Forza Italia!

[El Pip]

It lives! I half suspected this was another Jape abandonment and am delighted to see you return.

A surprisingly good peace deal for Italy, I had wondered if Lanza would be able to limp on for a few more years on the strength of it. Instead he managed to find a new and exciting way to finally kill his career. He really wasn't very good at the whole running a country thing was he?

A Franco-Ottoman friendship would indeed be worrying for Rome, but at least it isn't a formal alliance (yet?). It will complicate the choices, Italy can't just rebuild her fleet as she also has to keep an eye on the French across the Alps. Fortresses on the Alps and Battleships on the slips?

 

[Jape]

Austria - it is hard to see how they will long be able to retain useful control of that now-ungainly extremity.

It is certainly ungainly but that is almost be design, the neutered Empire now little more than a holding area for ethnic groups unwanted by Berlin, Budapest and St. Petersburg

I guess you could say Derby and de Broglie were really on the same wavelength

To some extent yes in that they are weary of German chauvinism but the French regime, part legitimiste nostalgia act part junta still raises plenty of its own eyebrows in Westminster.

Welcome back!

It's good to see I'm not the only one who ends up with odd and unsightly borders after an Austrian collapse. As the victim of unprovoked rebellions I can only sympathise and I do like the way you worked it into the narrative.

It's particularly interesting to get an insight into the mindsets of the great powers at this point. What is the ranking like? Has Austria fallen off the ladder?

Thank you its good to be back. I'll be doing a round up of the big players in the near future. Austria is hovering on the edge of great power status at this time I believe, mainly thanks to heavy industry in Bohemia and Austria proper.

I want Greater Germany and a satellite Poland... let the Germans handle the French and Russian troops while Italy conquers Africa and the Balkans

Not likely any time soon I'm afraid

It lives! I half suspected this was another Jape abandonment and am delighted to see you return.

A surprisingly good peace deal for Italy, I had wondered if Lanza would be able to limp on for a few more years on the strength of it. Instead he managed to find a new and exciting way to finally kill his career. He really wasn't very good at the whole running a country thing was he?

A Franco-Ottoman friendship would indeed be worrying for Rome, but at least it isn't a formal alliance (yet?). It will complicate the choices, Italy can't just rebuild her fleet as she also has to keep an eye on the French across the Alps. Fortresses on the Alps and Battleships on the slips?

No Lanza was fine at running the country, so long as nothing happened. A Franco-Ottoman alliance is a genuine worry at this point. And its not just the Alpine threat it adds, the French Navy takes the maritime threat from 'somewhat challenging' to 'very much not in our favour'. If Paris and Constantinople link up, Rome will be keen to ally with Britain though would Westminster take us? If not perhaps there are other more modest naval powers to reach out to...

 

[Jape]

Chapter XI
Boxer Rebellion

Prime Minister Marco Minghetti​

The rise of Marco Minghetti was a victory for the hawks. A liberal reformer from the Papal States, Minghetti had by the 1850s lost all faith in relying on the charity of the Church and foreign powers -namely France- to achieve Italian unification. A strong advocate for using military force to meet the country’s geopolitical goals, the new prime minister had been heavily behind the Triple Alliance and the March on Rome. In charge of the treasury for over a decade by 1873, Minghetti had slowly righted the national exchequer and understood that sound finances were central to a strong state. In his place as finance minister would be his loyal student Quintino Sella to continue a policy of economic rigour. Combined with Visconti-Venosta at the foreign ministry and arguably Minghetti was the most dominant prime minister since Cavour, if only due to the absence of the Conte’s other acolytes with Ricasoli now a newspaperman, Lanza unceremoniously retired and Farini dead. In truth the old financier had simply been the last left standing and despite his younger lieutenants there was a sense of decrepitude to the Right government.

At home Minghetti championed a defensive conservatism, allowing the increasingly vocal suffrage marches of the cartisti to take place, with particularly large demonstrations in Milan in December 1873 and Rome in June 1874, but providing them no voice in parliament. In the new lands of the Tyrol and Istria, restrictions on minority language education were imposed in efforts to Italianise the population.

While the treasury remained virtually untouched with the hand over, foreign and military affairs quickly saw a change. Working with Admiral Saint-Bon, the Regia Marina saw three new ironclads of the Principe Amedeo-class and four monitors laid down within the first weeks of the new regime. Rome had publicly focused on the successes of the 1872 War but it was clear that the humiliation of Taranto was not to be forgotten with a further three ironclads earmarked for 1874. This was built upon with renewed diplomatic activity to Tunis, Athens and now Belgrade.

