Home > Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora

He entered the Sardinian army in 1823, and was a captain in March 1848, when he gained distinction and the rank of major at the siege of Peschiera . On August 5 1848 he liberated Charles Albert of Sardinia, from the Milan revolutionaries, and in October was promoted general and appointed minister of war. After suppressing the revolt of Genoa in 1849, he again assumed in November 1849 the portfolio of war, which, save during the period of his command of the Crimean expedition, he retained until 1859.

Having reconstructed the Piedmontese army, he took part in the war of 1859 against Austria; and in July of that year succeeded Cavour in the premiership. In 1860 he was sent to Berlin and St Petersburg to arrange for the recognition of the kingdom of Italy and subsequently he held the offices of governor of Milan and royal lieutenant at Naples, until, in September 1864, he succeeded Minghetti as premier. In this capacity he modified the scope of the September Convention by a note in which he claimed for Italy full freedom of action in respect of national aspirations to the possession of Rome, a document of which Visconti-Venosta afterwards took advantage when justifying the Italian occupation of Rome in 1870.

In April 1866 La Marmora concluded an alliance with Prussia against Austria, and, on the outbreak of war in June, took command of an army corps, but was defeated at Custozza on June 23June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. Events 1300-1899 1314 The Battle of Bannockburn south of Stirling, Edward II of England & Robert I of Scotland met in battle. Scotland won and E. Accused of treasonIn law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation. A person who reneges on an oath of loyalty or a pledge of allegiance, and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor . Oran's Dictionary of the Law ( 1983) defi by his fellow countrymen, and of duplicity by the Prussians, he eventually published in defence of his tactics (1873) a series of documents entitled Un po' piu di luce sugli eventi dell' anno 1866 (More light on the events of 1866) a step which caused irritation in Germany, and exposed him to the charge of having violated state secrets.

Meanwhile he had been sent to Paris in 1867 to oppose the French expedition to Rome, and in 1870Events January 6 The inauguration of the Musikverein ( Vienna). January 10 John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil January 15 A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking, after the occupation of Rome by the Italians, had been appointed lieu tenant-royal of the new capital. He died at Florence on the 5th if January 1878. La Marmora's writings include Un episodio di risorgimento italiano (Florence, 1875); and Il segreti di tato nel governo constituzionale (Florence, 1877). See G Massani, Il generale Alfonso La Marmora (Milan, 1880).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica