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Unlock This CourseAfter 1849 Piedmont and Austria were at peace, but they were not friends. Austria ruled Lombardy and Venetia, right on Piedmont's border, and wanted Italy kept quiet. Piedmont had a parliament, a free press and thousands of exiles who had fled from Austrian rule. To Austria, Piedmont looked like a nest of troublemakers. To Piedmont, Austria was the power that had beaten it twice and blocked any change in Italy.
Two quarrels show how bad things became.
After the failed rising in Milan in February 1853, Austria punished the exiles from Lombardy. It ordered the sequestration of their property, even though many now lived in Piedmont and some had become citizens of Piedmont. Cavour protested that this broke the peace treaty. When Austria refused to back down, he called Piedmont's ambassador home from Vienna, and parliament voted money to help the exiles.
Piedmont's newspapers were free to attack Austria, and they often did. In 1857 Austria demanded that Cavour silence them. He refused, saying that the press in Piedmont was free under the law. Austria then broke off diplomatic relations with Piedmont.
Cavour stood up to Austria in these quarrels, but he knew Piedmont could not fight Austria alone. The defeats of 1848-49 had proved that. Piedmont needed a great power as an ally.
Key terms:
In March 1854 Britain and France went to war with Russia to protect the Turkish Empire. Most of the fighting took place in the Crimea, a part of Russia on the Black Sea. This war had nothing to do with Italy. So why did Piedmont join in?
Cavour saw advantages in joining, but several of his ministers objected, because Britain and France would promise nothing in return. In January 1855, with the king ready to replace him, Cavour joined without conditions. His foreign minister, Giuseppe Dabormida, resigned in protest, and Cavour took over foreign affairs himself. Piedmont went to war with no promise of any reward.
About 15,000 soldiers sailed for the Crimea in the spring of 1855, led by General Alfonso La Marmora. On 16 August 1855 they fought beside the French at the Battle of the Chernaya, where a Russian attack was beaten back. It was a small part in a big war, but the army fought well. After the defeats of 1848-49, that mattered a great deal for Piedmont's pride and reputation.
The cost was real. About 2,000 of Piedmont's soldiers died in the Crimea, most of them from diseases such as cholera, not in battle. The war also added to Piedmont's debts.
Russia made peace early in 1856, and the powers met at the Congress of Paris from February to April. Because Piedmont had fought, Cavour had a seat at the table alongside the great powers, including Britain, France, Russia and Austria.
Piedmont gained no land. Cavour had hoped for a reward, such as the small duchy of Parma, but he was given nothing. The powers made no decision to change anything in Italy, and Austria kept all its territory and troops there.
On 8 April 1856, after the peace treaty was signed, the Congress discussed the Italian Question. The British foreign secretary, Lord Clarendon, strongly criticised the way the Papal States and Naples were governed. The Austrian minister, Count Buol, protested that the Congress had no right to discuss Italy, but the subject had been raised in front of all Europe.
Cavour also used his weeks in Paris to get to know the leaders of Britain and France, above all the French emperor, Napoleon III. He came home with a clear view: Britain was friendly but would not fight for Italy, so only France could give Piedmont the military help it needed.
Piedmont had fought beside two great powers and sat with them as an equal at the peace congress. Cavour had spoken for Italy there. Nationalists across Italy now looked to Piedmont, not to Mazzini's risings, to lead the struggle against Austria.
Russia had helped Austria to crush a revolt in Hungary in 1849. In the Crimean War Austria gave Russia no help and even threatened to join its enemies. Russia did not forgive this. Britain and France were not pleased either, because Austria had never actually fought. Austria ended the war with no reliable ally.
The war brought Piedmont and France together as allies, and Cavour and Napoleon III came to know each other. You will see where this led in the lesson 'Napoleon III, Orsini and the Pact of Plombières'.
Do not exaggerate. In 1856 Piedmont had no new land, no promise of help and higher debts. The Crimean War did not free any part of Italy. Its significance is that it changed the situation: Piedmont now had friends and a voice, and Austria had lost its friends.
Explain two effects of the Crimean War on Piedmont. [8 marks]
One effect of the Crimean War was that Piedmont's standing in Europe rose. Piedmont sent about 15,000 soldiers under La Marmora, and they fought well beside the French at the Battle of the Chernaya in August 1855. Because Piedmont had fought on the winning side, Cavour was given a seat at the Congress of Paris in 1856 as an equal of the great powers. This led to the Italian Question being discussed on 8 April 1856, when Lord Clarendon of Britain criticised the governments of the Papal States and Naples. So the war gave Piedmont a voice in Europe that a small state would not normally have had, and made it look like the natural leader of Italy.
A second effect was that Piedmont's position against Austria became stronger, because the war left Austria isolated. Austria stayed out of the fighting and threatened Russia, which had helped it in Hungary in 1849, so it lost Russia's friendship without winning the trust of Britain and France. At the same time, the war made Piedmont an ally of France, and Cavour got to know Napoleon III in Paris. This meant that Piedmont, which could not beat Austria alone, now had the chance of a powerful ally, while Austria had none it could rely on.
What lifts it to the top level: it gives two separate effects, backs each with precise facts (numbers, names and dates), and shows step by step how the war led to each effect.
One effect alone cannot score more than 4 marks, however well you explain it. Write two clear paragraphs and start each one by naming the effect. Here, an effect is something that changed for Piedmont because of the war, so do not just tell the story of the fighting. For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson 'Paper 1 Question (b): Explain Two Effects'.