My current preoccuption with european wars in the post Napoleonic era have been fuelled by some book buying.
So my period is called the Vienna Treaty Wars and the era roughly covers 1815 to 1871.
Currently I have been painting quite well although right now a campaign beckons. I never thought I would be doing anything post napoleonic – thank you again Mr Renaissance Troll!
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.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/tag/piquet-wargame-rules/
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.
Waterloo 1815 make their Italian Bersaglieri in 1/72. Strelets actually name their offering Sardinians – technically correct – again their are characteristically Bersaglieri.
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.
I have previously written about the red book in this post.
https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2234
In May 1848 Garibaldi was sailing from Montevideo in Uruguay, heading for Italy, the land not yet a Kingdom!
In my previous post I dwelt on his South American experiences which probably made his military capability so powerful.
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.
The beauty of a written plan is you can tear it up and then reflect later on whether things got better or worse as a result!
So here is plan A for 2021.
My wargames plan A for 2020 was about Normans in the South (NitS) and that plan “went south” which is in the negative. At least Plan B gave me plenty of wargames pleasure.
For 2021 I am in the nineteenth century and specifically it is the wars of Italian Unification which have me dazzled.
Abbreviations give me WoIU. Not very catchy. Or I could tweak it to get WotIU – Watteu.
hmmmmmm.
OK we will run with that WotIU.
WotIU in my plan runs from Napoleon to Nation State as Lucy Riall says on the cover of her book entitled “Risorgimento”. So I could go with “Risorgimento”. That feels a bit constricting though.
And low and behold Neil Thomas gives you a book – Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878.
Excellent. Too Excellent as Neil Thomas offers you a myriad of armies to choose from. And it is anything but uniform in this period.
Skakos, coatees, knee gaiters, stovepipes, kittels, greatcoats, kepis, short gaiters, spikey helmets, zoaves, bersaglieri……….and red shirts.
So where do I begin?
Two armies around 1855 – looking a bit like
Austrian – kittels, trousers and small tapered shakos
Piedmont – kepi, trousers and frock coats or tunics
It seems the cavalry still resembled napoleonic styles but with trousers.
So I have made a start with some ACW Union Infantry being repurposed as Piedmontese Line Infantry.
The aim will be to get some forces on the table.
So posts might be thin on the ground if I am painting well……..
The Wargaming Erratic 