Whither Spain?: The relief of Milan
Late Spring, 1654. A hill, several miles east of the city of Milan, province of Lombardy.
Even as he focused on the precarius battle below, Colonel Rodriguez reflected on the odd twists of fate that had placed him, a mere colonel, a commoner, and a lifetime soldier, in command of what was, at least temporarily, Spain's premier army, a force of over 45,000 men, including 3000 cavalry.
Leadership
Leaders. Spain was short of leaders. That was what the Duke of Olivares had said (1). He had been reprimanded for saying so by the Don de la Frontera, who suggested that at a time when he was pushing further centralization of the Spanish govt, it was particularly awkward to make statements that alienated the high nobility. (2)
And it wasnt just a question of the nobility, but of military leadership. In the aftermath of the English wars, no great military leaders had arisen in Spain. The constable, under the direction of the DDLF, had refused to give promotions to general or admiral in the absence of outstanding leadership.
The Colonel
This hadnt bothered Col. Rodriguez. He wasnt the political sort who could easily wangle a generalship anyway. He was a hardbitten Castillian soldier, a man who had risen through the ranks of the Tercios, an old infantryman. Most of his service had been in America. While he had fought in Italy during the rebellions of 1640, after that he had gone to America for the rest of the English war. When that was triumphantly concluded, he had served with valour in the crushing of the many rebellions. The outbreak of the war with Turkey had found him home in Castille, and (with his Italian experience) he was quickly dispatched to take command of the relatively small force in Mantua. That was expected to be a minor command, as the war with Turkey was expected to be primarily naval, with perhaps raids on Libya. It would be Austria (who had dragged Spain into this unwanted war) who would bear the brunt of land fighting. He had been specifically told to keep his force IN northern Italy, and NOT to respond to Austrian requests for help in the Balkans, not without explicit consent from Madrid.
How the war began
Then had come the war with France. The Austrian DOW on Verona had taken Madrid by surprise, the rumors said. War with Verona meant war with France. Spain had been watching France nervously for years and had expanded the army in Europe, but had never quite caught up to France. Now whose fault was THAT? The Don de la Frontera's, without a doubt. The DDLF was a man of peace, who much preferred to invest in his administrative and colonial schemes, keeping only as much of an army as he thought necessary to deter war. Well, even great men, from ancient families, can make mistakes (3). Still, to betray the alliance with Austria, Portugal, and the Papacy would shake Spain's European policy to its foundations. If Spain's arms could hold the French off, Spain's economy would make possible a military expansion that would ultimately lead to victory. Thus, the battle was joined.
Preparations
The French had initiated the war with two big moves. They had executed a complex series of maneuvers in the north, culminating in an attack on Artois, as well as raids into Lorraine and Franche Comte. And they had steadily gathered their forces in the south for an assault on Lombardy. With a force of over 50,000 headed eastward, Madrid had sent Rodriguez instructions to raise several thousand new troops, but his initial force of less than 10,000 was told to hold in Mantua, and not advance into Lombardy.
Milan had the strongest fortifications in the Spanish empire. Some said there were no stronger fortifications anywhere in the world. The French, under the Prince of Conde, were unlikely to leave a fortress like that in their rear. That meant a siege, probably a long siege. Rodriguez's instructions were to hold, to train and develop his army, including new local recruits, and to await reinforcements. The Colonel obeyed, and sent messages to the commanders in Sienna and Naples, to coordinate plans.
There were few more distressing days in the Colonel's life then when the messengers returned, and informed him that Naples had fallen to Veronese assault, and that the small Spanish force in Sienna had been annihilated by Veronese troops, who were now besieging the city. He immediately sent word to Madrid asking for new instructions - he tried to veil his shock and anger.
Madrid's reply was elaborate and sympathetic, yet did not entirely calm him. He received it shortly after receiving word that the French besieging force at Milan had grown to almost 100,000 troops, mainly cavalry!!!!.
