The Life of Francisco Sabatino di Arnaud Part 5: The Humbertian Era

As the Humbertian Era comes into full swing, Italy is faring quite well. Italian industry and economy are booming because of newly found resources in Africa and technological innovations. The military has decisively defeated France and the Ottoman Empire and gained numerous colonies. The new imperial government has given power to the common Italian and is very popular. All appears well in Italy.

However, in Italy's new African empire, the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II is preparing to reassert his authority over Ethiopia from the Italians. Menelik has smuggled about 50,000 modern rifles and a few artillery pieces into the country from the Sudan and has built a modern army. As a child in Emperor Tewdros's court, Menelik learned the value of technology as British troops tore through the Ethiopian army. Menelik intends to use local unrest to lure the Italian Army into the highlands, where he can surprise them and march into Eritrea.

In Massawa, on April 8th, Major General Vittorio Dabormida, commander of all Italian forces in Eritrea receives word of Tigrean native attacks on local settlements, and sends Major Pietro Toselli with a detachment of 2,000 INM soldiers to put down the insurrection near Adi Keyih. Two days later, three wounded cavalrymen return to Massawa with news that over 20,000 Ethiopian soldiers massacred the column. General Dabormida orders all available Eritrean soldiers to organize at Massawa, and asks General Mantegna to transfer 40,000 troops from Masai and Somaliland to supplement his forces. Mantegna agrees, and General Dabormida accumulates 23,000 INM and 15,000 militia and Italian regulars at Massawa with 157 guns and 17 Abernelli-Metastacio (AMs) machine guns by April 15. Dabormida's Eritrean Expeditionary Force sets out on May 7th with 67,000 men and sends 15,000 men under General Antero to T'i'o to protect the Italian population center there.

The Senate declares war on Ethiopia on the 9th and approves a plan to annex the country. Menelik attacks General Antero with a force of 107,000 men, only 45,000 of which have rifles. The rest have bows and pikes. Menelik annihilates the small force near Guilio, but loses 4,000 men to camel artillery, which caught him off guard. At the news of this loss, General Mantegna sends an additional 50,000 regulars to Massawa and T'i'o.

By May 17th, General Dabormida marches to Adi Ugri, and rests. Menelik quickly sends his army to Aksum to prepare a defensive position. General Dabormida advances to Adawa and sets up camp. Menelik sends 2,500 men to lure the Italians into attacking, and on May 23rd, the Ethiopians are themselves lured into a trap by an Italian patrol, and are killed or captured by AM guns. An Ethiopian interrogated by Dabormida reveals that half of Menelik's army is using obsolete weaponry.

On May 30th, General Dabormida now has 80,000 troops, and Menelik has 123,000 soldiers, while only 40,000 have effective rifles. General Dabormida decides to send 40,000 INM reinforcements to march around to the south of Aksum, and create a base camp to cut off Menelik's supplies. Menelik is in a very good defensive position, and his confidence is high because of his outstanding victories against the Italians. The southern camp is completed by June 4th, and troops are slowly sent south to reinforce the camp. Menelik launches a series of raids towards the main camp, and is defeated each time.

On June 19th, the supply problem at the Ethiopian rear is beginning to impede military actions, and Menelik sends 60,000 of his best troops to destroy the annoying outpost and get rid of whatever cavalry and light infantry forces may be there. At 8:30 in the morning, the attack force sweeps toward the fortification and begins to send its flanks around the encampment. The Ethiopian forces, in a crazed ferment, storm the earthworks, and cut through the minimal resistance at the first barrier. Immediately, Italian artillery opens up on their flanks, and infantry fill into the rear earthworks. The Ethiopian center lunges headlong into AM guns and is practically wiped out, though inflicting huge casualties. The Italian infantry numbering 80,000, accumulated there slowly over the last fortnight, attacks and separates the two wings of the Ethiopian assault, capturing or killing almost all of them.

