First off, thank you to all the people who replied to my post! ImperialVienna, thank you so much for gracing this thread with your presence. I really like your Hapsburg timelines. I've corrected what needs correcting. Richter von Manthofen, I'm working on it- see below. To JCVocke, I'm afraid the Napoleonic Era isn't my area of expertise, but I would appreciate your knowledge for any other changes Joseph Ferdinand might be able to effect before he actually comes on the throne. The Gunslinger, I've taken your advice into consideration. See below! Draeger, thank you so much for your support!
Excerpts from The Austrian-Italian Friendship, published by unknown author, 1888:
After the Austrian entry into the Crimean War, which saw the acquisition of the former Ottoman Danubian Principalities, the Empire had won the enmity of the Russians but the friendship of the French. […] Napoleon III, seeing that Joseph Ferdinand I was genuine in his wishes for eventual reform, officially declared an alliance with the Austrian Empire in December 1856. However, the shadow battle for influence over the Italian states continued to rage, even as Austria (whether deliberately or not, it is not clear) allowed its relations with the South German states to fall into decay. […]
[…] The 1860 cession of Sardinian lands to France […] enflamed Italian unificationist sentiments across the Kingdom, and it would have died out if not for the continued encouragement in the form of propaganda from Lombardy-Venetia. […] a number of high-level diplomatic visits, disguised as familial matters, between Joseph Ferdinand I, his wife, Maria Anna of Savoy, and the Sardinian king, Charles Emmanuel, eventually managed to alter Sardinian policy with regards to France (the Sardinian king was notoriously autocratic and mercurial, wielding enormous influence over foreign affairs), […] and eventually warming relations with Austria.
The diplomatic coup was a huge surprise for French authorities, but by then the Austrians had already sponsored and arranged multiple referenda in Hapsburg-influenced Italian states. The conclusion, by now, was foregone […]. Over the space of two months, while the French struggled to muster international support against Austria […] and the Russians alternately insulted and pleaded with Austria (though they were aware that their military survive so much as two battles against the Austrians at this point), the Kingdom of Sardinia extended from the border with France to that with the Papal States.
In a historic diplomatic visit in 1862, Giuseppe Garibaldi met with Archduke Franz Leopold in Milan. Although the meeting at first was amicable, Garibaldi drew attention to the “continued occupation of Lombardy-Venetia”. […] The room was silent for “what felt like an eternity”, according to the Archduke’s diaries, but it is reported that the Archduke eventually responded by affirming Garibaldi’s request and revealing that his purpose in attending the diplomatic function had been to “arrange the award of Lombardy-Venetia to the Kingdom of Sardinia, so that the Empire of Austria might serve as a midwife to the Italian Kingdom under your monarch, […]”. The room erupted in applause and jubilant cheers.
Paris was apoplectic. […]