The Vatican city-state - the residence of the Pope on the territory of Rome - is the only thing left of the once very vast Papal State, which occupied a fairly large territory in the center of Italy. To everyone who is interested in military history and the armed forces of the countries of the world, the Vatican is known not only as the sacred capital of all Catholics, but also as a state that, up to the present time, preserves the unique relict troops - the Swiss Guard. Soldiers of the Swiss Guard today not only carry out ceremonial service, entertaining numerous tourists, but also carry out real protection of the Pope. Few people know that until the middle of the twentieth century. in the Vatican there were other armed units, the history of which dates back to the period of the existence of the Papal State.
For more than a millennium, the popes held not only spiritual power over the entire Catholic world, but also secular power over a large area in the center of the Apennine Peninsula. Back in 752 A. D. King of the Franks Pepin donated the lands of the former Ravenna Exarchate to the Pope, and in 756 the Papal States arose. With intermediate periods, the dominion of the pontiffs over the Papal States continued until 1870, when, as a result of the unification of Italy, the pope's secular authority over the territories of the central part of the peninsula was abolished.
The papal state, despite its rather large territory and the unconditional spiritual authority of the popes in the Catholic world, has never been particularly strong politically and economically. Strengthening the Papal region was hampered by the constant feudal strife between the Italian aristocrats, who dominated its separate parts and vied for influence under the Holy See. Moreover, since the popes were celibate and could not pass on secular power by inheritance, the Italian aristocrats also competed for the position of pontiff. The death of another pope entailed fierce competition between representatives of noble families who had the rank of cardinal and could claim the throne of the Vatican.
The entire first half of the 19th century, which was the period of the decline of the Papal region as a sovereign state, was for the possessions of the pontiff a period of socio-economic and political crisis. The pope's secular government was characterized by an extremely low degree of efficiency. The country actually did not develop - the rural territories were given for exploitation by secular and spiritual feudal lords, there were constant peasant unrest, revolutionary ideas spread. In response, the pope not only intensified police persecution of dissidents and strengthened the armed forces, but also relied on cooperation with gangs of robbers operating in the countryside. Most of all, the pope during this period was afraid of the threat of absorption of his state from neighboring Piedmont, which was gaining political and military strength. At the same time, the Pope was not able to resist the Piedmontese policy of expanding the territory on his own and preferred to rely on the help of France, which had a combat-ready army and acted as the guarantor of the security of the Holy See.
However, one should not think that the Papal States was a purely harmless state, deprived of its own defense forces. Until the unification of Italy and the end of the existence of the Papal Region, the latter had its own armed forces, which were used not only to protect the papal residence and maintain public order in Rome, but also for constant conflicts with neighbors, and then with Italian revolutionaries who saw in the existence The Papal States are an immediate brake on the development of modern Italian statehood. The Armed Forces of the Papal States are one of the most interesting phenomena in Italian and European military history in general. As a rule, their recruitment was carried out by hiring mercenaries from neighboring European countries, primarily the Swiss, who were famous throughout Europe as unsurpassed warriors.
Papal Zouaves - international volunteers in the service of the Vatican
However, before proceeding to the story of the Swiss Guard and two other, now defunct, Vatican guards, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on such a unique military formation as the Papal Zouaves. Their formation falls on the early 1860s, when the movement of national revival began in Italy and the Vatican, fearing for the safety of possessions in the center of the peninsula and political influence in the region as a whole, decided to create a volunteer corps, staffing it with volunteers from all parts of the world.
The initiator of the formation of the volunteer army was the then Minister of War of the Holy See, Xavier de Merode, a former Belgian officer who graduated from the military academy in Brussels and served for some time in the Belgian army, after which he trained as a priest and made a good church career. Under the holy throne, Merod was responsible for the activities of the Roman prisons, then he was appointed minister of war. Throughout the Catholic world, a cry was thrown about the recruitment of young people who professed Catholicism and were not married to protect the holy throne from the "militant atheists" - the Italian Rissorgimento (national revival). By analogy with the famous French corps of colonial troops - the Algerian Zouaves - the formed volunteer unit was named "Papal Zouaves".
