Army of the Two Sicilies
The Army of the Two Sicilies, also known as the Royal Army of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Bourbon Army or the Neapolitan Army, was the land forces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose armed forces also included a navy. It was in existence from 1734 to 1861. It was the land armed force of the new independent state created by the settlement of the Bourbon dynasty in southern Italy following the events of the War of the Polish Succession.
History
Although the Royal Army arose only in 1734, the Neapolitan and Sicilian military institutions boast a much older history, which lays its foundations in the organization of a "state" army by Ferdinand I of Naples in 1464. In particular, during the Spanish period customs used by Aragon in Sicily mixed old military traditions from the Norman, Arab, and Byzantine periods. All of these different cultures profoundly marked the military customs of the later Bourbon period. It can be seen in many examples of military clothing including items, such as the Turban which dated back to Emirate of Sicily. During this time the soldiers of southern Italy were in fact involved in almost all the military events of the Spanish Empire, often showing great value and loyalty to the Spanish government. The captains, belonging to the best feudal nobility of the Neapolitan and Sicilian provinces, were able to frame and prepare the subjects of the two vice-kingdoms for war, obeying the firm political direction given by the monarchs of Spain.In the later Bourbon period, however, with the reconquest of independence, the nobility gradually lost this military character, giving way to the new centralizing policy of a dynastic imprint. The goal of the Bourbons was in fact to replace loyalty to the old noble commanders, who had served the Habsburgs for over 200 years, with an exasperated fidelity to the new national crown. This progressive disunity from the obsolete Iberian traditions, promoted by the reforms desired by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, provoked in the eighteenth century a state of "disorientation" within the Bourbon military institutions that resulted in an almost frenetic sequence of restructuring and reform. Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet was involved with the reforms.
The army in mainland Italy collapsed in 1806, and Joachim Murat created from scratch the Army of the Kingdom of Naples based on French drill manuals and uniforms. Following Murat's fall from power, the mainland troops were integrated into King Ferdinand I's army.
Following the constitutional revolt of 1820 by the army, and its defeat on 7 March 1821 by Austrian troops, the King temporarily disbanded the army, which was believed to be largely contaminated by Carbonari infiltration, and abolished compulsory conscription. It was therefore decided to leave the defence of the Kingdom to the Austrian occupation forces for some time. The reestablishment of the army began only in 1823.
This restless evolution of the military structures of the Two Sicilies stopped only with the 1830 accession of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, who finally managed to stabilize and rationalize the military systems of the kingdom, giving it a definitively national and dynastic imprint. However, the evolution of the European and Neapolitan political framework of those last 30 years, which fully involved the army of the Two Sicilies, caused political dissent to turn directly against the same Bourbon ruling house.
Sicily
At the time of the Parthenopaean Republic, Ferdinand IV in 1799 during his presence in Sicily limited himself to reorganizing the scarce forces present in Sicily, organizing them into three infantry regiments, to which he gave the names of Val di Mazzara, Val di Noto and Val Demone, three of cavalry and one of artillery, increasing their pay.In 1806, the army in Naples had disintegrated as a consequence of the French invasion. In 1808, 952 officers and 13,821 enlisted men were stationed there to defend the island and the king from the Napoleonic forces. The city militias were disbanded that year and reconstituted as 9 territorial infantry, 23 light infantry and 4 dragoon regiments, each commanded by a colonel, which formed the Royal Sicilian Volunteer Army, commanded by Leopold, Prince of Salerno.
The British, with the involvement of Lord Bentinck, who protected the island from the French, also created a regiment of Sicilian volunteers, the Royal Sicilian Regiment.
