Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-1870 (1)

Advertised as the first of a two-part series covering the three Italian Wars of Unification, I awaited the release of Osprey's MAA's 512 Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (1) with anticipation.  While my interest is primarily focused on the second unification war of 1859-1860, the first and third wars would hold interest as well.  What topics and uniforms would be included in Volume 1?  I enjoy Giuseppe Rava's artwork so there was much for which to look forward.  Over several months leading up to its release, several versions of the cover artwork were shown.  Which illustrations would make the cover?  

Upon announcement of the book's release, I quickly ordered a copy.  With quick Amazon shipping, the book arrived in two days.

While Rava's illustrations are colorful and first rate works of art, the textual content is a disappointment.  The text consists almost entirely of describing organization and weapons.  For a proper uniform guide, I expect some historical background and army organization, no doubt, but details on uniforms worn are paramount.  "Details" in the sense of providing enough information to make the book a valuable addition to the body of uniformology.  Ideally, the book should offer a uniform guide first and foremost.

Some uniform details are present.  However, uniform specifics are tucked away in the back of the book in the Plate Commentaries as well as in captions accompanying black & white illustrations.  Having uniform details accompanying period black & white illustrations is an odd choice.    Still not enough information from which to paint the Piedmont, Neapolitan, and Sicilian armies.  With a wealth of uniform information readily available on the internet, gathering these sources and incorporating into a booklet could provide a foundation for a uniform guide.

For a few, useful uniform guides on the Risorgimento, see my earlier post on Risorgimento Uniform Guides.

While this is not the book I would have written, all is not lost.  Looking at the B&W illustrations and Rava's full color uniform plates, the 1848 Neapolitan uniforms have a striking similarity in style to uniforms worn by the Mexican Army during the Mexican-American War.  That is a useful bit of information!  If fielding a Neapolitan army for the 1848-1849 conflict is troublesome with respect to figures, Mexican regulars (including Grenadier Guards of the Supreme Power) could stand in for Neapolitans with only minimal differences especially in 15mm.  Well, that may be my approach if I work in that direction. 

L'Esercito Piemontese Cavalry 1849-1859

I recently picked up a copy of Melani and Riccardi's second volume of Sardinian uniforms from the Risorgimento 1849-1859 published by Soldiershop (see Soldiershop website).  While Volume 1 focused on the infantry, Volume 2 tackles Sardinian cavalry during the Italian Wars of Independence and the Crimean War.

The cavalry book is much thinner than its sister book on the infantry but still a useful addition to the library.  While the book is written in Italian, the dozen color plates have translations in the back of the book.  In addition, all of the black and white photos, illustrations, and line drawings have captions in both Italian and English.  The color plates are handsomely rendered.  Colors are vibrant and the plates are first rate.  Besides cavalry uniforms, color plates are also included illustrating the weaponry (firearms and sabers), webbing, and horse furniture of the Sardinian horsemen.  Very good to see detail of the saddlery and firearms utilized by the trooper.  Since the plates below are presented on the Soldiershop's website, I provide the samples below to illustrate the quality of the artworks:    

Melani and Ricciardi provide a listing of the cavalry regiments present for each of the campaigns in 1849, Crimean War, and 1859.  At 79 pages, it is slightly more lengthy than an Osprey MAA and the artwork is as good as artwork found in most MAA's booklets.  At Euro 16.00, it offers good value for a glimpse of Sardinian cavalry uniforms from the mid-19th Century. 

Another useful reference for Sardinian uniforms is Chris Flaherty's Ottoman Uniform website (see Ottoman Uniforms).  The relevant uniform plates Chris includes are Sardinian uniforms from the Crimean War.  As in the above, these plates are handsomely executed and a terrific resource for those wishing to field Sardinians for either the Crimea or Italy.  A sample of Chris' colorful plates is below:

Chris has created a tremendous reference for Ottoman uniforms and the reader is treated with a fine collection of Sardinian uniforms too.  The desire to paint and field Turks will be hard to repress after investigating Chris' website.  Give his site a browse.

