut or some things like the shakoes struggling to even look remotely correct.
I have previously posted the Bersaglieri.
Verdict – these figures don’t look much on the sprue and the Plastic Soldier Review is unfavourable. Yet they painted up ok and the animation is some of the best in the world of 1/72 plastics. My one objection is that they are big and tall so fail to fit in with my strelets/hat figures.
Still I might just build some skirmisher units with them.
Well this week temperatures will hit 23 degrees centigrade so although Easter promises just a mere 7 degrees, nature has declared spring is sprung.
so this is a farewell to winter 2020 which threw up some late snow amongst other things plus a sustained cold period which is always good for curtailing the sort of mischevious insects which eat my gardening efforts.
This year the “wolf moon” was brilliant! We don’t have sparrows – we have sparrowhawks
That last photo – it could be a pigeon but it is definitely a sparrowhawk – I posted a previous intermission shot of it with spread wings. Over our heads it once managed an amazing “stall turn” literally turning in position – chasing a blue tit – the blue tit still got away though.
Tucked away in the text either side of the Osprey 520 colour plates there is a very neat summary of volunteer units from both the 1848/49 and 1859/60 Wars of the Italian Unification (WotIU).
One of the best Osprey Men at Arms books I have bought!
One such detail is about the first three expeditions of volunteers sent in 1860, from Piedmont, after Garibaldis’ first success in Sicily.
One wave of reinforcements was led by Enrico Consenz and I have shown what some might have worn here.
Three figures are depicted as infantrymen in a “ticking” blouse with white trousers for the fierce sicilian summer.
The Bersaglieri were shock troops as well as sharpshooters – has he run out of ammunition? The kneeling fully equipped infantryman is trying to look confident – aiming carefully – maybe after some limited training, an uneasy voyage and leaving his desk job in Lombardy?
The sharpshooter (Bersaglieri) is dressed in dark blue tunic and grey/blue trousers. This reflects the uniforms of the Pidemontese/Sardinian line infantry.
I guess the elite Bersaglieri might have been supplied by the Piedmontese/Volunteer funders better than the ordinary infantryman who in a “ticking” material uniform might have looked less impressive.
There appears a lot of information might be available for the purest – my modelling approach is that the logistics and quartermaster services were at best inconsistent. This explains why one lowly infantryman has a full pack although the others may have just left theirs somewhere!
In the summer heat of Sicily I wonder who was the easier target?
The box art probably depicts the meeting of Piedmontese and Garibaldinis at Teano on 20 October 1860 after overunning both the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Italy in the mid 19th century continues to fascinate me with my project to build armies of the Risorgimento, Wars of the Italian Unification (WotIU), or even the decline and fall of the Austro Hungarian Empire. The fact is that “The Empire”, once Holy Roman and western successor to the original Roman Empire, had its hands all over Italy having displaced French and Spanish interests after the fall of Napoleon in 1815.
The Kingdom of Sardinia is confusingly also known as the Kingdom of Piedmont which was just part of its claim.
So you often get written descriptions of Piedmontese fighting or occasionally Sardinians but usually Bersaglieri (who did all the fighting!). My recent Bersagleri efforts can be seen in this post.
Actually it is not true about the Bersagleri being the only soldiers in Italian armies – its a bit like British Grenadiers being the only useful infantry in a british army. Bersaglieri (sharpshooters) were elite troops armed with rifled muskets and latterly breech loading rifles, who were often in the thick of the fighting, used as shock troops, and using a freedom of action which in turn required much greater discipline.
So in the wargaming world it is not surprising the mainstream manufacturers have gone for Bersaglieri.
Sadly this range by Waterloo 1815 remains incomplete
Waterloo 1815 make their Italian Bersaglieri in 1/72. Strelets actually name their offering Sardinians – technically correct – again their are characteristically Bersaglieri.
Strelets’ only adventure into this war era – although they did a lot of Crimean figures – key ones are now out of production – and yes the Bersagleri really fought there alongside the French, Turks and British.
The poor old line infantry of Sardinia/Piedmont get short shrift. The saving grace is the Amercian Civil War where manufacturers offer an abundance of figures which can be borrowed………..