Italian funds poured into the Greco-Serb war effort against the Ottomans​

While Italian and French envoys jostled for position in North Africa as they had for years, in the Balkans a more hands-on approach was being taken. Italian influence had been growing in Greece since 1861. A combination of classical romanticism and a shared enemy in Turkey made it a comfortable fit. King George and his new reformist prime minister Charilaos Trikoupis were keen to find friends to make war against the Ottomans and at a time when Russia seemed hesitant due to Anglo-French views, Athens had looked elsewhere. First of all was Serbia led by the ambitious twenty year old King Milan. It was via Athens that the Italians were introduced to the Serbs as possible allies. Visconti-Venosta, always weary of binding alliances, particularly with weaker, unstable nations (the recent history of the Serbian throne was a patchwork of assassinations and coups between rival houses) discouraged King Vittorio Emanuele and Minghetti from signing a pact with Greece and Serbia so soon after the previous war.

Minghetti ultimately concurred, restricting Italian efforts to formal niceties and hypotheticals. However with peasant revolts spreading through Anatolia in the summer of 1874, the Greeks and Serbs had no interest in waiting for Rome to catch her nerve. In September both countries declared war on the Ottomans. Unwilling to send troops or ships, Rome nonetheless sent cash, propping up the two combatants financially into the next year. The aid was welcome and the allies slowly pushed the Turks north and south, meeting in Macedonia by November. However the winter weather and steady redeployment of the Sultan’s armies to Europe slowly turned the tide. By February Turkish troops were approaching Athens before the intervention of the great powers forced Constantinople to accept a white peace.

In June 1875, as the banking houses of Milan reeled from a Latin American financial crash, grave news reached Rome. In China, the crumbling Qing Empire had been subject to rebellion and lawlessness for well over a decade. Now Europeans, primarily merchants and missionaries, were coming under attack from ‘Boxers’, quasi-religious gangs blaming China’s woes on foreign influence. Ironically due to existing treaties drawn up after the Opium Wars, British and French subjects had been mostly left alone, the supposedly anarchic Boxers at least in part directed by the Qing government to scapegoat those of ‘lesser’ nations unlikely to strike back. These nations included Russia, Germany, Spain and Italy all of whom responded with horror to the tales coming out of the Orient [1]. Most shocking of all to Italians was the brutal beating of Matteo David, a Jesuit zoologist in the port city of Ningbo. The press was apoplectic and within days thousands were marching outside of parliament demanding action. Admiral Saint-Bon drew up plans for an expedition while Visconti-Venosta made contact with London over the possibility of using British Far Eastern ports for such a venture. Minghetti hesitated. The scale and risk of a punitive expedition to the other side of the world was clear. At an audience with Vittorio Emanuele at the Quirinale to discuss the issue the ailing monarch asked his prime minister if he would listen to the people. Minghetti supposedly replied “do I have a choice?”.

Within two weeks preparations were underway. Newly promoted Vice-Admiral Cesare Zupelli, the hero of Marettemo, was placed in charge of the naval squadron consisting of four steam-frigates and four ironclads led by his old command the Dante Alighieri. The land contingent would be 18,000 men including artillery and cavalry led by General Enrico Cosenz, a dour patrician officer who had defected from the Neapolitan military to serve under Garibaldi. Lacking the political baggage of di Bonzo or the bloody hands of Mezzacapo, Cosenz was chosen as the unlikely face of the much trumpeted “la spedizione cinese”.

21 December 1875: Battle of Korea Bay, the only pitched naval engagement of the Chinese expedition
​

Zupelli and Cosenz arrived in Hangzhou Bay on 7 October, south of British-ruled Shanghai and opposite Ningbo, site of the vicious assault on Father David. Led by marine landing parties, the Italians met little resistance, all order having collapsed weeks prior in the city. By the end of the month Ningbo had been secured and pacified. Lacking any serious intelligence about the surrounding countryside and the disposition of Boxer and Imperial forces in the region, Cosenz advanced cautiously inland. The campaign proved wholly uneventful into the new year. By January 1876 the Italians had reached the industrial centre of Jinhua but had yet to meet serious opposition. While Spanish forces battled towards Beijing and Russians clashed with massed Qing armies in the hills of Manchuria, Cosenz was left without even an opponent to negotiate with. The lack of eventful news from China caused growing disenchantment for the General back home. Nino Bixio, one of the Army's more political commanders, convinced the King to send him to Ningbo with reinforcements and orders to take over the campaign.

