Editing Victor Emmanuel II (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Portrait du roi Vittorio Emanuele II en majesté.png|left|thumb|200px|Victor Emmanuel II in 1850]]
[[File:Ritratto di Vittorio Emanuele duca di Savoia, 1848 - Accademia delle Scienze di Torino - Ritratti 0036 B.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Victor Emmanuel, with a battle in the background (1848)]]
[[File:Ritratto di S.M. Carlo Alberto di Savoia.png|thumb|[[Charles Albert of Sardinia]], father of Victor Emmanuel II]]
[[File:Maria Teresa d'Asburgo-Toscana.jpg|thumb|[[Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Sardinia|Maria Theresa of Austria]], mother of Victor Emmanuel II]]

Victor Emmanuel was born as the eldest son of [[Carlo Alberto]] Prince of Carignano, and [[Maria Theresa of Austria (1801–1855)|Maria Theresa of Austria]]. His father succeeded a distant cousin as King of Sardinia in 1831. He lived for some years of his youth in [[Florence]] and showed an early interest in politics, the military, and sports. In 1842, he married his cousin, [[Adelaide of Austria]]. He was styled as the [[Duke of Savoy]] prior to becoming King of Sardinia. He took part in the [[First Italian War of Independence]] (1848–1849) under his father, King Charles Albert, fighting in the front line at the battles of [[Battle of Pastrengo|Pastrengo]], Santa Lucia, [[Battle of Goito|Goito]] and [[Battle of Custoza (1848)|Custoza]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Victor Emmanuel became [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|King of Sardinia]] in 1849 when his father abdicated the throne, after being defeated by the Austrians at the [[Battle of Novara (1849)|Battle of Novara]]. Victor Emmanuel was immediately able to obtain a rather favourable armistice at Vignale by the Austrian imperial army commander, [[Radetzky]]. The treaty, however, was not ratified by the Piedmontese [[Parliament|lower parliamentary house]], the Chamber of Deputies, and Victor Emmanuel retaliated by firing his Prime Minister, Claudio Gabriele de Launay, replacing him with [[Massimo D'Azeglio]]. After new elections, the peace with Austria was accepted by the new Chamber of Deputies. In 1849, Victor Emmanuel also fiercely suppressed a revolt in [[Genoa]], defining the rebels as a "vile and infected race of canailles".

In 1852, Victor Emmanuel appointed [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]], as [[Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia]]. Cavour was a clever strategist focused on establishing the [[House of Savoy]] as Italy's rulers. He applied liberalism and nationalism to dismantle the traditional structures of the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] while advancing an anti-clerical agenda that started during Charles Albert.{{Sfn|Bence-Jones|Vickers|Williamson|1977|p=355}} Cavour modernized the kingdom for war to expel the Austrians from Italy, facilitating Victor Emmanuel's eventual ascension as king. He also played a key role in securing an alliance with Napoleon III, leading to French support that enabled Emmanuel’s forces to capture Milan and other Austrian territories, though Venice remained under Austrian control.{{Sfn|Bence-Jones|Vickers|Williamson|1977|p=355}} Victor Emmanuel II soon became the symbol of ''[[Risorgimento]]'', the Italian unification movement of the 1850s and early 60s.{{Sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was especially popular in Piedmont–Sardinia because of his respect for the new constitution and his liberal reforms.
[[File:S.M. Re Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia (Biscarra).png|thumb|left|180px|Portrait of Victor Emmanuel II by [[Carlo Felice Biscarra]]]]

===Crimean War===
[[File:Victor Emmanuel reviews the troops for the Crimean War.jpg|thumb|Victor Emmanuel reviews the troops for the [[Crimean War]].]]

Following Victor Emmanuel's advice, Cavour joined Britain and France in the [[Crimean War]] against Russia. Cavour was reluctant to go to war due to the power of Russia at the time and the expense of doing so; however, Victor Emmanuel was convinced of the rewards to be gained from the alliance created with Britain and more importantly France. After successfully seeking British support and ingratiating himself with France and Napoleon III at the [[Congress of Paris (1856)|Congress of Paris in 1856]] at the end of the war, Count Cavour arranged a secret meeting with the French emperor. In 1858, they met at [[Plombières-les-Bains]] (in [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]]), where they agreed that if the French were to help Piedmont in its war against Austria, which still reigned over the [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia]] in northern Italy, France would be awarded [[Nice]] and [[Savoy]].

