Five Days of Milan explained

Conflict:Five Days of Milan
Partof:the First Italian War of Independence
Date:18–22 March 1848
Place:Milan, Lombardy–Venetia
(present-day Italy)
Coordinates:45.4669°N 9.19°W
Result:Milanese revolt victorious[1]
  • Radetzky retreats from Milan
Commander1:Carlo Cattaneo
Gabrio Casati
Luciano Manara
[2] [3] [4]
Commander2:Joseph Radetzky
Ludwig von Wohlgemuth
[5] [6]
Strength1:1,700 barricades
armed with 600–650 firearms along with stones, bottles, clubs, pikes and swords [7]
Strength2:12,000 garrison[8] [9]
Casualties1:409–424 killed[10] [11]
including 43 women and children
600+ wounded
Casualties2:181 killed[12]
including 5 officers
235 wounded
including 4 officers
150–180 captured
Native Name:Governo provvisorio di Milano
Conventional Long Name:Provisional Government of Milan
Common Name:Milan
Era:Revolutions of 1848
Status:City-state
Government Type:Republic
Event Start:Insurrection against Habsburg rule
Date Start:18 March
Year Start:1848
Event End:Radetzky withdraws to Quadrilatero
Date End:22 March
Year End:1848
Event Pre:Congress of Vienna grants Lombardy–Venetia to the Austrian Empire
Date Pre:9 June 1815
Event Post:Battle of Solferino wins Lombardy for Italy
Date Post:24 June 1859
P1:Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
Flag P1:Flag of Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.svg
S1:Kingdom of Sardinia
Flag S1:Flag of Sardinia Kingdom (1848 - 1851).gif
Capital:Milan
Leader1:Carlo Cattaneo
Title Leader:President
Common Languages:Italian, Lombard

The Five Days of Milan (pronounced as /it/) was an insurrection and a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 that started the First Italian War of Independence. On 18 March, a rebellion arose in the city of Milan which in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his Austrian soldiers from the city.

Background

In 1848, the Milanese launched an anti-Austrian campaign as early as 1 January.[13] On New Year's Day the Milanese started to boycott gambling and tobacco products, which were government monopolies that brought in over 5 million lire a year.[14] The boycott culminated in a bloody street battle on 3 January, when Austrian soldiers, in batches of three, were being insulted and pelted with stones by an angry crowd.[15] [10] The soldiers then gathered together in groups of a dozen and charged the crowd with swords and bayonets, killing five and wounding another 59. Radetzky confined his troops to barracks for five days.[15] The protests were over, but two months later, when news reached Milan of the uprising in Vienna and the fall of Metternich, the Milanese took to the streets again, on 18 March.[14]

Events

thumb|right|Statuary at the base of the 1895 monument to the Five Days of Milan by Giuseppe Grandi.

Almost simultaneously with the popular uprisings of 1848 in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, on 18 March of that year, the city of Milan also rose up. This was the first evidence of how effective popular initiative, guided by those in the Risorgimento, was able to influence Charles Albert of Sardinia.

The Austrian garrison at Milan was well equipped and commanded by an experienced general, Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, who despite being over 80 years old, was energetic and rigid. Radetzky had no intention of yielding to the uprising.

However, the whole city fought throughout the streets, raising barricades, firing from windows and roofs, and urging the rural population to join them. The populace was backed by the archbishop and at least 100 priests joined in the fighting against the Austrians. A bust of Pope Pius IX was hoisted onto the barricades.[16] A provisional government of Milan was formed and presided over by the Italian: [[podestà]], Gabrio Casati and a council of war under Carlo Cattaneo. The Martinitt (orphanage children) worked as message runners to all parts of the town.

Radetzky saw the difficulty of resisting under siege in the city centre, but while afraid of being attacked by the Piedmontese army and peasants from the countryside, he preferred to withdraw after losing control of the Porta Tosa (now Porta Vittoria) to the rebels. On the evening of 22 March, the Austrians withdrew towards the "Quadrilatero" (the fortified zone bounded by the four cities of Verona, Legnago, Mantua and Peschiera del Garda), 120 km eastwards, taking with them several hostages arrested at the start of the uprising. Meanwhile, the rest of Lombard and Venetic territory was free.

In memory of these days, the official newspaper of the temporary government was called simply Il 22 marzo (22 March), which began publication on 26 March at the Palazzo Marino under the direction of Carlo Tenca.[17] A Monument to the Five Days of Milan by the sculptor Giuseppe Grandi was inaugurated in 1895 at what is now Porta Vittoria.

Almost a century later, in 1943, the uprising of Naples against WWII Nazi occupation was named The Four Days of Naples, in conscious emulation of the earlier Milan event.

See also

References

Bibliography

In Italian

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Grenville, John Ashley Soames . Europe reshaped, 1848–1878 . 2000 . Oxford.
  2. Book: Stillman, William James. The union of Italy, 1815–1895 . 1898 . Cambridge.
  3. Book: Maurice, Charles Edmund . The revolutionary movement of 1848–9 in Italy, Austria Hungary, and Germany . 1887 . New York.
  4. Book: American Bibliographical Center . Historical abstracts: Volume 42, Issues 3–4 . 1991 . Santa Barbara.
  5. Book: Svoboda, Johann . Die Zöglinge der Wiener-Neustädter Militär-Akademie . 1870 . Wien.
  6. Book: de Marguerittes, Julie . Italy and the War of 1859 . 1859 . Philadelphia.
  7. Book: Stearns, Peter N. . 1848: the revolutionary tide in Europe . registration . 1974 . New York.
  8. Book: Whyte, Arthur James Beresford . The political life and letters of Cavour, 1848–1861 . 1975 . Santa Barbara.
  9. Book: Whittam, John . Politics of the Italian Army, 1861–1918 . 1977 . London.
  10. Book: Ginsborg, Paul . Daniele Manin and the Venetian revolution of 1848–49 . registration . 1979 . 9780521220774 . Bristol.
  11. Book: Rüstow, Wilhelm . Der italienische Krieg von 1848 und 1849 . 1862 . Zürich.
  12. Book: Wilhelm Meyer-Ott, Wilhelm Rüstow . Die Kriegerischen Ereignisse in Italien in den Jahren 1848 und 1849 . 1850 . Zürich.
  13. Book: Gooch, John . The unification of Italy . 1986 . London.
  14. Book: Chapman, Tim . The risorgimento: Italy 1815–71 . 2008 . Penrith.
  15. Book: Berkeley, George F.-H. . Italy in the Making January 1st 1848 to November 16th 1848 . 1940 . Cambridge.
  16. M. Clark, The Italian Risorgimento, Routledge 2013 p. 53.
  17. Book: Luseroni, Giovanni . Giuseppe Mazzini e i Democratici nel Quarantotto Lombardo . 2016 . Gangemi Editore spa . 130 . 9788849299229.