Why did Sardinians fight in the Crimean War?

Whilst in Arbatax, on the east coast of Sardinia, awaiting Missy Bear’s admission to Yacht hospital, I continued reading a book that Alix had bought for me from the Oxfam bookshop in Cirencester, where she volunteers. It is called ‘Portillo’s Hidden History of Britain’. I quite like Michael’s narrative style and I can recommend the book, which basically looks at the stories behind some of Britain’s fabulous buildings, some of which are soon to be re-purposed.

Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot: Weston Homes' image. p.s .You can tell its a computer graphic, as the designers always put someone riding a bike into the image (to show sustainable credentials) and a flock of flying birds (to show its biodiversity credentials)

One such building is the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot, not far from our old home in Fleet. It is a grand building, of an Italianate style as it happens. Behind the imposing façade, the hospital interior layout was designed to follow the principles adopted by Florence Nightingale, and based upon her experiences of treating casualties of the Crimean War.

At that point Portillo mentions that the main protagonists against Russia included the Sardinians. Well, that was a surprise to me, and the fact immediately landed me back on our sunny island.

Why on earth were Sardinians fighting along with us, the French and the Turks in Crimea? The clue might be obvious to anyone who played ‘Risk’ as a child. (Risk is a geographical-based board game, where you form alliances with other players to invade and take over other player’s countries.) Despite the battle being fought in the Crimea, on the north coast of the Black Sea, one player’s war objective was far away in the Mediterranean…

****

Prior to 1861, Italy had not been a unified country since the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire in the 6th century. Waves of invaders, including Vandals then Ostrogoths, ruled the land. Meanwhile, Islamic invaders conquered Northern Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands such as Sicily, and the southern Italian mainland.

In 1130, the Norman king Roger II defeated the Arab Muslims, and formed the Kingdom of Sicily. This combined: the island of Sicily; the southern part of the Italian Peninsula ('the Kingdom of Naples'), and Malta. The overall capital of the kingdom was Palermo.

Rule of the Kingdom eventually passed to the House of Anjou (in modern France), but the Sicilian islanders revolted against Angevin rule. With help from the 'Crown of Aragon', they threw out the Angevins leaving the Angevins control of the mainland part of the 'Kingdom of Sicily'. This is where the term the ‘Two Sicilies’ comes from: the island Sicily; and the mainland Sicily, which was still also known as the 'Kingdom of Naples'.

Under the 'Treaty of Utrecht' IN 1714 (which ended the War of the Spanish Succession), the Spanish successors to the 'Crown of Aragon' ceded:

• to Savoy: the island of Sicily, and some of the Duchy of Milan;

• to the Holy Roman Emperor (the Austrian Hapsburg, Charles VI): the 'Kingdom of Sicily' (i.e.. 'Kingdom of Naples'), Sardinia, and the rest of the Duchy of Milan.

(The Papal States remained in the middle.) In1720, Savoy and the Holy Roman Emperor did a deal: they swapped Sicily for Sardinia, thus so re-creating the 'Two Sicilies'. Then in 1734, the Spanish Bourbons invaded the 'Two Sicilies', and beat the Holy Roman Empire. So, the Spanish had finally regained their kingdom, twenty years having been forced to give it away.

Map of Italy, just before the Crimean War of 1853-1856.

Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia.

You can see that Italy, as we now know it, was very fragmented, and mostly ruled by foreign powers!

The situation was not helped by Napoleon I, who conquered and then lost much of his northern Italy possessions, during his post-revolutionary expansionist wars.

Over the centuries, many ‘Italians’ yearned for their ancient country to be reunited.

One of these unification chaps was Victor Emmanuel II ('King of Sardinia'). You now know that the rulers of Sardinia were based in Savoy and then Piedmont, and Victor was born in Turin.

He fought in the First Italian War of Independence, against the ‘occupying’ Austrians. And then, in the game of real-world Risk, the Crimean war offered Victor an opportunity:

In November 1852, he decided to side Sardinia with France (and UK and Türkiye) in the Crimea. This was simply to gain favour with France and its emperor Napoleon III.

In return, Napoleon III then supported Sardinia in the Second Italian War of Independence. This resulted in the liberation of Lombardy from Austrian rule.

*Red became associated with Garibaldi, and Thorne informed me that a Garibaldi fish is red...

Next, Victor Emmanuel supported the ‘Expedition of the Thousand’ (1860–1861) - led by Giuseppe Garibaldi (of biscuit fame). This resulted in the rapid fall of 'Kingdom of the Two Sicilies'. (Garibaldi’s red-shirted* army landed in Marsala on Sicily in 1860 to liberate the island. He then went onto liberate the southern mainland from the Spanish House of Bourbon.

Garibaldi had fought and beaten a Spanish Bourbon, in the 'Battle of the Biscuits'!

But Victor stopped Garibaldi from attacking Rome (still ruled by the Papal States), because it was under French protection. And he owed the French a favour, I suppose.

In 1860, many other Italian regions decided to side with Victor, who seized the opportunity. He won a battle against Papal forces, and then met Garibaldi. Garibaldi gave Victor control of the 'Two Sicilies'. Victor Emmanuel II became the first King of Italy on 17 March 1861.

In 1866, he won a third war of independence to win Venice. He finally took the Papal States in 1870, when France withdrew (in weakness following their loss in the Franco-Prussian War.)

So, Italy looks like it does today. Victor’s big win means that when we sail on Missy Bear from Sardinia to Sicily, and then along the foot of the mainland towards Greece, we will not have to change our Italian courtesy flag for the duration.

One man had the vision to send his subjects to a battle in a far-off land, simply to court favour with a powerful (yet temporary) ally, simply to win a different war with a much greater prize. You have to admire the thinking, planning and execution, don’t you?