After the Battle of Castelfidardo on September 18, 1860, the defeated Papal Army had retreated to the fortress at Ancona on the Adriatic Sea. Surrounded and suffering bombardment from land and sea, the Papal commander, French General Christophe de Lamoricière, surrendered with all of his men. Papal rule was largely at an end in central Italy and the unification of modern Italy near to completion. (By John Osborne)