The following decade coincides with the presence of Count
Camillo Benso Cavour in the government of Piedmont and his
able and patient pursual of a policy that succeeded in inserting
the small State of Savoy within the schemes and alliances of
the great European powers, as well as ensuring the friendship
of neighbouring France. Results were not slow in arriving. At
the Congress of Paris (1856) concluding the Crimean War, fought
by the army of Piedmont in a coalition with France and England
against Russia and Turkey (in the Battle of the Cernaia the
new corps of the Bersaglieri, founded by General La Marmora,
dist inguished itself), Cavour managed to raise the Italian
question although without obtaining immediate territorial advantages.
These were to come three years later in 1859. Following the
speech from the throne at the beginning of the year by Vittorio
Emanuele II on the support of Piedmont for Italians with
nationalistic aspirations, Austria, having failed in her request
for the disarmament of Piedmont, declared war on the Kingdom
of Sardinia. This was the occasion for which Cavour had long
waited. The intervention of France under Napoleon III with the
bloody victories of Solferino and San Martino forced Austria
to the armistice of Villafranca and the cession of Lombardy.
At the same time all Central Italy and Romagna rebelled, overturning
the old regimes. Following the plebiscite that voted in favour
of annexation to Piedmont (1860), there then began the construction,
together with the territory of Southern Italy that had been
taken by Garibaldi's expedition of `The Thousand', of the
United Kingdom of Italy. This was to be proclaimed at Turin
on 17 March 1861, though the acquisition of Rome and Venice
were still outstanding. The latter was added five years later
(1866) following an unfortunate conflict with Austria, which
was resolved in Italy's favour thanks to the intervention of
Prussia; Rome was conquered by force, 20 September 1870, on
the fall of Napoleon III.
With these events the territorial unity of the Italian nation
was almost complete and it was now necessary to construct its
own social, economic and cultural image.
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