Victor Emmanuel II

(1820–1878)

   The King of Piedmont-Sardinia (1849–1861) and Italy (1861–1878), Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy assumed the throne of Piedmont after the Austrians defeated his father Charles Albert at the Battle of Novara in March 1849 and forced him to abdicate. The former king had been a leader in the effort to unify the peninsula, but his delay in intervening on behalf of Milan cost him and the House of Savoy much good will and aroused suspicion of his real intentions. When Turin rose in the revolutionary fervor that gripped Italy in February and March 1848, Charles Albert granted his kingdom a constitution and prepared to help the Milanese defend themselves against the Austrians. With aid arriving from the other Italian states, Charles Albert preferred to delay for the right moment to strike. Some Liberals saw in this move a monarch’s attempt to undermine a popular revolution. The resulting in-fighting weakened the revolutionary governments and allowed the Austrians to take Venice and Milan, and defeat the Piedmontese.

   Victor Emmanuel II had to be extremely careful in dealing with the Austrians, who demanded the negation of the constitution, and the radicals, who wanted him to keep it. The king did not enjoy the goodwill of republicans who believed his father had betrayed the cause, and so had to worry about an insurrection. But he had no intention of revoking the constitution or of losing control of the monarchy. Instead, the king cracked down on the radicals in parliament by issuing the famous Moncalieri Proclamation of 1849, stating that if parliament was not to his liking, he would not be held responsible for its future. The ploy worked, because the subsequent election brought a group of moderate reformers, led by Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, to power. Cavour quickly came to the king’s attention as a hardheaded politician who would do whatever it took to achieve unification, and so the king asked Cavour to form a government in 1852. Cavour did exactly what Victor Emmanuel wanted and unified Italy under the Kingdom of Piedmont.

   See also <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Di Scala, Spencer. Italy from Revolution to Republic: 1700 to the Present. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1998.

   FREDERICK H. DOTOLO