Defending Venice

venetian cavalry

Civic and National Guards dressed like the Bersaglieri but had different coloured uniforms. I don'y know if this uniform was worn at Venice but will keep you informed

The Venetian army of 20,000 men was reduced by casualties and sickness to 18,000 or less. It always did its duty.

Fort Marghera

 The defence of Fort Malghera, the great fort which commanded the road to Padua and the bridge of the Venice railway, would have done credit to the most experienced troops in the world. The garrison numbered 2500; the besiegers, under Haynau, 30,000. Radetsky, with three archdukes, came to see the siege, but, tired with waiting, they went away before it was ended.

hungarian volunteer fighting for venice

hungarian irregulars ulans

 The bombardment began on the 4th of May; in the three days and nights ending with the 25th over 60,000 projectiles fell on the fort. During the night of the 25th the Commandant, Ulloa, by order of Government, quietly evacuated the place, and withdrew his troops; only the next morning the Austrians found out that Malghera was abandoned, and proceeded to take possession of the heap of ruins, which was all  that remained.

Fort Marghera

there had been little change in austrian uniforms since the napoleonic wars

After the beginning of July, an incessant bombardment was directed against the city itself. Women and children lived in the cellars; fever stalked through the place, but the war feeling was as strong as ever—nay, stronger.

engineer

 Moreover, the provisions became daily scarcer, the day came when hunger was already acutely felt, when the time might be reckoned by hours before the famished defenders must let drop their weapons, and Venice, her works of art and her population, must fall a prey to the savage vengeance of the Austrians, who would enter by force and without conditions.

Returning Triumphant from the battle of Mestre.

And this is what Manin prevented. The cry was still for resistance; for the first time bitter words were spoken against the man who had served his country so well. But he, who had never sacrificed one iota to popularity, did not swerve. His great influence prevailed.

venetian militia from the provinces

 The capitulation was arranged on the 22nd, and signed on the 24th of July. Manin had calculated correctly; on that day there was literally nothing left to eat in Venice.In the last sad hours that Manin spent in Venice all the love of his people, clouded for an instant, burst forth anew.

The Austrians break into the City. Piazzale Maggiore

 Not, indeed, in shouts and acclamations, but in tears and sobs; 'Our poor father, how much he has suffered!' they were heard saying. He embarked on a French vessel bound for Marseilles, poor, worn out and exiled for ever from the city which he had guided for eighteen months; if, indeed, no spark of his spirit animated the dust which it was the first care of liberated Venice to welcome home.

civic venetian guard

 The Austrians broke up his doorstep on which, according to a Venetian custom, his name was engraved. Another martyr, Ugo Bassi, had kissed the stone, exclaiming:

Battle of Mestre.Mestre is joined to Venice by a causeway type bridge. This battle was won by the Venatians at the start

engineer

civic venetian guard

VICENZAN VOLUNTEER TUNIC

vicenza volunteer

'Next to God and Italy—before the Pope—Manin!' The people gathered up the broken fragments and kept them as relics, even as in their hearts they kept his memory, till the arrival of that day of redemption which, in the darkest hour, he foretold.Criticisms

The death of the great patriot Mazzini by Lega

Karl Marx, on an interview by R. Landor in 1871, said that Mazzini's ideas represents "nothing better than the old idea of a middle-class republic." Marx believed, especially after the Revolutions of 1848, that this alleged middle class point of view had become reactionary and the proletariat had nothing to do with it