Mediaeval and modern history . of Sardinia. Thetwo great victories of Magenta and Solferino drove the Austriansout of Lombardy and behind the famous Quadrilateral, consistingof four strong fortresses, which sheltered Venetia. Just at thisjuncture the menacing attitude of Prussia and other German states,which were alarmed at the prospective aggrandizement of France,and the rapid spread of the revolutionary movement in Italy, whichforeshadowed the union of all the states of the peninsula in a singlekingdom, — something which Louis Napoleon did not wish to seeconsummated,^ — this new situation of
Mediaeval and modern history . of Sardinia. Thetwo great victories of Magenta and Solferino drove the Austriansout of Lombardy and behind the famous Quadrilateral, consistingof four strong fortresses, which sheltered Venetia. Just at thisjuncture the menacing attitude of Prussia and other German states,which were alarmed at the prospective aggrandizement of France,and the rapid spread of the revolutionary movement in Italy, whichforeshadowed the union of all the states of the peninsula in a singlekingdom, — something which Louis Napoleon did not wish to seeconsummated,^ — this new situation of things, in connection with 1 Napoleon III did not wish for a united Italy any more than he wished for aunited Germany. His aim was to create a kingdom in Northern Italy which wouldexclude Austria from the peninsula and then to bring about a confederation of all theItalian states under the presidency of the Pope. Italy thus reconstructed would, heconceived, be fain to look to the French Emperor as her champion and (before theAustro-Sardiuian War)0 50 100 Scale of MilesGreenwich 16 OUTCOME OF AUSTRO-SARDINIAN WAR 627 other considerations, caused the French Emperor to draw backand to enter upon negotiations of peace with the Austrian EmperorFrancis Joseph at Villafranca. The outcome was that Austria retained Venice but gave up toSardinia the larger part of Lombardy. The Sardinians were bitterlydisappointed that they did not get Venetia, and loudly accusedthe French Emperor of having betrayed their cause, since at theoutset he had promised them that he would free Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic. But Sardinia found compensation for Venice in the accessionof Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and the Romagna, the peoples ofwhich states, having discarded their old rulers, besought VictorEmmanuel to permit them to unite themselves to his , as the result of the war, the king of Sardinia had added tohis subjects a population of seven millions. A long step had beentaken
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