Vctor Manuel II – Biography of Vctor Manuel II

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Vittorio Emanuele María Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Luca Tommaso di Savoia He was born in Turin (Italy), on March 14, 1820; He was the eldest son of Carlos Alberto, King of Sardinia, and Maria Teresa of Austria. As was appropriate for an heir to the throne he was trained in military discipline: at the age of eleven he was a rifle captain; in 1831, general and, in 1846, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

In 1842 he married Maria Adelaida of Austria, daughter of the viceroy of Lombardy-Venice, Archduke Raniero José of Austria. From the marriage were born María Clotilde de Saboya, Countess of Moncalieri; Humberto I of Italy, King of Italy from 1878 until his death; Amadeo I from Spain; Duke of Aosta; Otón Eugenio de Saboya, Duke of Monferrato; María Pía de Saboya, Queen consort of Portugal; Carlos Alberto de Saboya, Duke of Chablais; Víctor Manuel de Saboya (died at birth) and Víctor Manuel de Saboya (also died early), Count of Genoa.

Victor Manuel he distinguished himself in the first war of independence in the years 1848-1849, as commander of the Reserve Division in Goito, receiving the gold medal of honor. The future king was against to the paternal policies of opening to the liberal instances; However, once he assumed the throne, – after his father’s abdication in 1849 – he softened his intransigence by respecting many of the concessions granted by Carlos Alberto, beginning with the Statute.

On November 20, after dissolving Parliament, as it was contrary to the peace accords with Austria and on the eve of new elections, he published the audacious “Moncalieri Proclamation“, designed by Máximo d’Azeglio, exhorting voters to prefer moderate exponents with the almost explicit threat of a coup.

Victor Emmanuel II he insisted on redressing the accounts of the State, renewing the army, favoring public education, and promoting trade, especially with Great Britain, thus gaining popular consensus. In 1852 the Count of Cavour became prime minister, whose capacity as a statesman would enable the king to implement his plans for unification: it was Cavour, ultimately, the true architect of the unification of Italy.

A relationship of mutual convenience was immediately established between the two, but without friendly feelings: there would, in fact, be moments of friction and the king would sometimes prevent Cavour from implementing some of his programs.

After the Crimean War and the subsequent Congress of Paris in 1856, which first saw the kingdom of Sardinia among the European powers, Victor Manuel he allied with France and, as agreed in 1858 in Plombieres by the prime minister, participated in the second war of independence, until the Villafranca armistice in which Lombardy was recognized.

The marriage of his daughter Clotilde to Jerome Bonaparte strengthened ties with Napoleon III. Shortly after, after the popular uprising and the consequent plebiscites, Tuscany and Emilia also became part of the kingdom of Italy, although on the other hand it was forced to cede Nice and Savoy to France.

In 1860, Victor Emmanuel II came into conflict with Cavour when the “Expedition of the Thousand“by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who he viewed with good eyes, contrary to the opinion of the Prime Minister. The company of the red shirts earned him the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In September he entered the State of the Church occupying the Marches and Umbria .
By a law of March 17, 1861 it took the title of king of italy, completing the historic feat that earned him the recognition of “father of the nation.” The following were the years of consolidation of the kingdom.

In 1865 the king Victor Emmanuel II he moved the capital from Turin to Florence and implemented important reforms, including the enactment of the Civil Code and the abolition of capital punishment. In 1866, as an ally of Prussia, he started the third war of independence, with which he also annexed the Veneto.

On September 20, 1870, after the collapse of the French and the withdrawal of the troops from Rome, invoking the “September Convention” of 1864, he sent General Cadorna, who, through the breach of Porta Pia, entered the “eternal city” thus giving the kingdom its definitive and historical capital in Rome.

Since then his influence on Italian politics has gradually diminished. In 1876, with the mandate of Agostino Depretis to form the new government, a new political era began, marking the first left-wing government in Italy.

Victor Manuel II, the first king of unified Italy, died in Rome on January 9, 1878, at the age of 58; He was succeeded by his son Humberto I.