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Siege of Gaeta (1860)
Encyclopedia
- For other sieges of this city at different dates, see Siege of GaetaSiege of GaetaThe Siege of Gaeta can refer to several historical sieges of the city of Gaeta in Italy:*Siege of Gaeta , Austrian attack during the War of the Spanish Succession*Siege of Gaeta , French and Spanish attack during the War of the Polish Succession...
.
The Siege of Gaeta was the concluding event of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...
. It started on November 5, 1860 and ended February 13, 1861, and took place in Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
, in today's Southern Lazio (Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
).
Background
In September 1860, as the Garibaldine troops were moving towards the capital NaplesNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
(see Expedition of the Thousand
Expedition of the Thousand
The Expedition of the Thousand was a military campaign led by the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. A force of volunteers defeated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, leading to its dissolution and annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, an important step in the creation of a newly...
), the king of Two Sicilies, Francis II
Francis II of the Two Sicilies
Francis II , was King of the Two Sicilies from 1859 to 1861. He was the last King of the Two Sicilies, as successive invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia ultimately brought an end to his rule, and marked the first major event of Italian unification...
, decided to leave the city on the advice of his Prime Minister Liborio Romano
Liborio Romano
Liborio Romano was an Italian politician.He was born in Patù, near Santa Maria di Leuca , then part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He studied at Lecce and graduated in law at Naples, soon beginning to teach in the same university.Frequenting the Carbonari, Romano adhered to the Risorgimento...
.
At first, he planned to organise a resistance in Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
. However, after that city was lost to the Garibaldines in the aftermath of the battle of the Volturnus (October), he and his wife Marie Sophie took refuge in the strong coastal fortress of Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
.
Gaeta was one of the strongest military fortresses in Europe. It consisted of a triangle-shaped promontory (Mount Orlando) which stretched for more than one and a half kilometers and rose to 169 m and with almost vertical cliffs on the seaward sides. The cliff was connected to the mainland by a 600 m wide isthmus. Called Montesecco ("Dry Mountain"), the isthmus was the only way for a besieger to conquer the stronghold. The ships of the time were indeed considered too fragile to face the massive fortifications that encircled the promontory. Built in the time of emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, the promontory was provided with 220 guns divided between 19 batteries. An additional 230 guns defended the fortress on the mainland side, making a total of 450 cannons, 26 of which were short range mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s. Most of the guns were smoothbore arms, some dating back to the 18th century, and therefore rather imprecise. The massive castle, which commanded the east side on the sea, dated from the time of Emperor Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
but was continuously updated.
The Piedmontese
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
forces were composed of the IV Army Corps, led by general Enrico Cialdini
Enrico Cialdini
Enrico Cialdini, Duca di Gaeta was an Italian soldier, politician and diplomat.-Biography:He was born at Castelvetro, in the province of Modena. In 1831 he took part in the insurrection at Modena, fleeing afterwards to Paris, whence he proceeded to Spain to fight against the Carlists...
. His staff included the engineer general Luigi Federico Menabrea, future prime minister of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Troops were composed of 808 officiers and 15,500 NCOs, and soldiers, supported by 78 modern rifled guns, 65 mortars and 34 smoothbore guns. The most modern rifled ordnance could fire from a distance up to five kilometers without risking any harm from the aged guns of the defenders. The Piedmontese fleet, under admiral Carlo di Persano
Carlo di Persano
Count Carlo Pellion di Persano was an Italian admiral and politician, who was commander of the Regia Marina fleet at the Battle of Lissa....
, had ten ships.
The Sicilian commander of the fortress of Gaeta was lieutenant general Francesco Millon. On November 10, he was replaced by Pietro Carlo Maria Vial de Maton, an 83 year-old native of Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
who had served in the armies of Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. The engineering arm was led by Count General Francesco Traversa, who reinforced the defenses as much as possible, often using makeshift solutions. Colonel Gabriele Ussani, an experienced soldier of the battles against Garibaldi, commanded the mainland front. The Sicilian forces amounted to 19,700 NCO and soldiers, 1,770 officers, 1,000 horses and mules; there were also 3,000 citizens of Gaeta. 17 ships of various nations (including Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) kept open communications with the sea. Some of the Sicilian troops were Swiss soldiers.
Beginning of the siege
Various dates are cited as the beginning of the siege; these range from November 5 to November 12. Cialdini installed his command position in Castellone, in what is today the city of FormiaFormia
Formia is a city and comune in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean coast of Lazio . It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way.-History:...
. Eighteen kilometers of roads, together with 15 bridges and causeways, were built for the transport of the artillery.
