Italian language who is Vittorio Emanuele ii. The unification of Italy or how Victor Emmanuel II became the Father of the Fatherland

September 22, 2018

In this article we will talk about the most important period in the history of Italy - the Risorgimento . Victor Emmanuel II is one of the key figures who did an incredible amount for the unification of Italy. Thanks to him, a new state appeared on the world map in the second half of the 19th century - the united kingdom of Italy.

Father of the Fatherland

As a result of the 1860 vote, the people elected Vittorio Emanuele II as King of the Provinces, who took the title on March 17, 1861, the day of the declaration of independence of the Kingdom of Italy. Already at the first meetings of parliament, it was decided that the capital of Italy would be Rome, which was occupied at that time by the French. At first, Vittorio tried to resolve the issue of liberating the city diplomatically, convincing Napoleon III to free the territory of Italy from troops within two years. But the Frenchman demanded the fulfillment of the conditions that Rome should not become the capital, and that a capable army should be left at the Pope’s disposal. However, the people were against this turn of events.

They returned to the Roman issue a little later, but from a position of strength. In the meantime Vittorio Emanuele II had to conclude a military alliance with Prussia, supporting it in the war with the Austrians. As a result, in 1866 Venice became part of Italy. Then the Franco-Prussian War and the capitulation of Napoleon III took place, which served as an impetus for the rapid liberation of Italy from the French. Then Victor Emmanuel tried to convince Pius IX to voluntarily withdraw from secular affairs, renounce papal authority and not interfere with the formation of a new, full-fledged state, to which the Pope did not give his consent. But at the very first shelling of Rome, Pius IX had to surrender and disband his troops. After the annexation of the Papal States in 1870, Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.

Victor Emmanuel II - king of Sardinia, then of Italy; eldest son and successor of the king. Born 1820; as crown prince, he bore the title Duke of Savoy. He took part in his father's wars against Austria in 1848 and 1849. and showed great courage. After the defeat at Novara, Charles Albert abdicated the throne in March 1849 in favor of his heir and retired to Spain.

The young king was forced to make peace with Austria; but while the rest of Italy was under the rule or influence of Austria, the great task of liberating Italy from foreign rule, outlined by King Charles Albert, was quietly being prepared in Sardinia. Victor Emmanuel had as his assistant such an outstanding statesman and patriot as Count Cavour, former first minister in 1852-59 and in 1860-61. He diligently sought the support of the Western powers, for which he took part in Eastern war against Russia. As a result, the representatives of Sardinia were admitted to the Paris Congress of 1856, and Cavour acted here as a clear opponent of Austria.

To strengthen the alliance with France, Victor Emmanuel married his eldest daughter, Clotilde, to Prince Napoleon (January 1859). In the war against Austria that opened soon after (in April 1859), the king had the opportunity to demonstrate his personal courage more than once. By the peace treaty of Villafranca and Zurich he received Lombardy. In the spring of 1860, Tuscany, Parma, Modena and Romagna were annexed to Sardinia; but in order to obtain consent to these acquisitions, Victor Emmanuel had to cede Savoy and Nice to France.

Giuseppe Garibaldi
(1807 - 1882) -
folk hero of Italy,
military leader of the Risorgimento

In May 1860, Garibaldi undertook the conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, inscribing the name of the king on his banner. At the same time, unrest began in the Church Region; the moderate national party turned to Victor Emmanuel for assistance; in September 1860, the Sardinian army occupied the Ecclesiastical Region (with the exception of Rome and its immediate environs). The king, having become the head of the army, crossed the Neapolitan border and on November 7 entered Naples, where Garibaldi renounced his dictatorship in his favor. Before the end of 1860, all of Lower Italy and Sicily were connected to Sardinia. This connection, like all previous ones, was confirmed by popular vote. On March 17, 1861, Victor Emmanuel assumed the title of “King of Italy.”

