Italian Independence wars
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The Italian Independence wars were part of the process of evolution of Italian Unification (Risorgimento). These were three wars fought against the Austrian Empire between 1848 and 1866 which ended with the conquest of the entire Italian peninsula. Related minor conflicts and campaigns, such as the campaigns of the 1860's are usually treated as part of this cycle of conflict.
The unification of Italy was completed by the conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand in 1860.
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[edit] The first independence war
In 1848, revolutionary riots broke out in numerous places of Italy, as well in many other parts of Europe. Charles Albert in Piedmont and Leopold II in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany had been forced to make concessions to the democrats. When also Vienna was in revolt, both Milan and Venice, the main cities of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, under Austrian rule, revolted. Sicily, apart Messina, expelled the Bourbon armies. Charles II of Bourbon also was compelled to leave the Duchy of Parma.
The Kingdom of Sardinia decided to exploit the apparently favourable moment, and declared war on Austria, with the alliance of the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Italian independence leaders like Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini returned to Italy to take part in the events, but were rather coldly welcomed by the House of Savoy, who aimed to maintain a moderate and pro-governative character to the war.
The Piedmontese army was composed of two corps and a reserve division, for a total of 12,000 troops. Artillery and cavalry were the best units. On March 21 the Grand Duke of Tuscany also declared his entrance in the war against Austria, with a contingent of 6,700 men. The Papal Army had a similar sized force, backed by numerous volunteers. On the 25th the vanguard of the II Piedmontese Corps entered Milan and two days later, Pavia was also freed.
After an initial successful campaign, with the victories at Goito and Peschiera del Garda, the pope, fearing possible expansions of Piedmont in case of victory, recalled his troops. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies also retired, but the general Guglielmo Pepe refused to go back to Naples and went to Venice to protect it against the Austrian counter-offensive. King Ferdinand II's behavior was mainly due to the ambiguous conduct of Charles Albert of Piedmont, who had not clearly refused the proposal to obtain the Sicilian crown received from representatives of the rebellious island.
After the annexation of Lombardy, the expansionist interests of Savoyards became quite evident, and — now alone — Piedmont was defeated by Austrians at Custoza and forced to accept an armistice on August 9. In 1849 in Florence, Leopold II abandoned the town, which was ruled by a provisional government. In Rome, the Roman republic was declared (with Giuseppe Mazzini as one of the triumviri). Rome was attacked by French troops, but Giuseppe Garibaldi's forces prevailed; however the republic would soon surrendered.
Venice, after an extraordinary long resistance, had to surrender to the Austrians due to famine and a cholera epidemic.
[edit] The second independence war
The second independence war, also known as Austro-Sardinian War, was declared by the Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1859, with the alliance of France.
In 1859 Emperor Napoleon III and Camillo Cavour, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, signed a treaty of alliance against Austria: France would help Sardinia to fight against Austria and Sardinia would give Nice and Savoy to France. In the same year Austria started a war with Sardinia. French and Sardinian armies defeated the Austrians in the battles of Palestro (30 May), Montebello, Magenta (4 June) and Solferino (21 June) and took Milan, then a province of the Austrian Empire. German states forced Napoleon to stop the war, so he signed an armistice with Austria at Villafranca. Kingdom of Lombardy (Milan was its capital), Austrian province in Italy, was transferred to France, which gave it to Sardinia. After the truce of Villafranca rebellions started in northern Italian states. Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany and duke Francis V of Modena escaped from their countries. People of Tuscany, Modena and Parma invited king Victor Emanuel II of Sardinia to rule over them. Napoleon III was afraid of being regarded as a supporter of a revolution, so he forced Victor Emanuel to relinquish the power over those states but in 1860 Cavour convinced the emperor to change his mind. People of Tuscany, Modena, Bologna and Parma decided in a plebiscite to unite their countries with Sardinia.
In 1860 a revolution started in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies when Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteers sailed to Sicily. In the subsequent campaign he defeated the army of the Sicilian king, Ferdinand II, in the battles of Calatafimi and Volturno. In 1861 a plebiscite in Naples and on Sicily decided for unification to Sardinia. Victor Emanuel was crowned king of Italy. Finally, the fortress of Gaeta was taken and Ferdinand II escaped to Rome.
[edit] The Third Independence war
The Third Independence War was declared by the kingdom of Italy (unified in 1860) against the Austrian Empire, in 1866, with the alliance of the Kingdom of Prussia.
In 1866 Italy signed alliance with Prussia against Austria. During the ensuing Austro-Prussian War, Archduke Albrecht of Austria defeated Italian forces in the battle of Custoza, but thanks to Prussian victory over Austria Italy gained Venetia. The peace between Austria and Italy was signed in Vienna.
In 1870, when Prussia defeated the Second French Empire during the Franco-Prussian War, Italian forces took advantage of the homecoming of the French troops from Rome and overwhelmed what remained of the Papal States. Rome was captured on September 20, 1870, and subsequently became the capital of Italy.
