Battle of Solferino 1859
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 24 June 1859 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1859 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Second Italian War of Independence | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 45.3672, 10.5664 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
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 Although he did not witness the battle (his statement is contained in an "unpublished page" included in the 1939 English edition published by the American Red Cross), he toured the field following the battle and was greatly moved by what he saw.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Solferino (revision 1379026770), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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- Battle of Pozzolo 1800 · 11 km
- Battle of Peschiera 1796 · 12 km
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Other battles of the Second Italian War of Independence
- Battle of Magenta 1859
- Battle of Palestro 1859
- Battle of San Fermo 1859
- Battle of Turbigo 1859
- Battle of Varese 1859
All 6 battles of the Second Italian War of Independence →
Browse more: battles in Italy · Europe · 19th century battles