Editing Unification of Italy (section)

===Cavour and prospects for unification===
[[File:Garibaldiecavour.JPG|thumb|upright|Garibaldi and Cavour making Italy in a satirical cartoon of 1861]]
Morale was of course badly weakened, but the dream of Risorgimento did not die. Instead, the Italian patriots learned some lessons that made them much more effective at the next opportunity in 1860. Military weakness was glaring, as the small Italian states were completely outmatched by France and Austria.

France was a potential ally, and the patriots realized they had to focus all their attention on expelling Austria first, with a willingness to give the French whatever they wanted in return for essential military intervention. As a result of this France received Nice and Savoy in 1860. Secondly, the patriots realized that the pope was an enemy, and could never be the leader of a united Italy. Thirdly, they realized that republicanism was too weak a force. Unification had to be based on a strong monarchy, and in practice that meant reliance on Piedmont (the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Sardinia]]) under King [[Victor Emmanuel II]] (1820–1878) of the [[House of Savoy]].

[[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]] (1810–1861) provided critical leadership. He was a modernizer interested in agrarian improvements, banks, railways and free trade. He opened a newspaper as soon as censorship allowed it: ''[[Il Risorgimento (newspaper)|Il Risorgimento]]'' called for the independence of Italy, a league of Italian princes, and moderate reforms. He had the ear of the king and in 1852 became prime minister. He ran an efficient active government, promoting rapid economic modernization while upgrading the administration of the army and the financial and legal systems. He sought out support from patriots across Italy.

In 1855, the kingdom became an ally of [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and [[Second French Empire|France]] in the [[Crimean War]], which gave Cavour's diplomacy legitimacy in the eyes of the great powers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dal Lago |first1=Enrico |title=Lincoln, Cavour, and National Unification: American Republicanism and Italian Liberal Nationalism in Comparative Perspective |journal=The Journal of the Civil War Era |date=2013 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=85–113 |doi=10.1353/cwe.2013.0017 |id={{Project MUSE|499081}} |jstor=26062022 }}</ref><ref>William L. Langer, ed., ''An Encyclopedia of World History''. 4th ed. 1968. pp 704–707.</ref>
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