The
Battle of Turin took place on 7 September 1706 west of the city of
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
during the
War of the Spanish SuccessionThe War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, principally the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and the Duchy of Savoy, against the Kingdoms of France and Spain and the Electorate of Bavaria, over a possible unification of the Kingdoms of...
. In a decisive victory for the Allied forces under
Prince Eugene of SavoyFrançois-Eugène, Prince of Savoy-Carignan , was one of the most prominent and successful military commanders in European history. Born in Paris to aristocratic Savoyard parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV. He was initially prepared for a career in the church, but by...
and Duke
Victor Amadeus II of SavoyVictor Amadeus II, Italian Vittorio Amedeo II was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of marquis of Saluzzo, marquis of Monferrato, prince of Piedmont, count of Aosta, Moriana and Nizza. His mother Marie Jeanne Baptiste de Savoie-Nemours was the regent from 1675 to 1684...
(proclaimed King by the
Treaty of UtrechtThe Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713. The treaties among several European states, including France, Spain, Great Britain,...
after the end of the war), the French
siegeA siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit"....
of Turin was broken and the withdrawal of French forces from northern
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
began.
The French troops were under command of
Philippe II, Duke of OrléansPhilippe Charles d'Orléans, petit-fils de France, Duke of Orléans , was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
,
Louis d'Aubusson de la FeuilladeLouis d'Aubusson de la Feuillade, duc de Roannais was a Marshal of France.He was the son of François d'Aubusson de La Feuillade, also a Marshal of France...
and
Ferdinand de MarsinFerdinand, count of Marsin was a French general and diplomat, who was Marshal of France.-Biography:...
, who was taken prisoner and died in captivity.
At the outbreak of the conflict, Victor Amadeus, backed by his cousin Eugene,
generalissimo of the
ImperialThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
troops, had taken the risk to side with Austria's Habsburgs since they were the sole power in Europe that could grant his state a total independence after a final victory.
The
Battle of Turin took place on 7 September 1706 west of the city of
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
during the
War of the Spanish SuccessionThe War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, principally the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and the Duchy of Savoy, against the Kingdoms of France and Spain and the Electorate of Bavaria, over a possible unification of the Kingdoms of...
. In a decisive victory for the Allied forces under
Prince Eugene of SavoyFrançois-Eugène, Prince of Savoy-Carignan , was one of the most prominent and successful military commanders in European history. Born in Paris to aristocratic Savoyard parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV. He was initially prepared for a career in the church, but by...
and Duke
Victor Amadeus II of SavoyVictor Amadeus II, Italian Vittorio Amedeo II was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of marquis of Saluzzo, marquis of Monferrato, prince of Piedmont, count of Aosta, Moriana and Nizza. His mother Marie Jeanne Baptiste de Savoie-Nemours was the regent from 1675 to 1684...
(proclaimed King by the
Treaty of UtrechtThe Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713. The treaties among several European states, including France, Spain, Great Britain,...
after the end of the war), the French
siegeA siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit"....
of Turin was broken and the withdrawal of French forces from northern
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
began.
The French troops were under command of
Philippe II, Duke of OrléansPhilippe Charles d'Orléans, petit-fils de France, Duke of Orléans , was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
,
Louis d'Aubusson de la FeuilladeLouis d'Aubusson de la Feuillade, duc de Roannais was a Marshal of France.He was the son of François d'Aubusson de La Feuillade, also a Marshal of France...
and
Ferdinand de MarsinFerdinand, count of Marsin was a French general and diplomat, who was Marshal of France.-Biography:...
, who was taken prisoner and died in captivity.
Background
At the outbreak of the conflict, Victor Amadeus, backed by his cousin Eugene,
generalissimo of the
ImperialThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
troops, had taken the risk to side with Austria's Habsburgs since they were the sole power in Europe that could grant his state a total independence after a final victory. However, in case of defeat, Piedmont and Savoy would be wiped off the European maps.
King Louis XIV of France, allied with Spain, replied by invading first Savoy and then Piedmont itself. As the Spanish armies occupied
LombardyLombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region...
, Piedmont found itself surrounded from every side. Attacked by three armies, the Savoyards lost
SusaSusa is a city in Piedmont, Italy. It is situated on a tributary of the Po River, at the foot of the Cottian Alps, 51 km west of Turin.-History:...
,
VercelliVercelli is a city of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river Po between...
,
ChivassoChivasso is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 20 km northeast of Turin. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 23,675 and an area of 51.3 km²....
