The Army of the Two Sicilies, also known as the Royal Army of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Reale esercito di Sua Maestà il Re del Regno delle Due Sicilie), the Bourbon Army (Esercito Borbonico) or the Neapolitan Army (Esercito Napoletano), was the land forces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose armed forces also included a navy. It was in existence from 1734 to 1861. It was the land armed force of the new independent state created by the settlement of the Bourbon dynasty in southern Italy following the events of the War of the Polish Succession.
Although the Royal Army arose only in 1734, the Neapolitan and Sicilian military institutions boast a much older history, which lays its foundations in the organization of a "state" army (i.e. state and no longer feudal) by Ferdinand I of Naples in 1464. In particular, during the Spanish period (1504-1714) customs used by Aragon in Sicily mixed old military traditions from the Norman, Arab, and Byzantine periods. All of these different cultures profoundly marked the military customs of the later Bourbon period. It can be seen in many examples of military clothing including items, such as the Turban which dated back to Emirate of Sicily.[1] During this time the soldiers of southern Italy were in fact involved in almost all the military events of the Spanish Empire (from the Wars of Charles V to the Wars of Flanders, from colonial campaigns in America to the Thirty Years' War), often showing great value and loyalty to the Spanish government. The captains, belonging to the best feudal nobility of the Neapolitan and Sicilian provinces, were able to frame and prepare the subjects of the two vice-kingdoms for war, obeying the firm political direction given by the monarchs of Spain.
In the later Bourbon period, however, with the reconquest of independence, the nobility gradually lost this military character, giving way to the new centralizing policy of a dynastic imprint. The goal of the Bourbons was in fact to replace loyalty to the old noble commanders, who had served the Habsburgs for over 200 years, with an exasperated fidelity to the new national crown. This progressive disunity from the obsolete Iberian traditions, promoted by the reforms desired by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, provoked in the eighteenth century a state of "disorientation" within the Bourbon military institutions that resulted in an almost frenetic sequence of restructuring and reform. Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet was involved with the reforms.
The army in mainland Italy collapsed in 1806, and Joachim Murat created from scratch the Army of the Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic) based on French drill manuals and uniforms. Following Murat's fall from power, the mainland troops were integrated into King Ferdinand I's army.
Following the constitutional revolt of 1820 by the army, and its defeat on 7 March 1821 by Austrian troops, the King temporarily disbanded the army, which was believed to be largely contaminated by Carbonari infiltration, and abolished compulsory conscription. It was therefore decided to leave the defence of the Kingdom to the Austrian occupation forces for some time. The reestablishment of the army began only in 1823.This restless evolution of the military structures of the Two Sicilies stopped only with the 1830 accession of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, who finally managed to stabilize and rationalize the military systems of the kingdom, giving it a definitively national and dynastic imprint. However, the evolution of the European and Neapolitan political framework of those last 30 years, which fully involved the army of the Two Sicilies, caused political dissent to turn directly against the same Bourbon ruling house.[2]
At the time of the Parthenopaean Republic, Ferdinand IV in 1799 during his presence in Sicily limited himself to reorganizing the scarce forces present in Sicily, organizing them into three infantry regiments, to which he gave the names of Val di Mazzara, Val di Noto and Val Demone, three of cavalry and one of artillery, increasing their pay.
In 1806, the army in Naples had disintegrated as a consequence of the French invasion. In 1808, 952 officers and 13,821 enlisted men were stationed there to defend the island and the king from the Napoleonic forces. The city militias were disbanded that year and reconstituted as 9 territorial infantry, 23 light infantry and 4 dragoon regiments, each commanded by a colonel, which formed the Royal Sicilian Volunteer Army, commanded by Leopold, Prince of Salerno.
