Cavour's Main Means of Politics Greatly Influenced His Aims and Actions That Led to the Unification of Italy

Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810-1861) was the second son of an aristocratic Piedmontese family. Being the second son of a nobleman, Cavour was supposed to be in the army, even though he was more interested in politics rather than the military. In July 1824 he was named a page to Charles Albert, the king of Piedmont who first opened war of independence against Austria. Cavour later resigned from the army at the end of 1831 at the age of 21. After the revolutionary upheaval of 1848 Cavour travelled a lot throughout Europe, not much in Italy but widely in France, Switzerland and Great Britain. Cavour was convinced that economic reconstruction had to proceed political change, he also pushed for free trade and railroad construction in the peninsula. Cavour was also very against the pope being a large part of Italian Unification, he believed in Charles Albert to affect the liberal and national program in Italy. In October 1850 Cavour entered the ministry of Massimo D’Azeglio as minister of agriculture, industry and commerce. By the end of 1852 Cavour was able to take over from D’Azeglio and become the prime minister. A few years later during the Crimean War, Cavour placed Piedmont alongside England and France. In 1858 Cavour met with Napoleon III and the two of them plotted a war against Austria and also planned the reconstruction of the Italian Peninsula. The second war of Italian Unification started in April 1859. In March 1860 Cavour signed a secret agreement with Napoleon saying that Savoy and Nice will go to France in return for France’s support in Piedmont’s annexation of central Italy. On March 17, Cavour had the Piedmontese parliament name Victor Emanuel II, king of Italy. Cavour’s major aim during his time in government was for Piedmont and Sardinia to be unified to make Italy a whole. His major achievements were his deal with Napoleon III and then the unification of Italy that he had been hoping for, for some time. Cavour’s means of politics which influenced his aims and actions led to the unification of Italy.

Cavour’s main aim during his time of power and even before he was in power, was to have a unified Italy. He wanted Piedmont and Sardinia to be united with the other Italian states and become whole. Cavour was very dedicated to having his goal completed and he would have done anything to be successful in what he was trying to do. Cavour was a man who used “Realpolitik”, meaning he had the notion that his politics were conducted in terms of the realistic assessment of power and self-interest of individual nation-states and the pursuit of these interests by any means. Cavour used this type of politics amazingly well; he used “Realpolitik” to the exact definition. Using this type of politics made his goal a very possible reality.

Cavour’s first achievement was the deal he made with Napoleon III. Here he agreed that he would give France Savoy and Nice in exchange for France’s support in Cavour’s attempt to unify Piedmont. This deal was a very smart move on Cavour’s part because France had one of the strongest armies in Europe, and with the help of this army Cavour fought off Austria and eventually did end up unifying Piedmont to the rest of the Italian states and eventually unified Italy and had his goals complete.