ABSTRACT
Minister of Piedmont 1855 26 Jan. Piedmont enters Crimean war
on side of Britain and France 1856 25 Feb.– Paris Peace Congress to end
16 April Crimean war 1857 July Landing by Pisacane at Sapri
Aug. Founding of National Society by La Farina and others
1858 14 Jan. Orsini’s attempt to assassinate Napoleon III
July 20 Meeting between Cavour and Napoleon III at Plombières
Sept. Marriage of Clotilde, daughter of Victor Emmanuel II, to Jerome Bonaparte
1859 Jan. Secret treaty signed between France and Piedmont
March Promise of Russian neutrality to Piedmont
19 April Austrian ultimatum to Piedmont
April-June War between Austria and Piedmont
3 May France joins Piedmont 4 June Battle of Magenta
22 June Battle of Solferino 1859 11 July Treaty of Villafranca; Cavour’s
resignation Aug.–Nov. Independent governments in
Parma, Modena and Tuscany 1860 Jan. Cavour returns to power
12 March Treaty between Cavour and Napoleon III; France to get Savoy and Nice in return for recognising accessions of Parma, Modena and Tuscany to Piedmont if approved by plebiscite
March-April Plebiscites held in Parma, Modena, Tuscany, Savoy and Nice
2 April Meeting of first ‘Italian’ parliament at Turin
April Rising in Sicily 11 May Landing of Garibaldi at
Marsala in Sicily 22 May Fall of Palermo to Garibaldi 18 Sept. Battle of Castelfidardo 21 Oct. Plebiscite in Naples 25 Oct. Meeting between Garibaldi
and Victor Emmanuel at Taena
26 Oct. Garibaldi proclaims Victor Emmanuel King of Italy
4-5 Nov. Plebiscite in Sicily 1862 29 Aug. Garibaldi defeated at Aspro-
monte by Piedmont army 1864 Sept. Convention with France;
Italy promises not to attack Rome; Florence to be new capital; Syllabus of Errors proclaimed by Pius IX
1866 8 April Treaty between Bismarck and La Marmora
15 June Prussia invades Saxony 16 June Italy declares war on Austria 24 June Battle of Custozza; Piedmont
defeated by Austria 3 July Battle of Sadowa; Austria
defeated by Prussia 20 July Battle of Lissa; Piedmontese
navy defeated by Austria 23 Aug. Treaty of Prague; Venetia
handed over to Prussia and then to Italy
1867 3 Nov. Garibaldi defeated at Mentana 1870 19 July Outbreak of Franco-Prussian war
July Papal Infallibility declared 1 Sept. Battle of Sedan 5 Sept. Proclamation of French Republic
20 Sept. Occupation of Rome 1871 2 July Victor Emmanuel II takes up
residence in the Quirinal Palace in Rome
The legacy of 1848
Italy, it will be remembered, had been made a virtual province of the Habsburg empire in 1815. The two northern territories of Lombardy and Venetia were ruled directly from Vienna. Members of the Habsburg family were placed at the head of the Duchies of Parma, Modena and Tuscany. The Bourbon King Ferdinand I was restored to the kingdom of Naples and Sicily in 1815, but only on condition that he signed a permanent defensive alliance with Austria. The two remaining territories in the Italian peninsula, the kingdom of Piedmont (which also incorporated Savoy and the island of Sardinia) and the Papal States, while nominally independent, were linked by their shared Catholicism to the Habsburg empire, and conservative elements in both states continued to favour the Austrian connection.
