The Battle of Magenta occurred on this date in 1859. 10 things you might not know:
The battle was fought between Napoleon III with 54,000 troops and 58,000 Austrian troops under General Franz Gyulai.
Magenta is a town in the Lombardy region of Italy just west of Milan. Its name comes from Marcus Maxentius, a Roman general and emperor who had his headquarters there.
At the time, Magenta was part of the Austrian empire. Italy was made up of a number of small states, not yet unified into the country we know today. Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour was the ruler of Piedmont in Northern Italy. He was ambitious and wanted to conquer the neighbouring regions of Lombardy and Venetia. There was a problem, though. Those places were controlled by the Austrians.
Meanwhile, Napoleon III wanted to go down in history as a mighty conqueror like his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte. He and Cavour decided to join forces in order to help each other achieve their ambitions.
Napoleon moved his troops to Italy by train, making it the first mass movement of troops by rail.
Neither of the two generals expected a battle that day. Napoleon didn’t think the Austrians would have any significant forces in position to block his advance. He thought the Austrian army was further south, and that he had time to get his own troops into position at his leisure by the end of the day.
Gyulay wasn’t expecting a battle either and had actually intended to give his troops a day off.
While in gaming terms this battle was what would be called a random encounter and fought only by a fraction of each army, more than 4,500 French soldiers were killed or wounded and 5,700 were killed or wounded on the Austrian side. The result was a narrow victory for France.
Napoleon and his army went on to enter Milan, and went on to take Brescia, Florence, Parma and Modena. Gyulay withdrew his army to the Chiese River east of Milan, and resigned on 16 June.
A red aniline dye created soon afterwards by a French chemist was named Magenta to commemorate Napoleon’s victory.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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