Italian peninsula 1860

The Second Italian War of Independence [link]

A bit of a misnomer, as Italy still did not yet exist. Napoleon the III, inspired by his would be assassin Felice Orsini, made a secret deal that would change the fate of Italy. In exchange for assisting the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in conquering Lombardy and the other minor kingdoms under Austrian rule, the Empire of France would receive the territories of Nice and Savoy from the Sardinians.

At the Battle of Solferino allied Franco-Italian armies decisively defeated the Austrian army.

Napoleon the III then signed an armistice with Austria, but hadn't consulted his ally, king Victor Emmanuel I, king of Sardinia. Victor then declared the deal void, because Napoleon had only bargained for Lombardy, and not the rest of the northern kingdoms. Sardinian armies however had already occupied those kingdoms in question. The Austrians decided not to fight on (believing that they had already signed the peace treaty with the French). Not long after, with British and French approval the smaller monarchies and some papal territories were annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia Piedmont. As promised, the territories of Nice and Savoy were ceded to France. This stunned the British, who hadn't known about the deal. It also outraged Guiseppe Garibaldi, a native of Nice. He organized his own volunteer army, to try and take back the territory of Nice. But he was persuaded by Count Cavour, prime minister of the kingdom, to go to Sicily instead.

Risorgimento

youtube [link]

1858 [link]
1860
1861 [link]
1866 [link]
1870 [link]

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2/19/12 EDIT:
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map base created by Helix84 [link]