Editing Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (section)

==Restoration==
[[File:Vincenzo Camuccini - Ritratto di Ferdinando I delle due Sicilie.jpg|thumb|right|''Portrait of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies'' by [[Vincenzo Camuccini]], 1818-1819]]

After the fall of Napoleon, [[Joachim Murat]], who had succeeded Joseph Bonaparte as king of Naples in 1808, was dethroned in the [[Neapolitan War]] in 1815, and Ferdinand returned to Naples. By a secret treaty he had bound himself not to advance further in a constitutional direction than Austria should at any time approve; but, though on the whole he acted in accordance with [[Klemens Wenzel von Metternich|Metternich]]'s policy of preserving the ''[[status quo]]'', and maintained with but slight change Murat's laws and administrative system. Ferdinand took advantage of the situation to abolish the Sicilian constitution, in violation of his oath, and to proclaim the union of the two states into the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] (12 December 1816).<ref name=EB1911/>

Ferdinand was now completely subservient to Austria, an Austrian, [[Count Nugent]], being even made commander-in-chief of the army. For the next four years, Ferdinand reigned as an [[absolute monarch]] within his domain, granting no constitutional reforms.