Madrid informed him that a new force was assembling in (papal) Apulia. It would include new troops being raised in Sicily, the survivors from Naples, and troops gathered from around the Med islands (usually that would be small, but 5,000 troops earmarked for Libya had been diverted to Italy). When this force was large enough it would move north, and would bypass Naples (for now) and attempt to relieve Sienna. Thought had been given to besieging Verona, but it appeared that the Papal troops (heretofore ineffective) were likely to take the lead there, under Austrian leadership.
Meanwhile, according to Madrid, he should not think that France was being left unmolested on other fronts. The battle in Artois had been won, and the forces in Belgium were playing a game of maneuver, raid, and counter raid, with the slightly superior French forces in the North. Meanwhile the Spanish assault on southern France was being expanded and reorganized. With the capture of French Jamaica, forces were also on the way from the new world to reinforce the position in Europe. Austria, unfortunately, was focusing on Turkey.
Operations
The colonel kept in steady touch with the commander in Apulia, Colonel Fuentes. As the winter advanced Milan held, and the forces in Mantua grew toward 18,000. Still far to few to even think of throwing against the french, even as their army suffered from illness and desertion in it massive siege lines outside Milan. Fuentes' force thus became more crucial. The colonel was very pleased, therefore, when Fuentes began his march up the peninsula with 24,000 men, and word came that others were behind him in Sicily.
Now the Colonel was an aggressive soldier and had floated two further ideas -one being to attack the French province of Emilia, the other to join Fuentes in the relief of Sienna. The first was definitively vetoed by Madrid, who did NOT want a field battle against French troops now. Milan was holding, and as long as it did, French troops were attritting away. And other things were brewing, or so Madrid promised. As to Sienna, Madrid suggested waiting until Fuentes was closer, but approved planning for the operation.
Fuentes was in Rome, and Col. Rodruiguez was preparing to move when the ill news was recieved that Sienna had fallen to the Veronese. Madrid, said not to worry. Fuentes would instead be dispatched directly to Mantua. The papal and Austrian forces had finally smothered the March, and the lost provinces could be dealt with later. In fact it was feared that a retaking them might tempt Austria to open peace negotiations too soon. Also, things had gone well enough in the north, that 5000 troops had been dispatched over the Alps and would be arriving in Mantua shortly.
Meetings
Col Rodriguez embraced Fuentes when he arrived in Mantua. Word had come from Milan that losses were severe, and that the city could NOT hold out indefinitely. Though he had not heard from Madrid in some time, he was sure that a relief expedition would now be launched. There were over 45,000 troops in Mantua, just larger than the depleted French force in Lombardy, though the French had many more cavalry, and the experienced Prince of Conde at their head. The Colonel asked Fuentes if he had directions to begin the relief, and what orders he wished to give. Fuentes had responded "what, you havent received word from Madrid?" "nothing for weeks" "the message must not have gotten through then - they have asked you to take command, not me - they are evidently very pleased with how you have managed the build up of forces here - but yes, they want an immediate relief expedition - Milan must NOT fall - even if it means the sacrifice of our army to weaken the French." The colonel was more shocked then delighted, and immediately set to work.
Notes
(1) He actually did say it in OTL. Though in OTL he was Count Duke Olivares. And in OTL he was the dominant figure in the Spanish govt for a couple of decades. In this TL the Don de la Frontera is (as usual) the preeminent figure in the govt, though Olivares is still quite influential.
(2) The irony here is that Olivares, in OTL, had struggled to centralize the govt of Spain, and had failed dismally. In this Timeline, the DDLF has largely succeeded - but then there have been many differences that made this possible, in particular the much longer period of "rational" central leadership, and the long peace in the late 16th century.
(3) While the DDLFs seem ancient to Rodriguez, since they have dominated the spanish state for 120 years, they are still looked down on by some Spanish magnates. In fact they were quite obscure before the rise of King Ferdinand, and it is rumored that they even had some converso blood.