Soon after this, Cavour died suddenly. The king remained true to his promise to rule according to by the people's will and refrained from any direct unconstitutional interference in the struggle of parliamentary parties (for which he received the nickname “il Re Galantumo” - the gentleman king). He was, however, a strong supporter of an alliance with France; various attempts at reconciliation with the papal curia (however, without success) should be attributed to his personal influence. According to the resolution of the Franco-Italian convention on September 15, 1864, the residence of the king was transferred from Turin to Florence (in the spring of 1865); this marked the temporary renunciation of the new kingdom's claims to Rome as its true capital. During the war in 1866, Victor Emmanuel, as an ally of Prussia, moved his troops across the Austrian border, but at Custozza on June 24 they were defeated and had to retreat. After the defeat at Königgrätz, Austria expressed its readiness to conclude a separate peace with Italy; but Victor Emmanuel remained a loyal ally of Prussia and continued to wage war, and Italian fleet was defeated at Lisse. According to the Peace of Vienna (in October), Austria finally abandoned the Venetian region, annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.

When in the fall of 1867 Garibaldi's troops began to threaten Rome, the French again returned to the papal possessions they had cleared. On November 3, 1867, at Mentana, Garibaldi was defeated by combined French and papal troops. The Italian government remained a calm spectator of these events. This caused unrest and demonstrations in Florence and Turin, partly directed against the king himself. In 1868 and 1869, the king took an active part in the negotiations on the conclusion triple alliance between Italy, Austria and France. All demands of Victor Emmanuel for the removal of French troops from the papal possessions remained in vain until the events of 1870 forced the French to clear Rome, which was subsequently (September 20) occupied by Italian troops and from July 1, 1871 became the residence of the king. Even earlier, the so-called law on guarantees, that is, on the independence of the Pope in spiritual matters, was approved in Florence. By the end of the reign of Victor Emmanuel, the finances, upset by the long struggle for Italian independence, were put in order; control passed from the hands of the right side to the hands of the left without any shocks (1876).

VICTOR EMMANUEL II

From the Savoy dynasty. King of Sardinia in 1849-1861 it. King of Italy from 1861 to 1878. Son of Charles Albert and Teresa of Tuscany. J.: 1) since 1842 Adelaide, daughter of Archduke Rene of Austria (b. 1822. Died 1855); 2) from 1869 Rosa, Countess Mirifiori (born 1833, died 1885). Genus. 1820 Died January 9 1878

Victor Emmanuel took the Sardinian throne after the abdication of his father and the defeats suffered by Piedmontese troops in the war with the Austrians. Having assumed power, he first of all hastened to conclude a truce with the Austrian command. By this he aroused such indignation throughout the country that the deputies refused to approve the treaty. Victor Emmanuel dissolved the House and called new elections, threatening: if they did not give a majority to the moderate factions, the Statute (the constitution granted by his father) would be repealed. The elections justified the king's hopes. Moderates established themselves in the chamber and at court, capable of orienting Sardinia towards broad and important goals for Italy. The king himself, despite his excessive passion for hunting and love affairs, was a courageous man. Not possessing much intelligence, he hid a lot of things under his purely soldierly roughness. common sense and insight. He understood perfectly well that, protected from the rear by the Alps and supported by France, Piedmont could become a center for rallying all forces for the Italian patriots. To do this it was necessary to remain a liberal throughout domestic policy, and in external matters - to behave boldly in relation to Austria. He successfully followed these two rules throughout his reign, and this was his historical role for the unification of Italy. Others did the rest for him.

Since 1852, the government of the Sardinian kingdom was headed by Count Cavour, who played the same role in Italy as Bismarck played in Germany. Under his leadership, liberal reforms began to be carried out. In foreign policy Cavour was guided by France, in alliance with which he began the war against Austria in 1859. In three battles the Austrian army was defeated. Peace was signed in Zurich in November. Under its terms, Lombardy came under the rule of the Savoy dynasty. In March 1860, the duchies of Parma, Modena and Tuscany were annexed, in which foreign dynasties fell as a result of the uprising. In April, an uprising began in Palermo. In May, the famous Italian patriot Garibaldi crossed to Sicily at the head of a detachment of volunteers. In October, the Neapolitan army was defeated at Volturno. The southern half of Italy also recognized the power of the Savoy dynasty. In March 1861, Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed King of Italy. For the complete reunification of the country, it remained to take Venice from Austria and take possession of the Papal States with Rome. The king hoped to do this with the help of Prussia and concluded a military alliance with it in 1866. The war began in the summer of that year and was unsuccessful for the Italian army. However, the successful actions of Garibaldi and the defeat of the Austrian army by the Prussians at Sadovaya brought Victor Emmanuel what he wanted - the Venetian region became part of Italy. In 1870, after the defeat of France by Prussia, he annexed Rome.

