In 1835, Garibaldi arrived in Brazil, where Italian immigrants welcomed him as a hero, and it was here that Garibaldi accumulated rich military experience. At the time, Brazil was ruled by a priest named Diego Antonio Faye, who was a dictator but careful to preserve the country's unity. Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, covering an area of about 280,000 square kilometers, with many immigrants and a relatively developed economy, had always had secessionist tendencies. Garibaldi's arrival in Brazil coincided with the state's declaration of independence under the leadership of the large landowner Bendo Concavers Silva Pinto on the grounds of anti-dictatorship.
Concavis's adviser was the Italian revolutionary Tito Zambeccari, and Garibaldi warmly supported the struggle as a just cause. He commanded the gunboat Mazzini in the service of the insurgents, and later took over a stronghold on Lake Patos, where on April 17, 1839, Garibaldi, with 14 fighters, repulsed an attack by ten times the enemy and gained great popularity. A series of victories led Conquavis to overestimate his own strength and launch an ill-advised expedition to Catalina, which resulted in weakening the power of the **** and the country. Four years later Concavers was captured by a Brazilian cavalry unit and Garibaldi was forced into exile in Uruguay.
Uruguay and Argentina were at war in 1841, and on February 16, 1843, Argentine troops surrounded Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, which had just over 42,000 inhabitants, the vast majority of whom were European immigrants, with about 4,200 Italians. The expatriates from various countries armed themselves in self-defense because of rumors that the Argentine army would kill all the city's inhabitants.
French volunteers were the first to be formed on April 1, and the Italians, not to be outdone, established a 700-man volunteer corps with four divisions under the command of David Vaccarezza, of whom Garibaldi was one of the founders. Initially, the Italian Legion performed poorly and the Montevideo authorities had to ask Garibaldi to come out to command the army. Garibaldi completely reorganized the Legion, redesigning the black flag with the erupting volcano Vesuvius to inspire the soldiers to fight for freedom. The Legionnaires did not have uniforms and had to get butcher's overalls from a meat processing plant. Garibaldi initially hated the red uniform, but soon fell in love with it, "a scarlet blouse with a small brightly colored scarf, looking very dashing". The local people affectionately called the Italian army "red shirts", which is also later shocked Europe's division of justice - the prototype of the Italian red shirts.
The situation was critical and the siege by the Argentine army was getting tighter and tighter. The Italian army counter-attacked and captured the city of Salto on the upper reaches of the Paraná River. The Argentine dictator Rosas was furious and on September 20, ordered the general Urguiza to lead an army of 3,000 men to recapture the city immediately. For three consecutive days, Urguiza attacked Salto, but could not win at great cost. Garibaldi continued to send troops to attack, and Urguiza, who was exhausted, had to retreat. on February 7, 1846, the two sides started another big battle in San Antonio. At that time, *** and the country sent General Anacleto Medina's 500 cavalry to reinforce Salto, Garibaldi personally led a company of infantry (186) and a company of cavalry (100) to San Antonio, 7 miles from the city to meet. When the news leaked out and the Argentine army surrounded him, Garibaldi remained calm and ordered the Italian legionaries to hide in the ruins and defend themselves.
Argentine Colonel Gomez was ordered to capture Garibaldi alive. He committed 1,500 cavalry and 300 infantry to the front alone, but the terrain favored the Italians, and the Argentine soldiers who stood out in the open were living targets. Garibaldi led the Italian legions to fight from morning to evening without water or food, and killed countless enemies. Because of the lack of water, the wounds of the wounded could not even bleed, but none of them surrendered or fled, this former shameful army has been trained by Garibaldi as a brave and good fighting brigade. After dark, the Italian legions broke through, joined Medina's cavalry and returned to the city in triumph, and the unlucky Gomez had to slip away in the night.
