Book 3 Italy 1850-59 Second War of Independence

Question 1

Define opportunist

Answer 1

to make the most out of a situation to one’s advantage

Question 2

What was the Quadrilateral?

Answer 2

4 formidable Austrian fortifications in Lombardy

Question 3

Define plebiscite

Answer 3

a national vote on a particular issue

Question 4

Define exile

Answer 4

To be expelled from a country as a threat

Question 5

What years were the Crimean War?

Answer 5

1854-56

Question 6

Who did Piedmont join in the Crimean War against Russia?

Answer 6

Britain and France

Question 7

What was the National Society?

Answer 7

Pro-Italian exiles escaped to Piedmont and joined in a group to promote their ideas.

Question 8

What did the National Society stand for?

Answer 8

Austria out and some level of unification under Piedmont. (No longer pro republic after 1860).

Question 9

Which leader of the National Society was invited to meet Cavour in 1856?

Answer 9

Manin

Question 10

Who was Niagra?

Answer 10

Premier Cavour’s trusted advisor and confident. He negotiated with the French.

Question 11

Give TWO personal reasons why Napoleon supported Italian nationalism.

Answer 11

Lived there in his youth, pro-liberalism, felt badly for sending troops into Rome in 1849.

Question 12

Give TWO political reasons why Napoleon supported Italian nationalism.

Answer 12

Weaken Austria, gain support at home, power in Europe, gain a southern European ally.

Question 13

What was the Orsini plot?

Answer 13

Count Felice Orsini plotted the assassination of Napoleon in the name of Italian nationalism.

Question 14

When was the secret Plombieres meeting between Napoleon and Cavour?

Answer 14

July 1858

Question 15

What terms of the Plombieres meeting show Cavour as an opportunist?

Answer 15

For French help, Cavour accepted the unification of Italy into four blocks and gave France Nice and Savoy.

Question 16

Why did Austria declare war on Piedmont in April 1859?

Answer 16

Piedmont mobilised troops on the Lombardy border.

Question 17

What were the two main battles of the Second War of Independence?

Answer 17

Solferino and Magenta

Question 18

Where did the Austrians retreat to after losing the first battle?

Answer 18

The Quadrilateral

Question 19

Why did Napoleon sue for peace without Piedmont’s consent?

Answer 19

High casualty rates, difficulty of defeating the Austrians in the Quadrilateral, fear of Prussians joining

Question 20

What treaties ended the war of 1859?

Answer 20

Villafranca ended war, Zurich agreed the terms

Question 21

How did the National Society take advantage of the war?

Answer 21

Organised demonstrations in the Grand Duchies and created provisional governments with links to Piedmont

Question 22

Name THREE reasons why Cavour resigned in disgust.

Answer 22

Piedmont ignored, Lombardy given to France (to be given to Piedmont), No Venetia, Grand Duchies squashed

Question 23

Who gave France Savoy and Nice, even though not all of the terms of Plombieres were met?

Answer 23

Cavour! He came back to leadership in January 1860

Question 24

How did Cavour justify giving France these ‘Italian’ cities?

Answer 24

Plebicites

Question 25

Cavour arranged the annexation of the Central Duchies. How did he justify this?

Answer 25

Plebicites