Monarchs. 2012

King of the Sardinian Kingdom

Biography

Born in 1820, and while still crown prince, he showed outstanding courage in the war with Austria in 1848-1849.

Having ascended the throne of Sardinia after his father, King Charles Albert, defeated at Novara, retired to Spain, Victor Emmanuel II made peace with Austria on rather difficult conditions for the country: the Austrians received a large indemnity, and the occupation corps for a long time remained in Piedmont. Peace could have been concluded on easier terms, but only with the abolition of the constitution, but Victor Emmanuel II did not want to break the obligation given to the people by his father. Thanks to this, he earned the trust of the people and a popularity almost equal to that of Garibaldi. Only by taking advantage of this, Victor Emmanuel II could strain all the country's financial resources, increasing the national debt by 4 times, to reorganize the army, which, through the efforts of the Minister of War, General Lamarmora, was brought to a brilliant state and increased to 100,000 people.

To give her the necessary combat experience and at the same time strengthen friendly relations with France, Victor Emmanuel II took part in the Eastern War and sent a 15 thousandth corps under the command of General Mentevecchio to Sevastopol. This circumstance made it possible for Sardinia to have its representative at the Paris Congress of 1856, where Cavour, in a brilliant speech directed against Austria, outlined the situation and needs of Italy.

In 1858, the same Cavour, sent by Victor Emmanuel II to Plombières for a meeting with Napoleon, achieved that the latter undertook to declare war on Austria and cede Lombardy and Venice to Piedmont in exchange for Nice and Savoy. The war began, and after the victories of the French-Italian troops at Palestro, Magenta and Solferino, in which Victor Emmanuel II himself personally took part, the fate of Italy was decided by the Peace of Villafranca as follows: Lombardy went to Victor Emmanuel II, Venice remained with Austria, from the rest of Italy it was planned to form a federation under the chairmanship of Pope Pius IX. The resolutions of the Peace of Villafranca caused terrible indignation throughout Italy, and it turned out to be impossible to implement them; Pius IX refused to make any concessions; Tuscany, Modena, Romagna and Parma did not want to accept their dukes and elected Garibaldi as the head of their union, instructing him to join Piedmont.

Forced by the state of affairs, Napoleon, leaving Savoy and Nice behind him, agreed to the annexation of Tuscany, Parma, Modena and Romagna to Piedmont, and Victor Emmanuel II was recognized as king of these provinces by popular vote (1860) and on March 14, 1861 took the title of king Italy, under the name Victor Emmanuel II.

Although Rome was called “the capital of Italy” in one of the first sessions of parliament, it was occupied by French troops. Not being able to engage in its conquest, since the finances of the state were upset by constant wars and there was an urgent need to engage internal affairs, Victor Emmanuel II decided to diplomatically achieve the removal of French troops from Rome. After much hesitation, Napoleon agreed to withdraw his troops from Italy within 2 years, but on the condition that Rome would never be its capital and the pope would have his own army. The people, however, did not want to accept these conditions, and a rebellion broke out in Turin, energetically pacified by Victor Emmanuel II.

In 1866, Victor Emmanuel II concluded a defensive and offensive alliance with Prussia against Austria, according to which peace could be concluded only by common consent. For this, Bismarck promised to return Venice to Italy. Then Austria offered Victor Emmanuel II to receive Venice for free, but Victor Emmanuel II did not want to break the agreement with Prussia and sent his troops to support it in the war with Austria that had already begun, but they acted very unsuccessfully. According to the Vienna Peace Treaty of 1866, the Venetian region ceded to Italy, and at the end of 1866, French troops left Rome, having remained there for 17 years. Garibaldi then moved to conquer Rome, but was defeated by the French in 1867 at Menton, and French troops reoccupied the Papal States. Napoleon suspected Victor Emmanuel II of sympathizing with Garibaldi, and this caused a cooling between France and Italy.