Return to the Apennines
Garibaldi was disillusioned by the struggle for power despite his many successes. Medina was jealous of his accomplishments and was always at war with him. Garibaldi, with the greater good in mind, has repeatedly given in and retreated, but for the sake of the legion's future, he had to start thinking about a way out. At that time, the revolution in Italy was like a blazing fire, and the feudal kingdoms also realized that unification was the general trend, and all kinds of political forces were combining, with the new Pope Pius IX ascending to the throne as an opportunity, the revolutionary movement was in full swing. Under these circumstances, Garibaldi decided to lead the Italian legions to return home.
On April 15, 1847, Garibaldi led 63 volunteer soldiers to board the 193-ton ship "Hope" to return to the motherland after 12 years of absence, due to the lack of ships, the other soldiers can only be followed by the departure of the ship. 21 June, "Hope" arrived in Nice, Garibaldi's "Hope" to return to the motherland after 12 years of absence. On June 21, the "Hope" arrived in Nice, Garibaldi was warmly welcomed by the people of his homeland. At that time, King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia declared war on Austria, and the Austrian army was divided and surrounded by several fortresses, such as Mantua, Verona, Leniago and Pescara, and the situation of the revolution was very favorable. Garibaldi, inexperienced in politics, mistook Alberto for a true revolutionary and swore allegiance to him, recruiting volunteers to form an army of 1,000 men, with legionnaires as the backbone.
Soon Garibaldi set out for Milan, collecting troops along the way, and by the time he reached Manza the ranks had swelled to 3,700 men. At this time, the Austrian army commanded by a generation of famous general Marshal Radetzky, despite the long battle line, a desperate attack on Milan, this risky method of warfare actually received a miraculous effect. Milan was easily captured by the Austrian army, was not determined to fight Alberto panic, even secretly to the Austrian army to beg for surrender.
To Marshal Radetzky, Garibaldi was little more than a South American pirate and impostor general. But guerrilla warfare soon gave the famous Field Marshal such a headache that he had to transfer six brigades***19,000 troops from the 2nd Army and the southern front under the command of Dasplet to surround Garibaldi. The situation of the Volunteers was getting worse and worse. on the afternoon of August 26th, the Volunteers, who had only about 800 men left, were surrounded by 5,000 Austrians in the village of Morazone on the Swiss border. Garibaldi himself broke the back and led the Volunteers to retreat, and the troops were divided into small groups and scattered, and when they came to Aarnio, Switzerland, there were only 30 men left.
The First War of Independence, which lasted one year, ended in failure, which aroused the revolutionary enthusiasm of the Italian people, and in 1848, the people of Rome revolted and overthrew the rule of Pope Pius IX, and the Roman **** and the country was proclaimed in the sound of salutes.
Pope Pius IX asked for help from the Catholic countries of Europe, and representatives of France, Austria, and Spain gathered in Gaeta, Spain, to formulate a plan for armed intervention in the Roman **** and State.
In April, 9,000 men of the French army led by Udineau landed in Civitavecchia and pressed toward Rome, the Austrian army invaded Bologna, and the Spanish army approached the southern part of Rome, while the army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (also known as the Kingdom of Naples) also pressed toward the Roman **** and State. Kingdom of Naples) armies also advanced toward Rome, and the reactionary forces formed a combined siege.
At that time, the Roman **** and state had a weak army of 9,000 men, including the National Guard, War of Independence veterans and a Lombard light infantry. At a critical moment, Garibaldi arrived from the south to reinforce it. ***On April 30, 1849, Udineau, who was known as "France's first marshal's son," led 5,000 French troops to the gates of Pertusa, northwest of Rome, hoping to score a victory. Although there were only 2,500 men, Garibaldi's deployment was clever, with infantry occupying such strongholds as the Villa of the Four Winds and the Villa of Pamphili, and artillery controlling the heights of the Giannicolo, forming a defense in depth. The French attack on the gates of Rome was quickly repulsed. The inexperienced Roman student army mistakenly thought that the enemy was retreating and launched a pursuit, which was dispersed by the 20th French regiment, and Udineo took the opportunity to occupy two villas. In the nick of time, Garibaldi counterattacked with his reserves and the Lombard infantry, sending the French fleeing, and forcing Udineau to withdraw to Civitavecchia, leaving 400 wounded behind.
