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Show Ccpyrtght. 1017, bT THe Intrnt;ionl Syndicate. Remarkable Fighting Qualities of tKo nn. scendants of the Roman Legions, Who Have Entered the Arena of War CHE remote history of Italy is Involved In-volved In obscurity and much of It I a mere matter of conjecture conjec-ture Evn the origin of the Ciry of Rome Is said to he merely a ljend hut all through thp.c legend fisrhting man of that land stand? j jt conspicuous for his bravery and tonality of purpose. For fourteen rnturles the Italian soldier has tough! una during that time he has opposed clth more or less success the foth, jmbard Frank, Saracen, Magyar ynrthn:in. Frenrh. Spanish and Aus-j Aus-j trUn TP to the fall of Rome. A. D 75. they had defended that Fmplr with a devotion and prowess perhaps in'qiinlled In history, and today the descendants of these warriors of the indent days are fltrhtlng the Austrians rlth the same Igor. After the fall r( the Roman Fmplre the Italian solder sol-der hnd no unified country to fight for. but he was always a valiant soldier sol-dier for the ruler of the province to rhm he was compelled to give his allegiance and he was even at times farmed out" to other countries for which he fought to the best of hi ihlllty, although the praise was always al-ways swallowed up by the glory of the nation whose generals led In the fight Always Great Fighters. Venice, that charming city of the Adriatic, was one of the first of the provinces to be founded after the fall of the Roman Empire. The majority of her residents at that time were refugees from Roman cities who had fled before the barbaric Invasion of the Huns. The descendants of these people fought for Venice and repelled InvaderB until the time of Napoleon, whose Italian conquests ended the Empire. During the centuries the soldiers sol-diers of Venice fought the Hungarians. French and Germans and In league with them as well, when the wars ihlfted from time to time At the battle bat-tle of Lepanto In 1571 tho Venltlans helped to wipe out the Turks. During the tenth century Northern Italy was ravaged by Magyars, while Southern ' Ua!y WAB k'P' busy driving out the invading Saracens. These wars were no sooner settled than disputes arose between petty princes and the soldiers of Italy were divided against them- hl;r VPP ,he tHv,al nuwrrt! of their reactive rulers. During the fourteenth century there was trouble flfhting in fact tM ItaJJan M fall of ?!" flhUn 8,nce fall of the Roman Empire ; Tn 1148 there was an uprising' gainst Austria by the people nf Milan. Brescia. Venice. Padlia ZXH ?v,d ,ater kln(f f Sardinia Joined them. There was a terrific1 battle at Golts and the Ausfrlans won Thta was the first time ln many cen-turles cen-turles that so many Italian State bad fought side by side and the unlflc- , ,tlon of Italy bocame tho talk of the i day. In battling beside the Frenchmen In the war against Austria in 1859 at the battle of Solferlno on June 24th of that year, it was the Italians who 1 saved the day by a bayonet charge i which the Austrians could not with-! stand. More than seventeen thousand French and Italians were killed, while j the loss of the Austrians is put at twenty-two thousand. At Montebello at Palestro and at Magenta the Italian flghttng man was ln the forefront of j j the battle and materially aided in the I ! victory. Garibaldi Ideal Soldier. It was In 1860 that Gulseppe Gart- fbaldl camo Into his own and is today; j In the minds of the Italians the Ideal j , patriot. Born of humble parents, he was thrown on his own resources early ln life, and with tho permission Of his father he took up the llfo of a sailor. He became acquainted with i the leaders of the Italian liberal : movement In 1834. and from that day the cause of Italv was uppermost tn ' his mind. In 1848 he did effective1 work in the first war of Independence, hut It was not until 1 H 1 that this great fighter and leader of men saw V Jf his dream fulfilled, and Victor Emanuel Eman-uel declared King of Italy. Garibaldi had thus wonderfully brought about the union of Northern and Southern Italy. The military career of this man was one of da.h and daring, and his battles, bat-tles, especially tho one fought at Vol-turno. Vol-turno. were won more through his splendid generalship than by the fighting fight-ing of his soldiers who were undrilled and lllarmed, yet with twenty thousand thou-sand of these men Garibaldi swept the field against thirty thousand regulars. In several of his battles his tactics were similar to those of Stonewai: Jackson at Chancellorsvllle. fooling the enemy by sending a small detachment de-tachment of artillery to face the enemy en-emy and then encircling the entire force while they were engaged with his artillery. The Government had many difficulties, difficul-ties, for tho land was over-run with brigandage and Garibaldi was from time to time called from his Island home at Caprera to assist In quelline riots or In diplomatic conferences, for Italy has always been a factor ln European politics. King Victor Emanuel Eman-uel died ln 1878 and was succeeded j by his son Humbert. Under Crlspl'a I ministry, from 1887 to 1891. the Ital-j Ital-j ian Government was strenuous at I home and In its policy abroad perhaps ! more ambitious than the resources of the country warranted. There was trouble with the Church and likewise I Strikes and disagreement with France over the foreign policy which caused j i a failure of negotiations with that j country for a commercial treaty in I ' 1S88. Strikes of laborers and the open meetings of anarchists spread) over a period of years and kept the i 1 country In a constant turmoil Garl- , baldl died on June 2. 