The Political Unification of Italy 651

(Left) King Victor Emmanuel 11 of Piedmont-Sardinia. (Right) Count Camillo di

Cavour.

Born into a family of Piedmontese nobles during the Napoleonic occu­
pation, Cavour was a pampered child who grew up to be headstrong, some­
what lazy, and bad tempered. His older brother inherited the family title of
marquis, and Cavour entered a military academy, where he did well in math­
ematics and engineering. In the army, he became enamored of political
radicalism. Upon hearing of the July Revolution of 1830 in France, Cavour
ran through his barracks in Genoa waving a paper knife, shouting “Long
live the Republic! Down with all tyrants!” Cavour’s political radicalism was
unlikely to win him promotion in the army. He resigned his commission as
a military engineer, pleading poor eyesight and bad health, the latter at
least partially due to a lifelong pattern of eating and drinking too much.
Cavour read widely in economics and politics and traveled to France and
England, both of which impressed him with their prosperity and efficient
administration. Cavour’s first language remained French, although his com­
mand of Italian improved. On his property, he made a good deal of money
by utilizing crop rotation, land drainage, and mechanized farm machinery.
Triumphs in banking and business followed, but none brought the morose
Cavour happiness. In his early twenties, he wrote in his diary that he
thought of suicide because he believed his life was “without purpose, with­
out hope, without desire.” Yet he found a compelling goal: the unification of
the Italian peninsula.
Cavour came to espouse aristocratic liberalism. He became determined
to effect political unification by gradually expanding the constitutional
monarchy of Piedmont-Sardinia. An idealist of vision and courage, Cavour
was also capable of ruthlessness and unscrupulous trickery, all of which