While the land campaign slowed to a crawl, Zupelli actively pursued the Qing fleet across the East China Sea. The Nanyang Fleet, one of four modernised naval squadrons previously stationed in Shanghai existed little more than on paper, removing any immediate threat in Hangzhou Bay to the operation. Once this became apparent Zupelli led by his ironclads north to hunt the enemy. The Italian met elements of the Beiyang Fleet on 21 December led by Admiral Ma Zhanshan at the Battle of Korea Bay. Though the Chinese had four modern steam-frigates, they proved no match for the heavy firepower of the Dante Alighieri, Giulio Cesare, Conti di Cavour and Leonardo da Vince. All the Chinese ships including several armed clippers were sent to the bottom. The battle removed all threat at sea from the Qing Empire, opening up the entire coast to blockade, which began to take an increasing toll on the coffers of Beijing.

2 March 1876: Battle of Hangzhou​

Arriving in late February with a further 18,000 troops, including several regiments of the famed Bersaglieri, Bixio quickly took command as the Italians advanced on the regional capital of Hangzhou, running into their first major opposition. 30,000 Qing soldier led by the wizened General Zuo Zongtang attempted to hold Bixio before the ancient city. Despite being western-drilled and armed with rifled muskets which accounted for several thousand Italian casualties, Gatling guns and modern artillery shredded the Chinese lines and by 2 March the city had been secured after less than a week of fighting. Later that month Zuo and his survivors would be caught near Huizhou, forcing the surrender of the General and some 5,000 troops. Finally on 14 April, Bixio would lead a corps to defeat the militia forces of Zeng Guofan at Guangxin, removing the last enemy army in the region. Hostilities would officially continue until 12 May before Qing officials sat down to discuss terms.

Italian demands were simple, financial compensation for Boxer atrocities and a perpetual lease over Ningbo similar to British concessions in Shanghai and now the new Spanish enclave at Qingdao to the north [2]. Beijing reluctantly agreed. The bustling port and its surrounding tea farms brought 1.2 million people under Rome’s control with administration given over to Colonel Federico Pianelli and a 3,000 strong garrison soon reinforced by 3,000 native auxiliaries. Bixio returned to Italy a hero and in the wake of the victory parade through the capital, Minghetti called a general election for August.

East Asia, August 1876. Note Italian Ningbo depicted in green, north of Fujian

​

__________​

[1] All four countries launched ‘Boxer Wars’ against China though level of commitment greatly varied from mass operations by the Russians to apparent total inaction from Berlin.

[2] China is being picked apart quicker than IOTL. Also note Spain’s presence. Madrid is a lot more assertive than IOTL as will become increasingly clear.

 

[stnylan]

Does not sound as if China is long for this world ... and well done Spain. So rarely does one seem them amount to much in Vic2.

 

[Ab Ovo]

I'm delighted to see this back, but I had to stop reading Chapter 11 specifically to address this. I don't know if it's a typo or not -- if it is, it's a miraculously consistent one -- but weary and wary are two different words; and I have a feeling it's the latter that you're frequently aiming for.

It's pedantic, I know, but I couldn't take it anymore.

 

[El Pip]

That is some classic Victorian colonialism. Carving out a port city of 1.2million people on the basis of one (doubtless annoying, probably law breaking) churchman getting a beating. Then holding down such a massive population with a couple of thousand regulars.

This Italy may well go far.

 

[Ab Ovo]

one (doubtless annoying, probably law breaking) churchman

...the Jesuit zoologist?

 

[El Pip]

...the Jesuit zoologist?

They are the worst sort. They tend to break the laws of man and god. Often at the same time.

 

[Viden]

What a beatiful surprise to see Spain do something.

Spanish Tsingtao... I like it,

 

[guillec87]

it seems China is ready to be destroyed...

 

[Jape]

Does not sound as if China is long for this world ... and well done Spain. So rarely does one seem them amount to much in Vic2.

China's still China, I wouldn't count her out just yet. And yes, Spain certainly surprised me during this game.

I'm delighted to see this back, but I had to stop reading Chapter 11 specifically to address this. I don't know if it's a typo or not -- if it is, it's a miraculously consistent one -- but weary and wary are two different words; and I have a feeling it's the latter that you're frequently aiming for.

