Part XVI. Savoy forges its place in the world arena.
The inconclusive wars fought on behalf of france against spain had angered savoy and left the italians and napoli people under the yoke of the spaniards for far longer than they had deserved. It was decided that desperate times required desperate measures.
To the surprise of the spanish the ambassador in madrid he was handed a Declaration of War on Spain in 1733. It took the spaniards utterly by surprise having recently re-located their entire army to northern spain in anticipation of the almost ritual 5 yearly peace before the war with France.
The undefended province of Naples fell almost immediately in 1733 and Apulia , recently under rebellion anyway (Fig. 31), was invested with a large force. A series of naval battles were fought of the coast of western italy that ensured the invading army would not be troubled. In 1736 a small brandenburg detachment landed in eastern australia capturing the province (Fig. 32). This was deemed important enough to send a relief force to which unfortunately was unable to dislodge the attackers.
In 1737 Apulia fell and the fleet, bypassing Siciliy, was sent directly to sardina (Fig. 33) which fell in 1738 almost as quickly as Naples did. The army was then shipped off to the coast of spain as it was known by all that they would only understand force when it came to negotiating for the freedom of Italy.
Fig. 33
In 1739 castille was attacked directly (Fig. 34) and a major battle took place which saw the spaniards defeated. In 1740 shortly afterwards the capital was captured (Fig. 35) and as Valencia itself was being assaulted peace was agreed and interference in italian politics was removed forever. The Savoyards had made a powerful statement to its neighbours in particular to France.
Savoy was most assuredly the dominant power in italy (Fig. 36) with grandiose plans of her own.
Fig. 36
The inconclusive wars fought on behalf of france against spain had angered savoy and left the italians and napoli people under the yoke of the spaniards for far longer than they had deserved. It was decided that desperate times required desperate measures.
To the surprise of the spanish the ambassador in madrid he was handed a Declaration of War on Spain in 1733. It took the spaniards utterly by surprise having recently re-located their entire army to northern spain in anticipation of the almost ritual 5 yearly peace before the war with France.
The undefended province of Naples fell almost immediately in 1733 and Apulia , recently under rebellion anyway (Fig. 31), was invested with a large force. A series of naval battles were fought of the coast of western italy that ensured the invading army would not be troubled. In 1736 a small brandenburg detachment landed in eastern australia capturing the province (Fig. 32). This was deemed important enough to send a relief force to which unfortunately was unable to dislodge the attackers.
Fig. 31 Fig. 32
In 1737 Apulia fell and the fleet, bypassing Siciliy, was sent directly to sardina (Fig. 33) which fell in 1738 almost as quickly as Naples did. The army was then shipped off to the coast of spain as it was known by all that they would only understand force when it came to negotiating for the freedom of Italy.
Fig. 33
In 1739 castille was attacked directly (Fig. 34) and a major battle took place which saw the spaniards defeated. In 1740 shortly afterwards the capital was captured (Fig. 35) and as Valencia itself was being assaulted peace was agreed and interference in italian politics was removed forever. The Savoyards had made a powerful statement to its neighbours in particular to France.
Fig. 34 Fig. 35
Savoy was most assuredly the dominant power in italy (Fig. 36) with grandiose plans of her own.
Fig. 36