Charles de Bourbon
1734, the year in which the expeditionary force of Charles of Bourbon conquered the Neapolitan provinces and the following year the Kingdom of Sicily, tearing them from the Austrian viceroyalty, also marked the creation of the first entirely "national" regiments, flanked by the Spanish regiments with which Infante Don Carlo had descended in Italy.The story of this army naturally fits into the same space of time in which the dynasty of which it was supported lived: from 1734 to 1861. However, following the establishment in December 1816 of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with the formal merger of the two kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, this armed force was deeply reorganized, incorporating also the elements of the Neapolitan army of the Napoleonic age. This historically led to resentment from Sicilian members of the army, and caused many of them to join rebels during the Sicilian revolution of 1848. From 1817, therefore, the official name of Royal Army of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was adopted; the latter, together with the Army of the Sea, constituted the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Economic treatment
The officers' salaries consisted of a monthly "penny" which included "housing and furniture", and an "supersold" varying according to the weapon or body to which they belonged. The "penny" was subject to a 2% withholding tax which helped to form the pension fund. After 40 years of service, or at the age of 60, it was therefore possible to obtain withdrawal, with a pension equal to the entire simple "penny". Of course, the officer could also retire early for health reasons: in this case the pension was paid in a reduced form, depending on the length of service. The minimum salary for an officer corresponded to 23 ducats per month, the maximum salary instead corresponded to 290 ducats per month. In due proportion, Royal Army officers generally had slightly better economic treatment, in every respect, than the same ranks of the Sardinian Army.The economic treatment of the troop, on the other hand, was mainly based on a "daily pay"; varying according to the bodies, and on "monthly checks" for "clothing" and "maintenance": these checks, however, were not paid directly to the military, but only to the Boards of Directors of the regiments to which they belonged, who managed the clothing and maintenance on behalf of each military. Soldiers employed in armed services received a "mobile column diary", varying according to the rank and use of the department to which they belong. The military with at least 10 years of service was also entitled to a seniority allowance, which consisted of a gradual increase in the "daily pay" directly proportional to the period spent under arms. The "daily pay" of the troop ranged from the 10 grains of the simple line infantry soldier to the 54 grain of the battalion helper. The monthly dress allowance corresponded to 80 grains, the maintenance allowance to 40 grains. The seniority allowance consisted of an increase in the "daily pay" of 1 grain for the military with at least 10 years of service and three grains for those over 25 years of age. On the basis of the conversion from Two Sicilies ducats into Italian lira of 1862 it is obtained that the "pay" of Bourbon soldiers was in line with that of the Sardinian soldiers, but already the non-commissioned officers of the Royal Army received a much better pay than Sardinian non-commissioned officers, the metalworkers 75 grains per day and the foremen about 85 grains per day. The prices were also quite stable and low: a pizza cost on average 2 grains, 0.75 L of wine 2 grains, 1 kg of bread 6 grains, 1 kg of pasta 8 grains, 1 kg of beef 16 grain and 1 kg of cheese 32 grains. The average rent for a worker's dwelling was about 12 ducats per year.
Uniforms in the Army of the Two Sicilies
The first uniforms of the Royal Army were Spanish in type, in accordance with the Ordinance of 1728. The oldest source able to give us an idea of the first Neapolitan uniforms is the Ordinance of 1744 on the constitution of the 12 provincial regiments: the soldiers of these regiments had to be equipped with a knee-length "jacket", a "jaguar" just short of the javelin, knee-length breeches, gaiters that exceeded knee height, a white shirt and a black tie. The attire was complemented by a black felt tricorn with a red cockade on the left wing. Some details of the uniforms varied depending on the rank and department.In the 1770s, some novelties were introduced: the jackets were considerably shortened and the uniforms streamlined. With the decade of French rule in Naples in the early Nineteenth Century there were countless evolutions also with regard to uniforms: at first the Napoleonic French style was followed, but then the Neapolitan army was given a strong local imprint, especially at the behest of Murat, who had a passion for uniforms. Concurrently, the Austrian, then the English, influence is seen on those units from the island of Sicily.
The buttons on the tunics of the Foreign Regiment were framed across the chest with lace, in the same manner as tunics of their British allies.
The innovations brought by Murat were partly preserved after the Napoleonic Wars, undergoing evolutions dictated mainly by the Germanic fashions of the time. From 1830, the Bourbon uniform was redesigned on the basis of the French "Luigi Filippo" style; the son-in-law of the late King Ferdinand. From then until the fall of the kingdom the French influence remained evident in almost all Bourbon equipment.
The uniforms of the Lancers and Hussars were almost completely identical to those of the similar specialties of the French army. The renowned bandsmen of the Neapolitan army had traditionally rich and refined clothing.