It's pedantic, I know, but I couldn't take it anymore.

Thanks for the pointer.

That is some classic Victorian colonialism. Carving out a port city of 1.2million people on the basis of one (doubtless annoying, probably law breaking) churchman getting a beating. Then holding down such a massive population with a couple of thousand regulars.

This Italy may well go far.

Isn't it just? Its precisely this sort of chicanery that made me want to jump back to playing a European power.

What a beatiful surprise to see Spain do something.

Spanish Tsingtao... I like it,

Its won't be the last surprise from our Mediterranean cousins.

it seems China is ready to be destroyed...

The multi-Boxer War was certainly bad luck but as I said to stnylan, China's a tough old broad

 

[Jape]

Chapter XII
Year of the Three Kings

Agostino Depretis, leader of the Sinistra Liberale​

The general election of August 1876 proved a heated one. A series of dramatic events from the Persano Trial to the Treaty of London to the fall of Lanza weighed on the minds of Italian voters. The contest also came only months after the successful Ningbo Expedition, which Prime Minister Minghetti hoped to use to his political advantage. This proved a double-edged sword however. Agostino Depretis, leader of the opposition Left, had been an early and vocal proponent of the mission to China and had developed a reputation as an advocate for colonialism. At a time when the fate of Tunisia remained uncertain, the Right’s focus on foreign affairs only played into Depretis’ message. The Left ran a strongly jingoistic campaign, promising to double orders for new warships and establish a colonial outpost in Africa by 1880 [1]. On the economy too the government found itself outdone. The costs of financing the Greco-Serbian war effort and the Chinese campaign combined with increasingly sluggish growth had led the austere Minghetti and his loyal finance minister Sella to raise general taxation earlier that year. The move failed to help the economy and angered middle-class voters. The Sinistra Liberale endorsed protective tariffs and promised to cut direct taxes in turn.

There was also the sense of staleness surrounding the Destra Liberale government. The Right had been in power since the very birth of a united Italy and for many years prior to that in Sardinia-Piedmont. Excluding younger members like Visconti-Venosta and Sella, much of the cabinet had served in one ministerial position or another for close to twenty years. Such a long period in power had allowed a variety of rivalries and factions to develop within the Right. The detachment of Minghetti and his clique from the broader party became clear only days before the election with the defection of education minister Cesare Correnti to the Left [2]. At one point a leading figure in the Left of the 1850s, the nationalist Correnti had sided with the Conte di Cavour during the unification wars. An outspoken secularist, he had been sidelined since the fall of Ricasoli. Attracted back to his former party by the Left’s new found imperialism and the chance to regain political relevance, Correnti dramatically resigned on 3 August before heading straight out onto the campaign trail.

Though savaged in the pages of the pro-Destra La Nazionale, Correnti’s defection sealed the government’s fate in the eyes of many. A new generation of voters, increasingly bourgeois, increasingly Southern were attracted by the bombastic message of the Sinistra Liberale as opposed to the old faces of the exhausted Minghetti ministry. By the day of voting on 11 August the result was perhaps not in doubt. Surprise did come however from the sheer scale of the government’s defeat. The Destra Liberale lost over 150 seats, being pushed out of the South and many cities. The Radicale too suffered, losing half their seats to the more mainstream Sinistra, completing a centrist landslide for Depretis.

General Election to the Chamber of Deputies
August 1876

Majority 263
(Note: Additional 17 seats since last election)

Sinistra Liberale 377 (+181)
Destra Liberale 132 (-151)
Radicale 16 (-13)​

The new cabinet was notable for its relative youth and greater representation of Neapolitan and Sicilian members. Agostino Magliani, an economist and author from Naples, took over the finance ministry, quickly cutting tax on middle and upper class citizens while introducing a broad 10% rate on imported goods. Pasquale Mancini, architect of the Left’s imperialist platform, became foreign minister. Correnti, as reward for crossing the aisle, was appointed deputy foreign minister with de facto control over colonial policy. In an effort to provide greater civilian control over the military, Admiral Saint-Bon was removed as Minister of Marine, though retained his position as commander-in-chief of the Regia Marina. The move caused some disquiet in more traditionalist military circles but his replacement by his collaborator Benedetto Brin meant there was little change in naval policy save a renewed focus on ironclad construction.

