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Alright this TL has an Austrian-Italian personal union as a result. The initial POD is that Emperor Franz I of Austria gets Parma rather than Marie-Louise. Lots of butterflies emanate from there on which will eventually allow for a personal union.



The Cross and the Eagle




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Chapter I: Birth of the Union, 1815-1850.



The Congress of Vienna was called for at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and it was also the beginning of a period of Habsburg interference in Italian affairs as the Austrian Empire gained from the removal of French power. In the Congress of Vienna under the guidance of Austrian prime minister Klemens von Metternich the Duchy of Parma was given to the Habsburgs. It was not seen fit to return it to the House of Bourbon-Parma which had collaborated willingly with Napoleonic France. Initially it would be awarded to Austrian Archduchess and former Empress of the French Marie-Louise, but it occurred to a number of diplomats that upon her death her son Napoleon François, Duke of Reichstadt, would inherit it. They were wary of leaving any kind of Bonaparte powerbase which could either attempt to restore Napoleon somewhere or that his son would turn out to be a chip off the old block that would cause a crisis in the future. Marie Louise was instead given the new and relatively meaningless title of Princely Countess of Milan which didn’t entail any serious ruling prerogatives. Parma was instead given to Emperor Franz I instead and the tiny Duchy of Lucca was carved out and given to the Bourbons as a consolation prize.

With Parma and Lombardy-Venetia under the direct rule of the Emperor of Austria Franz I and both the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Duchy of Modena under the control of cadet branches of the Habsburgs, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine had a significant powerbase in northern Italy. Fate would intervene by stacking a whole lot of misery on the shoulders of the heir apparent of Charles Felix, Charles Albert who was heir since his distant cousin Charles Felix had no children during his entire ten year reign from 1821 to 1831. Charles Albert’s son Victor Emmanuel contracted typhus and died in his infancy in 1822 while his second child who would have been named Ferdinand was stillborn which put a strain on his marriage Maria Theresa of Austria, his second cousin once removed and the youngest daughter of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Several years went by before both partners could bear to attempt having a child again which led to a birth of a healthy daughter in 1831 named Maria Christina. Unfortunately, the House of Savoy used Salic Law which meant that Maria Christina couldn’t succeed to the throne barring the near impossible situation that there were no more capable male heirs or if Salic Law was ever abolished. She did restore harmony to Charles Albert’s marriage since she grew up without any health problems and was reportedly a child with a cheerful, inquisitive and kind personality around everyone she met, making her quite popular at the royal court.

Charles Albert succeeded to the throne the same year as his daughter’s birth as King of Piedmont-Sardinia. He was generally a standard conservative monarchy although he did have some sympathies toward liberalism which led him to concede a constitution (which did preserve a lot of royal power, making it a weak concession at best). Liberalist ideas from the urban and sometimes very progressive and anticlerical elites did induce him to take a less conservative stance toward succession laws and he fomented the desire to continue his line during the late 1830s and early 1840s. As things were at the time he’d be succeeded by some obscure, ridiculously distant cousin and so in a controversial decision he decided to abolish Salic Law so that his daughter could succeed him which aroused some unrest in Turin since his lawful successor showed up although he was bought off with money, titles and a few estates. Maria Christina was now his official heir apparent to the Sardinian throne and to Charles Albert’s relief she was healthy and happy. She started to receive the necessary preparation for her role as Queen of Piedmont-Sardinia and was notably influenced by liberal ideas that were brewing in 1840s Italy which led to conflict with her more conservative father. As she came of age she did gain in popularity massively among her people for her liberal ideas which included a constitution, a democratically elected parliament and Italian unification. Her father wanted to balance out her “radical” ideas by marrying her to a “suitable partner” (read: someone more conservative) and he believed that Archduke Franz Josef of Austria, the heir apparent to the Austrian throne (until the unlikely event that Ferdinand ever produced an heir which wouldn’t happen since he hadn’t consummated his marriage so far) would be a suitable match. It was partially inspired by fear of the liberal uprisings that had occurred in Spain and its Empire, Italy and Germany in the 1820s and 30s. This marriage also served a secondary purpose, namely Charles Albert’s hope that the marriage would allow for the Austrian Empire’s Italian lands to be transferred to Piedmont-Sardinia, making for a Sardinian Austrian-supported hegemony in northern Italy. Besides this, the soon to be queen needed a partner.

The two married in 1847 when she was 16 and he was 17 years of age, a very early marriage and the marriage immediately caught the attention of France with French King Louis Philippe I demanding that Franz Josef would renounce his right to the Austrian throne. With these recent geopolitical events the French government felt threatened since with a Habsburg on the Sardinian throne and the Habsburgs also in charge of the German Confederation, France could get surrounded by regions under Habsburg influence. Austria refused to force Franz Josef to renounce his claim to the throne and France declared war, thus igniting the short-lived War of the Sardinian Succession. A powerful French army with strength of 75.000 men invaded Piedmont in autumn 1847 and took Pinerolo which was a main crossroad in Italy and 20.000 men branched off and advanced to Aosta. The main force marched for and took Turin under the command of King Louis-Philippe himself and the Sardinian court including King Charles Albert, princess Maria Christina and her husband Franz Josef fled to the city of Alessandria near the border with Parma. Fortunately an army arrived under the command of field marshal Josef Radetzky. The Austro-Sardinian army supported by troops from Parma, Modena and Tuscany numbered 100.000 men. In the Battle of Carmagnola, a town south of Turin, Radetzky defeated the French army decisively; the French side had 15.000 men killed, wounded or missing while the Austrians had 7.000 killed, wounded or missing. Turin was retaken and in France pre-existing brewing unrest came to an eruption. In 1847, an economic crisis had erupted compounded by a potato blight in Belgium which led to a famine and massive epidemics of cholera and typhoid. This combined with frustrations from the bourgeoisie over lack of political power when compared to the aristocracy and frustrations from the peasantry and working classes over poverty, aristocratic control of the land and so on. In 1848, revolution commenced.