The situation for the soldiers and the inhabitants, massed in the very reduced space of the old city, soon proved unbearable. The Sicilian troops had neither blankets nor change of clothing. On November 18 the bombing was stopped to allow all the people not participating in the defence to leave the city.
The morale of the defenders, however, increased when veteran general Ferdinando Beneventano del Bosco, one of the few charismatic military figures of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, arrived in Gaeta. He soon organized a sally for the dawn of November 29. 400 Chasseurs, supported by some foreign Carabiniers, managed to reach the summit of Montesecco, near the Roman mausoleum of Lucius Atratinus. However, they were repulsed by the Piedmontese reaction, and the action proved inconclusive. The last active operation of the Sicilians happened on December 4, also without any effect.
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Sues for peace
On December 8 Francis II issued a proclamation to all his subjects, promising new liberties in lieu of the prosecution of the struggle against the invaders, inciting them to guerrilla operations. The same day, Cialdini was ordered by the Piedmontese Prime Minister Cavour, to cease fire. Cavour, backed by the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government, had convinced Napoleon III to recall the French fleet from Gaeta and, in a letter sent on December 11, asked Francis II to leave Gaeta. However, the Neapolitan King did not accept the proposal. He in turn appealed to Napoleon not to recall his fleet, in order at least to save the military honour of the Kingdom and the Crown.
Hostilities began again on the night of December 13 and 14. In the meantime, epidemic typhus had begun to spread within the walls of Gaeta: Francis' field adjuntant was himself struck down and died on December 12.
More victims among the civil population were caused by the new Piedmontese batteries firing from Monte Tortano from December 15.
On December 27, a new capitulation proposal was sent to the Sicilian defenders or, as an alternative, a truce of 15 days. They were both rejected. The artillery duel restarted with increasing violence: 500 grenades a days were hurled against Gaeta, although most of them did not explode. The bombardment culminated on January 7, 1861, when the fortress received a shower of 8,000 shells, although, again, with modest results.
End of the siege
The military operation was suspended for ten days on January 9, at the request of Napoleon III. When the armistice ended, foreign ships abandoned the harbour of Gaeta. The Piedmontese fleet, until then inactive in the port at Castellone, began a blockade, starting to bomb the fortress again on January 22. The Piedmontese launched 22,000 grenades and the Sicilians replied with 11,000, damaging some of the opponents' batteries.However, the defenders' situation appeared hopeless at that point despite the efforts of the two sovereigns to raise the morale of the soldiers and the population by their personal example. The hygiene conditions within the fortress had sunk desperately, and food was short. In the afternoon of February 5, a powder depot of the St. Antonio battery was struck by a Piedmontese grenade, destroying an entire quarter of Gaeta causing huge losses among the soldiers and the population. The last truce of the siege was declared in the evening of the following day to rescue the wounded.
The Piedmontese fire was getting increasingly accurate, and the situation for both defenders and inhabitants looked desperate. On February 10, Maria Sophie received a letter from the French empress, saying that the resistance had been prolonged enough to save the Crown's honour. Francis II issued for a capitulation. Cialdini refused to stop the bombardment during the negotiations, and Gaeta suffered new devastations until the capitulation was signed on February 13. The last shells were fired by both the opponents at 18.15 p.m. that day.
The defenders could surrender with their honour preserved.
The first Piedmontese infantry entered Gaeta one day later, exactly when Francis II and his wife consigned themselves to the victors, hailed by the Sicilians soldiers who had remained faithful until the very end. The Kingdom of Two Sicilies, created in the 12th century by the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
Roger II
Roger II of Sicily
Roger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily...
, ended some days later when the last organized centre of resistance, Civitella del Tronto
Civitella del Tronto
Civitella del Tronto is a town and comune in the province of Teramo, within the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park.-History:...
, surrendered on March 20, 1861.
Casualties amounted to 829 dead and 2,000 wounded for the Sicilians. Two hundred civilians fell during the siege, while the Piedmontese had 46 dead and 321 wounded. General Enrico Cialdini
Enrico Cialdini
Enrico Cialdini, Duca di Gaeta was an Italian soldier, politician and diplomat.-Biography:He was born at Castelvetro, in the province of Modena. In 1831 he took part in the insurrection at Modena, fleeing afterwards to Paris, whence he proceeded to Spain to fight against the Carlists...
was later created Duke of Gaeta by the King of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
as a victory title
Victory title
A victory title is an honorific title adopted by a successful military commander to commemorate his defeat of an enemy nation. This practice was first used by Ancient Rome and is still most commonly associated with the Romans, but it has also been adopted as a practice by many modern empires,...
in recognition of his role during the siege.