Magliani’s protectionism combined with a general economic upswing across Europe saw a return to increased growth for Italian industry by mid-1877. Textiles still dominated, with mills beginning to spread beyond Piedmont into Lombardy and Campania, while other products like glass, cement and fertiliser grew in strength towards the end of the decade. Also a notable success were the Genoa shipyards which had swelled in size by 1880 thanks to orders from the Regia Marina and the rapidly expanding Italian merchant navy. By the turn of the decade Italian industrial output was booming, having increased over 50% in less than five years [3].

Terribile, one of four littorial monitors produced in Genoa in the 1870s​

The Depretis government also pushed for social reform in its early years though with little success. Despite a dominant majority in the Chamber, the Left was limited in its actions by the still heavily conservative Senate and King Vittorio Emanuele II, who proved far more wary of Depretis than he had any of his predecessors. Increasingly reactionary in the wake of events like the Pola Revolt, the monarch had come to fear his prime minister as a demagogue. Proposals by the liberal justice minister Angelo Bargoni in 1877 to end press censorship and introduce the secret ballot were shot down by the aristocratic upper house with the unspoken support of the Quirinale. It was an open secret that the King had considered another military placeholder like Menabrea for prime minister before the scale of the Left’s electoral victory had become known and many pundits were predicting a constitutional crisis between Depretis and his liege before too long.

All such talk was cast aside on 9 January 1878 with the sudden death of Vittorio Emanuele at the age of 57. A deathbed reconciliation had seen the King given his last rites on orders of the Pope and the nation entered an extended period of mourning. He was posthumously granted the official title of Padre della Patria and on the orders of his eldest son and heir, the newly crowned King Umberto I [4], was buried at the Pantheon in Rome, as opposed to the royal crypt in Turin. The unexpected succession was seen as something of a blessing for the Depretis government but while Umberto was less inclined to intervening in parliamentary affairs, he was far from a progressive monarch. Holding a well known loathing for democratic activists like the cartisti and radicals of any stripe, Umberto was a vocal supporter of draconian methods to suppress strikers and minorities. This was made plain by the removal of his father’s favourite di Bonzo as commander-in-chief of the Army and his replacement by the controversial Mezzacapo that summer. The appointment appalled Italy’s dissident left and caused public embarrassment for the government, with rebellious Sinistra parliamentarians like Giuseppe Zanardelli speaking out against the move.

Funeral procession of King Umberto I​

The young king’s controversial first year was cut short however on 29 September. Inspecting troops in Venice, Umberto was attacked from the crowd by a Slovenian nationalist named Anton Trebnje armed with a knife. Despite landing several blows with his cavalry sabre, the King was stabbed multiple times before guards could intervene [5]. Aged only 34 and childless, Umberto died several hours later at a local military hospital [6]. The assassination horrified Italy and Europe at large. Mezzacapo reinstated martial law in Istria, rounding up hundreds of suspects even loosely connected to Trebnje. The General’s harsh response triggered resistance among Trieste’s Slovene population with riots breaking out in December, only to be brutally suppressed by Mezzacapo’s troops.

The violence did little to distract from the coronation of Italy’s third king in a single year. The Duke of Aosta, Umberto’s younger brother and briefly a contender for the Spanish crown, was enthroned as King Amedeo I on Christmas Day. Amedeo was a world away from his brother. Frugal, tactful and disinterested in what he saw as the grubbiness of politics he embraced a truly constitutional monarchy, focusing his time on charity and public events [7]. Prime Minister Depretis and his new liege developed a friendly relationship, or at least one lacking the tension he had held with Vittorio Emanuele and Umberto. The semi-absolutist Statuto Albertino remained the national constitution but the King voluntarily stepped back from government, ministers de jure answerable to the crown but in effect becoming subservient to the Chamber and the prime minister. As 1879 began, the Sinistra government prepared, in now more favourable circumstances, to push once more for press and electoral reform. However foreign affairs quickly took focus, as news arrived of revolution in Tunis.

King Amedeo I of Italy​

__________​

[1] The Sinistra Liberale campaigned IOTL on such timescale imperialism.

[2] Correnti had a similar political trajectory IOTL.

[3] Despite very strong growth, such performance seemed common across Europe at this time with Italy’s industrial ranking only moving up from 9th to 8th place.

[4] The new king chose to be Umberto I (of Italy) as opposed to Umberto IV (of Savoy).

