Napoleon was defeated in 1815, the Sardinians represented by Victor Emmanuel 1st restored the ancient regime. However, the republican experience had borne fruits. Everywhere voices were raised claiming more liberty and reattachment to France. Victor Emmanuel dreamed of a united Italy and appealed to Napoleon III. Too weak to take on Austria the King of Piedmont allied with France to declare war in 1859.The Austrians were definitively beaten at Vaincue at The Battle of Magenta on 4 June 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai. The Franco-Piedmontese coalition consisted in overwhelming majority of French troops (1,100 Piedmontese and 58,000 French). Their victory can, therefore, be considered as mostly a French victory. The French wanted to obtain what the Belvederois and the other inhabitants of the comte de Nice and wished for so long.
