Chapter 14 : Corsica and Sardinia
With the German Republic recognized by the Emperor, the Danubians could begin to organize themselves in peace. But the Italian ambitions were far from being satisfied : especially in the Mediterranean, with the islands of Corsica and Sardinia in the hands of the Catalans. The problem was that Catalonia has allied with Burgundy.
Nonetheless, Taparelli, confident in the abilities of the Army following the German War had decided to take advantage of the current situation and declared war on Catalonia in July 1856 to satisfy the Irrendist views in the Senate. Burgundy was swift to answer and fights erupted along the border in Geneva.
Members of the local Cammora, photographed in the late 1870's
The Army tasked with freeing the Tyrrhenian Islands was delayed because of a riot in Napoli. This riot was organized by the local mafia, whose barons were mainly from the Catalan minority, but had soon gained wide support in the city because of the latent feeling of inequality between the North and the South. It was the first eruption of the organized crime on the public scene from the Republic and the repression was swift but the “Southern Problem” was only beginning.
War was concentrated in Savoy and Piedmont for the first part of the war, with Catalan troops allowed through the South of France while Burgundians harshly defended Geneva and Neuchatel.
The beginning of the Danubian intervention
Eventually the Italians were relieved thanks to the intervention of the Danubians on their side and the opportunism of the Anglois monarchy who decided to affirm their rights on the old Duchy of Bourgogne, stating the apanage status as their right. Meanwhile the Ottomans decided to take advantage of the situation by attacking the Kingdom of Greece, officially protected by Anvers. Thus by November 1857 the fight with Burgundy was becoming a paved way to victory, especially with the Rhenish campaign of the Danubians.
In March the Catalans would see their colonial hold challenged by the Maghrebi Emirate led by Abd-El-Kader, and who had easily made the tribes rise against the Iberian occupiers. With this, Barcelona had to send troops in what was becoming a “humanitarian mission”[1] in the hands of the newspaper.
The greatest extant of the occupation of Burgundy by allied forces before the successful regrouping of the Burgundian Armies
In April, the treaty of Dijon was signed by the King of Burgundy Charles III, who had to relinquish the old duchy of Burgundy to the Dual-Monarchy. It was a real blow to the Monarchy who was now going by a hollow name, not controlling any territories belonging either to the Kingdom of the Burgondes, nor to the old Capetian Duchy. But unlike in Catalonia, Charles III was not decided to abandon the old lands and refused to change its title. War was still raging but with the French front relieved, the Burgundian armies were able to make the Danubians lose ground while holding the Italian Armies in Lorraine.
While the Burgundian Front was becoming static, the Italians were making advances in Catalonia. The Army who had quelled the rebellion in Naples and successfully taken Sardinia and Corsica had landed near Perpinyà and was advancing towards Barcelona. Once again the Italians stormed the City, forcing the Catalan Monarchy to flee to Valencia but they went farther than during Pacoret’s entry. The Italian Fleet, had blockaded the Port for two weeks, and the stronger Catalan Navy had made not signs of wanting to force the deadlock. But with Italian cannons breaching the naval defences, they were forced to leave the Base in hurry. No Italian ships were sunk during this repetition of the battle of Actium, although on a less strategic scale. The ‘Shelling of Barcelona’ was one of the last actions of the war and the news decided Charles III to stop the war.
But during the last days of negotiation Italy found itself in a problematic situation. The tensions with the Duchy of Provence had always been high because of the assumed title of Great-Duke of Tuscany by the Valois-Medicis. When Italy united their move was to ally with Burgundy to save their independence from both the Italian Revolutionaries and the Anglois views. But with Burgundy severely diminished, both Paris and Rome began to prepare a potential intervention in the Principality. A small incident, on the border, decided Taparelli to move. An Italian policeman had pursued a smuggler in a wood shared by both countries. He stumbled upon a Provencal patrol that shot him dead. The hierarchy then apologized but the damage was already done : Italian Armies crossed the border in what was seen as a grand police operation.
The plenipotentiaries of the Treaty of Rome with the leader of the Italian Diplomacy, the count of Cavour on the left
It did not change much the outcome of the ongoing negotiations in Rome. The subsequent Treaty, signed on the 30th August. Catalonia had to cede Sardinia and Corsica, Greece was forced to let Thessalia return to Ottoman Rule while a Border state was to be created in Geneva, to “represent the Arpitanian right to independence”, guaranteed by Italy. The different countries present also acknowledged the Confederation as a legitimate state. German negotiators were left bitter with the Italians, especially considering it was their intervention who tickled the war, and it can certainly explain why they didn’t intervene when the Provencal War became a real Crisis.
[1] : the harsh policies of the European against the local along the grabbing of lands had seen tensions rise over the years and the revolt saw its lot of massacres on both sides.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You might want to wait for commenting, a vote update is following
