Chapter 82: Chapter 81 – Battle of Venice

Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

Looking at the intelligence gathered in his hands, Franz was relieved to find that the history of France had not changed much, which meant that, thankfully, his butterfly effect had not been strong enough to completely change the world. In addition, since an uprising had broken out in Lombardy, it meant that in the eyes of its local population Sardinia was now no different from Austria, so there would be no threat of hidden elements after Austria's reoccupation of Lombardy.

 

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Austrian Command, Venice

"Lord Marshal, the Sardinians are here!" Lieutenant General Bechstein, a senior intelligence officer from the General Staff informed Marshal Radetzky.

"Good. Now that the enemy is here, there is no need for us to continue to hide. Order the 6th Division and 9th Division to deal with the Neapolitan army which is approaching through Modena, and take two brigades from the 7th Division to destroy the Tuscan Army that has just crossed the Po river!" Marshal Radetzky coldly ordered.

Getting the Sardinian army to march on Venice had taken a lot of effort, so Marshal Radetzky didn't plan to allow this opportunity to slip away. As long as others weren't allowed to interfere, he was confident in being able to defeat the Sardinians.

General Friedman, one of Marshal Radetzky's two deputies, joked, "Lord Marshal, I heard that the Sardinian King Chalres-Albert himself is coming to the front line to raise morale. If we manage to capture him, this battle will go much easier than planned!"

Marshal Radetzky smiled and said, "It's not necessary. We can just march straight and fight the enemy outside Mantua where we will have advantageous terrain. As the invaders, their supply lines are stretched thin and each day that the war drags on costs them a lot, so they won't avoid us. They're also in a hurry to end this war before we suppress the Hungarian rebellion. But don't worry, as long as we fight steadily, our glorious Austria will be victorious!"

Modern warfare was heavily dependent on food, arms, ammunition and supplies. This meant that war was a test of each nation's economic strength. After all, deploying over 100,000 men and clothing and feeding them every day was no easy task. The Kingdom of Sardinia was barely hanging on thanks to the British loans. Only if Sardinia managed to breach Venice and loot this wealthy city could it secure the capital to continue the war with Austria.

 

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Sardinian Army HQ on the Venetian Front

Marshall Franzini was deep in thought. Even if the Sardinian army was at a qualitative disadvantage compared to the Austrians, it still had a huge quantitative advantage. The soldiers deployed by the Austrians to Venice could barely reach 100,000, while Marshall Franzini could command over 200,000 soldiers. Even if some troops had been stationed throughout Lombardy to quell the uprisings, over 170,000 soldiers had marched on Venice.

Suddenly, an intelligence officer hurriedly entered the tent and said, "Lord Marshal, we've received concerning news from Vienna. The Austrians have deployed close to 50,000 reinforcements to Venice. Lord Minister of War has ordered us to quickly capture Venice before the enemy reinforcements arrive!"

The words of the intelligence officer shocked Marshall Franzini as he hurriedly asked, "When will the enemy's reinforcements arrive in Venice?!"

Fabio Lanzano, the Sardinian intelligence officer, explained, "According to our intelligence, the Austrian reinforcements will reach Klagenfurt by tomorrow. The distance between Klagenfurt and Venice is approximately 300 kms and given the average marching speed of 20km/day it should take them at least two weeks, twelve days if they rush the march, but that is unlikely due to the mountainous terrain."

Hearing these words, Marshall Franzini pulled out a map of the Italian Alps and scrutinized the route from Klagenfurt to Venice carefully.

The attack on Venice was originally meant to force the Austrian army to divide its soldiers in Hungary so as to reduce the pressure on the Hungarian Republic. However, this was based on the premise that Sardinia had already conquered Venice, not now when the two sides hadn't even begun fighting. Marshal Franzini was self-aware; he knew that if Marshal Radetzky gained another 50,000 soldiers, he (Franzini) would have no shot at victory.

Normally, it would have been strategically feasible to give up the attack on Venice if it meant that their ally, the Hungarian Republic, could be saved. However, unlike the politicians in Turin, the military represented by Marshal Franzini and Minister of War Ferrere were not optimistic about the Hungarians. According to them, even if Austria had fewer soldiers, it still wouldn't change the fate of the Hungarian Republic.

