Garibaldi’s Last Campaign

Once perhaps the most famous man on the planet, a fighter for liberal causes in Europe and the Americas, known in his day as “The Hero of Two Worlds,” Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882) is today somewhat forgotten in the U.S.; a few years ago a major newspaper mentioned his statue in Washington Square Park as that of “a nineteenth century soldier.” Despite that, Garibaldi is still remembered in Italy and elsewhere. And the old hero’s final adventure, during the Franco-Prussian War, is well told in this new book by Mark Lause, author of, among other works, Soldiers of Revolution: The Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune.

Lause opens with a review of the early history of Garibaldi’s role in the inter-national liberal republican movement, notably in Latin America, the European revolutions of 1848-1849, and the Italian wars of 1859-1860. Lause then takes a quick look at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War and the advent of the French Third Republic (“The Accidental Republic”). That event turned the war into a cause the international liberal movement could support, though he notes that newly “republican” France was still essentially dominated by the Napoleonic bureaucracy and military leadership, so when Garibaldi and the many other “radical” volunteers joined the fight against the Prussian-led German coalition, they were not necessarily welcome.

Garibaldi was given command of the “Army of the Vosges,” which never numbered more than about 12,000 troops, almost all international volunteers or French militia, with limited weaponry and logistical support, and assigned the defense of the region around Dijon in mountainous eastern France. Despite numerous handicaps, Garibaldi’s troops did well. They defeated a greatly superior German force, capturing the only enemy battle flag taken in France’s name during the war. Despite this success, both German and French military historians would claim Garibaldi’s forces succeeded only because they greatly outnumbered their opponents!

Lause tells a good tale, with a great cast, from ordinary volunteers up through such well-know figures as Karl Marx, often going into detail about troop numbers, logistical matters, and battlefield maneuvers. He also shows us Garibaldi’s considerable military ability, having a good grasp of the strategic situation, proving an able tactician with a sharp eye for terrain, and, of course, with a remarkable ability to inspire troops.

A good book about the final campaign of history’s most colorful soldier of global liberal republicanism and an overlooked campaign of the Franco-Prussian War, albeit in need of some better maps.

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