===Wars of Italian Unification===
{{main|Second Italian War of Independence}}

The Italo-French campaign against Austria in 1859 started successfully; however, sickened by the casualties of the war and worried about the mobilisation of Prussian troops, Napoleon III secretly made a treaty with [[Franz Joseph of Austria]] at [[Villafranca di Verona|Villafranca]] whereby Piedmont would only gain [[Lombardy]]. France did not as a result receive the promised Nice and Savoy but Austria kept [[Veneto|Venetia]], a major setback for the Piedmontese, in no small part because the treaty had been prepared without their knowledge. After several quarrels about the outcome of the war, Cavour resigned, and the king had to find other advisors. France only gained Nice and Savoy after the [[Treaty of Turin (1860)|Treaty of Turin]] was signed in March 1860, after Cavour had been reinstalled as Prime Minister, and a deal with the French was struck for plebiscites to take place in the Central Italian Duchies.

Later that same year, Victor Emmanuel II sent his forces to fight the papal army at Castelfidardo and drove the Pope into [[Vatican City]]. His success at these goals led him to be [[excommunicated]] from the Catholic Church until 1878 when it was lifted just before his death. Then, [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] conquered Sicily and Naples, and Piedmont–Sardinia grew even larger. On 17 March 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was officially established and Victor Emmanuel II became its king.

Victor Emmanuel supported [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]]'s [[Expedition of the Thousand]] (1860–1861), which resulted in the rapid fall of the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] in southern Italy; however, the king halted Garibaldi when he appeared ready to attack Rome, still under the [[Papal States]], as it was under French protection. In 1860, through local plebiscites, Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and Romagna decided to side with Piedmont–Sardinia. Victor Emmanuel then marched victoriously in the [[Marche]] and [[Umbria]] after the victorious [[battle of Castelfidardo]] (1860) over the Papal forces.

The king subsequently met with Garibaldi at [[Teano]], receiving from him the control of southern Italy. Another series of plebiscites in the occupied lands resulted in the proclamation of Victor Emmanuel as the first [[King of Italy]] by the new Parliament of [[Unification of Italy|unified Italy]], on 17 March 1861. He did not renumber himself after assuming the new royal title, and [[Turin]] became the capital of the new state. Only [[Lazio]], [[Veneto]], and [[Trentino]] remained to be conquered.[[Image:With Victor Emmanuel.jpg|thumb|Victor Emmanuel meets [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] in [[Teano]].]]

===Completion of the unification===
[[File:Artgate Fondazione Cariplo - Magistretti Emilio, Il 9 gennajo 1878 in Milano o Il 9 Gennaio 1878 o L'annuncio della morte di Vittorio Emanuele a Milano.jpg|thumb|9 January 1878, Milan: Announcement of the death of Victor Emmanuel II, by [[Emilio Magistretti]] (1879)]]
[[File:Pantheon 0935 2013.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of Victor Emmanuel II in the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]]]]
{{main|Third Italian War of Independence}}{{See also|Plebiscite of Veneto of 1866}}
In 1866, Victor Emmanuel allied himself with [[Prussia]] in the [[Third Italian War of Independence]]. Although not victorious in the Italian theatre, he managed to receive Veneto after the Austrian defeat in Germany. The British Foreign Secretary, Lord Clarendon, visited Florence in December 1867 and reported to London after talking to various Italian politicians: "There is universal agreement that Victor Emmanuel is an imbecile; he is a dishonest man who tells lies to everyone; at this rate, he will end up losing his crown and ruining both Italy and his dynasty."<ref>Mack Smith, Denis ''Italy and its Monarchy'', New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989 p. 42</ref> In 1870, after two failed attempts by Garibaldi, he also took advantage of the Prussian victory over France in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] to capture Rome after the French withdrew. He entered Rome on 20 September 1870 and set up the new capital there on 2 July 1871, after a temporary move to [[Florence]] in 1864. The new Royal residence was the [[Quirinal Palace]].

The rest of Victor Emmanuel II's reign was much quieter. After the Kingdom of Italy was established, he decided to continue on as King Victor Emmanuel II instead of Victor Emmanuel I of Italy. This was a terrible move as far as public relations went, as it was not indicative of the fresh start that the Italian people wanted and suggested that Piedmont–Sardinia had taken over the Italian peninsula rather than unifying it. Despite this mishap, the remainder of Victor Emmanuel II's reign was consumed by wrapping up loose ends and dealing with economic and cultural issues. His role in day-to-day governing gradually dwindled, as it became increasingly apparent that a king could no longer keep a government in office against the will of Parliament. As a result, while the wording of the [[Statuto Albertino]] stipulating that ministers were solely responsible to the crown remained unchanged, in practice they were now responsible to Parliament.

Victor Emmanuel died in Rome in 1878, after meeting with the envoys of [[Pope Pius IX]], who had reversed the excommunication, and received [[last rites]]. He was buried in the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]]. His successor was his son [[Umberto I]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Excommunicating Politicians |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/497/article/excommunicating-politicians |date=27 September 2004}}</ref>
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