Sicilian War

The Sicilian War was a war fought at first over the control of the Sicilian region of Apulia. However there was much more involved. The United Kingdom wanted to put Sicily under their sphere of influence and Italian Nationalism was on the rise in Sicily. Sicily saw this war as vital to keeping Sicilian independence.

The war began when Italy declared war on Sicily, Sicily's allies of Russia, Austria, and the North German Federation. The first battles took place in Sicily where unprepared Sicilian troops were losing badly. While Russian, Austria, and the North German Federation stormed into Italy from the North. Italy was fully occupied and during this British troops were losing in Northern Germany as well. The war reached its end not long after a successful battle on the island of Great Britain.

It ended in a disastrous defeat for Italy and the United Kingdom. This was the first time modern weapons of the time were used in such a large war. And is one of the most destructive wars in European history. Because of this Sicily was recognized as a Great Power and Italy was in ruin. Making Sicily the greatest power in the Mediterranean.

Causes
Italy’s intentions were obvious to Sicily, Italy wanted to annex Sicily and Apulia was only the start. However, at the same time Britain wanted to put Sicily under its sphere of influence. Sicily didn’t want this at all. Because of Sicily’s friendship with the other European Great Powers and Sicily’s strategic location in the Mediterranean. They came to support Sicily. Countries such as Austria, which owned some Italian lands, also didn’t like the idea of a united italy, considering it as a threat. However France in the end didn’t support Sicily nor Italy. Mostly because of Sicilian intentions to annex Egypt. However France did remain neutral.

Forces
At the time of the war the Royal Sicilian Army and the Royal Sicilian Navy outnumbered Italy, especially Naval wise. Sicily also had carved out an empire in the Mediterranean while Italy was just a newly formed state. Italy was certain that they would need help. Italy turned to all their European allies, however the only one to help them was Britain. However, when Italian forces began to invade Sicily, Sicily faced heavy losses while Italian losses were minimal. This was mostly because of Sicily’s industrial boom. The majority of Sicily’s money was spent on investments leaving the military underpaid. Sicily still remained unoccupied by Italian forces, forces from the North German Federation defeated Italian forces invading Sicily. This secured the Sicilian homeland. Sicily also moved all of their Fleets to the Strait of Gibraltar to prevent British forces from reaching Sicilian territory. Italy ended up fully occupied by German, Austrian, and Russian forces. Despite all this, Britain did not surrender because of demands made by the Russian Empire and the North German Federation. Because of this, Sicilian Allies planned an invasion of the island of Great Britain. Sicily did not take part in the invasion. The forces only consisted of North German, Russian, and Austrian soldiers. Sicilian Allied forces crossed the Strait of Dover and began to occupy British Provinces. This was alarming to the British, as this was the first time foreign forces occupied the British homeland in a very long time. The British still put up heavy resistance, this still brought the British closer to surrender. The attacks on the island of Great Britain were considered a success.

Garibaldi's Redshirts
Garibaldi’s Redshirts were rebels trying to unify Italy with Sicily. These rebels had already made several rebellions before the war, one in which they occupied all of Sicily, this was known as the Second Redshirt Rebellion. The rebels that fought in the war were not very successful.

Sicily in 1880
At around the time of the war, Sicily was just going through an industrial revolution, being behind most of the European countries in industrialization they wanted to modernize. Factories were being built all over Sicily. Sicily considered industrial progress important, and diverted money from military forces to work towards building industrial capability. This proved to be a big mistake, for if it wasn’t for the North German forces Sicily would have lost the Battle of Naples and would have been occupied by Italian troops. In 1880 Sicily had also expanded, recently taking the region of Konya from the Ottoman Empire, and also had plans of annexing the last provinces of Egypt. Which France greatly opposed.

Italian Plans
Though Italy only declared war for Apulia, they wanted to annex all of Sicily in the end. Italy thought they could do this, for many reasons. One of them being that Italy expected the Great Powers to be on bad terms with Sicily. With the rapid expansion being done by Sicily, Italy thought this angered the Great Powers of Europe. Especially France and Russia. For Russia recently fought a war with Russia ending in a stalemate, and the previous war between France and Sicily over Algeria which ended in a humiliating defeat for France. But despite all this. Russia and Sicily managed to end their hostilities and ended up forming an alliance. Sicily also allied with Austria, who greatly opposed a united Italy, mostly because Austria owned many Italian provinces and assumed they would be next if Sicily fell. Sicily also got on good terms with the North German Federation. Italy was allied with France and Germany, but neither came to support Italy, France feared Germany and Sicily’s allies, and Germany feared Russia. Italy’s predictions were far off which proved to be disastrous.

Sicilian Front
The Sicilian front took place in of course, Sicily. Italian troops moved in towards Sicily attacking Naples. Sicily, being unprepared for the assault suffered heavy losses. In the battle of Naples Sicily had 58,000 troops, but when it ended only had 17,000. However the North German Federation helped Sicilian troops and crushed the Italian forces. Italy failed to launch any more attacks on Sicily after this, as all Italian troops were busy fighting the German, Russian, and Austrian invaders from the North.

Italian Front
The largest and most destructive front in the war was in Northern Italy, Italian forces were greatly outnumbered, and because Sicily blockaded the Strait of Gibraltar, British forces couldn’t send help. All of Italy’s military forces were destroyed and Italy was occupied completely by German, Russian, and Austrian forces. During this Italian infrastructure was destroyed and Italy’s status as a Great Power was taken away. Italy was no longer a military or industrial power.

Northern Front
Though France was neutral in the war, they allowed British troops military access, British troops managed to reach the North German Federation but were defeated, after this Britain took a completely defensive approach. This was met with an invasion of the island of Great Britain. Russia, Germany, and Austria all considered this a risky move. 124,000 troops all Russian, German, and Austrian passed the Strait of Dover. They managed to occupy some territory and won some battles against British forces. Sicilian troops did not take part in this invasion. Though the invasion was successful at first, Britain had more forces to use against the invasion. Soon enough the allies of Sicily and Great Britain finally signed the Treaty of Naples and ended the war.

Blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar
Sicily wanted to defend the Sicilian homeland at all costs, in a risky move Sicily sent all of their ships to the strait of Gibraltar blockading so British troops could not reach Sicily. This proved to be successful, though no fighting took place, it kept the British away from Sicilian territory.

Result
Because of this war, Sicily secured its independence and Sicily’s main rival Italy was destroyed. Sicily was finally recognized as a Great Power in the world. This ended Britain’s attempts of putting Sicily under their sphere of influence and greatly improved Sicily’s power in Europe. Sicily was known as the ruler of the Mediterranean. This also caused a rise in Sicilian nationalism getting rid of Sicilian desires to become part of Italy.