Hapsburg Italy 1848

Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany was fairly liberal and in 1848 there was some brief discussion of establishing a Central Italian Kingdom with Leopold as King as part of a wider Italian Confederation. Issue was, the Grand Duke saw Austria's success in Italy and decided it'd be better to go to Gaeta with the Pope.

Let's say Leopold instead opts to not only become king of Central Italy (which I assume would correspond with the 1859-1860 polity's borders) but also convinced his family members in Vienna to cede Lombary and Veneto to his new Kingdom - establishing an Austrian-allied Kingdom of Italy.
 
to cede Lombary and Veneto to his new Kingdom

The only way I can see this happening is if those territories are given perhaps to a daughter of the emperor, whose then will marry the GD of Tuscany... perhaps?

Another way could be if the emperor gets hold of the title of Tuscany and decide to do something similar to what was done to Hungary in Italy, uniting the territories in Italy and turning them in another crown for his Empire.

Or not... I don't know.
Still, I doubt the empire is ever going to 'cede' important and historical territories in Italy to gain a potential ally when they could instead keep those territories for themselves...
 
Better remember that the important and historical territories has been under Hapsburg rule for less than 50 years, and frankly the A-H leaderships it's too idiot to try a move like that as frankly had a change to create a functional ally that can help them instead of an enemy and a problem for 70 years.
 
The only way I can see this happening is if those territories are given perhaps to a daughter of the emperor, whose then will marry the GD of Tuscany... perhaps?

Another way could be if the emperor gets hold of the title of Tuscany and decide to do something similar to what was done to Hungary in Italy, uniting the territories in Italy and turning them in another crown for his Empire.

Or not... I don't know.
Still, I doubt the empire is ever going to 'cede' important and historical territories in Italy to gain a potential ally when they could instead keep those territories for themselves...

They're transferring the territories to a Hapsburg Kingdom, so I wouldn't think it'd be that big a deal. Plus Austria hasn't even had those lands for more than 50 years.



Meanwhile, what happens to Sardinia-Piedmont? The House of Savoy is now an obstacle to unification of North Italy (and North Italy in many ways was the real Italy if you're going to use the Holy Roman and Napoleonic Kingdoms as the historic precedent). Italian nationalists will want Piedmont, Liguria, Savoy, and Nice at the least. Perhaps there'd be a partition of Sardinia between France and Italy-Austria? Alternatively perhaps France props up Sardinia as a buffer against the Hapsburgs.
 
Last edited:
They're transferring the territories to a Hapsburg Kingdom, so I wouldn't think it'd be that big a deal. Plus Austria hasn't even had those lands for more than 50 years.



Meanwhile, what happens to Sardinia-Piedmont? The House of Savoy is now an obstacle to unification of North Italy (and North Italy in many ways was the real Italy if you're going to use the Holy Roman and Napoleonic Kingdoms as the historic precedent). Italian nationalists will want Piedmont, Liguria, Savoy, and Nice at the least. Perhaps there'd be a partition of Sardinia between France and Italy-Austria? Alternatively perhaps France props up Sardinia as a buffer against the Hapsburgs.

Yes, because just handing over huge swaths of land to a different sovergein shows real confidence in one's own strength and dignity. Especially when the Empire has just got a huge knock to its prestige by having to fight it's own internal revolutionaries, Vienna can't afford to keep vacilating and looking weak.@
 
Milan was ruled by Hapsburgs since the 1500s, and by Austria since 1713 (with a brief interruption during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars).

Milan proper, yes, but the Veneto and eastern Lombardy had been part of Venice for even longer. The "brief" interruption of Napopens 20 decade long romp cannot be so easily ignored....

Also Habsburg rule technically was broken several times early in the 1500s. So.
 
Top