1882. and Italy lost her greatest soldier the man who will always be the Ideal toldler and patriot of Italy. Humbert Assassinated. In 1900 King Humbert was assassinated assas-sinated by an anarchist and tho present pres-ent King Victor Emanuel III. camo to the throne. His reign has been dls-! j turbed by labor troubles and a war with Turkey. Tho latter occurred ln 1911, and Italy Invaded Trlpoh and established her army thero. Tho war I continued for about thirteen months. ' According to military critics the Italian army was mismanaged, and at times although the soldier fought vith his usual vim the losses were heavy However. Italy won out ln the end I and when the treaty of Ouchy was signed tho Sovereignly of Italy In Tripoli was established. This terrl- i tory consists of about 406,000 square miles. After this war there were many reforms in the army and the coast defense was greatly Improved. ; All tho Alpine passes are defended by strong forts, while the coast Is also i well fortified. Service ln the army or navy Is universal and compulsory, and J on account of this Italy has been able i to put three million men in the field. Makr-up of the Army. The Italian army consists of flu arms infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers en-gineers and carbineers. The cavalry regiments have special names taken from the places where they were orlg- inally formed- Besides ordinary regiments regi-ments thero are somo separate bodies of troops for special purposes. The most famous of theso are tho Bersag-lleri Bersag-lleri or riflemen small, agile soldiers who are famous for scouting and who are the crack shots of the army. These men wear a hat with flowing coque feathers attached to the left side. They are drilled to perfection and the majority of them wear medals for bravery as well as for excellence ln marksmanship The Alpino regiments regi-ments are perhaps the finest looking men of tho army as far as physical appearance Is concerned. Every able-bodied citizen between the ages of twenty and forty Is liable to a longer or shorter period of military' mili-tary' service. Each year lists are drawn up of all tho young men of twenty ln each military district and they are summoned to appear beforo tho recruiting commissioner. Year by year the War Qfflcfl fixes tho number of men required for the first category and those who draw must serve under arms at or.ee. Lots are drawn as to who shall bo ln the first category, and those who remain after the required re-quired number Is reached pass Into tho secondary category' at once. There is a third class only sons of parents who are over a certain age. sons of widows, etc. The first class must serve under arms for two to three years accordlntr to the branches of service, and after that period they j servo for six or seven years more ln i ' tho regular army, not under arms, bu? a certain proportion of them aro Ha-, Ha-, ble to bo called out for a month or two each year "Just to keep ln trim." Tho members of tho second cate- 'I gory remain ln tho regular army for eight or nine years not under arms but liable to be called out periodically for a few months training. The mem-I mem-I here of tho third category are only called out when war Is on. Young men who have passed through all the Standard of tho elementary schools ' If they pay a fee ranging from three to four hundred dollars are only mada to servo for ono year and are on a different footing from the ordinary j recruits. University students may de- fev their period of service until after i their twenty-sixth year. j The Officer. The Italian army officer is usually a well bred, well educated gentleman. In order to obtain his commission the young man must pass through ono of the military colleges for three year at least, and pass a number of difficult j examinations, those of engineers and artillery being especially rigorous, Tha Infantry examination is perhaps i 1 tho easiest but the cavalry Is regarded as the smartest branch of the service and Its officers are usually recruited from tho aristocracy. The dash of these men Is well known, and their' man clous feats of horsemanship are familiar to the eyes of every moving j picture parlor habitue. The pay ot , a sub-lleutonant Is from twenty-five i to thirty dollars per month, plus th allowance for his horse If he bo In the cavalry, and unless he catches th 1 CTimbllng fever he manages to live on ! this sum as he gets "reduced rate" on many things on account of Oov-I Oov-I crnment service. Unlike the officers of other countries, he must wear hli uniform at all times except when os leave. The infantry is equipped with a Mannli" her Carrano rifle, a magazine maga-zine weapon of 65 mm. calibre. The artillery uses Krupp guns. i |
