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Early in the 1800's, what now is Italy, was divided into separate states.
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Nationalist forces in Italy rebelled against their foreign rulers. This happened in Parma and Modena, in 1831.
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Italian nationalists looked for leadership from
the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the largest and most powerful of the Italian states.The kingdom had adopted a liberal constitution in 1848. -
As Nationalism grew, many Italians shared the idea of unifiying as one country, but that failed. In 1852, Sardinia’s king, Victor Emmanuel II, named Count Camillo di Cavour as his prime minister.
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Cavour joined Napoleon III in an attack on Austria. As a result, Lombardy and Sardinia were united in 1859.
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The other Italian states in the reigion united with Sardinia.
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The nation was officially united in 1861; the king of Sardinia was crowned Victor Emmanuel II of Italy later that year.
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France declared war on Prussia in 1870, occupying French troops abandoned Rome.