Nicolo Rodolico. Carlo Alberto negli anni 1843-1849.
(Florence, 1943), is the most thorough treatment of Charles
Albert during the revolution, though at times excessively
admiring; a more balanced though briefer account is Rosario
Romeo. Dal Piemonte sabaudo all'Italia liberale.
(Turin, 1963).
JGC revised this file
(http://www.ohiou.edu/~chastain/ac/charalb.htm) on
October 15, 2004.
Please E-mail comments or suggestions to chastain@www.ohiou.edu
© 1997, 2004 James Chastain.
CHARLES ALBERT, KING OF SARDINIA (1798-1849). Born of liberal
parents who welcomed the Napoleonic annexation of Piedmont,
Charles Albert was educated
in France and accepted a commission
in Napoleon's army. With the restoration of 1814 he returned to
Piedmont, where he made friends with the young liberal
aristocrats who planned the May 1821 revolution. He was surely
aware of the plot, but it remains unclear how far he was involved
in it. When King Victor Emmanuel abdicated in face of the
revolt, Charles Albert as regent granted a liberal constitution;
but his action was disowned by the new king, Charles Felix, who
repressed the revolt and bani
shed Charles Albert from the court.
He was never thereafter trusted by conservatives, though he
regained some credit with them by joining the French army that
suppressed the liberal Spanish government in 1823. Upon becoming
king in 1831, he continued in this conservative path, signing a
military alliance with Austria, showing great enthusiasm for
legitimist causes, and harshly repressing liberal plots. After
1840 he gradually resumed contact with moderate liberals and his
foreign policy became inc
reasingly anti-Austrian; his motive,
however, was not liberal conviction, but expansionist ambitions
and resentment of Austrian hegemony in Italy. Caution and an
innate conservatism long held him back from commitment to the
Risorgimento, until the election of Pope IX and the
resulting massive growth of national sentiment made a successful
challenge to Austria seem possible. On March 4, 1848, he granted
the Statuto, a conservative constitution, and, after
the outbreak of r
evolt in Lombardy, he declared war on Austria on
March 23. Initial Piedmontese victories were followed by a
crushing defeat at Custozza on July 23-25, 1848, and an armistice
with Austria. He was much criticized for this debacle, and with
some justice, not only did he display a notable lack of military
ability, but, in his preoccupation with assuring the annexation
of Lombardy-Venetia to his kingdom, he neglected the chance to
inflict a decisive defeat on the Austrians while they were weak
and demora
lized during the spring. The criticism aroused by his
defeat and the rapid rise of radical sentiment in Piedmont, led
to resume the war in March 1849, less from any hope of victory,
than as the only means to save the prestige of the dynasty and
avert a radical revolution. After suffering an even more
decisive defeat at Novara on March 23, 1849, he abdicated his
throne in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel II, who might secure
better terms from Austria. He went into exile in Portugal, where
he died
on July 29, 1849. This final sacrifice did much to wipe
away the memory of his ineffective conduct of the war and the
indecision and legitimist views that had marked his earlier
policy, and to establish him as a hero in the eyes of any
Italians. Indeed, whatever the weaknesses and ulterior motives
of his policy, he had played a decisive role in promoting the
Risorgimento and in placing the Kingdom of Sardinia
in a position to lead it.
Alan Reinerman
Biblio
graphy