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Nationalist forces in Italy rebelled against their foreign rulers.
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Republican forces fomented a revolt against the pope, declaring the Republic of Rome in 1848.
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In 1852, Count Camillo di Cavour become prime minister of Sardinia, a kingdom that included both the island of Sardinia and the Piedmont region of northern Italy
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Since France and Austria were united in the desire to maintain a divided and weak Italy, they worked together to put down the rebellions. French troops occupied Rome until 1870.
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When France declared war on Prussia in 1870, occupying French troops abandoned Rome.
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It would not be resolved until Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed an agreement naming the Vatican an independent city-state in 1929.