The Duchy of Tuscany, 1814-1860



In 1814 the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was restored and Grand Duke Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine returned; many reforms introduced by the French administration (1808-1814) were retained. Elba, Piombino and the Stato dei Presidii (the principality given to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1813) were annexed. The Concordat of 1815 returned some confiscated church property. A liberal constitution was granted in 1848. Tuscany joined the short-lived League of Italian States (-1849), with Savoy-Piemont-Sardinia and the Papal State, an Italian customs union which in 1848 briefly turned into an anti-Habsburgian alliance. As Grand Duke Leopold hesitated to fulfill the expectations of his patriotic subjects, his position in Florence became insecure. On Feb. 8th 1849 patriotic revolutionaries proclaimed a republic. Grand Duke Leopold fled, to return with an Austrian army; the republic was suppressed (1849), the constitution suppressed (1852); Leopold then ruled absolute. Austrian troops left in 1855. The Banca Nazionale di Toscana (National Bank of Tuscany) was established in 1857 and began to issue banknotes.
The Armistice of Villafranca (1859, between France and Austria) restored Tuscany to the Habsburgs; yet on August 16th, a national assembly declared the dynasty deposed, and a provisional government took control. After a plebiscite held on March 11th/12th Tuscany was annexed by Piemont-Sardinia. In 1861 the Kingdom of Piemont-Sardinia was renamed Kingdom of Italy.
Population 1823 1,200,000; 1850 1,740,000; size 22,280 square km.






EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Tuscany in 1848, from Encyclopedia of the 1848 Revolutions
League of Italian States, from Encyclopedia of the 1848 Revolutions
Article Tuscany, from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 edition
Giuseppe Giusti, Cronaca dei fatti di Toscana (1845-1849), posted by Universita di Pisa, in Italian
DOCUMENTS Map : Italy in 1815, from Modern Italy at Dickinson College
Heraldry in Tuscany, from heraldica.com
Tuscany, historical flags, from FOTW
List of Grand Dukes of Tuscany, from World Statesmen : Italian States to 1860 by Ben Cahoon
Map : Unification of Italy 1859-1924, posted by Ben Cahoon (map on the right)
Portrait of Leopoldo II. Granduca di Toscana, from Costumes of Toscana
Armistice at Villafranca, between Napoleon III. and Franz Joseph II. 1859, from Modern Italy at Dickinson College, bilingual
W. Gracie, General Gazetteer, 1823, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Statutes of the Order of St. Joseph (founded in 1807, transferred to Tuscany in 1817), from Chivalric Orders
Map : Austria in Italy: Areas Ruled by Austria or Collateral Lines between 1815 and 1866 (including Tuscany), from Old Glasses from Old Europe by Thomas Griesbacher
Online Catalogus of Italian Stamps : Toscana
REFERENCE History of Italian Regions : Tuscany, from History Book Reviews



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on March 17th 2006

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