Victor Emmanuel II

Victor Emmanuel II was king of Sardinia from 1849 and the first king of unified Italy from 1861 until his death in 1878.

Charles Albert of Sardinia: King of Sardinia from 1831 to 1849 and Victor Emmanuel II’s father. His defeat in the First Italian War of Independence led to his abdication in Victor Emmanuel’s favor.
Italian unification: The nineteenth-century political process that joined most Italian states into one kingdom. Victor Emmanuel became its monarch as Sardinia’s territories grew into a unified state.
Giuseppe Garibaldi: An Italian nationalist and military leader who helped unify Italy through campaigns in Sicily and southern Italy. Garibaldi handed his conquests to Victor Emmanuel at Teano in 1860.
Roman Question: The dispute between the Italian state and the papacy over Rome’s sovereignty after its annexation in 1870. The annexation made this conflict a defining consequence of Victor Emmanuel’s acquisition of Rome.
Albertine Statute: The constitution granted by Charles Albert to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1848 and extended to unified Italy. Victor Emmanuel retained this constitutional framework after succeeding his father.
Plombières Agreement: A secret 1858 agreement between Cavour and Napoleon III on French support for war against Austria. It prepared the French alliance that helped Sardinia gain territory in 1859.
Giuseppe Mazzini: An Italian republican revolutionary who promoted national unity and a republic through political organizing and uprisings. Mazzini’s republican vision differed from the Savoy monarchy that Victor Emmanuel headed.
Brigandage in southern Italy: Armed resistance and banditry in southern Italy that intensified after the Kingdom of Italy was established. Resistance to the new state exposed the difficulties of extending royal authority after unification.
Count of Cavour: Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, was a statesman who led Sardinia and helped bring about Italian unification. As Victor Emmanuel’s chief minister, Cavour pursued the alliances and wars that expanded the kingdom.
Armistice of Villafranca: The 1859 armistice between France and Austria that ended the main fighting of the Second Italian War of Independence. It halted the campaign before Victor Emmanuel and Cavour had secured all their aims.

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