Enrico Cialdini, Duca di Gaeta (August 10, 1811 – September 8, 1892) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 soldier, politician and diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

.

Biography

He was born at Castelvetro

Castelvetro di Modena

Castelvetro di Modena is a comune in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 30 km west of Bologna and about 15 km south of Modena.-External links:*...

, in the province of Modena

Province of Modena

The Province of Modena is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Modena.It has an area of 2,689 km², and a total population of 659,925 . There are 48 comuni in the province, see Comuni of the Province of Modena.At May 31, 2005, the main comuni by population...

. In 1831 he took part in the insurrection at Modena, fleeing afterwards to Paris, whence he proceeded to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 to fight against the Carlists. Returning to Italy in 1848, he commanded a regiment at the battle of Novara

Battle of Novara (1849)

The Battle of Novara or Battle of Bicocca was one of the battles fought between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia during the First Italian War of Independence, within the era of Italian unification...

. In 1859 he organized the Alpine Brigade, fought at Palestro

Battle of Palestro

The Battle of Palestro was fought on 30/31 May 1859 between the Austrian Empire and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and France. The Franco-Piedmontese forces were victorious...

 at the head of the 4th Division; in the following year invaded the Marche, won the battle of Castelfidardo

Battle of Castelfidardo

The Battle of Castelfidardo was fought on 18 September 1860, at Castelfidardo, a small town in the Marche region of Italy, the Piedmont army acting as the driving force in the war for Italian unification won a famous battle against papal troops....

, took Ancona

Ancona

Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....

, and subsequently directed the Siege of Gaeta

Siege of Gaeta (1860)

The Siege of Gaeta was the concluding event of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It started on November 5, 1860 and ended February 13, 1861, and took place in Gaeta, in today's Southern Lazio .-Background:...

.

For these services he was created Duke of Gaeta by the king, and was assigned a pension of 20,000 lire

Lira

Lira is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries, as well as the former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino and the Vatican City and Israel. The term originates from the value of a Troy pound of high purity silver. The libra was the basis of the monetary system of the Roman Empire...

 by the Italian Parliament. In 1861 his intervention envenomed the Cavour-Garibaldi dispute, royal mediation alone preventing a duel between him and Garibaldi. Placed in command of the troops sent to oppose the Garibaldian expedition of 1862, he defeated Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

 in the controversial battle of Aspromonte

Battle of Aspromonte

The Battle of Aspromonte, named for the mountain near Reggio Calabria in southern Italy and fought August 29, 1862, is an inconclusive episode of the Italian unification process....

. Between 1862 and 1866 he held the position of lieutenant-royal at Naples where he fought against the Brigandage in the Two Sicilies

Brigandage in the Two Sicilies

Brigandage in the Two Sicilies had existed in some form since ancient times, however its origins as outlaws targeting random travellers would evolve vastly later on in the form of the political resistance movement form of brigandage in the Two Sicilies...

 , and in 1864 was created senator.

On the outbreak of the war of 1866 he resumed command of an army corps, but dissensions between him and Alfonso La Marmora

Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora

Alfonso Ferrero, Cavaliere La Màrmora was an Italian general and statesman. His brother Alessandro La Marmora founded the branch of the Italian army now called the Bersaglieri.-Biography:...

 prejudiced the issue of the campaign and contributed to the defeat of Custoza

Battle of Custoza (1866)

The Battle of Custoza took place on June 24, 1866 during the Third Italian Independence War in the Italian unification process.The Austrian Imperial army with the old Venetian Army, led by Archduke Albert of Habsburg, defeated the Italian army led by Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora and Enrico Cialdini,...

. After the war he refused the command of the General Staff, which he wished to render independent of the war office. In 1867 he attempted unsuccessfully to form a cabinet sufficiently strong to prevent the threatened Garibaldian incursion into the papal states, and two years later failed in a similar attempt, through disagreement with Giovanni Lanza

Giovanni Lanza

Domenico Giovanni Giuseppe Maria Lanza was an Italian politician and the tenth Prime Minister from 1869 to 1873.Lanza was born in the Piedmontese city of Casale Monferrato...

 concerning the army estimates.

On August 3, 1870 he pleaded in favour of Italian intervention in aid of France, a circumstance which enhanced his influence when in July 1876 he replaced Costantino Nigra

Costantino, count Nigra

Costantino, count Nigra was an Italian diplomatist-Biography:Nigra was born at Villa Castelnuovo, in the province of Turin....

 as ambassador to the French Republic. This position he held until 1882, when he resigned on account of the publication by Pasquale Stanislao Mancini

Pasquale Stanislao Mancini

Pasquale Stanislao Mancini was an Italian jurist and statesman.-Biography:Mancini was born in Castel Baronia, in the province of Avellino...

 of a despatch in which he had complained of arrogant treatment by William Henry Waddington

William Henry Waddington

William Henry Waddington was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France in 1879.-Early life and education:...

. He died at Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

in 1892.