[5] This is similar to a failed assassination attempt on Umberto IOTL by an anarchist in Naples around the same time.

[6] Umberto was not terribly virile, with OTL’s Vittorio Emanuele III being the only child he and his wife ever conceived. For reasons of creative license, he is not born ITTL.

[7] Amedeo gets a bad rap for his time as King of Spain. Lacking the will or savvy to navigate the Byzantine politics of 1870s Madrid, he wished to be a figurehead and ‘moderating force’ at a time and place where moderation was in short supply. Given a fairly stable (and native) throne, he’s a strong pick for a liberal monarch. But he’s not exactly perfect...

 

[stnylan]

A very aggressive platform for the left. One imagines this supposed revolution in Tunis will be viewed as an unmissable opportunity.

And the year of 3 monarchs - nothing like a little domestic turmoil to make a foreign adventure seem appealing.

 

[guillec87]

why would not he be perfect? now I am curious...

 

[Jape]

Next update is all about Tunis, then we'll move on to a broader look at the Italian imperialist movement.

A very aggressive platform for the left. One imagines this supposed revolution in Tunis will be viewed as an unmissable opportunity.

And the year of 3 monarchs - nothing like a little domestic turmoil to make a foreign adventure seem appealing.

The Left are indeed very aggressive. As any long time reader will know Tunis has been floating around in the background since the beginning. Rome wants Tunis, no matter the cost.

why would not he be perfect? now I am curious...

You'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Jape]

Chapter XIII
Tunisian War

Admiral Cesare Zupelli​

Prior to 1872 and the Treaty of London, Italian foreign policy had been marked by a stark regionalism. In the north, irredentism aimed at Vienna had dominated the public mood with the very idea of colonial adventures offensive to many as a distraction from the true goal of risorgimento. By comparison the south had been notably disinterested in Austria. The Army’s recruitment drives in 1861 and 1872 had produced poor results in the former Two Sicilies for this very reason with conscription handled delicately, though draft riots had not been unheard of during the period [1]. For southerners, particularly those of the landed and political classes, colonialism offered various benefits. At its heart Italy was still a deeply agrarian economy, a minnow in the production of iron and coal, her factories and cities simply unable to match the growing surplus population of the countryside. While emigration offered some release for the disenfranchised of Sicily and Campania, to nationalists of all stripes it represented a net loss that -surely- could be better used elsewhere. For many southern politicians, disproportionately members of the Sinistra Liberale, the idea of colonisation was directly aimed at easing the population in order to lessen demand for reform to the aristocratic land system. And there was also, as was increasingly common across Europe at the time, a growing imperialist lobby, advocating African and Asian colonies for economic and geopolitical gain.

The south’s interest in Tunisia had been long established by the late 1870s. Simple geography had drawn untold thousands to cross the Straits of Sicily in the prevailing centuries, usually for temporary periods though the capital of Tunis was home to a long-established Arabised Italian community. As clear a sign as any of the close ties the two nations shared. By the time Depretis came to power a series of events had intensified the relationship, drawing Rome deeper into the affairs of the North African beylik in the space of only a few years. Land hunger, particularly in Sicily, had seen a greatly increased influx of seasonal workers and even longer-term colonists. The success of the Italian merchant navy, with major charter companies like I & V. Florio and Raffaele Rubattino coming to increasingly dominate the Mediterranean (as well as spreading into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans [2]) had created a stranglehold over Tunisian trade and much of the greater economy. This had fed into the Bey of Tunis’ growing debt to primarily Italian creditors. The state’s declaration of bankruptcy in March 1879 not only outraged many in Rome but soon triggered financial anarchy and in turn rioting, forcing Muhammad III Bey to flee the capital with his personal guard.

Muhammad III as-Sadiq, Bey of Tunis​

The Tunisian crisis paralysed their nominal protectors in the Ottoman Empire. By then a decades long legal fiction owing to British, French and Italian interests, Constantinople had nonetheless found itself resurgent in recent years. Boosted by victories in the Balkans and at Taranto, there was heated debate over whether the Sultan should reassert his authority in North Africa. This in turn led to rumblings in Paris. France was second only to Italy in its financial and political commitments to Tunisia and after a decade of near-isolationism, a strong body of militarists were calling for intervention. Opposed to them were the Turkophiles of the French foreign ministry led by de Broglie, who called on Ducrot to support the Ottomans in securing the country. These reactions triggered a flurry of activity within the Depretis government. The domestic turmoils of the previous year combined with the overwhelming hawkishness of the cabinet meant little hesitation before Rome began preparing for war.