As soon as the French had retreated, King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies, with an army of 12,000 men, pressed in again from the south on Mount Albano. *** and the national government hastened to mobilize Garibaldi to counterattack, and the courageous Italian legions, despite fatigue, moved rapidly south of Rome overnight. In order to confuse the enemy spies mixed into the city, Garibaldi skillfully used the trick of concealment. First, he chose the starting point in the Piazza del Popolo, so that the enemy mistakenly thought that they were an expeditionary French army; second, Garibaldi led his troops in a roundabout way, constantly changing the direction of march. Close to the enemy, Garibaldi sent two companies of cavalry to occupy the high ground, in **** and the country warriors as a forceful and courageous charge, the enemy army chaos, without firing a few shots and fled. Garibaldi made an immediate decision, sent a battalion of reserves, bayonet full line charge, chasing and annihilating the fleeing enemy. The battle was over in less than three hours, and the enemy army of 6,000 men was completely routed.
Despite Garibaldi's successive victories, the leadership of **** and the country was very suspicious of him, and appointed Rosselli as the commander of Rome's city defense, who was a mediocre military man and interfered with Garibaldi's correct command at every turn. A week later, the Neapolitan army returned, this time with an enemy force of 20,000 men and 30 cannons, occupying strategic positions such as Velletri, Albano and Palestri. The left flank by the sea, the right flank backed by the Apennines, control of the necessary to Rome through the valley, in strength, equipment, terrain are dominant. 16 May, Rosselli concentrated **** and the country's main force of 8,000 people and the Neapolitan army, but the cunning enemy took the initiative to give up the position, to the line of Velletri contraction. Although Garibaldi once again play military genius, led by 1500 people of the commando destroyed the enemy cavalry, give the enemy a major kill, but the incompetent Rosselli not let the artillery in time to put into the battle, the result is only to fight a routed battle.
Because of the successive victories of the **** and the state, the rulers, including Mazzini, overestimated their own strength, and were eager to engage in peace talks with the French in an attempt to give up without a fight. Rosselli also considered Udino to be no more than a third-rate general and assumed that he would not dare to destroy the monuments of Rome. He also used the absurd method of drawing lots to determine the deployment of defense, artificially divided the **** and state armed forces into three divisions, alone in the disconnected urban areas, the troops did not seize the time to build fortifications, everywhere a song and dance, no one paid attention to Garibaldi's correct views. On the other hand, the French army, Louis Bonaparte, who had just come to power, sent a large number of reinforcements to Udineau, and also transported heavy weapons, the total strength of the French army jumped from 9,000 to 30,000, and General Vaillant, who was well versed in engineering operations, also came to the front line to assist Udineau, and there was a serious imbalance in the strength of the enemy and the enemy.
On the night of June 3, the French army treacherously launched a full-line attack, and that night took down the four winds of the villa and Pamphyley villa, which was solidly in place. 400 guards were killed or wounded, and Rosselli resigned, and the country was in the midst of a storm. At the critical moment, the sick Garibaldi, regardless of personal grudges, once again took over the military command. At 5 o'clock in the morning, Rome's St. Peter's Square was solemn, rumbling war drums, the battle-hardened Italian legionaries in neat formation, waiting for Garibaldi's orders. It was an unfair contest, with 3,000 Italian soldiers facing 20,000 well-equipped French troops. Garibaldi, who was sick, was the first to lead the troops, and the slogan "Long live the **** and the country" was heard in the sky, and the Italian legionaries launched a mountainous counter-attack. 7:30 pm, the two villas were back in the hands of the **** and the country, and the French army was killed and lost their souls. Garibaldi's red cape appeared there, and the French troops fled without a second thought. Udino and Vaillant red-eyed, personally supervise the troops to repeatedly scramble, the villa lying around the dead bodies, the French army even used the bloody corpses to construct fortifications. At the critical moment, the reinforcement of the Lombard light infantry was unreasonably detained by Rosselli for two hours, resulting in the loss of the two villas.
