Battle of Tornavento
Battle of Tornavento | |||||||
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Part of Franco-Spanish War (1635) | |||||||
The battle of Tornavento in a seventeenth-century graphic representation | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France Savoy | Spain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Marqués de Leganés | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
16,700[1] |
14,500 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
more than 1,200 killed of whom more than 70 where officers[4] 1,000 wounded[5] |
1,300 men killed[4] 1,000 wounded[4] 200 officers[4] |
The Battle of Tornavento was fought in Northwest Italy on June 22, 1636 during the Thirty Years' War.
Prelude
In 1636,
Battle
On June 22 the Spanish attacked, but were held back after the arrival of the army of Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy. Fighting in the summer heat was savage and bloody, in a
The Spanish abandoned the battlefield and retired to Boffalora. The Franco-Savoyard army remained some days near Tornavento, sacking nearby towns and damaging a canal, but decided to conduct a withdrawal from Milanese territory. Little had been achieved with this battle and the invasion of Lombardy turned out to be a complete failure.
The battle lasted about 14 hours in total. In that time the Franco-Savoyard army alone, composed of 2/3 musketeers and arquebusiers, expended 30,000 pounds of gunpowder firing some 675,000 bullets. [8]
Reenactment
Every year in the hamlet of Tornavento a colourful and spectacular reenactment of the battle is held by volunteers, clothed and armed with uniforms and weapons in use at that time, from pike to musket and cannon.
References
Citations
- ^ Hanlon 2016, p. 83.
- ^ Hanlon 2016, p. 95.
- ^ Hanlon 2016, p. 85.
- ^ a b c d Hanlon 2016, p. 136.
- ^ Hanlon 2016, p. 137.
- ^ "Tornavento, 22 giugno 1636: strage in riva al Ticino" (in Italian). Varesenews. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
- ^ Gregory Hanlon. "Italy 1636: Cemetery of Armies." Routledge: December 2015. Pages 131-135.
- ^ Hanlon, p. 135-136.
Bibliography
- Hanlon, Gregory (2016). Italy 1636: Cemetery of Armies. ISBN 978-0-19-873824-4.
- Hanlon, Gregory. "Italia 1636: Sepolcro degli eserciti", LEG Edizioni (2018)
- Thion, Stéphane. French Armies of the Thirty years War Lrt Publishing (2008) ISBN 2-917747-01-3
- Luca Cristini, Giuseppe Pogliani. "La battaglia di Tornavento e la guerra dei 30 anni in Italia", Zanica (Bergamo), Soldiershop, 2011, ISBN 9788896519486.