Zuav means a member of the zawiyya - a Sufi order. It is obvious that such a name was given to the papal volunteers by the French general Louis de Lamorisier, who was appointed commander of the troops of the Papal region. Christophe Louis Leon Juusho de Lamorisier was born in 1806 in Nantes, France and spent a long time in the French military service, having participated in the colonial wars in Algeria and Morocco. From 1845 to 1847 General Lamorisier served as Governor-General of Algeria. In 1847, it was Lamorisier who captured the leader of the Algerian national liberation movement Abd al-Qadir, thereby finally demoralizing the Algerian resistance and facilitating the complete conquest of this North African country by the French. In 1848 Lamorisier, then a member of the French Chamber of Deputies, was appointed commander of the French National Guard. For the suppression of the June uprising that same year, Lamorisier was appointed Minister of War for France. It is noteworthy that for some time he was in the post of Ambassador Extraordinary to the Russian Empire.
In 1860, Lamorisier accepted the offer of the Minister of War Xavier de Merode to lead the papal troops leading the defense of the Papal State from the neighboring kingdom of Sardinia. The kingdom attacked the Papal States after the populations of Bologna, Ferrara and Ancona, where a powerful popular movement was growing, held a popular vote in 1860, at which it was decided by an absolute majority to annex the papal possessions to the territory of the Sardinian kingdom. The frightened pontiff embarked on an accelerated reform and consolidation of his armed forces. Minister of War Merode turned to Lamorisier, whom he knew as an excellent military specialist, for help. Most likely, it was Lamorisier's Algerian experience that the papal volunteers owed their name - on duty in North Africa, the French general often encountered the Zouaves and was inspired by their valor and high fighting qualities.
Papal Zouaves wore military uniforms reminiscent of the uniforms of the French colonial riflemen - the Zouaves, recruited in North Africa. The differences in uniform were in the gray color of the uniform of the papal Zouaves (the French Zouaves wore blue uniforms), as well as the use of the North African fez instead of the kepi. By May 1868, the papal Zouaves regiment numbered 4,592 soldiers and officers. The unit was completely international - volunteers were actually recruited from almost all countries of the world. In particular, 1910 Dutchmen, 1301 Frenchmen, 686 Belgians, 157 citizens of the Papal States, 135 Canadians, 101 Irishmen, 87 Prussians, 50 British, 32 Spaniards, 22 Germans from other states except Prussia, 19 Swiss, 14 Americans, 14 Neapolitans, 12 citizens of the Duchy of Modena (Italy), 12 Poles, 10 Scots, 7 Austrians, 6 Portuguese, 6 citizens of the Duchy of Tuscany (Italy), 3 Maltese, 2 Russians, 1 volunteer each from India, Africa, Mexico, Peru and Circassia. According to the Englishman Joseph Powell, in addition to the listed volunteers, at least three Africans and one Chinese served in the papal Zouaves regiment. Between February 1868 and September 1870, the number of volunteers from French-speaking and Catholic Quebec, one of the provinces of Canada, increased dramatically. The total number of Canadians in the papal Zouaves regiment reached 500 people.
The Papal Zouaves fought many battles with the Piedmontese troops and the Garibaldists, including the Battle of Mentana on November 3, 1867, where the Papal troops and their French allies clashed with Garibaldi's volunteers. In this battle, the papal Zouaves lost 24 soldiers killed and 57 wounded. The youngest victim of the battle was seventeen-year-old Englishman Zouave Julian Watt-Russell. In September 1870, the Zouaves took part in the last battles of the Papal State with the troops of the already united Italy. After the defeat of the Vatican, several Zouaves, including a Belgian officer who refused to surrender their weapons, were executed.
The remnants of the papal Zouaves, primarily French by nationality, went over to the side of France, being renamed the "Western Volunteers" while retaining the gray-red papal uniform. They participated in repelling the attacks of the Prussian army, including at Orleans, where 15 Zouaves were killed. In the battle on December 2, 1870, 1800 former papal Zouaves took part, losses amounted to 216 volunteers. After the defeat of France and the entry of Prussian troops into Paris, the Volunteers of the West were disbanded. Thus ended the history of the "international brigades" in the service of the Roman pontiff.
After the French contingent in Rome, due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, was withdrawn and sent to defend France from the Prussian troops, the Italian troops besieged Rome. The Pontiff ordered the troops of the Palatine and Swiss Guards to resist the Italian troops, after which he moved to the Vatican Hill and declared himself a "Vatican prisoner." The city of Rome, with the exception of the Vatican, completely came under the control of the Italian troops. The Quirinal Palace, which formerly housed the residence of the pope, became the residence of the Italian king. The Papal States ceased to exist as an independent state, which did not hesitate to affect the further history of the armed forces of the Holy See.