Upon his return to France and his arrival in Marseilles with his ravaged army, King Louis-Philippe I was met with discontented mobs of peasants, workers and artisans and he fled back to Piedmont-Sardinia where he ironically requested political asylum. This was accepted and he moved with a small entourage to Florence in Tuscany where he would live out the remaining two years of his life. In the meantime, the revolutions spread across Europe with Britain being the only exception and they watched on as things developed. The Austrian Empire experienced an uprising in Hungary which threatened to tear the empire apart, especially after independence was declared and Hungarian army units declared their loyalty to the Hungarian Republic. In the Italian regions there were uprisings as well, which forced the conservative Charles Albert to abdicate among other things. In the midst of nationalist and liberal revolutionary unrest across northern Italian cities princess Maria Christina was crowned Queen of Piedmont-Sardinia and her husband, the young Austrian Archduke Franz Josef, was crowned prince consort. She immediately started to write down a liberal constitution and formed an elected parliament in Turin although only the upper and upper middle class tax brackets were allowed to vote since universal suffrage was still a little too far reaching at this point. The “Turin Parliament” became a rallying point for Italian nationalists while in the other Italian capitals massive Italian nationalist revolutions erupted which demanded Italian unification, particularly in northern Italy.

During this chaotic episode, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria was convinced by prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg, the aimed successor of the now disgraced former statesman Von Metternich, to abdicate in favour of heir presumptive Franz Josef. He was crowned Emperor of Austria in late 1848 and he agreed with his wife on the transfer of the lands of Lombardy-Venetia and Parma to Piedmont-Sardinia in order to obtain Italian assistance in squashing the Hungarians. Lombardy-Venetia (including South Tyrol) and Parma were ceded to Piedmont-Sardinia and the rulers of Modena and Tuscany agreed to form this new state while keeping their non-ruling privileges and titles. Franz Josef, however, despite his wife’s urging, didn’t want to take decisive action against the Pope and he wavered somewhat about what to do and in the end he did nothing. Pope Pius IX with support from the new French republican regime (which wanted a buffer to Habsburg power in Italy, even if it was the Pope) restored order in the Papal States. The northern Italian states – Piedmont-Sardinia, Parma, Modena, Tuscany, Lombardy-Venetia and Lucca which was pressured by its neighbours – unified into the Kingdom of Padania, a name which sprung from the Habsburg love for rarely used Latin names. Formally, the new state with Queen Maria Christina and prince consort Franz Josef as its monarchs was known as North Italy.

In return for Habsburg assent to Italian unifications, the new northern Italian kingdom sent an army of 30.000 men to assist the Austrians in squashing the Hungarian uprising. Martial law was declared across Hungary and dissidence was harshly suppressed by the Austrian army and mutinous Hungarian units were brought back in line with the execution of their superior officers. Maria Christina’s liberal ideas rubbed off on her husband thanks to her loveable character, fortunately, and Franz Josef decided to grant clemency to most revolutionary leaders and negotiate in order to prevent future uprisings. A devolved Hungarian parliament was formed in Budapest albeit with oversight powers from a newly formed Viennese parliament (which was more of a consultative body) and veto powers from the Emperor.

In the meantime the revolution swept other countries in Europe too. The Netherlands saw a liberal constitution and Russia had to squash a Polish uprising. The Ottomans were faced with rebellions in the Balkans and in Germany pro-nationalist uprisings took place too although the “Frankfurt Parliament” partially inspired by the Turin Parliament was weak and divided between Catholics and Protestants, republicans and monarchists, and proponents of Kleindeutschland and Grossdeutschland. It was soon rendered powerless by Prussia although Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV was reluctant to accept any kind of imperial German crown, fearing the Austrian response. France heavily supported and lobbied for Friedrich Wilhelm to accept the German crown, as did the Pope and Russia who were wary of restored and growing Habsburg power and influence. Great Britain declared that the strong Austrian growth in power required a counterbalance to maintain the balance of power in Europe. With support from Russia, Great Britain and France the Kleindeutschland solution was accepted with Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV accepting the title Emperor of Germany, thus ending the turbulent 1848 revolutions. Austria in 1849 took the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies after the last Bourbon ruler, Ferdinand II, was overthrown by popular liberal and nationalist revolts and the name of the northern Italian kingdom was changed to Kingdom of Italy. Of the Italian states, only the Papal States were independent now, but this would change in the future.
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