This is the first book dealing with the Italian involvement in the Nine Years War. This forgotten and neglected involvement was considered by William III so vital for his victory that he supported it with the greatest funding England made during the war in support of an ally.
Italy's military history is traced from the late Renaissance to the present, highlighting a continual reference to Imperial Rome as leaders aimed to enhance national influence. Beginning in the late 15th century, Italian city-states were pivotal in European conflicts. Post-unification in 1861, the military emerged as a unifying force. The narrative explores Italy's industrial and colonial expansions, leading to involvement in 20th-century wars and the rise of fascism, a legacy that continues to shape Italy's role in global politics today.
The War of Spanish Succession is well known in English concerning Flanders and Germany, not that much concerning Spain, not at all about Italy. Italian front was so important that the French considered it as important as the German one, and committed there their best generals. William III considered it to be far more important than Spain, and, in spite of having no British army there, after King William’s death London committed to it 1/10 of her war expense. It was considered so important in Vienna that the Emperor sent there his best general. Last, it was the front where all the French hopes to submit Europe died in Turin in 1706 after the first dramatic wound they suffered in Blenheim in 1704.