The Battle of Scapezzano was a short engagement during the

Neapolitan War The Neapolitan War, also known as the Austro-Neapolitan War, was a conflict between the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire. It started on 15 March 1815 when King Joachim Murat declared war on Austria and ended on 20 May 1815 ...

on 1 May 1815 between an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

under

Adam Albert von Neipperg Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

and a Neapolitan division under Michele Carrascosa. By May 1815, the war had turned against the Neapolitans and Murat had been driven back to his original headquarters in

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

. However, the two pursuing Austrian corps under the command of Neipperg and Bianchi had become separated by the Apennine Mountains. Neipperg's force of 15,300 had directly followed the retreating Neapolitans along the Adriatic coast, whilst Bianchi's force of 12,000 had marched on Foligno, in the centre of Italy, to cut off the line of retreat back to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Murat, who now had over 30,000 men in Ancona, hoped to turn and defeat one Austrian corps before the two forces could join together. Murat decided to send his main force against Bianchi and chose an area around

Tolentino Tolentino is a town and ''comune'' of about 19,000 inhabitants, in the province of Macerata in the Marche region of central Italy. It is located in the middle of the valley of the Chienti. History Signs of the first inhabitants of this favorab ...

, west of Ancona to give battle. He dispatched a division under Carascosa north along the Adriatic coast to hold Neipperg until Bianchi had been defeated. However, following intense manoeuvring and a few small skirmishes, the Neapolitans were in danger of becoming surrounded and retreated in an orderly fashion. This allowed Neipperg to threaten the main Neapolitan force under

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

engaged at the Battle of Tolentino. This engagement eventually resulted in a decisive victory for the Austrians causing the war to end with the Treaty of Casalanza on 20 May.

References

*Capt. Batty
''An Historical Sketch of the Campaign of 1815''
London (1820)
Details of battle at Clash of SteelTolentino 815
the web site of the society which re-enacts and studies the battle.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scapezzano Conflicts in 1815 Battles of the Neapolitan War Battles involving Austria Battles involving the Kingdom of Naples 1815 in Italy 1815 in the Austrian Empire May 1815 events Battles in Marche