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Sardinia and the War - Part 1

© Herman Van Meir

The Crimean War from an Italian point of view and from Italian sources.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

by himself

Do I have any connection with the Crimean War? No.

Do I have any special competence in relation to the Crimean War? No.

Yes, in a dark past, long ago, I graduated in International Affairs, but never entered that profession (whatever that might be). Yes, I was for 35 years a reserve officer spending a lot of weekends in the 3D environment ('dust', 'dirt' and 'darkness', adding 'mud' as a fourth factor), but don't be mislead, two thirds were in the administrative support of the Medical Services. So how did I come to this Crimean War? By my grandfather and by accident. My army connection at last severed by the axe of age limit, I now have time to try to understand the stories my grandfather told time and again about his imprisonment during the Great War. He, a boy of 15 years old, was caught smuggling some Belgian refugees over the Belgian-Dutch border, and was held in custody for the rest of the war. In prison he was watched over by two old stewards originating from Southern Germany, who told him repeatedly of the great experience of their lifes: the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.

Reading mainly French sources about this war, a striking point was the contrast the authors made between the clumsiness of the French generals in this conflict and their glorious deeds in the Crimea, 15 years earlier.

So a first link was laid to the Crimean War. That reminded me that the tower at the entrance of the 'Truppenübungsplatz Camp Vogelsang' in Germany was called 'Malakoff', a second link to the Crimea. And then, I remembered that in Paris on one of the bridges across the river Seine I have seen a giant martial statue of what I thought to be a French 'Poilu' and the inscription 'to our heroes of the Crimea'. So I shifted 15 years farther back in time -1870 could wait- and started searching for publications about this ignored Crimean War. The first booklet I found was French (Ch. Romagny: Campagnes d'un siècle: Crimée), and my initial impression was: 'no, the English can't be that stupid'. I looked further and 'found' Count de Bazancourt's narrative of the Crimean war and I thought 'no, the English can't be that stupid, can they?' This Crimean War had caught my attention, and I wanted to learn the English version. Although one can't deny the light in one's eyes - even the English can't - this was a completely different version, sometimes a completely different war. If the French and the English versions differed that much, what were the perceptions of the other parties: Russians, Turks and Sardinians? Unfortunately my Russian is not that good (I promise myself it will be improved in coming years), and Turkish is completely out of my reach. As for Italian, solidarity pays. Some fifteen years ago one of my colleagues was sent to Italy. In his preparation period I promised to learn Italian with him, giving me the opportunity to understand M. E. Sacchi's comments on the Italian Serie A football matches with 'La Moviola' in 'La Domenica Sportiva'. Today, the rights of the 'Serie A' matches have long been sold to one of the commercial television companies not on our cable. Nonetheless, enough remnants of understanding Italian are still present; enough to prove to me that the Italian version of the Crimean War is completely different from the traditional French or English accounts.

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