Shakoes can be a problem, yet even here clothing fashion in military terms meant armies in the mid 19th century tended to be either “french” (kepis/short shakoes) or “germanic” (helmets/caps) or “british” (short shakoes/caps) in styling. And then of course you get emulation. The British love of “bearskin” clad soldiers dates from the demise of Napoleons’ Imperial Guard. Within a few years the French had resurrected their own Bearskin Guardsmen as well. And it seems everyone had a post Napoleonic frenzy in glitzy uniforms for almost 40 years until barrel rifling and breech loaders changed warfare.
Finally you find tucked away a manufacturer who has provided apparently everything you need for the Sardinian kingdom.
Lucky Toys made two sets – garibaldi’s redshirts (very 1859 I think) and Piedmont Infantry and Bersaglieri (again circa 1859 I think). Thats easy to explain – 1859 was the war year which saw the Austrian grip on Italy collapse.
All this adds up to lots of possibilities for mid 19th century armies fighting across Italy.
Here is Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia courtesy of Lucky Toys.
So there will be some posts on my latest additions to the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Question is – which decade?
I have just finished the first part of a trilogy written by George Macaulay Trevelyan. Trevelyan was an enthusiastic supporter of Garibaldi so these 1200 odd pages (the three books) are a tribute to the man who sits centre stage when it comes to the wars of the italian unification.
The innocent red book volume 1 of 3 covers Garibaldi’s early life (1807-1831) and then exile in Uruguay (until 1848) in its first 41 pages. The next 350 are devoted to the “Defence of Rome” years 1848/1849 before a second exile in the USA followed.
I have previously written about the red book in this post.
In May 1848 Garibaldi was sailing from Montevideo in Uruguay, heading for Italy, the land not yet a Kingdom!
the lands that made Garibaldi the tough and resourceful General in Italy – viva south america!
In my previous post I dwelt on his South American experiences which probably made his military capability so powerful.
On the Painting Pedestal – The “lucky” man himself – made by Lucky toys as it happens.
I don’t think you will find a better wargamers guide – heres hoping volumes 2 and 3 are of the same mould. The book may be 114 years old but you will find precious little wargamer books on the subject of Garibaldi. In fact it seems there are not that many military history books either. There are a lot of books about the politics of the “Risorgimento” which it seems is very much a live debate even today.
Gabriele Esposito has written a fine Osprey about the Italian Wars of Unification. In fact he has two: Part 1 covering Sardinia/Piedmont plus the two Sicilies while part 2 covers Papal States, Minor States and Volunteers.
They are Men-at-Arms series Nos 512 ansd 520.
This quartet of Ospreys are excellent resources for Italian Wars of Unification.
This particular unit is based for my preferred rulesets by Neil Thomas and Piquet Field of Battle.
With only 12 figures for a battalion they may not be to some people’s liking. Equally they are 1/72 and plastic so 28mm metal fans will have no joy here.
I am quite taken with MAA 520 because it is not just the colour plates that offer so much opportunity and variety. Often in the past Ospreys offered little on uniforms beyond the text for the plates – much of the other text dwelling on potted histories and organisation. These MAA’s offer lots of uniform detail. The black and white plates are very relevant (not always the case in Ospreys), well chosen and in the case of volunteers lots of choice.
I have discovered that there was an English battalion of volunteers in the Sicily campaign of 1860 during the Second War of Unification. It was followed by an English Legion which saw no action. They were all part of the Brigade or Brigata named Dunne after its English Commander.
Plate H1 showing an english volunteer of Brigata Dunne also figures on the front cover of MAA 520.
I used Strelets 1877 Russians in summer dress as they offered the nearest thing to this figure in my view. You might say – well there are plenty of ACW figures that would fill the gap. Well I did look and somehow none looked the part when compared with Strelets 1877 Russians.
Plastic Solder Review complained about the missing bayonets which applies here as well.
I can live with that – 1/72 plastics is often about compromise. I am pleased with the result. In this case Guiseppe Ravas’ illustration made the job easy.
Next up are my first attempt to deal with riflemen or sharpshooters in the Austrian Empire armies. Better known as Jagers or Feld Jagers or the ultimate Kaiser Jagers.
Waterloo1815 did not do this figure type so I found the nearest thing which was the Hat Napoleonic Austrian Landwehr.
This quite unexpected trip into post Napoleonic periods has meant I am quite prepared to compromise and these chaps work at 3 feet distance with shrubberies! I am definitely warming to the Piquet 4 base battalions which also do nicely for Neil Thomas rulesets as well. And the 3 figures per base feels ok in this mid 19th century era.
I have included a mounted officer from the Line Battalions which are still on the paint table.
The Wargaming Erratic 