More and more French troops were thrown into the fight, and the battle became hopeless as two columns broke through the gates of Villa Spada and San Pancrazio. Many of the leaders of the ****Peace State were busy seeking refuge in the embassies of Britain and the U.S.A. On July 3, the French captured most of the urban areas of Rome, and the ****Peace State was at the end of its life. But Garibaldi did not give up, and he assembled the remaining roughly 6,000 soldiers in the Piazza della Terrano and prepared to pull the columns into the Apennine mountains of Umbria and Tuscany to fight guerrilla attacks. Udineau sent seven battalions of the 1st French Division and four cavalry units after Garibaldi, hoping to capture the "fiercest enemy of France", and was surrounded by other reactionary armies. Against Garibaldi, 40,000 French troops, 20,000 Neapolitans, 9,000 Spanish, 15,000 Austrians and 2,000 Tuscan troops were used. Garibaldi fought and retreated against the enemy, but the situation became worse and worse, and the army was finally broken up, and Garibaldi's beloved wife, Anida, died of disease, so he had to go into exile in America for the second time.
On June 26, Garibaldi arrived in New York by boat and was warmly welcomed by Italian immigrants. During his exile, Garibaldi remained concerned about his homeland. From the fall of 1852 to February 1853, the Italian Revolutionary Party planned a series of armed uprisings. Due to the wrong line and poor strategy, the revolts all ended in failure, a large number of volunteers were arrested and killed, and the prestige of Giuseppe Mazzini, the main leader of the party, was dealt a fatal blow. The Revolutionary Party alone proved incapable of leading the Italian revival to victory.
In mid-nineteenth-century Italy, Sardinia was the only independent constitutional monarchy, and it became the center of bourgeois liberalism. Camillo Cavour, who became prime minister in 1852, carried out effective reforms. Thus, a top-down dynastic war, with the Kingdom of Sardinia at its core, became the only option for the success of Italian unification. On July 21, 1858, Cavour and Napoleon III met in the southern French town of Plombières, and agreed that France would send troops to help the Kingdom of Sardinia drive Austria out of Lombardy and Venice, and that Sardinia would cede the regions of Nice and Savoy to France.
On May 7, 1854, Garibaldi returned to Genoa and received orders from King Vittorio Emanuele of Sardinia to form an elite force, the "Alpine Hunting Regiment."
In May 1859, the Second War of Italian Independence broke out, and France and Sardinia joined forces to wage war against Austria. In May 1859, the second Italian War of Independence broke out and France and Sardinia jointly waged war against Austria. Garibaldi led the regiment of hunters to penetrate deep into the enemy's rear and succeeded in successive battles, successfully cooperating with the front battlefield. Deeply shocked by the Austrian army command had to draw from the 2nd corps to strengthen the artillery and cavalry Ruprecht brigade to deal with him. 26 May, in the road from Varese to Como, the hunter regiment after a short battle, defeated the Austrian army Ruprecht brigade. The Austrian army command and sent the courageous Baron Karl Urbain with more than 6,000 people defending Como, but Garibaldi personally led 3,000 people of the hunter regiment stormed, only one morning to capture Como, Urbain with the remnants of the troops have been defeated and retreated to Mangza before stabilizing the position.
Garibaldi took full advantage of the victory and pushed forward, sending out cavalry to scout along the way, and at one point he was at the city of Brescia, where rumors spread that he had 20,000 men under his command and was about to attack the Austrian army's general headquarters in Ronalto, which caused a great deal of disruption in the deployment of the Austrian army. In the front battlefield, the allied forces of France and Spain also won the bloody battles in Mazzenta and Solferino, which aroused the patriotic fervor of the whole of Italy, and revolts occurred in various places one after another. However, Napoleon III did not send troops to help Sardinia for the sake of Italian unification. Therefore, when he saw that the situation of the Italian revolution was difficult to be controlled, he signed the "Villafranca" agreement with Austria behind the back of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which stipulated that Austria would cede Lombardy to France, and then France would transfer it to Sardinia, while Austria could still keep Venice. Sardinia was forced to accept the agreement, and the Second War of Independence ended.
