The following AAR is played using Thoragoros' "The Great War" mod (Alpha Release). It bears zero historical accuracy. Well maybe a little. But not much.
Introduction
The winter of 1895 was the a bad one for the fractured Italian Republic. The Risorgimento that brought about the unification of Italy in 1861 was long forgotten. Old squabbles reemerged. Old rivals again were at each others throats. Financial woes, food shortages and corruption that had plagued the Republic for years finally came to a head. During that winter, five northern regions broke away from Rome and declared independence.
The first was the old Republic of Venice. Then the Kingdom of Piedmont was reformed. The Republic of Lucca then came to be in early 1896 along with the Kingdom of Tuscany. Finally the Pope himself fled to his stronghold in Bologna where he planned to reclaim his old Papal provinces.
The Italian government was paralyzed. Troops were sent to secure the south, but fears of widespread conflict lead them to do nothing in regards to taking the north back by force. Instead a plea was sent to France, an ally of Italy. It was asked that France send troops into northern Italy to help bring these rebel nations back under the control of the Italian government. France agreed, seeing an oppurtunity to perhaps increase their own holdings in Italy.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire of course, was watching the events in Italy with great interest. They immediately offered the Kingdom of Piedmont a military alliance in exchange for a large portion of the kingdom's holdings. King Amadeus of Piedmont reluctantly agreed. By spring, the buildup of French forces in and around Nice had made him realize that Piedmont would be France's first target in their "intervention" on behalf of their Italian allies.
As Austrian troops moved into northern Italy, France declared war on Piedmont and Austria. The other breakaway nations tried their best to stay neutral in hopes of staying out of the conflict long enough to gain strength. The stage was set......