The main branch of the House of Savoy was quite reduced in numbers during the late xviii and early xix century, eventually leading to the Savoia-Carignano branch taking over in 1830 with Carlo Alberto, who would be the father of Italy's first king, Vittorio Emanuele II.
Now, what if both Vittorio Amedeo and Carlo Felice died before the restoration of the Kings of Sardinia to their continental holdings? Sardinia was proverbially malaria infested or they could have been shipwrecked during their return voyage in may 1814.
In any case, let's assume the main line monarchs are dead by the time the Congress of Vienna opens: I would imagine that Piedmont would be occupied by Austria in the meantime.
Carlo Alberto would be only 16 in 1814 and he had been educated in France, having acquired a reputation aso a rebellious young man, close to liberal ideas and not religiously orthodox... Would he be reinstated or would he be seen as a liability on France's borders?
Austria could be described facto forced to annex Piedmont, but the other powers would probably take umbrage at such an expansion of Austrian power in Italy, so could an agreement be found where a Kingdom of Northern Italy is created, in personal union with the Austrian Emperor but having an at least on paper own constitution army and administration, similar to otl's Poland?
Austria would be the unchallenged overlord of Italy, even more than otl, but at the same time the seeds for a unified state would have been sown far earlier than in otl. Unification could only come at this point by virtue of a popular insurrection supported by France while another possible development is the eventual creation of some sort of Austro-Italo-Hungarian triple monarchy...
Tldr if the main branch of the House of Savoy goes extinct by 1814 would Piedmont be taken by Austria or would the Kingdom still go to Charles Albert, at the time a minor educated in Napoleonic France?
Now, what if both Vittorio Amedeo and Carlo Felice died before the restoration of the Kings of Sardinia to their continental holdings? Sardinia was proverbially malaria infested or they could have been shipwrecked during their return voyage in may 1814.
In any case, let's assume the main line monarchs are dead by the time the Congress of Vienna opens: I would imagine that Piedmont would be occupied by Austria in the meantime.
Carlo Alberto would be only 16 in 1814 and he had been educated in France, having acquired a reputation aso a rebellious young man, close to liberal ideas and not religiously orthodox... Would he be reinstated or would he be seen as a liability on France's borders?
Austria could be described facto forced to annex Piedmont, but the other powers would probably take umbrage at such an expansion of Austrian power in Italy, so could an agreement be found where a Kingdom of Northern Italy is created, in personal union with the Austrian Emperor but having an at least on paper own constitution army and administration, similar to otl's Poland?
Austria would be the unchallenged overlord of Italy, even more than otl, but at the same time the seeds for a unified state would have been sown far earlier than in otl. Unification could only come at this point by virtue of a popular insurrection supported by France while another possible development is the eventual creation of some sort of Austro-Italo-Hungarian triple monarchy...
Tldr if the main branch of the House of Savoy goes extinct by 1814 would Piedmont be taken by Austria or would the Kingdom still go to Charles Albert, at the time a minor educated in Napoleonic France?
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