In 1852, when Cavour became Prime Minister of Piedmont, no one expected that within ten years Italian unification would be achieved. Partly because of the failures of the 1848-49 revolutions. The peninsula was still divided into ten separate states and expelling Austria's domination over Italy was Cavour's main focus, he only ever expressed at the beginning, a vague wish that Italy achieve total unity.

The war of 1859 can indeed be considered the turning point to Italian unification, the revolts that began in Sicily in 1848 instilled important lessons in Cavour. Primarily the fact that if Italy was ever going to gain independence, they needed to oust Austria. Austria held the key to any possibility of Italian unity and there was no indication that they would surrender their control. Austria were better equipped and their army were vastly...