Victor Emmanuel II

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VICTOR EMMANUEL II

VICTOR EMMANUEL II (1820–1878; ruled 1861–1878), first king of Italy.

Victor Emmanuel (born 14 March 1820) took the throne of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia at age twenty-eight. He succeeded his father, Charles Albert (r. 1831–1849), who abdicated after the Austrians defeated Piedmontese forces at the Battle of Novara in 1849. Twelve years later, 17 March 1861, with all but Venice, Rome, Trieste, and the Trentino united under the aegis of Piedmont, he accepted the title King of Italy.

When he took power in 1849, Victor Emmanuel II endorsed the constitution granted by his father the year before and reluctantly agreed to Austria's stiff terms for an armistice. Parliament rejected the armistice, and the new king dissolved it (29 March 1849) and called new elections only to see the voters reaffirm democratic control. The king dissolved the Chamber again and appealed to the people to return a more favorable majority with the Proclamation of Moncalieri, 20 November 1849. This time moderates took charge (9 December 1849), and they endorsed the peace treaty with Austria on 5 January 1850.

Victor Emmanuel's ability to stand up to the Austrians and to undercut the democrats without using force or violating the constitution won him the epithet "the gentleman king." In this early crisis, he insisted on the royal prerogative to make war and peace and used his power to dissolve

parliament to bring it in line with his more moderate views. His constitutional authority and his interest in using it gave him political influence, especially as the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia gained prominence in the movement to unify Italy.

While he agreed with moderates on constitutional rule and Piedmont-Sardinia's national mission, Victor Emmanuel remained conservative on religious matters. He resisted a bill to dissolve monastic orders, but at the urging of close advisors, he signed the law (29 May 1855). At odds over religious policy, the king and his prime minister Count Cavour (Camillo Benso, 1810–1861) found common ground on foreign affairs, agreeing to join France and England against Russia in the Crimean War (4 March 1855). Contributions to the war gave Piedmont-Sardinia a place at the Congress of Paris (opened 25 February 1856) and brought acknowledgment of the Italian question. As Piedmont-Sardinia gained prominence, republicans and patriots elsewhere on the peninsula increasingly looked to Victor Emmanuel for leadership of the national movement.

The exact nature of Victor Emmanuel's role in the events leading to unification remains the subject of debate. Historians attribute the creation of Italy under Piedmontese rule to some combination of the diplomatic finesse of Cavour, the actions of the French emperor Napoleon III (1808–1873), the success of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882) and his Red Shirts, the popular drive for liberation, and the pressure of events. At the least, Victor Emmanuel did not obstruct unification, and according to most assessments, he assisted the process in key ways. In particular, he managed in volatile conditions to maintain contacts with the democratic movement while successfully presenting himself to moderates and frightened foreign governments as the only plausible guarantee against popular revolution.

The attempt of the Italian Felice Orsini (1819–1858) on Emperor Napoleon III's life (14 January 1858) opened a critical sequence of events. Napoleon III met with Cavour (July 20–21) and agreed to support Piedmont's effort to expel Austria from northern Italy. He accepted the creation of a northern Italian kingdom under Victor Emmanuel as part of an Italian confederation of states. Victor Emmanuel agreed in turn to cede Nice and Savoy to France and to marry his daughter Clotilde to the emperor's cousin, Prince Napoleon (alliance signed 24 January 1859). War broke out with Austria 27 April 1859, and French and Piedmontese troops forced an Austrian retreat. Under pressure from Napoleon III and over strong protests from Cavour, Victor Emmanuel accepted the truce of Villafranca (8 July 1859) and received control over Lombardy, causing Cavour to resign.

Meanwhile the duchies of central Italy (Tuscany, Modena, Parma, Bologna) collapsed, and moderate leaders moved rapidly to take control. They requested annexation to Piedmont-Sardinia, and with the encouragement of England and the sanction of plebiscites, Victor Emmanuel agreed. With the king's support and against the wishes of Cavour (who returned to power 21 January 1860), Garibaldi organized an army of volunteers and prepared to invade Sicily. The rapid liberation of Sicily from the Spanish Bourbons alarmed European powers, and Victor Emmanuel publicly warned Garibaldi against crossing to the mainland, while privately urging him on. When Garibaldi landed in southern Italy (18 August), the Piedmontese army invaded the Papal States to stop him (10 September 1860). The forces met at Teano (26 October), and Garibaldi ceded Sicily and Naples to Victor Emmanuel.

As the first king of united Italy, Victor Emmanuel actively influenced foreign policy, working with his ministers to annex Venice (1866) and Rome (1870). Because parliamentary factionalism weakened cabinets, his authority to appoint ministers drew him into internal politics as well. Initially he favored the Right and then, with the "parliamentary revolution" of March 1876, he accepted the Left's arrival in power. His actions helped reduce the opposition of republicans to monarchy and of the South to unification under the North.

Victor Emmanuel died 9 January 1878 and was buried in the Pantheon in Rome.