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LEFT ITALY 215 ITALY Pope (July, 1849), who resumed his power in April, 1850, under the protec- tion of the French, and the old absolu- tism was restored. Similar attempts at revolution in Sicily and Naples were also crushed, but the secret societies of the patriots continued their operations. In 1859, after the war of the French and Sardinians against Austria, the latter power was compelled to cede Lombardy to Sardinia, and in the same year Romagna, Modena, Parma, and Piacenza were annexed to that kingdom, which Was, however, obliged to cede the prov- inces of Savoy and Nice to France. In the S. the Sicilians revolted, and sup- ported by 1,000 volunteers, with whom Garibaldi sailed from Genoa to their aid, overthrew the Bourbon government in Sicily. Garibaldi was proclaimed dicta- tor in the name of Victor Emmanuel. In August, Garibaldi crossed to Naples, defeated the royal army there, drove Francis II. to Gaeta, and entered the capital on Sept. 7. Sardinia intervened and completed the revolution, when Gari- baldi, handing over his conquests to the royal troops, retired to Caprera. A plebiscite confirmed the union with Pied- mont, and Victor Emmanuel was pro- claimed King of Italy, thus suddenly united almost, in Mazzini's phrase, "from the Alps to the sea." Only the province of Venice and the Roman territory still remained outside. The former was won by Italy's alliance with Prussia in 1866 against Austria, The temporal power of the Pope was still secured by the French troops at Rome till the French garrison was withdrawn at the outbreak of the Franco-German War in 1870, when Italian troops took possession of the city in the name of King Victor Emmanuel. On June 30, 1871, the seat of government was formally removed from Florence to Rome. In 1878 Victor Emmanuel died, and was succeeded by his son Humbert I., who was assassinated in 1900, whereupon his son succeeded to the throne as Victor Emmanuel III. The period between the accession of Vic- tor Emmanuel III. to the outbreak of the World War was in general one of pros- perity in Italy. It was marked, how- ever, by a long- and extensive war with Turkey for the possession of Tripoli. This ended in the annexation of that province in December, 1912. In the same year the Triple Alliance with Ger- many and Austria was renewed, to re- main in force until July, 1920. The existence of this alliance roused in Italy unusually difficult problems in 1914. By its terms Italy was bound to assist Ger- many or Austria-Hungary if either or both these countries should be attacked. Germany, maintaining that she had been attacked by France, called upon Italy to come to her aid. Italy, however, took the view that both Germany and Austria were carrying on a war of aggression rather than defense, and therefore re- fused to come to their assistance. Addi- tional difficulties were created by the fact that the chief financial and indus- trial concerns of Italy were either in the hands of Germans or controlled by German capital. In spite of these con- ditions, pro-ally sentiment continued to develop among the Italian people and this, despite the aggressive efforts of Germany, through Prince von Biilow, as special ambassaSor to Italy. In order to avert an open rupture, if possible, negotiations were carried on between Italy and Austria-Hungary with the ob- ject of inducing Austria to make such territorial concessions to Italy that the latter would find it unnecessary to go to war for the purpose of achieving terri- torial aspirations, which first of all lay in the recovery of the so-called unre- deemed provinces held by Austria. These negotiations came to no effect, as Austria refused to make the concessions necessary, and on May 4, 1915, Italy denounced the Triple Alliance, as far as it affected herself and Austria-Hungary. War was officially declared against Aus- tria on May 23, 1915, and on the follow- ing day active operations began. The course of the war as regards Italy is included in the general narrative in the article World War. The campaigns fought were in the most difficult terrain possible. Italian armies fought through 15 furious offensives on the Isonzo and the Piave, inflicting terrible losses on the enemy in each offensive. With the exception of the Great Italian Retreat in the autumn of 1917, and the invasion of the northeast corner of Italy by Aus- trian and German forces, Italy suffered no serious reverses. See Isoxzo, Bat- tles of; Piave, Battles of. Following the great retreat to the Piave river, the Italian armies under General Diaz re- formed and prevented the enemy from crossing the river, except in isolated points. On June 23, they began an • offensive along the western bank of the river, and this was continued in a great drive which swept the Austrian troops before them. The movement ended on July 10th, with nearly 35,000 Austrian prisoners and 300,000 Austrian casual- ties. Operations were carried on so aggi-essively toward Austria during the succeeding months that on Nov. 3 she was willing to sign an armistice, which amounted to unconditional sur- render to Italy. In the operations pre-