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The very young Master Blavatsky, but a senior compatriot
of Tara Urusvati, in the first ray ashram or Stronghold of Aryvarta, in his previous incarnation had participated in the Battle
of Mentana Nov. 3, 1867 in Italy and, received five wounds. It is said or has been suggested that she died or would have died
if not for the interjecting hand of M.M and his intervention. Stephen Pugh. SDP.
"HPB told Olcot she was at Mentana. He recalls "In
proof of her story she showed me where her left arm had been broken in two places by a sabre stroke, and made me feel in her
right shoulder a musket ball, still embedded in the muscle, and another in the leg." In all, five wounds were received and
she was picked up out of a ditch for dead. HPB. Sylvia Cranston, pg79.
DTB. That was when she was with Garibaldi at the battle
of Mentana, I believe. She was wounded several times and left for dead, but they revived and returned. It has
also been hinted (but I have not found a primary source for this) that at that time there was a change of inner SELF and her
body was perhaps reanimated with ANOTHER CONSCIOUSNESS -- which we know of as "HPB" -- and yet the personality retained all
the memories of its earlier years. But we simply are speculating here and are arriving at no useful conclusion. www.theos-talk.com/archives/months/TK200003.TXT+Sylvia+Cranston+mentana&hl=en
We also know the her association with Garibaldi and
company went so far that she was present as an Officer of Horse Dragoons in the Battle of Mentana, at which the "other side"
were the Papal Armies. Her work with the Carbonari in that cause eventually divested the Vatican from its temporal power.
www.parascience.org/suborn.htm+Sylvia+Cranston+mentana&hl=en
1866-67 Left Russia again and traveled extensively
in Balkans, Egypt, Syria, Italy. Returned to Italy in 1867 and paid a short visit to southern Russia. Was present at the battle
of Mentana, November 3, 1867, and was wounded. www.blavatsky.net
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was not just an intellectual
or theoretical "warrior for light." In 1867 she spent several months traveling in Europe. On November 3 she was in the town
of Mentana, north and east of Rome. On that day the Battle of Mentana was fought between the Italian patriot Garibaldi and
the French. The battle was one of a number of fights fought in Italy's struggle for independence. Blavatsky participated,
with other women, in the battle in support of Garibaldi.
Blavatsky apparently sustained five wounds including
being shot in the right shoulder and a broken left arm. (Garibaldi's force, some 4,000 strong, was beaten at Mentana by a
combined French and papal force of some 5,000 soldiers, primarily because the French troops made use of the new breech-loading
Chassepot musket. This weapon gave them a distinct advantage over Garibaldi's Redshirts. However it is not known if Madame
Blavatsky was wounded by such a rifle.) www.cosmicbaseball.com
Helena' s adventures around the world were many and
varied. She suffered a terrible illness at Rougodevo in Russia in 1859. Later as a member of Garibaldi' s army she was wounded
in the Battle of Mentana in Italy in 1867. www.blavatskytrust.org.uk
3rd War of Italian Unification (1866 and
1867)
North & Central Italy
Austrian -vs- Italian/Sardinian and
Garibaldini
Garibaldini -vs- Papal States
Part of Bismark’s preparation
for the Austro-Prussian War was a Prussian-Italian alliance aimed firmly at Austria. The Third War of Italian Unification
began when Austria refused to allow Italy to buy Veneto from them, and, concerned about the Italian alliance with Prussia,
accused the Italians of strengthening their army in Lombardy. Both sides began to mobilise and, when the Prussians finally
declared war on the Austrians on 16th June 1866, the Italians and followed suit.
Although the Italians outnumbered the Austrians about
250,000 to 190,000, this advantage was largely negated by the fact that the Austrians could fight defensively from behind
the Quadrilateral forts and had a shorter supply chain through the valley of the Adige. This advantage was also greatly increased
by the fact that the Italian army had no clear chain of unified command: Garibaldi unilaterally commanded 20,000 volunteers
in the Alps to the north; and the main Italian army was split into two forces commanded by La Marmora and Cialdini, the latter
being wildly jealous of the other and refusing to take direct orders. Add the intervention of Vittorio Emanuele, armchair
strategist extraordinaire, and it is hardly surprising that no sensible line of attack could be decided upon.
The first fighting was at Custoza: where La Marmora
allowed himself to get sucked into an unexpected battle fighting an Austrian force under Archduke Albrecht fighting from prepared
positions on higher ground and with internal lines. Casualties were about even in this inconclusive fight; but La Marmora,
lacking intelligence (of the military, not cerebral, sort), reacted as if the Italians had suffered a great defeat. This feeling
spread throughout the army, and succeeded in demoralising the entire country!
The Austrians, however, did not follow up and, after
their northern army was soundly defeated by the Prussians at Sadowa, recalled Albrecht and the bulk of his force to defend
Austria itself. The Italians, with the main force now wholly under Cialdini, started forward again, bypassed the Quadrilaterals,
and began to take Venetian cities behind them. Garaibaldi also managed to clear the Austrians from some of the Alpine valleys,
although he was now leading his men from a carriage after taking a wound to his leg.
Unfortunately for the Italians, this was the high point
of their campaign. They lost a naval battle at Lissa despite outnumbering the Austrians twelve ironclads to seven (the Austrians,
under von Tegethoff, using the ram rather than their inferior guns) and, when the Prussians broke the terms of their Prussian-Italian
alliance and signed a peace treaty with the Austrians, found themselves facing the entire Austrian army of some 300,000 troops!
An armistice was signed on 12th August which led to
a treaty that gave Italy control of Veneto and recognition by Austria as a nation. The Third War of Italian Unification had
led to political, if not military, gains.
Garibaldi was still, however, not content: the unification
of Italy required Rome and the reduced Papal States. The Italian/Sardinian government, recognising that they did not have
the backing of the European powers for an invasion, was content to try to negotiate themselves into Rome but, after a year
of furious politiking, Garibaldi lost patience and led a volunteer army into the region.
Although the Garibaldini succeeded in capturing the
Papal city of Moterotondo, he and his ten thousand volunteers then found themselves facing the Papal army of 15,000 and a
newly-arrived French force landing at Civitavecchia, armed with new-fangled breech-loading rifles. Even worse, the Italian/Sardinian
government had also announced that it would not tolerate this latest ‘rebellion’, and was planning to send Italian
troops to arrest Garibaldi and the volunteers!
With men leaving his army in droves, Garibaldi fought
a battle at Mentana: where his 4,000 remaining troops faced a combined Papal and French army of 9,000. Although Garibaldi
tried his usually tactics of inspirational charges, the odds were too great, and the volunteers already too dispirited. After
suffering a conclusive defeat, Garaibaldi and the survivors were forced to retreat back across the border: Garibaldi being
arrested as he attempted to return home to Caprera.
Postscript: Rome was eventually joined to Italy towards
the end of the Franco-Prussian war. After the French defeat at Sedan, their troops in Rome were withdrawn to help defend Paris.
The Italians ‘seized the day’, and sent an overwhelming force (30,000 plus artillery) into the Papal States and,
after a short fight with the Papal army, Rome was formerly annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. The Risorgimento was over. www.sirgarnet.comJeremy Condick. jpcondick@ntlworld.com
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