Why Did Piedmont Become A Driving Force In Italian Unification
Why did Piedmont become, and remain, the driving force towards closer Italian unity in the years 1848-61?
In, 1849 when the Piedmontese army was embarrassingly defeated by the Austrian army at the battle of Novara, you could say that Piedmont was the most unlikely Italian state to be responsible for Italian unity. People thought that Piedmont would never really recover, especially when Charles Albert abdicated through shire disappointment and embarrassment of northern Italy trying to fight Austria. The man that saved Piedmont was who took control next, Victor Emmanuel II. He brought five main ideas that caused Piedmont to rise up again, a constitution, a marriage, war, a political movement and finally transport across Italy. Firstly, the constitution, in my opinion the biggest factor, was one that showed consistent strength of Piedmont, because it was the only one to survive beyond 1849, the several other all crumbled. The constitution in Piedmont was knows as the Statuto, which provided a framework for Piedmont to build itself up on. It outweighed the monarchy, which was now no longer absolute. Within the constitution was the ‘Chamber of Deputies’, elected by only two percent of the population, however had powers to discuss financial issues and to initiate laws. Freedom of the press was guaranteed, and freedom from arrest without a trial was put in place. Urbano Rattazzi, president of the Chamber of Deputies showed that it had real political independence.
Victor Emanuel was much more liberal that Charles Albert, encouraging those who saw him as a potential King to back him. Piedmonts constitution was the only one to survive, because the monarchs, who granted the several others around Italy, regained the upper hand and withdrew them. This just left Piedmont, which therefore obviously encouraged thousands of other Italians to move to Italy, and in total, 30,000 exiles from elsewhere in Italy migrated to Piedmont, showing how popular Piedmont now was as a state
In, 1849 when the Piedmontese army was embarrassingly defeated by the Austrian army at the battle of Novara, you could say that Piedmont was the most unlikely Italian state to be responsible for Italian unity. People thought that Piedmont would never really recover, especially when Charles Albert abdicated through shire disappointment and embarrassment of northern Italy trying to fight Austria. The man that saved Piedmont was who took control next, Victor Emmanuel II. He brought five main ideas that caused Piedmont to rise up again, a constitution, a marriage, war, a political movement and finally transport across Italy. Firstly, the constitution, in my opinion the biggest factor, was one that showed consistent strength of Piedmont, because it was the only one to survive beyond 1849, the several other all crumbled. The constitution in Piedmont was knows as the Statuto, which provided a framework for Piedmont to build itself up on. It outweighed the monarchy, which was now no longer absolute. Within the constitution was the ‘Chamber of Deputies’, elected by only two percent of the population, however had powers to discuss financial issues and to initiate laws. Freedom of the press was guaranteed, and freedom from arrest without a trial was put in place. Urbano Rattazzi, president of the Chamber of Deputies showed that it had real political independence.
Victor Emanuel was much more liberal that Charles Albert, encouraging those who saw him as a potential King to back him. Piedmonts constitution was the only one to survive, because the monarchs, who granted the several others around Italy, regained the upper hand and withdrew them. This just left Piedmont, which therefore obviously encouraged thousands of other Italians to move to Italy, and in total, 30,000 exiles from elsewhere in Italy migrated to Piedmont, showing how popular Piedmont now was as a state