When Napoleon III realized that France could not profit from the war it was waging with Sardinia-Piedmont against Austria, he met with Francis Joseph I, with whom he arranged an armistice that had the effect of furthering the cause of Italian unification.
On April 29, 1859, Austria declared war on the Italian kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.
At Plombières in July of 1858, Napoleon III had pledged that he would sustain war against Austria until Sardinia might acquire Lombardy and Venetia
At the outbreak of the war, Prussia
Meanwhile, Napoleon’s consort, Empress Eugénie,
Only one thing gave Napoleon confidence. On March 3, 1859, France and Russia
For Napoleon, that was the last straw, persuading him to quit the war. Information had just reached the French foreign minister confirming that the British were considering offering a set of peace proposals as a neutral mediator. Although the British had already decided against intruding in the war, Napoleon was convinced that they might do so. On the other hand, Austria knew perfectly well that Prussia wished to serve as mediator, but on terms which Austria could not accept. Napoleon surmised that Prussia wished to play that role, though he did not know precisely what their conditions might be. He guessed correctly, however, that Austria would not accept the terms that Berlin might dictate.
Therefore, on July 5, Napoleon sent his aide-de-camp, General Fleury, under a flag of truce to deliver a cleverly worded note to Emperor Francis Joseph. It read,
They inform me from Paris that a great power is going to make an armistice proposal to the belligerents. If this proposition were accepted by Your Majesty, I would want to know it because then I would have the order given to the fleet, which is going to attack Venice
On the morning of July 6, a delighted General Fleury was entrusted with Francis Joseph’s note agreeing to enter armistice negotiations at the town of Villafranca.
By then, it was too late to reverse the decision to make peace. All that Cavour could do was to lose his temper before the king and offer his resignation from office. Before doing so, however, Cavour sent telegraphic orders to all Sardinian officials in the central Italian lands that had been occupied during the war by his troops. They were instructed to administer an oath of allegiance to Victor Emmanuel to all public officials in occupied Parma, Tuscany, Modena, the Emilia, and the Romagna. Thereby, Cavour moved to annex those central Italian states, which before the war had belonged to pro-Austrian sovereigns.
Meanwhile, Napoleon’s peace negotiations had continued. On July 8, Napoleon had sent his cousin, Prince Murat, to Francis Joseph’s headquarters with a proposal that the two emperors meet face-to-face to set forth the outlines of an armistice. The emperor of Austria replied cautiously that he would agree to such a meeting, but only if the contents of the agreement were settled in advance. On July 9, he sent Prince Alexander of Hesse to French headquarters at Valeggio to begin serious discussions.
Napoleon argued effectively that only Prussia could profit from the continuation of the war, emerging as the dominant German power, to the detriment of Austria. Napoleon emphasized that he had entered the war only to secure the independence of the Italian states and that he would be satisfied if that goal was attained. Alexander of Hesse, however, insisted that Austria would not surrender Venetia
On July 11, Prince Napoleon met Francis Joseph at Villafranca and set in writing the agreement reached earlier. Lombardy
As it turned out, the only provision of the Armistice of Villafranca that was ever put into effect was the cession of Lombardy
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Beller, Steven. Francis Joseph. London: Longman, 1996. Chronicle of Francis Joseph’s long reign that places the significance of his reign in the history of his times. -
Blumberg, Arnold. A Carefully Planned Accident: The Italian War of 1859. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1990. Description of the diplomacy leading up to and after the war, based on French, Austrian, British, Prussian, Italian, and other archival sources. -
Bresler, Fenton. Napoleon III: A Life. London: HarperCollins, 1999. Popular and accessible biography of Napoleon III that provides a wealth of detail and a thorough analysis of Napoleon’s personal life and public career. -
Case, Lynn M. French Opinion on War and Diplomacy During the Second Empire. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1954. Examines the use of regular reports from departmental officials that enabled Napoleon III to estimate the reaction of public opinion to his policies. -
Delzell, Charles F., ed. The Unification of Italy, 1859-1861: Cavour, Mazzini, or Garibaldi? New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965. Examination of the roles of Count Cavour and other leaders of the Risorgimento in the unification of Italy. -
Di Scala, Spencer. Italy from Revolution to Republic: 1700 to the Present. 3d ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2004. General history of Italy that includes a section on the Risorgimento unification movement and the war with Austria. -
Echard, William E. Napoleon III and the Concert of Europe. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1983. Biography that uses diplomatic archival material to discover the means whereby Napoleon avoided serious confrontations with the other major powers. -
Palmer, Alan. Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph. New York: Grove Press, 1995. Comprehensive and three-dimensional portrait of Francis Joseph I that chronicles the emperor’s personal tragedies and public concern for his empire’s survival. -
Price, Roger. The French Second Empire: An Anatomy of Political Power. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Study of Napoleon III’s political career that examines his election to the presidency, his coup that established the Second Empire, and his use of the empire’s power to initiate liberal reforms and wage a disastrous war against Prussia.
Italian Revolution of 1848
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte Becomes Emperor of France
Garibaldi’s Redshirts Land in Sicily
Italy Is Proclaimed a Kingdom
Austria and Prussia’s Seven Weeks’ War
Franco-Prussian War
Count Cavour; Francis Joseph I; Napoleon III; Pius IX.