Despite the half-hearted war, the Kingdom of Sardinia recovered Lombardy after all, and a crucial step towards the unification of Italy was taken. In April 1860, signs of revolution also appeared in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Italy's most intransigent feudal bastion, bringing the movement of unification back to a climax. Garibaldi decided to organize an army of volunteers to support the local people and destroy the feudal rule once and for all, which was known as the "Army of a Thousand" (also known as the "Red Shirts") in history.
Because of Garibaldi's popularity, the kingdom of Sardinia did not stop the expedition, and Cavour thought it would be good for diplomacy, but in order to avoid trouble, he ordered that the volunteers should not be given weapons. Garibaldi, who had no problem with these constraints, set off with more than 1,000 soldiers to accomplish what Cavour considered "a madman's enterprise".
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the oldest and largest kingdom in Italy, with a population of 9 million and a capital in Naples. The country was plagued by political corruption. King Francesco II was tyrannical and incompetent, but possessed an army of 100,000 men, with three divisions***25,000 men and 64 cannons in Sicily alone. Judging by the numbers alone, Garibaldi appeared to be fighting against the rocks, relying on nothing more than high morale and skillful command. on May 10, Garibaldi landed with 1,089 men at Marsala in southern Sicily. He wisely decided not to stay, but to attack the capital, Palermo, with his cavalry and elite Genoese gendarmes as his front line.
Randy, the commander of the island garrison of the Kingdom of Sicily, urgently ordered First Lieutenant Sforza to hold the 8th Hunter Battalion of 1,800 men at Mount Pianto Romano to block the advance of the volunteers. The terrain was very favorable to the defenders, Garibaldi had to be the first to fight with the enemy repeatedly, his famous "red cloak" became a living target of the enemy. Only when Antonio Elia, a volunteer soldier, blocked his bullets with his body did Garibaldi survive. After a fierce battle, Sforza returned to Palermo. The Sicilians welcomed the volunteers warmly, and Garibaldi's ranks grew larger by the minute. Francesco II hurriedly sent General Alessandro Nunziante to reinforce the Sicilian garrison to 21,000 men, and the latter ordered Swiss Colonel von Miguelle to march forward with 3,000 of his best men to Monreale, where he joined Colonel Bonanno's three battalions of soldiers in a front and rear attack on Garibaldi. The situation was so critical that Garibaldi, in a clever maneuver, left the two enemies behind and attacked Palermo with his troops. Nunziante and Randi did not expect Garibaldi to use this trick, and had to order Von Miguelle and Bonanno to return to reinforcement, and at the same time urged the troops to die, but a great uprising broke out in the whole city of Palermo, and the defenders were trapped internally and externally. Randi's will also collapsed, and unwilling to fight any longer, he finally signed the surrender.
In the days that followed, there was no major fighting, and both the enemy and the enemy were building up their strength. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies still had 18,000 men under the command of Marshal Cleary in Messina, and there were still some fortresses under their control, so they naturally did not take defeat lightly.On July 20, Cleary ordered Captain Bosco to lead 3,000 men to conduct a mighty search to test Garibaldi's strength. Using Fortress Milazzo as a support, Bosco captured the village of Arki, an outpost of the Volunteers, and attacked the village of Coriolo. The main body of the Volunteers arrived and saved the village of Coriolo, then retook the village of Arki in a single move under Garibaldi's command. Taking advantage of the victory, they pushed straight for the fortress of Milazzo, where the defeated enemy threw down 2 artillery pieces. Bosco sent his cavalry out of the fortress in an attempt to recapture the guns, but was thwarted by volunteers who had been preempted. Giuliani, the enemy cavalry captain, was also killed by Garibaldi himself.
While Bosco would not admit defeat, he was forced to withdraw to Messina as Cosenz arrived with 5,000 volunteers to reinforce Garibaldi. A disillusioned Marshal Cleri, seeing that the situation was about to collapse, asked the king to allow him to abandon Sicily.
