Chapter 69: Chapter 69 – Pragmatist

During the mid-19th century, the industrial centers of Italy were concentrated in the north. Due to political and geographical factors, they were divided into the "Turin-Genoa" industrial zone and the "Milan-Venice" industrial zone. This was the biggest reason behind Sardinia's desperation to annex Lombardy-Venetia.

Unlike Britain and France, however, the industrial revolution in Italy has only just begun as the states are still dominated by traditional handicrafts. Therefore, the wealth and influence of capitalists was somewhat limited. In addition, the capitalists in Venice and the capitalists in Turin maintained a cooperative-competitive relationship as many capitalists had businesses in both Venice and Turin.

When Silvestro Libonati informed the Venetian capitalists regarding the conditions put forward by Marshal Radetzky, they quickly took action. It was hard to say whether they truly supported Austria or had their machinations in action. Regardless of their thoughts, they began to lobby their acquaintances in Turin to have the Sardinian army send troops to Venice.

After all, each extra day of war brought them inestimable losses due to roads and bridges being blocked. The same was true for the capitalists in Turin since production had come to a halt due to the conscription of most young men in the country.

After the Venetian capitalists joined in to influence public opinion, Turin became even more lively and reached the verge of exploding. The crowds were on the verge of rioting, so King Charles Albert had to mobilize the army in advance.

To this end, despite Minister of War Ferrere's warnings, he sent even the remaining 40,000 soldiers in Sardinia to join the army. As a result, the Sardinian army was now 190,000-strong. In theory, if their Italian allies were added, their total strength would be close to 250,000. Unfortunately, this 250,000-strong army would never see battle.

This was because, besides the Sardinian army, the army of the other Italian states didn't have any plans to reach the battlefield. This was especially true for the Naples army which had stopped to rest in the Papal States after "most of their soldiers suffered from heat stroke." Only God knows how they managed to have a heat stroke in spring.

Furthermore, they explained that the 40,000 troops promised by Naples would be unable to reach the battlefield in time, but for the great cause of reunification of Italy, they had sent their remaining 300 healthy soldiers. Regardless of whether this reason was acceptable or not, one thing was certain: Naples had withdrawn from the war.

Franz wasn't surprised by this turn of events. Austrian influence in Naples had ensured this outcome. was the son of , who, in turn, was the son of , an extremely powerful woman like her mother, .

In fact, she had been the most powerful person in Italy, besides , during the late-18th century when her husband, , had ruled over Naples and Sicily. This was due to the astounding might of the Austrian Empire and its ties with the Spanish Empire, which had traditionally dominated southern Italy.