He was trained as a soldier and displayed that when conversing with people. A biographical account states that “His sense of responsibility and duty and his personal bravery helped him to overcome the many crises of his reign and to gain popularity among his people” (Noether 1). With this popularity and the resignation of his father, Victor was eventually crowned King of Sardinia in 1849. Three years later, he began to cooperate with Cavour when was promoted to Prime Minister of Sardinia by Victor’s own doing. E.P. Noether states that “Although Victor Emmanuel did not always agree with him, he recognized that Cavour 's plan helped to strengthen the monarchy and to transform Piedmont-Sardinia into a modern state” (Noether 5). Other revolutionaries like Giuseppe Mazzini were not as successful as Victor and Cavour because they had popularity throughout the states and they both came from respected, wealthy families. However, Mazzini had helped the French be on good terms with Sardinia, which Victor further increased. His main role in the Risorgimento was actually his connections with Pope Pius IX. Other close associates with Victor were not aware with his relationship, but Victor had it solely to persuade the Pope into giving over the Papal States to himself. Emmanuel even proposed that Pius could rule from inside the city. Despite his declination, Victor Emmanuel II eventually became …show more content…
The Crimean War was notably the most essential to the success of the Italian Unification partly due to Piedmont-Sardinia. Piedmont was a northwestern city-state located at the very top of pre-Italian territory, while Sardinia was an island located to the left of the mainland. In the Crimean War, Britain and France were already allied, prepared to fight against Russia. Piedmont-Sardinia later joined them in their cause, with the powerful influence of Cavour, and thus gained the respect of France and Britain. At a peace conference after the war, Cavour brought up the necessity of a unification of the Italian states. Despite both Britain and France agreeing, neither seemed very enthusiastic about helping Cavour. As a favor for helping France and Britain, France ultimately agreed to ally with Piedmont-Sardinia to take down Austria. However, the terms were that France would only assist if Piedmont-Sardinia engaged in battle first. So, the Sardinian army provoked Austria by moving military forces around their borders which, when failing to heed to Austrian orders, started the war. France was then reluctantly pulled in. This led to a conflict known as the Italian War of 1853, or the Franco-Austrian War. Inevitably, Austria lost to the forces of both France and Sardinia and was forced to give up some of