The situation developed quickly, with the withdrawal of the kingdom's troops from Sicily, Garibaldi began to plan the march to Naples, completely overthrowing the rule of Francesco II. On the night of August 18th, Garibaldi led 3,600 men to land in the Italian port of Salvo, and during the night, he attacked and captured the fortress of Lezzo, which was heavily guarded by the enemy, and captured General Gallotti. General Battista Vial, who was stationed in Calabria, hurriedly ordered two generals, Melendez and Brigandi, to lead 1,200 and 2,500 men to resist, but the two generals were cowardly and did not move forward, and were surrounded by Garibaldi's divisions instead. Viale himself, who was heavily armed, did not dare to support him, but fled back to Naples with a company of his own men. Garibaldi, with fearless courage, went to the enemy camp to beckon him to surrender, and the enemy officers and soldiers responded by killing General Brigandi, who refused to surrender.
In less than 12 days, Garibaldi occupied a large part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and most of the kingdom's troops surrendered without a fight, a victory that shocked Europe. on September 5, Francesco II and the queen were forced to leave Naples and traveled by ship to Gaeta, and at the same time, he ordered the remaining main force to lay down a defense along the Volturno River, to carry out a final recalcitrance. Initially, Garibaldi thought that the enemy was demoralized and unbeatable. However, upon his arrival at the Volturno, he realized that the enemy was strong, and that the army, having been cleared of useless waste, was composed of the best men loyal to the king, and on September 21st, while Garibaldi was away from the front line, he launched a surprise attack and recaptured the strategic site of Caiazzo, killing and wounding more than 250 volunteers and boosting their morale. Francesco II ordered to take advantage of the situation to recapture Naples in one fell swoop.
The banks of the Volturno River have always been a battlefield. The plains were often shrouded in fog, there were strongholds such as Capua and Caserta along the Tifata Mountains, and the battle line was 65 kilometers wide, with a railroad passing through. The kingdom's army concentrated its entire main force of 28,000 men into two groups, led by Generals Rivera and Tabaki. It was prepared to recapture Caserta first before making a full-scale onslaught on Naples. Garibaldi also had 20,000 men under him, but the composition was very complex and some troops did not follow orders completely. Because the front was too long, Garibaldi was forced to divide his forces and deploy 5,650 men on his right flank in the Ponte Vale, about 3,000 men on his left flank in St. Mary's and Capua, and 4,000 men in the church of St. Angelo, with another 1,800 men to watch the direction of Caserta. Garibaldi set up his headquarters at San Leuzio, taking personal control of a reserve of 5,600 men, as well as controlling the local railway station in order to maneuver his forces.
Just after midnight on September 30, the Kingdom's army struck from the city of Capua in the fog. In the main direction of attack, St. Mary's and St. Angelo, 20,000 troops were committed, including 3,200 cavalry and 56 cannons. Another attack was made on the right flank in the Ponti Valley with 8,000 men led by Swiss Colonel von Miguelle. St. Angelo was very much strained due to the enemy's numerical superiority by several times. The enemy opened several gaps in the line, and Garibaldi used the railroad to move the wounded out and bring in raw troops in time. He personally led the Spangaro Brigade to implement the counterattack, and ordered the reserve of 3,000 people braved the enemy machine gun fire by train rapid movement, to the enemy flanks and rear detour, Milano Brigade and two brigades of Hungarian cavalry also joined the battle. After 10 hours of fierce fighting, the enemy was exhausted, and the two columns, Rivera and Tabaki, were simultaneously defeated and withdrew in disarray to the fortress of Capua.
