The Battle of Bassignana (Bassignano) was fought in the Italian campaign of the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

on 27 September 1745. It resulted in a victory for the combined armies of the Bourbon kingdoms of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and the

Genoese Republic The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in both the Mediterranean and ...

over

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

. The Bourbon armies, finally united after a two-year campaign, won through a maneuver that caused 25,000 Austrian troops to head towards

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

and leave their Sardinian allies isolated. Guicciardini (1832), p. 112 The Sardinians were then overwhelmed and beaten. The Spanish forces along with a strong contingent of Genoese captured a series of towns: Tortona, Parma, Piacenza and threatened to take

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. The Austrians moved to protect the capital of Lombardy leaving Charles Emmanuel III, the king of Sardinia, unaided with his force of 55,000. He was defeated by Gages at Bassignano who subsequently advanced the conquest of Lombardy against the advice of the French commanders who preferred the reduction of Piedmont. Gages took Casale and Milan on 16 December where the citadel held out against him. The cities of Lodi and Como soon surrendered and by the end of 1745 all of Lombardy, except for the fortress at Mantua and the citadel in Milan, were under the control of Spain and France. The Austrians were now unable to oppose the Spanish advance and support Piedmont to keep Charles Emmanuel in the war and the campaign had disastrous results for Maria Theresa. In order to reinforce Austrian armies in Italy peace with Prussia was a necessity and the Second Silesian War would have to be ended. As a result of the gains of the Spanish and French, Charles Emmanuel reopened negotiations with D'Argenson for an understanding between France and Sardinia and possible treaty.Hassall, p.185-186. With the end of the Second Silesian War, Austrian was able to send 30,000 soldiers into Italy under Count Maximilian Ulysses Browne and negotiations between France and Sardinia fell apart. The Battle of Piacenza in the following year turned back the French and the Spanish and erased the effects of Bassignano.

Notes

page 233; War of the Austrian Succession by Reed Browning; The Franco-Spanish army numbered 50,000. The Piedmontese Army numbered 30,000.

References

* Browning, Reed (2008). ''The War of the Austrian Succession.'' St. Martin's Griffin. . * *

External links

Success won by Marshal Maiilebois and Don Infante Philip, followed by greater disasters
from

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

's histories {{coord missing, Italy Bassignano Bassignana Bassignana Bassignana Bassignana Bassignana 1745 in Italy 1745 in the Habsburg monarchy 1745 in France Bassignano Bassignano