Explain Why the Pact of Plombieres Was Signed Between Piedmont and France in 1858

Explain why the Pact of Plombières was signed between Piedmont and France in 1858.

There were several factors behind the signing of the pact of Plombieres in 1858. First of all Cavour's foreign policy the Orsini affair in 1855 and lastly Napoleon III's own motives for wanting to help Italy.

Cavour wanted Piedmont to gain power and territory in Italy and unification seemed to be the only way to do this, however to achieve unification he had to go to war with Austria. Unlike Charles Albert, Cavour realized that foreign help was desperately needed and this was achieved through the signing of Plombieres. Therefore one of the reasons the Pact of Plombieres was signed was in order for Italy to secure the aid of France and fulfill Cavour's foreign policy aims.

After years of careful foreign policy and the modernization of Piedmont by Cavour Piedmont's good position after the Paris Peace conference was jeopardized by the events of 1855 with the Orsini affair. After the assassination attempt of Napoleon by Orsini there was worry that Napoleon would turn his back on Italian Unification. However, Orsini's letters begging for Napoleon's help seemingly moved Napoleon III and pushed him to attent the meeting at Plobieres. Therefore it would be plausible to say that the Orsini affair acted as a trigger, pushing Napoleon to help Italy and sign the pact of Plombieres.

Finally Napoleon had a lot to gain if the Austrian army was expelled from Italy. France would have a lot of influence in Italy and therefore a lot of power. Napoleon also wanted French-speaking Savoy to join with France as well as Nice thus gaining territory for France. This shows that another reason the Pact of Plombieres was signed was for Napoleon's own motives to gain power, influence and territory.

Overall the main reason the Pact of Plombieres was signed was as a result of Cavour's foreign policy. After years of carefully creating good relations with European powers and helping with the Crimean was Cavour managed to establish an ally in Napoleon who agreed to aid Italy and to the Pact of Plombieres.

Napoleon III was a crucial part of Italy's Unification. It was clear in 1848 that foreign help was needed and in the war of 1859 Napoleon III provided this help. However other very important figure such as Count Cavour and Victor Emmanuel were also crucial to Italian Unification.

The 1848, the first battle to expel the Austrians was attempted by Charles Albert. This was in the end unsuccessful for several reasons such as the allocution of the Pope, lack of contribution from the peasants and the strength of the Austrian army. However the most important factor was the lack of foreign interest and aid. It was through the events of 1848 that it was made clear how desperately foreign help was needed as the Austrian army proved to be an impossible force for Italy to defeat on its own. This shows the crucial contribution of Napoleon III to the successes of Italy in 1859 leading up to the Treaty of Zurich.

However, Napoleon also failed in some aspects. As a result of the carnage of the fight for unification Napoleon went to the meeting in Villafranca with the Austrian Emperor without consulting Victor Emmanuel and agreed to a cease fire, as a result only Lombardy was gained and it was agreed that the previous rulers of Parma, Modena and Tuscany were to return, however they never did. This shows that despite being a huge help for the cause of Italian Unification Napoleon was also the cause of some problems and to be more interested in France's gains than the Italian Question. This was not the first time Napoleon's interference had detrimental effects for Italy, he had also sided with the Pope against