On the right flank, von Migheller was not making good progress either. He detached 5,000 soldiers to be led by General Ruiz towards the old city of Caserta, and led his own 3,000 mercenaries towards the Punti Valley. In doing so, his numerical advantage was gone. Despite the mercenaries' training, the volunteers held their own against him, with first Eberhardt's brigade falling back in defeat, and then von Migheller shrinking back to Düncheta. The unlucky Ruiz, unaware that the situation had changed, continued to carry out his orders mechanically, taking four hours to capture an old abandoned fortress guarded by 280 volunteers, and then storming the old town of Caserta, where he went on a burning spree, but unfortunately by this time the fighting on the main battlefield was over. Garibaldi himself surrounded them with his left flank and 2 battalions of Sardinian light infantry. After a short engagement, Ruiz led his men to lay down their arms. The Battle of the Volturno River was a very brutal battle, with 3,420 casualties for the Kingdom's army and 1,850 dead and wounded for the volunteers.
After the Battle of the Volturno, Francesco II's last hope of retaining his throne was dashed when Vittorio Emanuele, King of Sardinia, entered Naples on November 7, accompanied by Garibaldi. In order to enlist Garibaldi, the king appointed his son Ricciotti as his royal aide-de-camp, and presented Garibaldi with a villa and a motorboat. But Garibaldi said well: I fought in the south, not for fame and fortune, nor for personal gain. 1861 March 14, Vittorio Emanuele was officially crowned King of Italy.
At that time, Garibaldi was actively planning his march to Rome and the Papal States, but his patriotic fervor was at odds with the government, and the conflict between the two sides intensified. Garibaldi ruled out all difficulties and once again organized a volunteer army to prepare for the capture of Rome, so much so that the French Emperor Napoleon III went out of his way to threaten war. The Italian government succumbed to the external pressure and prepared to settle Garibaldi by force. on August 28, Garibaldi was suddenly surrounded by the Sardinian army while he was camping on the heights near Lezzo. Garibaldi, who had no intention of fighting in the same room, simply came to the front of the position waving his hat and shouting, "Don't shoot, long live Italian unity!" The disciplined volunteers did not fire a single shot, but the Sardinians did, and a stray bullet hit Garibaldi in the ankle, and he was immediately captured.
The Italian government was unable to bring Garibaldi to trial after he was captured and had to declare an amnesty on October 5th. Subsequently, Garibaldi roamed all over Italy and was warmly welcomed by the people. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, it had been attempting to seize Venice. In April 1866, Prussia and Austria were in sharp conflict over the leadership of Germany, which gave Italy an opportunity. 1866.6 Austro-Prussian War broke out, Italy seized the opportunity to declare war on Austria, and the Third War of Independence broke out. 24.6.6, Austro-Italian and Italian armies engaged in a large-scale battle in Custody, in which the Italian army lost due to poor command.
"The country is broken," in the Italian Kingdom of the critical moment of survival, Garibaldi once again at risk, in Caprera Island to form a 38,000 people, 200 horses and 24 artillery volunteers, the general headquarters in the city of Brescia. Garibaldi's plan was to move toward Trentino and capture the Midicaria Valley in the Alps, drawing the war into enemy-occupied territory. But the task was not simple; the tough Austrian general Franz Kuhn von Künnefeld had 17,000 soldiers under his command, including 3,000 elite Tyrolean mountain infantry, tasked with stopping Garibaldi.
On June 25, the Volunteers captured Mount Suero after heavy fighting.On July 7, Garibaldi defeated the Austrians again at Lodronne, but Kuhn was reinforced with two batteries and six companies of infantry, which besieged the Volunteers' Nicotera Brigade in the Condino area. Garibaldi himself counterattacked with the 9th Regiment and ordered the 7th Regiment to detour behind the enemy's flanks. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but Kuhn's will wavered, and the Austrians retreated on all fronts. 20 July, Kuhn was reinforced with two battalions of infantry, a battery of artillery, and a squadron of cavalry, and resumed his offensive, attacking Garibaldi's left flank with 6,000 men, and the right with 4,500 men, attempting to capture the strategically important site of Liva in one fell swoop. The Austrians attacked with such heat that they annihilated the volunteers' Kiasi Battalion and captured Bezeka, closing in on the volunteers' general headquarters at Storo. Garibaldi led a strong resistance to the command, and after ordering the 9th Regiment to pat the enemy, the Austrians were again defeated. The volunteers took advantage of the victory to prepare for the capture of the fortress of Lardaro, into the peep of Tyrol, but just then, the news of the armistice came.
