Victor Emmanuel II Biography

Dromo's Den

VICTOR EMMANUEL II (1820-78). King of Sardinia from 1849 to 1861 and of Italy from 1861 to 1878. He was the son of Charles Albert (q.v.), King of Sardinia, and was born March 14, 1820. He was educated under his father's guidance, commanded the brigade of Savoy in the campaign of 1848-49, and displayed gallantry at Goito and Novara. Believing that his son could make better terms with Austria, Charles Albert, on the evening following the fatal day of Novara (March 23, 1849), abdicated in favor of his son. The new King chose for ministers such men as D'Azeglio and Cavour (q.v.), who sought to increase the strength and importance of the country by improved administration, rigid economy, care of the army, and encouragement of trade. Church property was sold, and reforms intended to diminish the privileges of the clergy were adopted-changes which brought displeasure from the Vatican; but Victor Emmanuel asserted and maintained his independence of the papacy. Under the guidance of Cavour Sardinia joined England and France on the outbreak of the Crimean War, sending an army of 17,000 men under La Marmora. After the Peace of Paris (1856) the King entered into a closer alliance with France, gave his elder daughter, Clotilde, in marriage (Jan. 30, 1859) to Prince Napoleon, and, backed by French arms, provoked a war with Anstria. The campaign of 1859 was brief but decisive, the Austrians were defeated at Magneta and Solferino, but the preliminary treaty between France and Austria at Villafranca, while securing the liberation of Lombardy, left Venetia in Austrian hands. Victor Emmanuel was compelled by the agreement with Napoleon III to yield Nice and Savoy to France.

In the meanwhile Tuscany, Parma, and Modena had emancipated themselves, and the Romagna had thrown off the papal authority, and in 1860 these regions were annexed to the dominions of Victor Emmanuel. Another step in the building up of his Italian kingdom was taken in the liberation of the Two Sicilies by Garibaldi (q.v.), who turned them over to the King. At the same tune the Sardinian forces advanced into the marches of Umbria, which were seeking to free themselves from the rule of Pius IX, and these regions were also annexed. On Feb. 26, 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was declared King of Italy by the National Italian Parliament assembled at Turin, and on March 17 he formally assumed the title. When, in 1862, Garibaldi attacked the Papal States, the King was compelled to interfere, and the patriot leader was taken prisoner by the royal troops at Aspromonte. Italy joined Prussia against Austria in 1866, and, although defeated on land (Custozza) and on the sea (Lissa) , she achieved her aim in the acquisition of Venetia. In 1870, after the outbreak of the war between France and Germany, the French garrison was withdrawn from Rome, and the Italian troops entered the Imperial city, which, finally united to the Kingdom, became the capital of Italy. Consult: Ruffer, König Victor Emmanuel (Vienna, 1878); Godkin, Life of Victor Emmanuel II (London, 1879); Massari, La vita ed at regno di Vittorio Emanuele II (Milan, 1880); Cappelletti, Storia di Vittorio Emmanuele II a del silo regno (Rome, 1894); R. S. Holland, Builders of United Italy (New York, 1908).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 134.