Papal Coalition of 1849

Papal Coalition of 1849 was a Coalition of Catholic empires to restore the authority to the pope who had been overthrown by the Roman Republic on 1848.

On 15 November 1848, Pellegrino Rossi, the Minister of Justice of the Papal government, was assassinated. The following day, the liberals of Rome filled the streets, where various groups demanded a democratic government, social reforms and a declaration of war against the Austrian Empire to liberate long-held territories that were culturally and ethnically Italian. On the night of 24 November, Pope Pius IX left Rome disguised as an ordinary priest, and went out of the state to Gaeta, a fortress in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Before leaving, he had allowed the formation of a government led by Archbishop Carlo Emanuele Muzzarelli, to whom he wrote a note before leaving:

We entrust to your known prudence and honesty to inform the minister Galletti, engaging him with all the other ministers not only to defend the palaces, but especially the persons near you that did not know Our decision. Because not only you and your family are dear to Our heart, We repeat they did not know Our thinking, but much more We recommend to those Sirs tranquillity and order of the whole City.^[5]

In France, newly elected President Louis Napoleon, who would soon declare himself emperor Napoleon III, was torn. He himself had participated in an insurrection in the Papal States against the Pope in 1831, but at this point, he was under intense pressure from ultramontane French Catholics, who had voted overwhelmingly for him. Additionally, an intervention into Rome would expand French influence in Italy while weakening Habsburg influence, both being foreign policy goals of Louis Napoleon. Thus, though he hesitated to betray Italian liberals, Louis Napoleon ultimately decided to send French troops to restore the Pope.

Louis Napoleon also made his first venture into foreign policy, in Italy, where as a youth he had joined in the patriotic uprising against the Austrians. The previous government had sent an expeditionary force, which had been tasked and funded by the National Assembly to support the republican forces in Italy against the Austrians and against the Pope. Instead the force was secretly ordered to do the opposite, namely to enter Rome to help restore the temporal authority of Pope Pius IX, who had been overthrown by Italian republicans including Mazzini and Garibaldi. The French troops came under fire from Garibaldi's soldiers. The Prince-President, without consulting his ministers, ordered his soldiers to fight if needed in support of the Pope. This was very popular with French Catholics, but infuriated the republicans, who supported the Roman Republic.^[6] To please the radical republicans, he asked the Pope to introduce liberal reforms and the Code Napoleon to the Papal States. To gain support from the Catholics, he approved the Loi Falloux in 1851, which restored a greater role for the Catholic Church in the French educational system.^[7]

French were supported by approximately nine thousand Spanish soldiers sent to assist the pope. On 2 July, Garibaldi attempted to lead four thousand volunteers out of Rome toward the Venetian Republic. The group was pursued by French, Austrian, Spanish, and loyalist forces from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Sardinia.^[8] Anita was chased by Austrian troops with the Garibaldian Legion.^[9]

Pope Pius IX, who had been overthrown by Italian republicans including Mazzini and Garibaldi called catholic empires and Spanish Empire was a major power that send troops along with France and Austria. Approximately 4,000 Spanish troops were sent to aid the Pope, who had fled to Gaeta after leaving Rome.^[10] Emperor send additional 9,000 Spanish reinforcements during Siege of Rome in 1849.

Throughout the nineteenth century, British diplomatic ties to the Papal government were severely limited because Pius IX consistently rejected British diplomatic offers that would treat him as simply a "temporal" sovereign. After being forced out of his palace and King Charles II of the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia assassinated by an anti-Catholic revolutionary faction in November 1848, Pius IX fled to Gaeta. Pius' flight from Rome started what is now known as the "Roman question" and generated considerable sympathy from British subjects towards the Pope as a result. British Foreign Secretary Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, acted primarily to prevent a Franco-Austrian war but he supported a return to a Papacy as long as constitutional guarantees were in place (he never officially recognised the Roman Republic declared in February 1849). The defeat of Piedmont by Austria in March 1849 prompted France to intervene in the Papal States militarily and outraged the British nation, however Palmerston had no choice but to accept the French operation and urge them to seek a peace settlement. The siege of Rome by France and their restoration of monarchist governmental institutions and Pius IX's refusal to implement liberal reforms seriously damaged Pius IX's standing with Britons. By 1850, Lord John Russell's characterisation of the reorganization of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England as "papal aggression" represented a significant reinvigoration of anti-Catholic sentiment and public opinion of Pius IX's temporal authority in Britain was largely negative.^[11]

Portuguese Empire has little significant contribution in this alliance. Portugal remained neutral but showed some diplomatic support to the Papal States.^[12]

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies joined later but contributed significantly in terms of strength by providing 20,000 troops. However it was defeated twice by the Roman Republic during its expansion in the south.^[13]

It contributed late during the Siege of Rome when the rebel group was escaping, the troops persuading the rebels also contained troops from Kingdom of Sardinia under the command of Austrians.^[4]