The British, with the involvement of Lord Bentinck, who protected the island from the French, also created a regiment of Sicilian volunteers, the Royal Sicilian Regiment.[3]
1734, the year in which the expeditionary force of Charles of Bourbon conquered the Neapolitan provinces and the following year the Kingdom of Sicily, tearing them from the Austrian viceroyalty, also marked the creation of the first entirely "national" regiments, flanked by the Spanish regiments with which Infante Don Carlo had descended in Italy.[4] The story of this army naturally fits into the same space of time in which the dynasty of which it was supported lived: from 1734 to 1861. However, following the establishment in December 1816 of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with the formal merger of the two kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, this armed force was deeply reorganized, incorporating also the elements of the Neapolitan army of the Napoleonic age. This historically led to resentment from Sicilian members of the army, and caused many of them to join rebels during the Sicilian revolution of 1848. From 1817, therefore, the official name of Royal Army of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was adopted; the latter, together with the Army of the Sea, constituted the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The officers' salaries consisted of a monthly "penny" which included "housing and furniture", and an "supersold" varying according to the weapon or body to which they belonged. The "penny" was subject to a 2% withholding tax which helped to form the pension fund. After 40 years of service, or at the age of 60, it was therefore possible to obtain withdrawal, with a pension equal to the entire simple "penny". Of course, the officer could also retire early for health reasons: in this case the pension was paid in a reduced form, depending on the length of service. The minimum salary for an officer corresponded to 23 ducats per month (bishop of the line infantry), the maximum salary instead corresponded to 290 ducats per month (lieutenant general). In due proportion, Royal Army officers generally had slightly better economic treatment, in every respect, than the same ranks of the Sardinian Army.
The economic treatment of the troop, on the other hand, was mainly based on a "daily pay"; varying according to the bodies, and on "monthly checks" for "clothing" and "maintenance": these checks, however, were not paid directly to the military, but only to the Boards of Directors of the regiments to which they belonged, who managed the clothing and maintenance on behalf of each military. Soldiers employed in armed services received a "mobile column diary", varying according to the rank and use of the department to which they belong. The military with at least 10 years of service was also entitled to a seniority allowance, which consisted of a gradual increase in the "daily pay" directly proportional to the period spent under arms. The "daily pay" of the troop ranged from the 10 grains of the simple line infantry soldier to the 54 grain of the battalion helper. The monthly dress allowance corresponded to 80 grains, the maintenance allowance to 40 grains. The seniority allowance consisted of an increase in the "daily pay" of 1 grain for the military with at least 10 years of service and three grains for those over 25 years of age (veterans' medal). On the basis of the conversion from Two Sicilies ducats into Italian lira of 1862 (1 duchy = 4.25 lire) it is obtained that the "pay" of Bourbon soldiers was in line with that of the Sardinian soldiers, but already the non-commissioned officers of the Royal Army received a much better pay than Sardinian non-commissioned officers (about 20%. It should also be noted that the cost of living in the Two Sicilies was quite low and that the value of the Neapolitan currency was higher than the Piedmontese currency. To get an idea of the size of the salaries of Neapolitan soldiers it is possible to compare their daily pay to that of the workers of the time: the workers of Campania received on average a daily wage of about 40/50 grain (those of the poorest provinces about half), the metalworkers 75 grains per day and the foremen about 85 grains per day. The prices were also quite stable and low: a pizza cost on average 2 grains, 0.75 L of wine 2 grains, 1 kg of bread 6 grains, 1 kg of pasta 8 grains, 1 kg of beef 16 grain and 1 kg of cheese 32 grains. The average rent for a worker's dwelling was about 12 ducats per year.
The first uniforms of the Royal Army were Spanish in type, in accordance with the Ordinance of 1728. The oldest source able to give us an idea of the first Neapolitan uniforms is the Ordinance of 1744 on the constitution of the 12 provincial regiments: the soldiers of these regiments had to be equipped with a knee-length "jacket", a "jaguar" (waistcoat with sleeves) just short of the javelin, knee-length breeches, gaiters that exceeded knee height (the cavalry was equipped with spur boots), a white shirt and a black tie. The attire was complemented by a black felt tricorn with a red cockade on the left wing. Some details of the uniforms (buttons, lapels, embroidery, buffeterie, type of turban, and colours in general) varied depending on the rank and department (the officers, for example, were traditionally equipped with a goliera on which the Bourbon lilies were imprinted).