Emperor Menelik, seeing most of his modernized troops lost and his rear under duress, orders a retreat to Weldiya, on the Tekeze. The commander of the detachment, Brigadier General Ugo Nervi, is cheered as a hero after he defeated the Ethiopians. A small force of 15,000 INM also progresses up the Omo River from Masai, and captures Dila on June 21st. Menelik hurriedly gathers 20,000 Afar and Tigrean native warriors to salvage his army.

General Dabormida harasses Menelik's forces all the way to May'chew until a brave but desperate rearguard action puts some distance between the armies. Dabormida receives 24,000 men from Eritrea, where the threat has been lifted. Menelik has about 87,000 men, and Dabormida has about 110,000 men. Only 19,000 of Menelik's men have modern weapons, and they are low on ammunition. On July 3rd, Menelik leaves his army to return to Addis Ababa to gather new forces.

Zara Zagawe, the new leader of the Ethiopian army is a member of the old school of Ethiopian tactics and decides for a full assault on a seemingly isolated Italian corps to give Menelik time. His men disperse around Dese, and prepare to attack the left corps of Dabormida's army. As the Italians march towards Dese on the 7th, the Ethiopians charge towards the left corps of 35,000 men. The Italians quickly form up, but the Ethiopians outnumber the Italians 2 to 1. After both sides suffer heavy losses, the corps regroups and the rest of the army engages. Miraculously the Italians decisively defeat the Ethiopians. Now, there is nearly nothing between the Italian Army and Addis Ababa, and General Dabormida orders the army of 90,000 to advance to the outskirts of the city and put it under siege.

After news of the defeat at Dese reaches the city, Ethiopian nobles depose Menelik because of his involvement in starting the war, and noble Devitame Souk takes control. He offers General Dabormida a cease-fire to negotiate a treaty. Menelik still has loyal followers and his small army leaves Addis Ababa to seek refuge in the Ogaden Desert.

After a bloody struggle, the Ethiopians sign the Treaty of Debre Birhan on August 14th. The treaty provides for the Italian annexation of all of Ethiopia, and the Emperor of Italy installed as the Emperor of Ethiopia. Even though the war is officially over, Menelik still intends to keep a guerilla campaign active in the desert.

The Sardegna, Corsica, Nice and Trento are all commissioned in 1892, and put the Italian Navy on the forefront of naval technology. These ships contribute to the Adriatic Fleet which the Nice and Trento are added to the Corfu Squadron. Brendetto Brin announces his designs for a new class of battleship, the Giulio Cesare class. These ships will greatly improve the Marina Militaire and help guard Italy's possessions.

Ethiopia is added to Italian East Africa, and General Dabormida is made Commander-In-Chief of all Italian forces there. General Nervi is also promoted to commander of all Ethiopian occupational forces. The Italian East Africa Company finds copper and iron in the Ethiopian Highlands, and a railroad network is begun to connect Massawa to Addis Ababa to Mombasa, and tributary routes to Djibouti and Mogadishu. Menelik is laying low, trying to rearm his force and staying one step ahead of the Italians.

Meanwhile, Kaiser Frederick III has pressured Bismarck into leaving the Chancellor's office, and appoints Rudolf Virchow Chancellor. Frederick wishes to give the German people more self-government and eventually change to the parliamentary system. Frederick gains the support of the working classes, and is popular in Germany.

Bismarck visits Rome to see Arnaud before retiring to his estates. Bismarck expresses his discomfort over the dangers of the Alliance system, and in retrospect urges Arnaud to do what he can to soften it. Bismarck leaves Rome wishing Francisco good luck, and returns home.

General Mantegna and the Italian General Staff begin to work on war plans in case of war with Austria-Hungary and France. The General Staff also begins to plan a general modernization of the army, seeing the success of the machine guns in the Ethiopian campaign. Fortifications are also considered along the border with Austria-Hungary and France. A push by General Di Amicis gets the Senate to approve universal male conscription to protect the nation in case of war. "The foreign relations benefits to a volunteer army are now outweighed by the dangers of being invaded by a conscript army", he says.