The noble guard of the popes is the Noble Guard
In addition to the "internationalist warriors", or rather - mercenaries and Catholic fanatics from all over Europe, America and even Asia and Africa, the popes were subordinate to other armed units that can be considered as the historical armed forces of the Papal State. Until relatively recently, the Noble Guard remained one of the oldest branches of the Vatican's armed forces. Its history began on May 11, 1801, when Pope Pius VII created a regiment of heavy cavalry on the basis of the one that existed from 1527 to 1798. corps "Lance Spezzate". In addition to the servicemen of the corps, the papal guards from the Order of the Knights of Light, which had existed since 1485, were also part of the Noble Guard.
The noble guard was subdivided into two divisions - a heavy cavalry regiment and a light cavalry regiment. In the latter, the younger sons of the Italian aristocratic families served, given by their fathers to the military service of the papal throne. The first task of the formed unit was to escort Pius VII to Paris, where the Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned. During the Napoleonic invasion of the Papal States, the Noble Guard was temporarily disbanded, and in 1816 it was revived again. After the final unification of Italy took place in 1870 and the Papal States ceased to exist as a sovereign state, the Noble Guard became the Vatican's court guard corps. In this form, it existed for exactly a century, until in 1968 it was renamed the "Guard of Honor of His Holiness", and two years later, in 1970, it was disbanded.
During its existence, the Noble Guard performed the functions of the palace guard of the Vatican throne and therefore never participated, unlike the papal Zouaves, in real hostilities. The heavy cavalry regiment performed only the task of escorting the pontiff and other representatives of the higher clergy of the Catholic Church. During the daily walks of the pontiff in the Vatican, he was followed incessantly by two soldiers of the Noble Guard, who served as papal bodyguards.
For a hundred years - from 1870 to 1970. - The Noble Guard actually existed only as a ceremonial unit, although its soldiers were still responsible for the personal safety of the Pope. The total number of the Noble Guard in the period after 1870 was no more than 70 military personnel. It is significant that in 1904 the cavalry functions of the unit were finally abolished - in the Vatican in its modern form, their performance was not possible.
The period of World War II was perhaps the most intense in the history of the Noble Guard since 1870 - since the unification of Italy and the collapse of the Papal State. Given the unstable political situation in the world and in Italy as well, firearms were issued to the personnel of the Noble Guard. Initially, the Noble Guard was already armed with pistols, carbines and sabers, but after the defeat of the Papal State in 1870, the cavalry saber remained the only acceptable type of weapon, to which the guards returned immediately after the end of World War II.
After the war, the Noble Guard retained its ceremonial functions for another two and a half decades. The guards accompanied the pope during the trips, carried the guard during the papal audiences, guarded the pope during solemn divine services. The command of the guard was carried out by a captain, whose rank was equivalent to a general in the Italian armed forces. An important role was also played by the hereditary standard-bearer in charge of the Vatican standard.
If the papal Zouaves, who actually fought during the ten-year resistance of the Papal region to the Garibaldists, were volunteers from all over the world, then the Noble Guard, considered an elite unit, was recruited almost exclusively from the Italian aristocrats who were surrounded by the Holy See. Aristocrats entered the Noble Guard voluntarily, did not receive any remuneration for their service, and, moreover, paid for the purchase of uniforms and weapons exclusively from their own funds.
As for the uniforms, the Noble Guard used two types of uniforms. The parade equipment consisted of a cuirassier helmet with a black and white plume, a red uniform with white cuffs and gold epaulettes, a white belt, white trousers and black riding boots.
Thus, the dress uniform of the Noble Guard reproduced the classic cuirassier uniform and was intended to remind of the history of the unit as a regiment of heavy cavalry. The daily uniform of the guards consisted of a cuirassier helmet with a papal emblem, a double-breasted blue uniform with red edging, a black and red belt with a gold buckle, and navy blue trousers with red stripes. Until the beginning of the twentieth century. only aristocrats - natives of Rome could serve in the Noble Guard, then the rules for admitting new recruits to the guard were somewhat liberalized and the opportunity to serve was provided for people from noble families from all over Italy.
