The creation of the Kingdom of Italy and a unified Italian navy was the result of concerted efforts of Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the House of Savoy to establish a united kingdom encompassing the whole of the Italian Peninsula. This process began in earnest during the Revolutions of 1848. After a successful revolution in France in February 1848 toppled King Louis Philippe I and established the Second French Republic, revolutionary fervor broke out across Europe. In Vienna, Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich resigned his post and left in exile for London while Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his nephew, Franz Joseph I. Across the Austrian Empire, nationalist sentiments among Austria's various ethnic groups led to the revolutions in Austria to take several different forms. Liberal sentiments prevailed extensively among the German Austrians, which were further complicated by the simultaneous events in the German states. The Hungarians within the Empire largely sought to establish their own independent kingdom or republic, which led to a revolution in Hungary. Italians within the Austrian Empire likewise sought to unify with the other Italian-speaking states of the Italian Peninsula to form a "Kingdom of Italy".