Emperor Humbert wants to strengthen the Dual Alliance by bringing Russia into the fold. Arnaud, affected by Bismarck's regrets about the alliance system, urges the Emperor to simply push for a non-aggression pact, but the Emperor wants an alliance. Arnaud refuses to orchestrate it, and gives the matter to his prot�g�, Francesco Crispi. Crispi reminds Arnaud of himself, as he had a similar governmental position and he too has a passion for high politics.

Menelik finally decides to come out of hiding in early 1893, and uses his guerilla army of 10,000 to attack the railroad crews in northern Ethiopia. His raids are largely successful, until General Nervi organizes an army of 30,000 INM troops and starts on Menelik's trail. Nervi follows the rogue band all over central Ethiopia, trying desperately to corner the insurgent force. Finally, Nervi seemingly stops following Menelik and uses native informants to infiltrate the guerillas. He tracks them to a rendezvous with arms dealers at Degeh Bur, where 60,000 Italian troops sit in ambush. The Italians attack on March 15, and capture 9,000 of the guerillas and Menelik himself. Menelik is taken to Rome and imprisoned there for life. Native unrest dies down, and the Ethiopians begin to be incorporated into the Italian Empire.

Later in the year, the General Staff decides to build a chain of forts in the Trentino and Venice areas to protect against possible Austrian aggression, and forts in Savoy and a heavily fortified Nice to funnel French troops towards a special military area in case of attack. Henri Brialmont is hired to design the Nice and Trento fortifications, and his Italian staff learns much from him. Brialmont begins construction of the fortresses in August.

In January 1894, thirty-year-old Eleutherios Venizelos is made the Greek co-minister of Crete, and works well with the Italian co-minister Adolfo Florenzo. Venizelos has a gift for politics, and intends to run for Greek Parliament once he has enough backing. Venizelos wants to build up Greece to reclaim the rest of the country from the Turks.

Francesco Crispi along with German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Alfred von Durmstadt visits Czar Alexander III in St. Petersburg to begin negotiations for Russia's inclusion into the Dual Alliance. Gains are immediately made, but due to the death of the Czar in June, agree to meet later in Munich after Prince Nicholas is accustomed to his new role.

On July 14th, Arnaud celebrates his 56th birthday with the Emperor and a few other close friends. Arnaud is no longer a young man, and he has been quite lonely. Over the last few years, he has become close with young Annibale Cenci. They have fallen in love, and are married on August 6th, 1894. Annibale forces Arnaud to give up his drinking habit, and he agrees.

Admiral Pietro Tombara announces plans for the new Pisani armored cruisers, and intends to launch 6 of them by 1905. The Giulio Cesare is expected to be ready for commission by late 1897.

General Mantegna draws up a war plan that is approved by the General Staff in the event of war with the Entente powers. The plan provides for the French border to be held by a number of forts and lines to funnel French armies into the Turin area, where the Italian Army can slowly give ground to take troops away from the German front. The Austrians will be engaged by three major drives, intended to capture the Alps region, link with Germany and threaten the heart of Austria.

The First Army will attack through Bolzano and capture Innsbruck with about 160,000; the Second Army will drive through Lienz and Bagastein and threaten Salzburg with 320,000, and the Third Army will attack Ljubliana with 180,000. A Dalmatian Expeditionary Force of 180,000 will capture the Dalmatian ports of Split, Nin, Rijeka, and the Istrian Peninsula along with Trieste. The Fourth Army of 100,000 will protect Turin from any French advances.

The major objective of the plan is to use the First Army to lure Austrian forces into Tyrol, and then use the Second Army to cut them off. By doing this, a major portion of the Austro-Hungarian army will be forced to surrender, and even if the Austro-Hungarians don't fall for it, Italy will link up with Germany and capture the panhandle of Austria. The Third Army will link up with the DEF and drive towards Zagreb, and consolidate gains in Dalmatia.

In February of 1895, the diplomatic mission to Russia succeeds in reaching the ears of Czar Nicholas, and Russia formally joins the new Triple Alliance in the Munich Agreement on May 5th. The Triple Alliance now completely encircles Austria-Hungary, and puts it in a dubious strategic position. France and Austria are now in a mad rush for allies to counter the Triple Alliance.