On guard of order - Palatine guard
In 1851, Pope Pius IX decided to create the Palatine Guard, uniting the city militia of the people of Rome and the Palatine company. The size of the new unit was determined at 500 people, and the organizational structure consisted of two battalions. At the head of the Palatine Guard was a lieutenant colonel who was subordinate to the Camelengo of the Holy Roman Church - the cardinal responsible for secular administration in the territory of the Vatican. Since 1859, the Palatine Guard received the title of Honorary Palatine Guard, its own orchestra was attached to it and a white-yellow banner with the coat of arms of Pius IX and a golden Michael the Archangel at the top of the staff was given.
The Palatine Guard, unlike the Noble Guard, took a direct part in the hostilities against the rebels and Garibaldists during the defense of the Papal State. Soldiers of the Palatine Guard were on duty to protect the quartermaster's cargo. The number of guards during the war with the Garibaldists reached 748 soldiers and officers, brought together in eight companies. In the years 1867-1870. the guards also served to protect the residence of the pontiff and himself.
In the years 1870-1929. The Palatine Guard served only on the territory of the papal residence. During this time, she was significantly reduced in number. So, on October 17, 1892, the strength of the Palatine Guard was determined at 341 people, consolidated into one battalion, consisting of four companies. In 1970, the Palatine Guard, like the Noble Guard, was liquidated by the decree of Pope Paul VI.
Legendary Swiss - Vatican Swiss Guard
The only unit of the armed forces of the Vatican that remains in service to this day is the famous Swiss Guard. This is the oldest military unit in the world, preserved unchanged until the 21st century and relentlessly following the traditions that developed back in the Middle Ages - during the formation of the Swiss Guard in 1506.
The history of the Swiss Guard of the Holy See began in 1506, according to the decision of Pope Julius II. During the ten-year term of the pontificate, Julius established himself as a very warlike ruler who constantly fought with neighboring feudal lords. It was Julius, who was concerned about strengthening the papal army, who drew attention to the inhabitants of mountainous Switzerland, who in the Middle Ages were considered the best hired soldiers in Europe.
On January 22, 1506, the first 150 Swiss soldiers were received in Rome. And 21 years later, in 1527, Swiss soldiers took part in the defense of Rome against the troops of the Holy Roman Empire. In memory of the salvation of the then Pope Clement VII, for the sake of whom 147 Swiss soldiers gave their lives, the oath of allegiance in the Swiss Guard is taken on May 6, another anniversary of distant events. The defense of Rome in 1527 was the only example of the participation of the Swiss Guards in actual hostilities. Perhaps the ceremonial nature of the Guard and its wide popularity outside the Vatican, which turned it into a real landmark of the city-state, was the reason for this particular unit to remain in the ranks after the dissolution of most of the Vatican's armed divisions in 1970.
The recruitment of this unit was not affected by the reform of the political system in Switzerland itself, which put an end to the practice of "selling" the Swiss into mercenary troops operating throughout Western Europe. Until 1859the Swiss were in the service of the Kingdom of Naples, in 1852 they began to be hired en masse for the service of the Holy See, and after 1870, when the Papal States became part of Italy, the use of Swiss mercenaries in the country was discontinued and the only reminder of the once most numerous the mercenary force in Europe remained the Swiss Guard, stationed in the city-state of the Vatican.
The strength of the Swiss Guard is now 110. It is staffed exclusively by Swiss citizens who are trained in the Swiss Armed Forces and then sent to serve the Holy See in the Vatican. The soldiers and officers of the Guard come from the German cantons of Switzerland, therefore German is considered the official language of commands and official communication in the Swiss Guard. For candidates for admission to the unit, the following general rules are established: Swiss citizenship, Catholicism, upper secondary education, four months of service in the Swiss military, recommendations from the clergy and the secular administration. The age of candidates for admission to the Swiss Guard should be in the range of 19-30 years, the height should be at least 174 cm. Only bachelors are accepted into the guard. A soldier of the guard can change his marital status only with the special permission of the command - and then after three years of service and receiving a corporal's rank.