Although French interests created a level of concern, Depretis had no intention of going to war with Paris. By the start of April diplomats in London and Berlin were quietly courting the neutral powers to bless Italian intervention and by extension dissuade Ducrot [3]. Even Visconti-Venosta, the Right’s former foreign minister was recruited into the campaign due to his influence in certain Westminster circles. Meanwhile the military were being instructed to prepare for a swift campaign. While the Army would quickly seize Tunis, the Navy under plans drawn up by Saint-Bon would launch a pre-emptive strike against the Turks. On 3 May, as Depretis rose in the Chamber of Deputies to formally ask for a declaration of war, the fleet, docked at Brindisi, was already stoking its boilers. The Prime Minister was on fine populist form, his hour-long speech calling on romantic nationalism and the imagery of Ancient Rome;

The people feel, without a doubt, the great moment when, quivering with inexpressible emotion, we will salute the soldiers returning to Africa. Yes, returning to Africa, because the struggle between Italy and Africa has been going on for three thousands years. Italy conquered Hannibal, subdued the Ptolemies, beat the Saracens and scattered the barbarians: because Italy, synthesising all of Europe and presaging the future, fought against all the strength of the East and conquered. And will conquer again!​

Depretis’ speech received a thunderous ovation from all sides of the house and was soon reprinted in newspapers and recited on street corners all across the country. Ironically in completing the risorgimento, the north’s focus on Austria had shifted, many taking on the once distinctly southern colonialist stance. Italy, perhaps for the first time, marched to war united.

The ironclad battleship Lepanto, flagship of the Regia Marina. c.1880​

As an army of 36,000 men mustered in Naples commanded by General Cesare Pianelli, the Regia Marina set out into the Aegean in force. Once again led by Zupelli, now a full admiral after his successes in China, the fleet consisted of twelve steam-frigates, six monitors and ten ironclads. This compromised almost the entire Italian navy, the flag given -fittingly- to the recently launched Lepanto. For the time period a massive ironclad battleship weighing over 13,000 metric tons and armed with four 17-inch guns, Lepanto and her sister ship Italia were arguably the most powerful warships in the Mediterranean in 1879. Mimicking the run of the Dante Alighieri seven years prior, Zupelli led his fleet cautiously along the Greek coast before striking out towards the Bosphorus, intent on hitting the Ottoman Empire at its heart. Arriving early on 12 May in calm blue waters, the Italians found the Ottoman Navy had assembled en masse in the Sea of Marmara near Constantinople.

Led by Admiral Enver Bey, the victor of Taranto, the Turkish fleet outnumbered Zupelli nearly two to one. However their force was comprised almost exclusively of sail ships, many upgraded with auxiliary steam power or belt armour but nothing compared to the modern ironclads of the Regia Marina. The Ottomans were also entirely unprepared for battle, many of the ships still taking on munitions and supplies when the unmistakable columns of smoke appeared over the morning horizon. As the alarm was raised and sailors rushed from their bunks, the first shells landed. Tightly packed, black smoke and fire soon spread across the Turkish fleet as they dropped sails, desperate not only to close range but to disperse in the wake of increasingly vicious long-range fire from the Italians. Efforts by the Ottoman steam-frigates, the fastest of the Imperial Navy’s ships, to escape out into open water proved disastrous, running into the unforgiving gun line of the monitors. Meanwhile Zupelli led the ironclads, flanked by the Italians’ own steam-frigates, barrelling into the chaos of the enemy lines. Turkish shells bounced off the armour of the capital ships to little effect as Enver Bey attempted to use his numerical superiority to encircle the enemy.

The Battle of the Sea of Marmara underway. 12 May 1879
​

Limited room to manoeuvre combined with the sheer number of Ottoman ships greatly hindered the Turkish commander, while allowing Zupelli -utilising modern telegraphy- to coordinate his fire, sinking ship after ship for little in return. The grand old man of the Imperial Navy the 128-gun man-o'-war Mahmudiye [4] fell beneath the waves, her deck aflame, while the modern armoured sail-steam hybrid Yadigar-i Millet dramatically exploded, her boiler punctured by a direct hit from one of Italia’s 17-inch shells. Within several hours the tranquil bay of the Sea of Marmara was choked with burning timbers and human bodies. Fearful of a sack of the capital city, Enver Bey refused to withdraw, sending everything, including poorly armed clippers, into the slaughter. In truth Zupelli and Saint-Bon back home had planned only an opportunistic raid and never imagined the possibility of landing in Constantinople. By the afternoon the vast majority of the Ottoman Imperial Navy had ceased to exist. Dozens of ships and thousands of men were lost in mere hours. In comparison the Regia Marina had suffered only several hundred casualties and the loss of two steam-frigates, San Michele and Fulminante, the latter lost not to naval fire but the guns of a nearby coastal redoubt.

