Crimean War

Review

Italy had not controlled its own lands since the time of Napoleon. The French occupied the Italian states from 1799-1815. The Congress of Vienna (1815) established control over the Italian states by Austria , The Roman Catholic Church, or France . The Italians resented this and nationalist movements began to surface in the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (see map on page 141).

Italian Unification

OVERVIEW

Important Events and Individuals Leading to the Unification of Italy :

1) The Crimean War weakened Austria and Russia , the two powers who were most committed to the 1815 Congress of Vienna settlement.

2) Camillo di Cavour a liberal who wanted a constitutional monarchy rose to political power in Piedmont-Sardinia.

3) Cavour built an arrangement with Napoleon III of France—Piedmont would provoke Austria to war and France would come to the support of the Italians.

4) The Austrians were defeated by the Franco-Piedmontese forces and eventually most northern Italian states joined with Piedmont .

Napoleon III

5) Another revolutionary leader, Garibaldi assembled an army called “Garibaldi’s Thousand,” or “Red Shirts.” (143). They conquered the kingdom of the Two Sicilies and joined with Piedmont .

6) By 1870, through plebiscites and wars, all Italian states joined the unified Italy. Rome was the last state to join, as the city and the Vatican were protected by French troops. When Napoleon III pulled his troops out to fight the Franco-Prussia War, the Italians seized the city and the unification was complete.

7) The Pope was allowed to maintain control of the Vatican independently of Italy. In 1929, it became a sovereign state.