Valson93
Death of Cesare Battisti
RPPC depicting the execution by strangulation of the Italian Irridentist and Patriot Cesare Battisti at the Buonconsiglio castle’s moat on this day 104 years ago.
More about Cesare Battisti:
Cesare Battisti was born on 4 February 1875 and he was the son of a merchant from Trento, a city with a predominantly Italian-speaking population, which at the time was part of the Cisleithanian crown land of Tyrol in Austria-Hungary. Battisti attended the University of Florence, where he became a follower the Italian irredentism movement, aiming at the unification of his Trentino homeland with the Kingdom of Italy, though contrary to activists like Ettore Tolomei and Gabriele d'Annunzio he did not claim the predominantly German-speaking areas of South Tyrol up to the Brenner Pass.
In 1899, he married Ernesta Bittanti in a civil ceremony. The couple had three sons.
A journalist by profession and a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria, he was elected as a representative to the Tyrolean Landtag assembly at Innsbruck as well as to the Austrian Imperial Council (Reichsrat) at Vienna in 1911, where he vainly tried to obtain a status of autonomy for the Trentino region. Disgruntled by Austro-Hungarian attitudes to minorities in their empire, Battisti agreed to construct a military guide for the Italians to Austrian provinces that bordered Italy
When Austria-Hungary mobilised in August 1914, Battisti fled with his family to the Kingdom of Italy, where he held public meetings demanding Italy join the Triple Entente forces against Austria. With Italy's entry into World War I following the 1915 London Pact, though still an Austrian citizen, Battisti fought against the Austro-Hungarian Army in the Alpini Corps at the Italian Front.
After the Battle of Asiago, he was captured by the Austrian forces on 10 July 1916 and on 12 July he faced a court-martial in his hometown Trento at the Castello del Buonconsiglio, charged with high treason. Though Battisti officially enjoyed parliamentary immunity, he was sentenced to death by strangulation. He requested a military execution by firing squad so as to not dishonor the Italian Army uniform, but the judge denied his request and instead procured for him some shabby civilian clothes. Dressed in these, he was executed (hanged and garrotted) the same day, together with Fabio Filzi, another Italian Irridentist and Patriot.
The brutality of the execution was increased by the fact that the executioner Josef Lang deliberately broke the thin rope while he was garotting Battisti and the senteced was actually hanged twice. In order to accelerate the death, Lang covered Battisti’s mouth and nostrils with his hands.
Right after Battisti’s death, a smiling execution squad posed with his body for some photographs, which encreased Austrian Authorities’ bad reputation.
Battisti is considered a national hero in Italy and several memorials were dedicated to him in Rome as well as in his hometown Trento and Bolzano.
Death of Cesare Battisti
RPPC depicting the execution by strangulation of the Italian Irridentist and Patriot Cesare Battisti at the Buonconsiglio castle’s moat on this day 104 years ago.
More about Cesare Battisti:
Cesare Battisti was born on 4 February 1875 and he was the son of a merchant from Trento, a city with a predominantly Italian-speaking population, which at the time was part of the Cisleithanian crown land of Tyrol in Austria-Hungary. Battisti attended the University of Florence, where he became a follower the Italian irredentism movement, aiming at the unification of his Trentino homeland with the Kingdom of Italy, though contrary to activists like Ettore Tolomei and Gabriele d'Annunzio he did not claim the predominantly German-speaking areas of South Tyrol up to the Brenner Pass.
In 1899, he married Ernesta Bittanti in a civil ceremony. The couple had three sons.
A journalist by profession and a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria, he was elected as a representative to the Tyrolean Landtag assembly at Innsbruck as well as to the Austrian Imperial Council (Reichsrat) at Vienna in 1911, where he vainly tried to obtain a status of autonomy for the Trentino region. Disgruntled by Austro-Hungarian attitudes to minorities in their empire, Battisti agreed to construct a military guide for the Italians to Austrian provinces that bordered Italy
When Austria-Hungary mobilised in August 1914, Battisti fled with his family to the Kingdom of Italy, where he held public meetings demanding Italy join the Triple Entente forces against Austria. With Italy's entry into World War I following the 1915 London Pact, though still an Austrian citizen, Battisti fought against the Austro-Hungarian Army in the Alpini Corps at the Italian Front.
After the Battle of Asiago, he was captured by the Austrian forces on 10 July 1916 and on 12 July he faced a court-martial in his hometown Trento at the Castello del Buonconsiglio, charged with high treason. Though Battisti officially enjoyed parliamentary immunity, he was sentenced to death by strangulation. He requested a military execution by firing squad so as to not dishonor the Italian Army uniform, but the judge denied his request and instead procured for him some shabby civilian clothes. Dressed in these, he was executed (hanged and garrotted) the same day, together with Fabio Filzi, another Italian Irridentist and Patriot.
The brutality of the execution was increased by the fact that the executioner Josef Lang deliberately broke the thin rope while he was garotting Battisti and the senteced was actually hanged twice. In order to accelerate the death, Lang covered Battisti’s mouth and nostrils with his hands.
Right after Battisti’s death, a smiling execution squad posed with his body for some photographs, which encreased Austrian Authorities’ bad reputation.
Battisti is considered a national hero in Italy and several memorials were dedicated to him in Rome as well as in his hometown Trento and Bolzano.