In 1850, Austria was still the dominant power on the Italian Peninsula
After the failure of the revolution of 1848, people began to look to the northern Italian state of Piedmont for leadership in achieving unification.
The Kingdom of Piedmont included Sardinia, Nice, and Savoy and the ruler in 1849 was King Victor Emmanuel II.
Camillo di Cavour was named prime minister in 1852.
As prime minister he expanded the economy to increase profits and enabled the King to have a larger army.
However, he knew the army would still not be strong enough to defeat the Austrians.
Therefore, he made an alliance with the French leader Louis-Napoleon and provoked the Austrians into declaring war in 1859.