The Swiss guard guards the entrance to the Vatican, all floors of the Apostolic Palace, the chambers of the Pope and the Vatican Secretary of State, and is present at all solemn divine services, audiences and receptions organized by the Holy See. The uniform of the guard reproduces its medieval form and consists of striped red-blue-yellow camisoles and trousers, a beret or morion with a red plume, an armor, a halberd and a sword. Halberds and swords are ceremonial weapons, as for firearms, it was in the 1960s. was banned, but then, after the famous assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981, the Swiss Guards were again armed with firearms.
The Swiss Guards are provided with uniforms, food and accommodation. Their salary starts at 1,300 euros. After twenty years of service, the guardsmen can retire, which is the size of the last salary. The contractual service life of the Swiss Guard ranges from a minimum of two years to a maximum of twenty-five. Guard duty is carried out by three teams - one is on duty, the other acts as an operational reserve, the third is on vacation. The change of guard teams is carried out after 24 hours. During ceremonies and public events, service is carried out by all three teams of the Swiss Guard.
The following military ranks have been introduced in the units of the Swiss Guard: colonel (commandant), lieutenant colonel (vice-commandant), kaplan (chaplain), major, captain, sergeant major, sergeant-major, corporal, vice corporal, halberdist (private). The commanders of the Swiss Guard are usually nominated from among the Swiss army or police officers who have the appropriate education, experience and are suitable for the duties of their moral and psychological qualities. Currently, since 2008, Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig is in command of the Vatican Swiss Guard. He is forty-two years old, he served in the guard with the rank of halberdist back in 1992-1994, then graduated from the University of Friborg with a degree in civil and ecclesiastical law, headed the criminal police of the canton of Glarus, and then, from 2006 to 2008. was the general commandant of the police of the canton of Glarus.
The Swiss guards, as befits the guards of the holy throne, have the reputation of being morally impeccable. However, their credibility was called into question by the high-profile murder that took place in the Vatican on May 4, 1998. On that day, Alois Estermann was appointed commander of the Swiss Guard, the thirty-first in a row. A few hours later, the corpse of the new commander and his wife was found in the colonel's office suite. A forty-four-year-old veteran of the unit (it was he who, in 1981, during the assassination attempt, screened Pope John Paul II) and his wife were shot, next to them lay the third corpse - the twenty-three-year-old corporal Cedric Thornay, who apparently shot the commander and his wife, after which he shot himself.
Since this incident cast a shadow not only on the glorified Swiss Guard, but also on the holy throne itself, an official version was put forward - Thornay dealt with the colonel without finding his name in the list of the guards presented for the award. However, in Rome, and then around the world, more "hot" versions spread - from the intrigues of the mafia or Masons to the corporal's jealousy of the colonel due to the connection with his wife - a Venezuelan citizen, from the "recruitment" of the late commander Estermann by East German intelligence, for that he was avenged, before possible sodomite contacts between a forty-four-year-old officer and a twenty-three-year-old corporal. The ensuing investigation did not give any intelligible information about the reasons that prompted the corporal to kill two people and commit suicide, in connection with which the official version of the court that closed the case was a sudden attack of insanity in Cedric Thorney.
Nevertheless, the Swiss Guard remains one of the most prestigious military units in the world, the selection into the ranks of which is much stricter than in most other elite military units of other states. For the world community, the Swiss Guard has long become one of the symbols of the Holy See. Films and television reports are made about her, articles are written in newspapers, and many tourists who come to Rome and the Vatican love to photograph her.
Finally, concluding the conversation about the armed formations of the Vatican, one cannot fail to note the so-called. The "papal gendarmerie", as the Vatican City State Gendarme Corps is informally called. He bears all the real full responsibility for the safety of the Holy See and the maintenance of public order in the Vatican. The competence of the Corps includes security, public order, border control, road safety, criminal investigation of criminals and the immediate protection of the pontiff. 130 people serve in the Corps, headed by the Inspector General (since 2006 - Dominico Giani). Selection to the Corps is carried out according to the following criteria: age from 20 to 25 years old, Italian citizenship, experience in the Italian police for at least two years, recommendations and an impeccable biography. 1970 to 1991 The building was called the Central Security Service. Its history began in 1816 under the name of the Gendarmerie Corps and until the reduction in the number of the Vatican's armed forces, it remained in the status of a military unit. The modern Vatican does not need full-fledged armed forces, but the lack of this dwarf theocratic state of its own army does not mean the absence of full-fledged political influence, according to which the holy throne still surpasses many countries with a population of millions and large armed forces.
