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Battle of Solferino
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The Battle of Solferino was fought on June 24, 1859 and resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II (together known as the Franco-Sardinian Alliance) against the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Josef (also known as Francis Joseph); it was the last major battle in world history where all the involved armies were under the personal command of their monarchs.
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The Battle of Solferino was fought on June 24, 1859 and resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II (together known as the Franco-Sardinian Alliance) against the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Josef (also known as Francis Joseph); it was the last major battle in world history where all the involved armies were under the personal command of their monarchs. Over 200,000 soldiers fought in this important battle, the largest since the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. There were about 100,000 Austrian troops and a combined total of 118,600 French and allied Piedmontese-Sardinian troops. After this battle, the Austrian Emperor refrained from further direct command of the army.
The battle
The Battle of Soferino was a decisive engagement in the Second Italian War of Independence or Second Independence War, a crucial step in the Italian Risorgimento. The war's geopolitical context was the nationalist struggle to unify Italy, long divided between France, Austria, Spain and the Papal States. The battle took place near the village of Solferino, Italy, a location between Milan and Verona.
The confrontation was between the Austrians, then marching across northern Italy, and the French and Piedmontese-Sardinian forces who opposed their advance. The battle was a particularly gruelling one, lasting over nine hours and resulting in over 3,000 Austrian troops killed with 10,807 wounded and 8,638 missing or captured. The Allied armies also suffered a total of 2,492 killed, 12,512 wounded and 2,922 captured or missing. Reports of wounded and dying soldiers being shot or bayoneted on both sides added to the horror. In the end, the Austrian forces were forced to yield their positions, and the Allied French-Italian armies won a tactical, but costly, victory.
Aftermath
Napoleon III was moved by the losses, as he had argued back in 1852 "the French Empire is peace", and for reasons including the Prussian threat and domestic protests by the Roman Catholics, he decided to put an end to the war with the Armistice of Villafranca on July 12 1859. The Italians won Lombardy but not the Venetia and they were deeply disappointed by Napoleon III's behaviour. As a result, Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour resigned. The Kingdom of Italy was created in 1860.
This battle would have a long-term effect on the future conduct of military actions. Jean-Henri Dunant, who witnessed the battle in person, was motivated by the horrific suffering of wounded soldiers left on the battlefield to begin a campaign that would eventually result in the Geneva Conventions and the establishment of the International Red Cross.
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