CAVOUR I GARIBALDI
The period of nine years of radical change began with the moment, when Count Kamil Cavour became Prime Minister of Piedmont in 1852 r. The participation of Piedmontese troops in the Crimean War enabled Cavour to contact Napoleon III at the Congress of Paris, which ended this conflict, and in July 1858 r. they held secret talks on the 'Italian question”. Napoleon III decided to lend support to Italy in the fight against Austria - the only realistic way to achieve reunification - on condition, that resistance will not take revolutionary forms. Having determined the possible division of prey, two politicians were waiting for an opportunity to provoke Austria into war. It happened in 1859 r" when, at the opening of the session of parliament, Cavour wrote for Victor Emanuel a solemn, speech directed against the Austrians. His battle slogan for the end of grido di dolore ("a cry of pain”) has been picked up all over Italy. The Austrians demanded demobilization, but the Piedmontese did the opposite..
The war was a disaster from the very beginning and thousands of soldiers died at Magenta and Solferino. In July 1859 r. Napoleon concluded a truce with Austria without an agreement with Cavour. who resigned in protest. Local governments remained in power in Tuscany, Modena and Romagna. Cavour again found himself at the head of the government in 1860 r. and soon France. Piedmont and the Papacy agreed to a series of plebiscites. in which Tuscany and the new state of Emilia (Duchies of Modena and Parma plus Romania) voted in mid-March 1860 r. for union with Piedmont. As a result of a secret agreement between Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon III. Sabaudia and Nice were handed over to France, on condition that plebiscites are held. The results were predictable, given the presence of the French army during the vote.
Garibaldi immediately left for Nice with the intention of blowing up the voting boxes, but it only reached Genoa, when he heard of an uprising in Sicily. He commandeered two steamships and got enough weapons for a thousand of his "red shirts."”, then set off south. After landing in Sicily, more people joined him and surrounded him with a counting 12 000 soldiers Neapolitan army captured the island. He then returned to the mainland., almost without a fight he took Naples, and then set out for Rome. Cavour, Fearing. that he may lose initiative, hastily sent a Piedmontese army, to join the State of the Church, with the exception of the patrimony around Rome. Concerned about this, that anti-church revolutionaries, who made up the army of red shirts can cause trouble. Cavour and Victor Emmanuel went south to Rome, assisted by their army., organizing plebiscites in Sicily along the way, in Naples. Umbria and papal marches, leaving virtually no alternative but the annexation of these areas to Piedmont. After the triumphant march through Naples, they thanked Garibaldi for his efforts., they seized power over all territories and organized elections to the new parliament. In February 1861 MEPs formally proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy.
Cavour died in the same year, before the state was completely united, for Rome and Venice were still outside the kingdom. W 1862 r. Garibaldi tried unsuccessfully to take the city, and only after another attempt, five years. later Venice was annexed. French troops were removed from Rome after Napoleon III was defeated by Prussia in 1870 r. So in 1871 the unification process has been completed.