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Biography of Cavour, Conte diName: Cavour, Conte diBirth Date: August 1, 1810 Death Date: June 6, 1861 Place of Birth: Turin, Italy Nationality: Italian Gender: Male Occupations: prime minister, statesman Cavour, Conte di The Italian statesman Camillo Benso, Conte di Cavour (1810-1861), devoted himself to the liberation of northern Italy from Austrian domination. A brilliant and steadfast diplomat, he played a leading role in the unification of Italy.Camillo Benso di Cavour was born on Aug. 1, 1810, at Turin. As a younger son in a noble family, he was trained to be an officer in the army. But moved by a restless dissatisfaction with Italian social and political conditions, he resigned his commission in 1831, when he was only 21 years old. He applied himself to the agricultural improvement of his family estate. Then, widening his sphere of activity, he founded the Piedmontese Agricultural Society and became one of the chief promoters of railroads and steamships in Italy. The liberal Cavour grew ever more distrustful of the reactionary politics in force throughout Europe, particularly their manifestation in the repressive rule of Austria over a large area of …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…united Italy in 1861. But the statesman's strength was waning, and on June 6, 1861, he died. There were many problems in Italy still unsolved, but Cavour's brilliance had transformed his country from a collection of feudal principalities into a modern state. Further Reading The formative years of Cavour are analyzed in Arthur James Whyte, The Early Life and Letters of Cavour, 1810-1848 (1925). Denis Mack Smith, Cavour and Garibaldi, 1860: A Study in Political Conflict (1954), is useful. A penetrating analysis of the major achievements of Cavour combined with primary source materials is Arthur James Whyte, The Political Life and Letters of Cavour, 1848-1861 (1930). William de la Rive, Reminiscences of the Life and Character of Count Cavour (trans. 1862), is still valuable. For a more general picture of the unification see Sir J. A. R. Marriott, The Makers of Modern Italy: Napoleon-Mussolini (1889; rev. ed. 1937). A solid recent study of the unification is Edgar Holt, The Making of Italy, 1815-1870 (1971). |