“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.” - Ulysses S. Grant
The war against the Grand Duchy has proven quite hazardous, destructive, and above all, horrid. The Sardinian Blockade of Tuscany served to hurt the maritime trade of the country and its quick ability to resupply its armies in Lucca. The whole situation was just screwy.
This war made heroes, this war killed heroes, that’s just how it’s gone. Among these heroes is the Austrian von Radetz who gave much during the war first his eye and now the middle finger of his left hand. The Battle for Lucca and the Siege for Florence were two of the most memorable of this phase of the war.
The morale of the soldiers, for all sides, was incredibly low at this point. Truly, one of the greatest impacts of this war after the Second Battle of Lucca is the growth of constitutionalist sentiments among the ranks of all three forces. Lucca fell after the Tuscans gave it one of their best and most ardent defenses, one worthy of being remembered like the Alamo. In fact, Austrian chroniclers would speak praises of the brave men of Tuscany who laid down their lives in a last ditch defense of their conquest. As the Tuscan forces were driven back into their territories, more lands came under the occupation of the Austrian and Sardinian forces.
The Siege for Florence, however, is where everything got derailed. The siege lasted over two months with the city’s provisions running dangerously low. They fought and fought tooth and nail, all the combatants losing steam by the end of it. In one particular assault from the Austro-Sardinian alliance, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was shot through the groin by a round and fell. The Grand Duke died as a result of the femoral vein being severed and bleeding out. Likewise, the Sardinian Colonel Agostino Chiodo died as a result of shock and bleeding out from a cannon ball severed his leg at the upper thigh.
By the time the smoke cleared, everyone simply stopped fighting as cohesive groups, violence descending to only localized areas just because of the exhaustion. Supplies were low for Tuscany and their Grand Duke lay dead. Sardinia was exhausted and Austria was exhausted. Thousands of people were dead and constitutionalism ran rampant through the ranks of the armies, from the junior officers and down. Florence had fallen and only God could tell the future of these men and nations. Historians from 2019 would refer to this war as a meat grinder.
The spread of constitutionalist sentiments is a result of the Italian Revolutions, the War in Poland and the present conflict. The strength of this sentiment varied greatly and fears of fomenting insubordination and insurrection could be felt among the upper officer corps. What would this mean when they returned home? No one really could tell at this point.
The toll for Austria was high with 13,191 casualties, of which 9,729 were killed. The Sardinians took casualties of 3,044 with 1,237 killed. The Tuscans took casualties around 8,001 with 7,362 killed.
Submitted July 24, 2019 at 04:15AM by ComradeMoose https://ift.tt/30QYB2v
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