,
IvreaIvrea is a town and commune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley , it straddles the Dora Baltea and is regarded as the centre of the Canavese area. Ivrea lies in a basin that, in prehistoric times, formed a great lake...
and
NiceNice is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 347 060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate...
(1704). The last stronghold was the Citadel of Turin, a fortification built in the mid-16th century.
In August 1705 the French-Spanish armies were ready to attack, but De la Feuillade deemed his troops insufficient and waited for reinforcements. This choice turned out to be wrong, as it allowed the Piedmontese to fortify the city up to the neighbouring hills and to prepare for a long siege.
The siege
The siege began on May 14. The Allied troops amounted to more than 40,000 men.
Sebastien la Preste de VaubanSébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and in breaking through them...
, marshal of France and expert of siege techniques, proposed a side assault to the city, pointing out that the wide net of countermine galleries set by the defenders would present a tenacious obstacle. But La Feuillade had different ideas, and had 48 military engineers excavate a long series of trenches.
The besieged, supported by the active participation of the population to the battle, offered a strenuous defence, inflicting heavy losses on the attackers. Fighting continued during the whole summer of 1706.
On June 17 Victor Amadeus left Turin to meet Eugene, who was marching from the Trentino with the Austrian troops under his command. The city was handed over to the Austrian general Virico Daun. The heroic deeds of the defenders, including the famous sacrifice of
Pietro Miccaright|thumb|Traditional representation of Pietro Micca.Pietro Micca was a Piedmontese soldier who became a national hero for his sacrifice in the defence of Turin against the French troops.-Biography:...
who had himself explode in a gallery together with a French party in order to save the citadel, seemed however in vain at this point, with the city totally surrounded and heavily shelled, and the French lines nearing the first bastions of the citadel.
Epilogue
On September 2 the two Savoyards analyzed the tactical situation from the hill of
SupergaSuperga is a hill situated on the south bank of the Po River to the east of Turin in north-west Italy. At 672 metres above sea level, it is one of the most prominent of the hills which form an amphitheatre around the city....
, which commands Turin and the neighbouring area. While the defenders pushed back the last attack fueled only by desperation, they decided to outflank the besiegers with the bulk of the Austrian army, including part of the cavalry, in the north-western part of the city, which was deemed the most vulnerable part of the Allied front. The manoeuvre succeeded and the Austrians managed to set up camp between the
Dora RipariaThe Dora Riparia is an Italian river, a left-hand tributary of the Po. It is 125 km long, with a 1,231 km² drainage basin. It originates in the Cottian Alps, close to the Col de Montgenèvre in France, where it is called the Piccola Dora...
and the
Stura di LanzoStura di Lanzo is a 65 km long river in north-western Italy . It is formed from several tributaries near Lanzo Torinese. It flows into the river Po in Turin.The name Stura has Celtic origin: stur, which means "to fall"....
rivers. Eugene declared:
The final clash began at 10 AM on September 7 with an attack against the entire front of the besiegers. The Prussian infantry led by prince Leopold von Anhalt Dessau, after three failed attacks, was able to break the French right. The regiment La Marine went out of ammunition and it was no more able to stop the Prussian infantry. Two attempts to relieve the pocket formed in this way was driven back, and the Allied army started to rout. When Daun ordered the city's garrison to break out against the left wing of the French-Spanish army, it started to disband, with hundreds of soldiers drowning in the Dora Riparia in an extreme attempt to save their lives. The retreat of the Allied army towards
PineroloPinerolo is a town and commune in north-western Italy, 40 kilometres southwest of Turin on the river Chisone.-History:In the Middle Ages, the town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance...
started in the early afternoon of the same day.
Victor Amadeus and Eugene entered the liberated city and assisted a
Te DeumThe Te Deum is an Early Christian hymn of praise. The title reflects the opening Latin words, "Tē Deum ", rendered literally as "You, God, "....
issued to celebrate the victory. On the Superga Hill the Savoyard dynasty built a Basilica where, every September 7, a
Te Deum is still held.
The victory put an end to the war on the southern front. After the failed Siege of Toulon in the following year, no relevant military event took place there until the peace of Utrecht.
New researches
2006 was the third centenary of the siege and the battle of Turin. Three important study congress and up to forty books went out on this occasion. One of them,
Le Aquile e i Gigli. Una storia mai scritta, is particularly important, since it gives for the first time a real account of the military operation, eliminating the traditional, and not historical, way of that events. In particularly it points out how the firepower of the Prussian infantry and the lacks of the French logistic machine were the major causes of the allied defeat.
External links