In the course of the Spring of Nations, which broke out in February 1848 and which swept across much of Europe in the following months, the First Italian War of Independence broke out. It took place in the years 1848-1849, and its main goal was - probably - the desire of the ruler of Piedmont, Charles Albert, to enlarge his country's borders at the expense of Austria, and in alliance with the Papal State and the Kingdom of both Sicily. Apparently, the situation was favorable to the plans of Charles Albert, because Austria, due to the ongoing Spring of Nations, was in a very difficult position. Initially, Piedmont was also militarily successful, although it deployed troops of only about 12,000 people, but with strong artillery and cavalry, including carabinieri units. However, the war quickly took a bad turn for Piedmont as Austrian troops concentrated and launched a counteroffensive. As early as July 1848, they were able to defeat the Piedmontese army at Custozza. About 33,000 Austrian and 22,000 Piedmontese soldiers fought in this battle. In March of the following year, another, much larger battle took place - at Novara, in which approx. 75,000 Austrian soldiers and approx. 50,000 Piedmontese troops fought. It is worth adding that theoretically, the commander-in-chief of the Piedmontese army in this battle was a Pole - Wojciech Chrzanowski. This battle was also lost by the Italian side. In the course of the entire war of 1848-1849, the Piedmontese command gave itself the worst assessment of its actions, while the various types of armed forces of the Piedmontese army fought quite well, and carabinieri units performed particularly well.