In the 1770s, some novelties were introduced: the jackets were considerably shortened and the uniforms streamlined. With the decade of French rule in Naples in the early Nineteenth Century there were countless evolutions also with regard to uniforms: at first the Napoleonic French style was followed, but then the Neapolitan army was given a strong local imprint, especially at the behest of Murat, who had a passion for uniforms. Concurrently, the Austrian, then the English, influence is seen on those units from the island of Sicily. The buttons on the tunics of the Foreign Regiment were framed across the chest with lace, in the same manner as tunics of their British allies.
The innovations brought by Murat were partly preserved after the Napoleonic Wars, undergoing evolutions dictated mainly by the Germanic fashions of the time. From 1830, the Bourbon uniform was redesigned on the basis of the French "Luigi Filippo" (Louis Philippe I) style; the son-in-law of the late King Ferdinand. From then until the fall of the kingdom the French influence remained evident in almost all Bourbon equipment.
The uniforms of the Lancers and Hussars were almost completely identical to those of the similar specialties of the French army. The renowned bandsmen of the Neapolitan army had traditionally rich and refined clothing.
The Royal Army had foreign regiments since its in origin, in particular Albanians and Swiss (in addition to the Walloon and Irish regiments, who had arrived in the wake of Charles of Bourbon).
In 1737 an Albanian regiment was formed, called "Macedonia", thanks to the intercession of the Primate of Epirus residing in Naples, which recruited its compatriots in competition with the Venetian regiments oltremarini in Corfu and Epirus. Later an attempt was made to extend recruitment also to the indigenous Albanian communities of southern Italy and Sicily, however by the end of the 1700s the Regiment "Albania" had become a real foreign regiment in which soldiers of the most diverse nationalities converged. Characteristic of the equipment of the Albanian regiments was the "cangiarro", a short sabre of Ottoman derivation (kandjar). The two battalions of the Albanian regiment were to fight alongside the British at the Battle of Castalla.[5]
Swiss regiments were already present in 1734 (However less numerous) at the Bourbon conquest of the realm among the troops of King Charles, ceded by Spain to the young king. The Neapolitan Swiss corps were temporarily dissolved in 1790, but already in 1799 a new foreign regiment was created called "Alemagna", to be staffed by the Swiss mercenaries and those just arrived from across the Alps (as well as Germans, Italians, Swabian and other foreigners). This foreign regiment however was disbanded following the Invasion of Naples (1806).
Each regiment in accordance with Bourbon regulations consisted of a general staff of 20 officers, a headquarters of 17 soldiers in support of two battalions, each consisting of 24 officers and 684 soldiers divided into 4 fusilier companies and 2 elite companies, 1 of Grenadiers and the other of light infantry.
The constitutional revolt of 1820 broke out was finally accepted by Ferdinand I. The constitutional Neapolitan army, commanded by Guglielmo Pepe, was defeated at Antrodoco on 7 March 1821 by Austrian troops, finally forcing Ferdinand I to revoke the constitution. Following the Austrian occupation of the Realm, the King temporarily dismissed the army. It was therefore decided to leave the defence of the Kingdom to the Austrian occupation contingent for some time. The Austrian troops left Sicily in April 1826 and the mainland continental provinces in January-February 1827. To make up for the departure of the Austrian troops, the sovereign decided to set up four regiments of professional Swiss soldiers, with the aim of forming a solid nucleus of troops completely unrelated to the political events of the Realm.
The Royal Army recruited four new Swiss regiments between 1825 and 1830, following the reconstitution of a national army and the capitulations contracted between the Bourbon government, represented by Prince Paolo Ruffo of Castelcicala, and the cantons of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss recruits accepted employment in the Army of the Two Sicilies voluntarily for a 4-year service, at the end of which they could renew their service for another 2 or 4 years, or take their final leave. The rate of pay was generally higher than that of the locally recruited soldiers of the Royal Army. The official language of the Swiss regiments was German.
In 1859 a revolt broke out among the 3rd Swiss Regiment in Naples. After this controversial event, the Neapolitan government decided to disband the Swiss Regiments and to circumvent the problem of capitulations with Switzerland by creating "Foreign Battalions" open to foreign recruitment. The remaining Swiss soldiers and also many foreign volunteers, particularly from the Kingdom of Bavaria, joined the ranks of these new 4 Foreign Battalions.
Napoleonic Wargaming and the army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The "Foreign troops" in the Neapolitan Army (in Italian)