Why would Cavour ally with France instead of any enemy of Austria that wasn't looking to grab Nice and Savoy?
Upvote:6
France was the (potential) ally most immediately at hand. Piedmont had been allied with France (and England) in the Crimean War against Russia, and while England could not provide immediate help, France could.
With the benefit of hindsight, one could see that Prussia would have made a more reliable ally in 1866. But Prussia and Austria were allies as late as 1864, in a war against Denmark. And in fact, the fear in 1858-9 was that Prussia would interfere on the side of Austria.
Ironically, it was an assassination attempt against Napoleon III (by an Italian) that got him interested in helping Piedmont. The assassin claimed to do so, not out of hatred for Napoleon III, but out of love for Italy, and claimed that if Napoleon III helped Italy unite, all the Italians would love, rather than hate him.
Basically, Napoleon III was "willing" (if weak, and treacherous) to help Piedmont, and others were not. Considering the outcome, Cavour did not make a bad deal.
More post
- 📝 To what extent did Native American cultures develop metalworking for tools and weapons?
- 📝 How were ethnographic maps in the 19th century made?
- 📝 In ancient Rome, could free-born Romans become slaves?
- 📝 Why does the USA only have two political parties?
- 📝 Learning about WW2 lead me to a current event question about German policy
- 📝 How did people in Athens 500 BCE refer to Homer's era?
- 📝 When modern time measurement first appeared and who invented it?
- 📝 What is "Mary's Part"?
- 📝 Why were Japanese escort ships not numerous at the battle of Bismarck Sea?
- 📝 What to do about historical Wikipedia articles contradicting each other in different languages?
- 📝 What is the large blue object on the right in this picture showing Greek fire?
- 📝 Is there documented evidence of Israel concentration/death camps used against the Arabs?
- 📝 Why was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin so popular in Russia?
- 📝 Why were there no internment camps for German-American citizens in USA during WW2?
- 📝 Were regular citizens of the Republic of Venice permitted to own and carry arms/weapons?
- 📝 Why did people in 18th century wear wigs?
- 📝 What was the death rate of Germans outside Germany's post war border after World War 2?
- 📝 Why do so many national flags contain the color red?
- 📝 What's going on with this graph of wheat prices in "Civilization and Capitalism"?
- 📝 Pigs in ancient Israel
- 📝 Did the USSR attempt to broker peace negotiations between Japan and USA?
- 📝 Need help to identify this circa WW1, American uniform
- 📝 When was the silk route active?
- 📝 Were the doors kept open for the entire Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 How was early Indian history re-constructed?
- 📝 Did Western China have special-named martial arts during Islamic era?
- 📝 Why do the British Queen's Guard and the Danish Royal Guard Company look so similar?
- 📝 Why did so many rulers want to aquire more land?
- 📝 In what European countries did non-hereditary nobility exist? (XVII-XIX centuries)
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why would Cavour ally with France instead of any enemy of Austria that wasn't looking to grab Nice and Savoy?
- 📝 Considering what was known about Hitler in 1933, why would German bishops declare that Catholics could cooperate with the new State?
- 📝 Was there ever any co-existence solution to peace with Israel that the Arab Palestinian side proposed or said would accept?
- 📝 Why would graphite have been confused with lead?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?
- 📝 Why did Stephen Ambrose believe that the election of Aaron Burr would have led to the end of the USA?
- 📝 Why weren’t the Dutch and Belgian borders fortified with wire, trenches, mines, etc., as it became clear Germany would invade during WW2?
- 📝 Were there any battles in Continental Europe that were decided by "peasants with pitchforks?"
- 📝 Why did the British take Hong Kong instead of any other of the later treaty ports?
- 📝 Why did France make an alliance with the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in the 1850's?
- 📝 Where did Wilson state that the US would have to force access to markets with violence?
- 📝 Was Frederick Douglass right that in his day 'religious slaveholders are the worst'? If so why would this be?
- 📝 Is there any evidence to support the claim that Richard Burton told John Speke he would return home via Jerusalem after their Nile Quest?
- 📝 Does any evidence exist that suggests Hitler’s primary reason for declaring war on America was an attempt to draw Japan into his war with Russia?
- 📝 Is there any idea of why Cao Cao's parents would give him a nearly identical name to the family name?
- 📝 As far as Themistocles's journey after his exile is concerned why do modern historians conclude that Plutarch meant Thasos instead of Naxos?
- 📝 In the late 18th century, would any of the southwestern area of Germany used Franks instead of their own currency?
- 📝 Why did Anwar Sadat establish diplomatic relationship with Israel and did that decision pay off?
- 📝 Why didn't Mao see that the "Great Leap Forward" would be such a disaster?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Sally Hemings' relationship with Jefferson was consensual on her part?
- 📝 Was there any official affirmation from the US government that they would win the Vietnam War?
- 📝 Were there any Native American tribes that had more than a strategic alliance with the Confederates?
- 📝 Why did the Capetian kings of France come into conflict with the Roman church?
- 📝 Is it true that Austrians who refused to help SS in catching Soviet POWs would not face any negative consequences?
- 📝 Has any war in recorded history ever resulted in the complete annihilation (civil and military) of an enemy - all of them killed with no survivors?
- 📝 How would “distraint of knighthood” law in medieval England fit with the fact that all knights must be of noble birth?
- 📝 Was there any country/form of goverment that sustained itself with diverse population?
- 📝 Why was France granted an equal status among victors of World War II?
- 📝 Why is the consensus that WW2 started on September 1, 1939 and not July 7, 1937?
- 📝 Why exactly did telegraphs have to use "STOP" instead of a period and "QUOTE" instead of a quotation mark? (Or special codes.)