Fall of Ferdinand II and the "Glorious March": from December 1847 to May 1848
The new Republican flag (1848)
The electoral term has passed away with apparent quiet despite the conflict with Austria, or maybe just thanks to it. Despite the clamour provoked by the activity of few Socialist demagogues in Naples, social issues have not been central and the main political forces have been confronting during the campaign mostly on the Italian unification process and other institutional matters. Two main forces have clearly emerged: the leftist
Reformists and the
Conservatives. We must be clear on this: the relatively small number of electors allowed to vote according to their own private wealth cannot produce mass parties and popular participation. Elections are mainly an affair among few "notables" and lobbyists, and political discussions take place at the banquets rather than in open squares.
However, the consolidation of the Roman Republic with Giuseppe Mazzini's arrival (14th January 1848), the proclamation of the Second French Republic after the fall of Louis Phillip (10th February) and the general spreading of the revolutionary wave have changed completely the context and the values at stake. Both examples of free citizens capable to remove unwanted rulers – even the Pope himself! – make for the first time the Neapolitans thinking about a concrete and justifiable possibility: the dismissal of a King not enough committed to the cause of the liberation of Italy from the foreign joke. The Reformists have already included in their agenda a tepid
Republicanism, but after the events of Rome and Paris most of leftist candidates publicly profess their criticism to King Ferdinand II and the institution he currently represents. Only the Conservative front remains closer to its monarchical tradition, but the following events will inspire some changes among its ranks, too.
The conduct of King in these months is actually questionable. With the soldiers engaged in the fight and recurring nationalistic demonstrations, he shows a weak participation in the war effort. During the past Christmas festivities a letter sent by Ferdinand II to the Emperor of Austria claiming the Bourbon's proximity to the
"Habsburg's pains" and a firm willingness for peace has been intercepted and made public, causing a degrading embarrassment to PM Nicola Maresca, who has gradually moved to the rightwing and cannot accept such events three months before elections that look difficult for the Conservatives. In February, Ferdinand II sent a secret envoy to London to sound PM Palmerston's availability as mediator with Wien. The mission ha been unsuccessful but has also clarified Ferdinand's disregard for the constitutional prerogatives of Parliament and Government.
Maresca, who is a sincere royalist (actually, he is a Duke) but also a convinced Liberal, has been listened complaining about the scarce attention of the King to the Constitution. A constitutional crisis would represent a serious danger for the State in a moment of internal and external quarrels. During March, rumours of an upcoming reactionary coup lead to increasing tensions. The night before the elections, the King orders the royalist troops to take up certain positions in the capital, whereas squads of
lazzaroni (as the poorest mob of Naples, uncritically devoted to the King, is called) begin to strike liberal supporters. The first barricades have been already erected in some areas of the city, when the leader of the Reformist party
Carlo Troya gets out to convince the dissenters
"to go home and show their will through the ballot". Providentially, the Army – now packed with liberal supporters belonging to formerly clandestine associations like the
Carbonari or
La Giovine Italia – manages to keep a good level of quietness and safety during the election days.
From the polls comes out a landslide victory of the Reformists: they have an overwhelming majority (73%), a success that allows their leader Carlo Troya to form a new cabinet supported by 120 out of 164 Deputies of the Lower House. The conservative deputies – headed by the incumbent President of the Council of the Ministers Nicola Maresca and the promising Liborio Romano – get only 23% of preferences, which translate in 44 seats. In spite of such popular backing, Ferdinand II does not congratulate with
"that puny half man" of Carlo Troya.
Political overview (30.03.1848)
Opening its works on 30th March 1848 with Ferdinand II's disparaging absence, the Parliament immediately votes for the termination of the Kingdom and the establishment of a republican form of government. Only 30 votes have been given in favour of the Bourbon dynasty – that means that also some of the Conservative deputies are convinced that the time of the monarchy is over. Few hours later, a battalion of the Army reaches the royal residence in Caserta to
"warrant protection to the esteemed person of the citizen Ferdinando di Borbone", which actually means taking custody over him to avoid a departure or, even worse, a possible counter-revolution of royalists.
In the meantime, on the other side of the sea ...
... also the Austrian Empire is experiencing its own problems during the "Glorious March". A Liberal uprising has forced Emperor Ferdinand to dismiss Metternich after decades of unlimited rule and to appoint a liberal/federalist cabinet. Mass demonstrations in Budapest get even more results: Wien has been pushed to grant additional autonomies to Hungary, which is now a separate national kingdom with Ferdinand as King, in a sort of personal union with Austria. What's worse for Wien, is that now Budapest has also "financial sovereignty", being able to receive and spend locally tax revenues. A really bad piece of news for Radetzky!
Not a plain-vanilla 1848 for Austria: Italians advancing, Hungarians seceding, Croatians and Bohemians revolting!
During the internal troubles in Naples, Wien and Budapest, the front keeps moving. Now Filangieri and Corleone are respectively in charge of the Alpine (North) and coastal (East) operations. The Alpine sector is focuses on the battle of Zell am See fought against a Prussian expeditionary force lent to Austria and finally won by the joint Italian forces on 23rd February, with the besieged city fallen almost one month later (another gratifying event that probably has heavily affected the result of the elections!).
On the coastal sector, Corleone has quickly advanced from Pola in the Istrian peninsula and seized also Fiume on 9th February, whereas another detachment under Colonel Damiani has been sent in advance of the army to Postojna. Corleone advances in the Ogulin area and takes the small Croatian town and its strategic stronghold in May. But serious problems arise in Postojna, where fresh Austrian and Bavarian reinforcements have faced the Neapolitan detachment since mid-April, outnumbering them 3:1. A strong resistance has allowed Damiani to keep ground for one month, but finally the
1st Battle of Postojna (to distinguish it from a second terrible fight that will be staged in the same place in 1850) takes place on 20th May 1848. The fighting continues for the whole day until a last Austrian storming breaks the exhausted Italians. At sunset Damiani is obliged to order the retreat to Pola. The Postojna campaign closes with a huge cost: 7.000 Italian killed, wounded or imprisoned out of a contingent of 10.000 soldiers, a tribute of blood that forces Corleone to reconsider something in the overall strategy.
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