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This little fat man with a big mustache can be found anywhere in Italy. Often he is on horseback, wearing a hat with feathers, waving a saber. This is their first king, Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy. He is simply the second Victor Emmanuel in his dynasty of Savoy, the Dukes of Piedmont and the kings of Sardinia, before him there was already one Victor Emmanuel in this family. But as king of a united Italy, this Second became the first.
Imagine that, say, Ryazan and Tula in the middle of the 19th century were different states. The population speaks very similar dialects, common literary language. But they are different, with their own princes or kings. And sometimes they are not friends, or even fight with each other. I can't wrap my head around it. Russia, like other normal European states, was centralized a long time ago. On the Apennine Peninsula there was a real feudal fragmentation. Although Germany has a similar history, and also united around the same time. But the Prussians, Bavarians, and Swabians had a common elected emperor, some semblance of an interstate unification. Italy didn't have that either. Strictly speaking, the very phrase “Italy did not have its own state” is meaningless, for what was not a state should not be called Italy; we say this solely for the sake of brevity, so as not to repeat over and over again “Italian states” with their Romans, Tuscans and Sicilians in each of them.
In 1861, representatives of these numerous states agreed to unite. It's like Belovezhskaya Pushcha, only in reverse. There they agreed on disunion, and in Turin in 1866 - on unification.
The population was asked, but how. And everywhere the voice of the people was: it was time to put an end to appanage principalities. The unifying idea took hold of minds. People also spoke out for a constitutional-monarchical structure of a new large homeland. A parliamentary republic under a king, similar to the then Netherlands or Spain. Who should be king was also decided by referendum. Alternative candidates, however, were not nominated, but the fact itself is important - the expression of the people's will. The little fat man became the first monarch of a new big country.
He didn’t even come out tall enough to write an article, what can you do? But I was lucky more than once and on a big scale. What was a 15,000-strong Sardinian corps supposed to do near Sevastopol in 1854? But participation in the victorious intervention paved the way for the necessary solution to the Italian question in Europe. I was lucky with the cunning Cavour, a genius of political intrigue and the negotiation process. I was very lucky with Garibaldi, an ardent statesman and monarchist.
But you also need to be able to manage your luck. He did it. A talented commander who has repeatedly shown examples of personal courage. He did not rashly climb into big power; he acted with an eye on parliament and the public. Easily found common language sometimes with a street greengrocer, and sometimes with the Emperor of France or, say, the German Kaiser. Not wanting to compromise his principles and his possessions, the pontiff declared from Rome: “You guys, unite, this is a good thing, we will even bless you, but don’t touch our Papal States.” It was not intelligence or any special insight that was then required from the king, but one single quality - determination. We had to shoot a little, but government troops entered Rome in 1870, and only after that the unification of the country could be considered completed. Even his impulsiveness, this ridiculous habit of flaring up for any reason and rolling his eyes funny, was endearing. Moreover, he left immediately. The common people saw him as one of their own.
This is where we get to the main topic.
It may very well be that the common people saw their king not by chance, but because this Victor Emmanuel II was actually one of their own. From the simple ones. Wrong boy. The child was replaced in the cradle.
This happened in the summer of 1822 in the vicinity of Florence at the villa of Prince Charles Albert of Savoy. Teresa, the nanny of the prince's 2-year-old son, brought a candle to the cradle to ward off mosquitoes. One careless movement - and the bed lace began to work. The child died, and the nanny soon died from burns.
In the film “Formula of Love,” one character says: “Why do we need a blacksmith? No, we don’t need a blacksmith.” But in this case, the blacksmith turned out to be very necessary. If this is to be expressed figuratively, but if it is closer to the historical truth, then it was not a blacksmith that was needed, but a representative of another courageous profession - a butcher named Tiburtsi. The son of a butcher replaced the tragically deceased child. For what? Then, without male offspring, Charles Albert's chances of gaining the throne of Sardinia became problematic. So there was really a reason for it. The butcher did not have to be especially destitute - the boy was illegitimate. Therefore, his move to the villa went unnoticed.