"Ricorda Taranto!"​

The Battle of the Sea of Marmara crippled the Ottoman war effort. The destruction of the lion’s share of the Navy (soon to be followed by the loss of eleven ships off Crete on 29 May) ended all plans of military intervention in Tunisia. Several days later on 16 May Pianelli’s expeditionary force landed at Monastir, south of Tunis. Pianelli headed towards the capital with caution, anticipating hordes of Arab horsemen to fall upon his columns. Instead by 23 May the Italians advanced into an open city. Muhammed III Bey, having only regained Tunis from the rebels in April, once more fled in the advance of Pianelli, rallying his tribal allies to the west. After securing the capital, Pianelli followed after. Finally on 20 June near Bizerte, the expeditionary force clashed with 15,000 Tunisian warriors led by the Bey’s lieutenant Hisham ibn Ja’far. Possessing not only numerical superiority but complete dominance in cavalry and artillery, the Italians crushed Ja’far’s army, although with not insignificant losses of their own.

The War in Tunisia. 23 May 1879.​

The Bey fled further into the hinterland but as Pianelli extended his occupation across northern Tunisia, he accepted the inevitable and took offers of a negotiated peace in early August. The talks proved heavily one-sided however with the Italians offering outright annexation of Tunisia or the retention of a mostly ceremonial puppet Bey – with Muhammed’s brother Ali in his place. Offered a respectable pension courtesy of the Italian state and hoping to save the royal house of Tunis, in some form at least, he signed the treaty, officially turning Tunisia into an Italian protectorate before abdicating the throne. In his place rose Ali III Bey, all but powerless, the new Italian ‘resident’ Antonio Gandolfi de facto governor [5].

By the time of the Bardo Treaty signing [6], Constantinople had effectively bowed out of the war. Unable to strike at Italy and concerned about Greek, Serbian or even Russian intervention, the Turks quickly recognised the new situation, bringing peace on 19 August. The whole episode had caused uproar in Paris. The crushing defeat at Marmara quickly shook confidence in a Franco-Ottoman coalition in the Mediterranean. Anger at Rome led even to calls for war in the most militant circles, and by June tens of thousands of soldiers were facing off across the Franco-Italian border. The diplomatic intervention of Germany and Britain greatly undermined calls for military action with the threat of the Triple Alliance and the offer of free reign in Indochina providing very different motivations. Ultimately the Ducrot regime, increasingly frayed as the old Marshal’s health declined and the end goal of Bourbon restoration became ever more ephemeral, was left divided and paralysed by the affair. Before any focused course of action could be decided on by Paris, Muhammad III Bey had already capitulated. Italy was victorious and now an imperial power.

20 June 1879​

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[1] This is no exaggeration. Even in 1915 IOTL Prime Minister Salandra had to rely on his personal popularity and heritage to win over southern Italy to the idea of war against Austria.

[2] These companies, particularly Rubattino, were -and will be- very important to the early days of Italian colonialism.

[3] In 1881 IOTL the Italians completely miscalculated in the face of French intervention into Tunisia, taking no direct action, expecting the long moribund ‘Concert of Europe’ to force Paris to back down. Instead Bismarck welcomed it as an outlet for French nationalism while Britain took Cyprus in compensation.

[4] When launched originally in 1829 Mahmudiye was the largest warship on the planet. Upgraded over the decades with steam and iron plate, she fought in several wars before retiring in the late 1870s.

[5] This is fairly similar to French demands in 1881 IOTL.

[6] Named after the Tunisian royal residence where it was signed.

 

[stnylan]

Talk about a devastating victory. Taranto is well and truly avenged.

 

[guillec87]

go Italy! now for Libia!

 

[volksmarschall]

Make sure to burn Tunis to ashes!

 

[Viden]

Time to turn Tunis into the province of Cartago and flood it with Italians!