After taking a deep breath, Marshal Franzini decisively ordered, "We don't have much time; order the supply division to make the final preparations. We march tomorrow morning!

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General Messier, you shall lead the 2nd and 8th Divisions. Be sure to capture Trento within 3 days, then march behind the enemy lines and cut off their rear. General Novelli, you shall..."

 

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Austrian Command, Venice

Marshal Radetzky had received the news of the reinforcements earlier than the Italians. The Hungarian battlefield had progressed too smoothly. The Bohemian Corps had blocked both sides of the Danube and surrounded Budapest. The Croatian Corps was less than three days' march from Budapest. Thus, the Viennese Corps had become redundant.

As a result, instead of wasting it against Hungary, Franz chose to reinforce the army in Venice. Marshal Radetzky strongly supported this decision.  Although he was confident in victory, without the reinforcement, he would be unable to expand the fruits of the victory and rout the Sardinian army. With reinforcements, however, he was confident of expelling them from Lombardy and even laying siege to Turin.

"Lord Marshal, should we change our approach and wait for the reinforcements to arrive before the decisive battle?" General Wenzel asked.

Marshal Radetzy shook his head and said, "The troops in vanguard have already begun to exchange fire, so it's too late to change the military deployment. Soon, the Sardinians will also hear about our reinforcements, so if we bide our time in the forts, the Sardinians might just turn tail and run.

Don't worry, I have sent an order to our reinforcements to abandon the artillery and the heavy supplies to speed up the march. They should arrive sooner than the Sardinians expect."

The Sardinians had failed to factor in the fact that the Austrian reinforcements might be lightly packed. As they were in a rush, the soldiers could simply march with their guns since food could be obtained from cities and towns along the way, and ammunition could be replenished in Venice. As a result, time became the decisive factor in this war.

If Marshal Franzini managed to defeat the Austrian army before the arrival of the reinforcements, Sardinia would gain a significant advantage in the war and, with the help of the British, be able to digest its gains. Conversely, if Marshal Radetzky won, Sardinia would need to prepare for the imminent invasion of their homeland. With the stakes being extremely high for both sides, on May 9, 1848, the Battle of Venice broke out.

 

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Leopold II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, was a scion of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, so he was naturally heavily influenced by Austria. If not for the populist demands, he would have never sent soldiers to wage war against Austria. Still, he used this opportunity to send many ultra-nationalists as volunteers, hoping that they would die under Austrian hands and allow his rule to stabilize.

Many nationalists praised Leopold II for this act of "bravery against the Austrian tyranny," unaware of his true intentions. In addition, many Italian nationalists, duped by the Sardinian propaganda that Austria was a declining empire, believed that the Battle of Venice was certain to be their victory and rushed to enlist and join the war effort.

One such fellow was Giovanni Magherini, an editor at a local newspaper who was known for his pro-revolutionary, pro-republican and anti-monarchist beliefs. As one of the earliest participants of the revolution in Tuscany, he had recently been on a hot streak. He had gained a lot of fame and popularity and he was even being considered for appointment to the Tuscan parliament.

Aware of this, Magherini knew that he needed to do something even bigger to set in stone his appointment to the Tuscan parliament. He believed that his opportunity lay with the Tuscan expeditionary force to Venice, so he quickly enlisted. After bribing a few officials, he, a newspaper editor with no experience with war, became a Colonel and obtained command of the expeditionary force.

During the revolution in Tuscany, Giovanni Magherini had been one of the first to join the demonstrations. His small newspaper had also published many radical and liberal articles which had allowed him to quickly gain popularity. Wanting to replicate his previous success, now-Colonel Magherini decided that he needed to be the first to attack the Austrians to begin his political career.

Therefore, despite the warnings of Captain Ricci, a veteran officer of many wars who had volunteered for this battle, he ordered the soldiers to hastily cross the Po river without taking the time to secure the opposite bank and having them steadily cross the river, ignoring the fact that an army was at its most vulnerable while crossing a river.

 

-TO BE CONTINUED-

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