It was announced to everyone that the nanny, without sparing herself, saved little Victor Emmanuel, which more than atoned for her carelessness, and the little heir recovered. Why was the name of the unfortunate woman banned, and her family did not receive any reward? The parents can be understood, but for this they need to accept another version: through the fault of the nanny, they still lost their own child. Only forty years later, correcting the obvious inconsistency and in view of the ongoing rumors, will a memorial plaque be installed in the villa in honor of Teresa...
Another seemingly inexplicable circumstance is easily explained in the substitution version. The butcher began to quickly and fabulously get rich. He comfortably supported a family of 17 people, and by the end of his life he owned several dozen apartment buildings. You can’t make such a fortune by successfully butchering carcasses.
Why are we arguing? The embalmed remains of this or that boy, who grew up and became a king, are in the Roman Pantheon. You can take genetic material from there, and from its direct offspring - the controversial Savoy, and from others, indisputable, then compare and draw conclusions. Once these were very expensive studies, but now, it seems, they can be done by any criminological laboratory.
But the Italians won’t let this happen for another two hundred years. So there is no direct evidence, only indirect evidence. But there seem to be enough indirect ones.
If a guide educates the public near such a monument, it is immediately clear from the enthusiastic manner of speaking and the interest of the group what he is talking about. This, in my opinion, is somehow indelicate. It's better to hold on to this information and post it on the bus. Although the Italians would have had something to answer if someone had decided to reproach them with a foundling king. It’s like in the bearded joke when the husband returns home after a very long absence, I don’t know if there was a war or he is a polar explorer, and discovers that there is clearly an extra mouth at the table.
- What is this guy doing here?
“Let him sit and eat,” the wife replies, “Are you sorry, or what?”
This is how they would answer us. Let him sit there eating, waving his saber, you feel sorry for him or something. What difference does it make whose son he is? He did not inherit the thin wrists from the official pope, his hands were the hands of a butcher - what does that matter to you? In addition to numerous children in two marriages, he gave birth to a whole brood of illegitimate children, and who is not a womanizer? Our shortcomings are a continuation of our advantages. A man worthy of the throne was in the right place at the right time. He raised his eldest son, Umberto, correctly. Who knows where the history of Italy would have turned if the scumbag terrorist had not killed this Umberto in Rome in 1900. King Victor Emmanuel was not bad, and that's it.
And it’s true that the king is good. Therefore, he survived all the regimes and proudly towers over the cities and towns of his beloved Italy.
***
In Venice, the monument on the embankment clearly does not fit into the local historical and architectural context. Too pompous, too lion on a pedestal looks like a big angry dog. I suspect that the Venetians do not like the monument for this. They came up with a nickname for him (not the king, but the monument), which can be translated descriptively: “threading pigeons on a saber, like on a skewer.”
There is another delicate point here. With the name of this king and the unification of Italy, the Venetians parted forever with their great-power past. They once stretched from Constantinople to Verona and had interests in the Black and Seas of Azov, traded duty-free in the ports of the Levant, where the Great Silk Road began and ended. Islands of Crete, Cyprus, Corfu. And the thousand-year-old republic is under our nose powerful of the world Togo! If a Venetian treats you with confidence, then on the fifth glass of amarone he will sigh sadly: “But we were once big.” Wow, and how big they are! And now simply Reggione Veneto, one of the 20 lands of a single and indivisible Italy.
But what is it that the lion is holding with his paw, even scratching with his claws? Don't come near, he will bite. Let's take the risk of coming up and reading. Yep, referendum results. More than 600 thousand are in favor of joining the Italian parliamentary republic and constitutional monarchy, and only 69 (sixty-nine) people are against.
So there's nothing now. They wanted it themselves.