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Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

Vittorio Emanuele II
Ritratto di S.M. Vittorio Emanuele II.jpg
Portrait of Victor Emmanuel II by unknown artist, c. 1860
King of Italy (more...)
Reign 17 March 1861 – 9 January 1878
Successor Umberto I
Prime Ministers
King of Sardinia; Duke of Savoy
Reign 23 March 1849 – 17 March 1861
Predecessor Charles Albert
Prime Ministers
Born 14 March 1820
Palazzo Carignano, Turin, Piedmont-Sardinia
Died 9 January 1878(1878-01-09) (aged 57)
Quirinal Palace, Rome, Italy
Burial Pantheon, Rome
Spouse
Issue
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Full name
Italian: Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso
House Savoy
Father Charles Albert of Sardinia
Mother Maria Theresa of Austria
Religion Roman Catholicism
Signature
Full name
Italian: Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso
Styles of
King Victor Emmanuel II
Royal Monogram of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.svg
Reference style His Majesty
Spoken style Your Majesty
Alternative style Sir

Victor Emmanuel II (Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. The Italians gave him the epithet Father of the Fatherland (Italian: Padre della Patria).

Victor Emmanuel was born the eldest son of Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, and Maria Theresa of Austria. His father succeeded a distant cousin as King of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1831. He lived for some years of his youth in Florence and showed an early interest in politics, the military, and sports. In 1842, he married his cousin Adelaide of Austria. He was styled as the Duke of Savoy prior to becoming King of Sardinia-Piedmont.

He took part in the First Italian War of Independence (1848-1849) under his father King Charles Albert, fighting in the front line at the battles of Pastrengo, Santa Lucia, Goito and Custoza.

He became King of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1849 when his father abdicated the throne after a humiliating military defeat by the Austrians at the Battle of Novara. Victor Emmanuel was immediately able to obtain a rather favorable armistice at Vignale by the Austrian imperial army commander Radetzky. The treaty, however, was not ratified by the Piedmontese lower parliamentary house, the Chamber of Deputies, and Victor Emmanuel retaliated by firing his Prime Minister Claudio Gabriele de Launay, replacing him with Massimo D'Azeglio. After new elections, the peace with Austria was accepted by the new Chamber of Deputies. In 1849 Victor Emmanuel also fiercely suppressed a revolt in Genoa, defining the rebels as a "vile and infected race of canailles." In 1852, he appointed Count Camillo Benso of Cavour ("Count Cavour") as Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia. This turned out to be a wise choice, since Cavour was a political mastermind and a major player in the Italian unification in his own right. Victor Emmanuel II soon became the symbol of the "Risorgimento", the Italian unification movement of the 1850s and early 60s. He was especially popular in the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont because of his respect for the new constitution and his liberal reforms.


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