Finally,  Osprey is getting in on the Italian Unification Wars with an upcoming MAA of Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (1): Piedmont and the Two Sicilies.  This will be a two volume series.  The book is scheduled for a 2017 release and I have found two potential covers for the book.  I wonder which will see publication?

To end, two photos of Sardinian cavalry bronzes from the flag museum inside of the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument in Rome.  Of course, more such photos from my recent Italian visit will be appearing to break up the painting routine.

  

Risorgimento Uniform Guides

Obscure projects can lead to challenges in painting and fielding combatants.  Such is the situation with the 1859 Risorgimento / Second Italian War of Independence / Franco-Austrian War (or whatever you might call it) conflict.

While Osprey Publishing provides a handful of useful booklets for the Austrians and French, information on the Sardinian Army is difficult to obtain.  A number of resources are available on the Internet (I must have several score of images captured from the web) but uniform booklets are much more rare.  That is, until recently.

Soldiershop Publishing in Italy has produced two very useful books for the Sardinian forces present in this war.  In 2012, Soldiershop published Volume 14 in their Soldiers & Weapons series focusing on the foot forces.  Melani and Ricciardi's book is 159 pages packed with useful information.  Included are unit organizations, uniform plates, tables of unit regimental facing colors, and more.  Comprehensive.  The uniform plates are brilliantly executed in color including equipment, rank distinctions, saddle clothes, and armaments.  The downside for native English readers is that the text is in Italian.  Photo and illustration captions are bilingual in both Italian and English.    

When I first saw Volume 014, I wondered if the concentration on infantry and artillery suggested that a separate book covering the cavalry might be forthcoming.   That was indeed the case as a second volume highlighting the cavalry arm was recently published.  Volume #2 has been added to my Wish List while I wait for my favorite international book vendor to get the book in stock.

In addition to the resources shown above, Historica publishes a one volume book on the Austrian army for the 1859 conflict.  Like the Soldiershop series, this book is similar to Osprey in size and scope.  At 88 pages, it carries a little more heft than an Osprey and contains similar content.  As similar to the Soldiershop series, L'esercito Austriaco ne 1859 is printed in Italian.  Fortunately, all captions, illustrations, and uniform plates have English descriptions.  In the back of the book are English translations of the Italian text.  Another very useful resource for studying the 1859 conflict.

Of course, no mention of Sardinian forces during this conflict can be complete without mentioning my long time reference.  That reference is Campaign Booklet #8 of Casali's The Second Italian War of Independence 1859 published (at the time) by Freikorps 15s.
In Casali is a brief history of the campaign,unit organization, painting guides for each of the major combatants, and orders of battle.  Great little resource!

My well worn copy of Casali

Napoleon's Cavalry

I stumbled upon this eBay offering a few weeks ago.  While I have many of the Osprey MAA Napoleonic paperback editions, I had not seen this one.

What is it?  Napoleon's Cavalry is a 248 page, hardback edition published by Presidio Press, 1979 by Bukhari and McBride.  It contains an amalgamation of five of the Osprey MAA's booklets.  Included are chapters on,

• (1) Cuirassiers and Carabiniers
• (2) Dragoons and Lancers
• (3) Line Chasseurs
• (4) Hussars
• (5) Guard Cavalry

Napoleon's Cavalry contains the same artwork that illustrates the paperback MAA series only in a larger format.  Great to have this collection in one, hardback edition.

With the equivalent of five Ospreys in one hardback edition, I thought I was getting a great bargain via eBay.  As my father used to say when we were hunting in the mountains, "never take a drink from a creek and then walk upstream."  Well, after I made the purchase, a quick internet search surfaced a number of copies in very good condition. Some were about half the price I paid.  The upside with my eBay purchase was that I received plenty of photos so I knew exactly what I was getting.  That detail is something most of the smaller online booksellers do not provide.

Next time a book catches my eye, search first, bid second.