Sardinia, << sahr DIHN ee uh, >> Kingdom of, became the nucleus of united Italy. The kingdom was founded in 1720 when the Duchy of Savoy , a territory in northwest Italy , was joined with the island of Sardinia . The kingdom included the Piedmont region, around which the Duchy of Savoy was centered. As a result, the kingdom is also known as Piedmont-Sardinia. Victor Amadeus II of Savoy became the first monarch of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Pinned between French, Austrian, and Spanish powers, the Kingdom of Sardinia nevertheless maintained its independence and expanded its territory during the 1700’s. But in 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte annexed the Piedmont region to France , leaving only the island of Sardinia under the king’s control. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, Piedmont was returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and Genoa and Liguria were added to the kingdom. As a result, the Kingdom of Sardinia became the foremost independent state of the Italian peninsula.
By the 1830’s, many Italians wanted to establish a unified Italian republic. These nationalists placed their hope in Charles Albert, who became monarch of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1831. He granted his people a constitution in 1848. That same year, the Italian region of Lombardy revolted against Austrian rule, and Charles Albert sent troops to help drive the Austrians out of Italy. The king suffered a defeat at Novara, and he abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel II .
The movement to unify Italy finally succeeded through the efforts of the Kingdom of Sardinia’s prime minister, Camillo Benso, the Count di Cavour . Cavour obtained an alliance with France and provoked war with Austria in 1859. In a separate peace with Austria, France obtained Lombardy for the Kingdom of Sardinia. Patriots in several other states in northern and central Italy overthrew their rulers in 1859 and voted for union with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860. That year, Giuseppe Garibaldi and his followers brought southern Italy into the nation. In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II became king of a united Italy that included Sardinia.