Due to pressure from Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck, the Italian government forced Garibaldi to withdraw from South Tyrol. After the Austro-Italian War ended in defeat, Garibaldi still campaigned for the liberation of Rome, and in October 1866 he led a newly formed volunteer army to defeat a papal force and capture the fortress of Monte Rotondo. Napoleon III sent nearly 10,000 French troops to land at Civitavecchia and entered Rome on Oct. 26. On Nov. 3, Garibaldi led 4,000 volunteers to Mentana, but they were blocked by 3,500 French troops and 3,000 papal troops. Because the French army was equipped with the new-style Chassepot rifles, Garibaldi's troops were severely wounded and their advance to Rome was blocked.
In July 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, and Napoleon III was forced to withdraw his troops from Rome; on September 2, the French army was defeated at Sedan, and Napoleon III became a prisoner. The Italian government, no longer worried about French intervention, sent an army of 60,000 men day and night, with strict orders to capture Rome before Garibaldi, and on September 20, the Sardinian government troops and Garibaldi's troops marched into the historic city of Rome at the same time. Pope Pius IX ordered the army to stop resisting, give up secular power and take refuge in the Vatican. Thus, the unification of Italy was finally completed.
After the unification of Italy, the government and the people began to pay close attention to the latest progress of the Franco-Prussian War with uneasiness. At that time, the parties of the Italian left were on the side of Prussia, while the parties of the right were on the side of France. It was known that Garibaldi admired Bismarck and had fought against the French for a long time, so many people presumed that he would take the opportunity to go to war against France and even lead a volunteer army to seize Nice. However, Garibaldi's decision was unexpected. He decided to rush to France to help his former rival to fight against the emerging Prussia. In Garibaldi's view, Napoleon III had fallen and it was time to aid the French **** and state in asserting their independence.
Garibaldi formed four brigades of about 8,000 men in the shape of Italian volunteers. They were deployed in the south of France, near the Vosges Mountains, hence the name "Vosges Corps". Garibaldi knew very well that Paris was already surrounded by the Prussian army and that victory in individual battlefields could not change the outcome of the whole war, but it was his personality to do what he knew was impossible. Prussian General von Wilde's 14th Army, one of the elite of the Prussian army, was being ordered to sweep through Upper Alsace. To Wilde, French resistance was almost negligible, yet it was only after the arrival of Garibaldi's Vosges Corps that the general realized the real battle had not yet begun.
The French generals Cambrès and Reval refused to cooperate with Garibaldi and retreated backwards under the pretext of defending Lyon, which the Prussians in fact had no intention of taking. Garibaldi, in a fit of pique, led 6,000 Italian volunteers on a separate march to Autun, where, on November 25, a brigade of volunteers heavily defeated a Prussian force northwest of Dijon, killing and capturing more than 300 men. Wilde quickly responded by searching forward with the 4th Division in reserve towards Chaumont, and the French, keen to encircle Dijon, which was occupied by the Prussians, fell for it instead. The 7th, 14th and 2nd Prussian Armies were joined to form the Southern Corps, commanded by General Manteuffel, and counter-encircled the French. The French retreated in disarray, and Garibaldi took advantage of the situation to capture Dijon, which the Prussians had abandoned.
Naturally, the great Prussian army would not tolerate the Italians taking the glory away from them. Wilder ordered Cutler's Brigade of the 61st Pomeranian Infantry Division (6,000 men, 260 warhorses, and 12 cannons) to retake Dijon immediately. The Prussian army was indeed one of the only strong brigades seen in Europe. The soldiers marched at an unhurried pace, pressed like a dark cloud towards the volunteer positions, and even in the midst of the artillery fire they were so calm and collected that it was no wonder that the battle-hardened French army was no match for it. Unfortunately, this time the Prussians chose the wrong opponent. in January 1871, the Prussian army attacked Dijon, but always