The Italian War (1859)

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Karl Marx
Written 19 July 1859


First published in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, Second Russian Edition, Vol. 44, Moscow, 1977
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 16

The chronological notes "The Italian War. 1859" were written by Engels probably on July 19, 1859 in response to Marx's request to write an article for the newspaper Das Volk "summing up the campaign" of Napoleon III in Italy (see Marx's letter to Engels of July 18, 1859 in Vol. 40 of the present edition). The notes were used by Engels for his article "The Italian War. Retrospect" (see this volume, pp. 421-34).

January 1 Bonaparte's New-Year speech.[1]
February 26 Cowley's mission[2] aimed at appeasement and evacuation of the Papal States by both [states].[3] Austria arms and reinforces the army in Italy.
March Austria arms and reinforces the army in Italy.
April 23 Austrian ultimatum to Turin: immediate disarmament or hostilities. Cavour appeals to the Congress, to which, on England's proposal, France, Prussia and Russia agree.[4]
" 24 Sentries on the border.
" 25 French troops land in Genoa.
" 26 Austrians cross the Ticino, begin hostilities.
" 27 Flight of the Grand Duke of Tuscany[5] owing to revolution. Provisional Government, replaced by Piedmontese Commission[6] on May 11. According to reports from Vienna, offensive and defensive alliance between France and Russia.
" 29 Austria definitively in Lomellina.
May 1 Duchess of Parma forced to flee, returned for a few days, but then left for good.[7]
" 10 Bonaparte [goes] to Italy
" 20 Fighting at Montebello.
" 31 Ditto at Palestro.
June 4 Battle of Magenta.
" 7 Fighting at Melegnano.
" 24 Solferino.[8]
July 5 In a dispatch Lord Russell advises against annexation of Savoy.[9]
" 7 Villafranca armistice.
" 11 Ditto peace preliminaries[10]
  1. ↑ Napoleon Ill's address to the Austrian Ambassador von Hübner at a reception for the Diplomatic Corps in the Tuileries, January 1, 1859, The Times, No. 23196, January 6, 1859. See this volume, p. 149.— Ed.
  2. ↑ See this volume, p. 304.— Ed
  3. ↑ France and Austria.— Ed.
  4. ↑ For an assessment of the true intentions of the European powers which favoured convening the congress and peaceful settlement of the conflict, see Engels' articles "The Proposed Peace Congress" and "War Inevitable" (this volume, pp. 274-78 and 287-89), Marx's article "The Proposed Peace Congress" (pp. 290-94), their joint article "The State of the Question.— Germany Arming" (pp. 295-98), and Marx's letter to Engels of April 22, 1859 (present edition, Vol. 40).
  5. ↑ Leopold II.— Ed
  6. ↑ T n e revolution in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (part of the Italian bourgeois revolution of 1859-60) began on April 27, 1859. The Provisional Government of Tuscany set up after the revolution was replaced on May 1, 1859 by a Cabinet of Ministers headed by Count Carlo Boncompagni, whom Victor Emmanuel appointed extraordinary royal commissioner in Tuscany. Engels calls this government the "Piedmontese commission"
  7. ↑ "For good" is in English in the original.— Ed.
  8. ↑ On the fighting at Montebello, Palestro, Magenta and Solferino see this volume, gip. 338-40, 360-63, 368-71, 372-79, 392-95, 396-99, 400-03.— Ed.
  9. ↑ See Note 151, and also this volume, pp. 557-60 and 567-608.
  10. ↑ See this volume, pp. 407-09, 412-14, 416-20, and also Engels' letter to Marx of July 14, 1859 (present edition, Vol. 40).— Ed.