v11_1929 - 50 centimes Napoléon III, tête nue 1859 Paris F.187/10

SECOND EMPIRE

(2/12/1852-4/09/1870)

Napoleon III bareheaded

The attack of Orsini against the emperor, on January 14, 1858, causes the hardening of the mode. The meeting of Plombières of July 20 and 21, 1858 with the Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia leads to a treaty of alliance between the two powers and Napoleon III promises to bring his help to Italian unity. On May 3, 1859, France declared war on Austria in order to support Victor-Emmanuel II of Piedmont. The Franco-Sardinian victories of Magenta, June 4, and Solférino, June 24, oblige Austria to sign the preliminaries of Villafranca on July 12 and the Treaty of Zürich on November 10, 1859. Austria yields by this treaty the greater part of Lombardy that France retrocedes to Piedmont. By the Treaty of Turin, March 24, 1860, the House of Savoy, in the person of Victor-Emmanuel II, ceded to France its lands of Savoy and the county of Nice which voted their attachment to France.