Topic summary
Battle of Solferino
Sardinia
Victor Emmanuel II
9,162 cavalry
240 guns
37,174 infantry
1,562 cavalry
80 guns
Total:
130,833–133,000
320 guns
119,783 infantry
9,490 cavalry
429 guns
Total:
129,273
429 guns
- Present:
102,500 men
Including 117 officers
8,530 wounded
1,518 missing
Sardinia: 691 killed
Including 49 officers
3,572 wounded
1,258 missing
Total:
17,191
Including 94 officers
10,634 wounded
9,290 missing
Total:
22,310
The Battle of Solferino (referred to in Italy as the Battle of Solferino and San Martino) on 24 June 1859 was the climactic battle of the Second Italian War of Independence and resulted in the victory of the allied French army under Napoleon III and the Piedmont-Sardinian army under Victor Emmanuel II (together known as the Franco-Sardinian alliance) against the Austrian army under Emperor Franz Joseph I. It was the last major battle in world history in which all the armies were under the personal command of their monarchs. There were approximately 300,000 soldiers on both sides in the most important battle, the largest since the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The number of soldiers present was about 130,000 Austrian troops and a combined total of 140,000 French and allied Piedmontese troops, but not all were actually involved in the battle. After the battle, the Austrian emperor stopped directly commanding his army.
The battle led the Swiss Henry Dunant to write his book A Memory of Solferino. Although he did not witness the battle (his statement is contained in an "unpublished page" included in the 1939 English edition published by the American Red Cross), he toured the field following the battle and was greatly moved by what he saw. Dunant was staying in Castiglione delle Stiviere at that time in today's House Bondoni Pastorio near the Duomo of Castiglione. It is said that with his carriage he took many wounded soldiers from both sides to the Duomo of Castiglione delle Stiviere where they were cared for by the local women. Horrified by the suffering of wounded soldiers left on the battlefield, Dunant set about a process that led to the Geneva Conventions and the establishment of the International Red Cross. Today in Castiglione there is a Red Cross museum.
Napoleon III was similarly affected by the carnage he saw after the battle. He decided that the war was not worth the cost in suffering and negotiated an end to the war later in the year.