| Battle of Alessandria | |||||||
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| Part of War of Sardinian Succession | |||||||
 The Duke of Edinburgh assembles his men at the Habsburg camp, c.1749 |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Habsburg Monarchy
|  Kingdom of Sardinia
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Duke of Edinburgh
| Ishmael Emmanuel III of Savoy
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| Strength | |||||||
| 36,594 (2,028 NTW) | 39,945 (2,160 NTW) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 17,900 (992 NTW) | 32,714 (1,769 NTW) | ||||||
The Battle of Alessandria on July 19, 1749 was the opening land battle of the War of the Sardinian Succession. It resulted in a victory for the Habsburg Army over the Kingdom of Sardinia near the city of Alessandria under the command of the King Ishmael Emmanuel III of Savoy.
The Habsburg armies, led by the British Duke of Edinburgh; Maria Theresa's grandfather, won through a maneuver that caused 6800 Sardinian troops to route and leave the rest of the Sardinian army exposed for attack beyond a mountain pass. The Sardinians were then overwhelmed and beaten. Ishmael Emmanuel was injured while fleeing from the battlefield but evaded capture and escaped.
The Sardinian forces along with a strong contingent of pagan mercenaries moved to capture a series of towns: Pavia, Parma, Piacenza and threatened to take Milan. The Austrians moved to protect the capital of Lombardy leaving Ishmael Emmanuel, the king of Sardinia, unaided with his force of 39,945 to advance on Rome, the capital of the Papal States. He was later drawn back into Piedmont when news that an Austrian army of 36,594 had marched from Vienna led by John-Luca Goldtimbers who subsequently advanced to ensure that a second invasion of Habsburg/Spanish Italy would be met with force on the advice of the Spanish and Polish commanders who insisted upon the reduction of Piedmont. Goldtimbers fortified Lombardy and Milan then moved on 16 July where he crossed the Milan-Piedmont border into the Province of Alessandria. The cities of Sale and Tortona surrendered to the Austrian forces upon their entry into the region, all except for the city of Alessandria and the city of Cantalupo Ligure, where Ishmael Emmanuel had marched past stationing garrisons prior to moving to engage the Austrians.
