Possibilities
Originally posted by AndrewT
That only leaves 5 leaders for them, so if you wanted to follow through with those others ones, that'd be good.
Victor Amadeus I
In 1625 he led one of the wings of the Franco-Savoyard army that invaded Genoa. The main action was elsewhere, but the invasion was stalled long enough for the Spanish to cut the armies off and force them to withdraw.
In 1635, with Crequi he led the invasion of Lombardy, besieging Valenza. The siege failed due to conflict between the French, Savoyard, Parman and Mantuan contingents. He beat the Spanish at Tornovento in 1636 and again at Mombaldone in 1637, although both were minor battles. He died in 1637.
Tommaso of Savoy
He served the Spanish in Flanders in 1634. In 1635 he was beaten at Avain/Avein (not sure who the French general was) but this is largely because he was outnumbered three to one. Subsequently he helped expel the Dutch and French from Flanders, and in 1636 he led the army that threatened Paris. He captured Corbie on the Somme, and reached Pontoise, 30 km from Paris, taking La Capelle and Catelet on the way. However, at this distance from his base in Artois he hesitated and had to withdraw.
In 1638, as a Spanish client, he, along with his brother cardinal Maurizio of Savoy began a civil war against the French backed regency of the dowager duchess, Marie Christine. He drove French troops from most of Piedmont. In July 1639 he entered Turin by surprise, and the regent and the Duke took refuge in the citadel. Howver, Harcourt was placed in charge of the French army, and managed to besiege Tommaso in Tuirn, while he continued to besiege the citadel. To top this Leganes brought a Spanish army to Turin, and began to besiege Harcourt. Harcourt beat off Spanish assaults attempting to relieve Tomasso, and in 24 September 1639 Tommaso had to turn the city over to Harcourt and withdraw. From 1640 Spain had no resources available to help him. He carried on the war until 1642, but in May of that year accepted the inevitable, and managed to have himself made commander in chief of French forces in Italy. French forces continued to include a Savoyard contingent, but throughout his command he was starved of cash and men by Mazarin.
In 1643 he led an amphibious operation that took Piombino and Elba. In 1646 he made an amphibious attempt against Orbetello (in the presidial states of Tuscany) which failed due to an outbreak of typhus and the arrival of Spanish reinforcements and the Spanish fleet. In 1648 made an attempt to take Naples in support of the uprising there. By the time he arrived, the revolt was over and an attempt to land at Salerno failed.
In 1655 he led a siege of Pavia with help from Modena. However the combined armies of France, Savoy and Modena were too small for the siege to be effective. He died of malaria during the siege.
Leutrum
He served as a colonel in the Piedmontese army in the War of the Polish Sucession, distinguishing himself at the siege of Pizzighettone in 1733. In 1735 he was promoted to Brigadier.
In 1743 he was with that part of the Piedmontese army that along with the Austrians, faced the Spanish under Gages in Emilia. The commander was the Austrian Traun. At the battle of Camposanto on February 9 1743 the Spanish attacked the outnumbered allies. As the Spanish attack on the allied right gained momentum the Piedmontese commander, Aspremont, was killed. Leutrum led three regiments into the Spanish attack and swept them from the field, winning the battle. He was promoted to Major General.
In early 1744 he served with distinction at the defense of Villefranche, retaking several redoubts from the besiegers. After the fall of Villefranche the French and Spanish swept into Piedmont and he was entrusted with the defense of Cuneo, the key to their attack route. The siege began on 12 September 1744, and during the battle of Madonna dell’Olmo on 29 September he destroyed most of the siegeworks around Cuneo. By 11 October the French, with no base on the Eastern side of the Appenines had to withdraw. The sucessful defense of Cuneo made him the toast of Europe and a full fledged hero in Piedmont, despite the fact that he refused to renounce his protestantism.
In 1745 he won one of the few Piedmontese victories of that campaign, at Ceva on August 26, and beat back another French advance on Ceva in October. In the winter of 1745-46 he led the forces that began to push the allies back, and on 7 March reconquered Asti in a major action capturing 5000 men, and changing Piedmont's fortune at one stroke.
In 1747 he held the right of the Piedmontese front. He died in 1755, and was give a hero's burial in the protestant valleys of Italy.
