and
Niccolo Tommaseo are freed from prison, 18 March 1848.
Background After existing as an independent
maritime republic for 1,101 years and a
leading naval power in the Mediterranean for most of that time, the
Republic of Venice surrendered to
Napoleon in 1797 and was ceded to the Habsburgs (as the
Venetian Province) by the
Treaty of Campo Formio a few months later. This was confirmed by the 1815
Congress of Vienna, whereby Venice became part of the
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia within the
Austrian Empire. Austrian rule, after realising that mutually-agreeable
home rule would not be possible, exploited Venetian resources, economically and politically, favouring
Trieste as the imperial seaport. Within 50 years of their acquisition of the former republic, Austria had taken 45 million
Austrian lire more from the region than had been spent there and Venetian capitalism had been stifled by a reluctance on the part of the slow, bureaucratic Habsburg régime to grant
credit to Venetian entrepreneurs.—led to several damaging poor judgements by Venice. The
Austrian fleet was stationed in the formerly-Venetian port of
Pola, in
Istria. Despite Venice having much sympathy there, they made no effort to seize the fleet. Mainland recruits could have combined with the 2,000 Papal guards and Neapolitan soldiers under
General Pepe, who ignored orders to retreat in favor of supporting the infant republics. But when Austrians under
Nugent marched on
Verona, and
General Durando led a Piedmontese force to defend, Venice could only supply a few volunteers, later joined by
Colonel Ferrari's Papal regulars. This was of no avail, as Nugent's force met up with Radetzky's forces and took Verona easily. Meanwhile, Manin retreated from his republican fervor, for fear of offending Charles Albert; this move was, however, both transparent and ineffectual. He also relied on reinforcement by Piedmontese and Papal troops, not understanding that Piedmont would not welcome a powerful republican neighbour when
monarchies were under threat across Europe, or that
Pope Pius IX could not continue to support war between two Catholic monarchs practically on his border. After the Italian rout at the
Battle of Custoza on 29 July, Charles Albert abandoned Milan. When Radetzky offered its citizens free passage from the city, half the population left. from the revolutionary republic On 4 July 1848, the Venetian assembly voted 127–6 to approve Manin's proposal of subsumption into the
Kingdom of Sardinia. This lasted only a month, as on 9 August Charles Albert signed an armistice that restored the Piedmontese border at the river
Ticino. At the same time, the Piedmontese navy abandoned its support of Venice. In early October, followers of
Giuseppe Mazzini tried to organize a great republican demonstration, hoping to gain aid from the
French Second Republic, convert the city into a centre of Italian liberation, and inspire
Garibaldi into an anti-Austrian crusade. But Manin, to avoid offending Charles Albert, suppressed them. A "federal congress" was to meet in
Turin on 12 October 1848, and Prime Minister
Vincenzo Gioberti of Piedmont invited Venice to send delegates, but the Venetians declined. The revolutionary authorities' reaction to Piedmont's declaration of war on Austria illustrated their failure to grasp realities — the Venetian assembly recessed for two weeks.
Return to Austrian control in Venice, modelled by
Ettore Ferrari (1848–1929), stands on the
Riva degli Schiavoni. The details shows Venice in chains after the defeat in the 1848–49 Revolution. At her side, the Lion of
Saint Mark in chains. The crushing defeat of Italian forces at the
Battle of Novara (23 March 1849) sounded a death knell for Italian independence from the Austrians. To avoid an occupation of Piedmont, Charles Albert
abdicated in favour of his son
Victor Emmanuel II, whose treaty with Austria required the complete removal of the Sardinian navy from Venetian waters. Manin addressed the Venetian assembly on 2 April 1849 and they voted to continue their struggle against the Austrians, despite an Austrian
blockade of the city. On 4 May 1849, Radetzky started his attack on the Venetian fort of
Marghera, held by 2500 troops under the Neapolitan command of
Girolamo Ulloa. Bombardment of the lagoon and city started at the same time and, over the next three weeks alone, were dispatched towards Venice. The fort at Marghera held out until 26 May, when Ulloa ordered its evacuation; an offer of surrender from Radetzky was rejected at this time. By August, with
famine and
cholera sweeping the city, Manin proposed that the assembly vote for surrender, threatening to resign if the assembly voted to fight to the last. The assembly, however, agreed, and provided the president with authority to seek terms, which were agreed on 22 August. Radetzky's entrance to Venice on 27 August marked the complete surrender of Venice to the Austrian Empire, restoring the
status quo ante bellum and causing Manin to flee Italy, with his family and 39 fellow-revolutionaries, into exile. Manin's wife died of cholera within hours of their departure for Paris. ==Leadership ==