Italian Wars of Independence

The Italian Wars of Independence were three conflicts fought between 1848 and 1866 that drove the Risorgimento, the movement to unify the Italian peninsula under a single state. The First War of Independence, 1848 to 1849, saw the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia attack Austrian-controlled northern Italy but end in defeat and the reimposition of Austrian dominance. The Second War of Independence, 1859, paired Piedmont-Sardinia with France against Austria, and victories at the battles of Magenta and Solferino forced Austria to cede Lombardy, a major step toward unification achieved the following year under the Kingdom of Italy. The Third War of Independence, 1866, saw Italy ally with Prussia against Austria during the Austro-Prussian War, and despite suffering military defeats on both land and sea, Italy still gained the region of Venetia when Austria, defeated by Prussia, ceded it as part of the wider peace settlement. Together the three wars, combined with Giuseppe Garibaldi's separate conquest of southern Italy and Sicily, completed the political unification of Italy by 1871.