The General Staff picks General Rossini to head the restructuring of the Italian Army to best utilize new technology. General Rossini creates a system of military railroads that can carry a platoon per car, and 4 AM guns per platoon. Every platoon also receives a light artillery gun that is pulled by the platoon mule, which is encouraged to be the mascot of the unit and strengthen morale. Special cars are built that can carry all of the platoons equipment plus the mule. Every brigade has specialized carts for barbershops, quartermasters and well-organized mobile kitchens. Engineer units are created for each army railroad that can quickly lay track to keep up with an army on the advance, so railheads are always nearby. Regiments are designed to fit everything they need onto a single train, and techniques are developed to mobilize regiments and get them onto their trains to the railhead in one to six days. These changes are implemented in late 1895, and General Rossini is widely appreciated and commended by Emperor Humbert.

In 1896, a geologic survey from the Academy at Naples discovers a large deposit of crude oil near Agregento. Formerly poor farmers quickly become rich as oil companies rush to purchase their properties. Oil is found in numerous places in Sicily and southern Italy, giving new life to the local economy, and giving Italy an indigenous source of fuel.

In Germany, Frederick III manages to get the Bundesrat to agree to a parliamentary system, in which the Bundesrat acts as a more powerful House of Lords and the Reichstag as a House of Commons. Frederick is widely approved of by the common people, but the old Junker families are not at all pleased with the recent course of events.

Eleutherios Venizelos is elected to the Greek Parliament, and runs on an anti-Turkish policy. He slowly becomes influential in some circles.

Military leaders of Germany, Italy and Russia meet in St. Petersburg in 1897 to discuss joint war plans. General von Schlieffen reveals his war plan; General Mantegna introduces his strategy and General Mikhail Alexeyev states his. The Triple Alliance decides to defeat Austria-Hungary first in the case of total engagement. Russian forces will invade Galicia, German forces will take Moravia and Bohemia, and Italian forces will attack Dalmatia and Austria itself. The goal is to weaken Austro-Hungarian armies enough that German forces can capture Vienna. On the French front, German armies will remain static and try to lure the French into Belgium and Italian troops will give way to give the French a false hope of victory and draw troops southward.

Other war plans are discussed and agreed upon, and a conference is held to decide which nations should be pursued to join the Alliance. Serbia, Romania, Greece and Great Britain are seen as likely candidates. Russia and Austria-Hungary sign the Balkans Agreement to ensure the status quo in the Balkans until 1907, and Germany renews the non-agression pact with Austria.

Italian politics over the last decade has been a jumble of conflicts, wars and imperial gestures that has given few politicians the chance to become powerful. The "Imperial Duo" as the press calls it, of Emperor Humbert and Chancellor Arnaud has managed to keep the people distracted by victories abroad and colonial successes. However, the conflict with the Catholic Church and the Pope has worked against the Imperial government and the PIP or Italian Catholic Party has grown and is trying to place a pro-Church majority in the Senate.

In the Calabrian Apennines east of Naples, geologic studies find large iron ore deposits, and the area is quickly industrialized to handle the new resources. In early 1898, 2 of the new Giulio Cesare class battleships are commissioned, the Giulio Cesare and the Marco Antoni. The Octavio and the Marco Aureli should be finished by 1900.

In 1899, France and Austria-Hungary sign a treaty of alliance with Sultan Abd Al-Hamid, and the Ottoman Empire joins the Franco-Austrian Entente. French and Austro-Hungarian investors begin plans to build a Budapest to Baghdad railroad. Also, in June 1899, the Massawa-to-Mombasa Railroad is completed near Awasa. Branch lines are begun to Djibouti and Mogadishu.

Kaiser Frederick III and his wife wish to visit Queen Victoria, before she becomes too ill or dies. Frederick also notifies Czar Nicholas and Emperor Humbert, and all three begin planning to go on a goodwill tour of Britain. They announce that they want to visit the "grandmother of Europe" before things get bad. Czar Nicholas is unable to go, but on August 4th 1899, Humbert and Frederick arrive in London and are greeted with warm welcomes.