First Italian War of Independence The First Italian War of Independence was fought in 1848 and 1849 between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire . The war saw main battles at Custoza and Novara in which the Austrians under Radetzky managed to defeat the Piedmontese . The revolution of 1848 . In 1848 revolutionary riots broke out in numerous places of Italy , as well in many other parts of Europe . Charles Albert in Piedmont and Leopold II in the Grand - Duchy of Tuscany had been forced to make concessions to the democrats . With Vienna itself in revolt , both Milan ( in the Five Days ) and Venice ( the short - lived Repubblica di San Marco , reconquered by the Austrians in 1849 ) , the main cities of the Kingdom of Lombardy - Venetia , under Austrian rule , revolted . Sicily , except Messina , expelled the Bourbon armies . Charles II of Bourbon also was compelled to leave the Duchy of Parma . The Kingdom of Sardinia decided to exploit the apparently favourable moment , and declared war on Austria , in alliance with the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and attacked the weakened Austria in her Italian possessions . The war . The Piedmontese army was composed of two corps and a reserve division , for a total of 12 , 000 troops . Artillery and cavalry were the best units . On March 21 the Grand Duke of Tuscany also declared his entrance in the war against Austria , with a contingent of 6 , 700 men . The Papal Army had a similar sized force , backed by numerous volunteers . On March 25 the vanguard of the II Piedmontese Corps entered Milan and two days later also Pavia was freed . After an initial successful campaign , with the victories at Goito and Peschiera del Garda , Pope Pius IX recalled his troops due to fear of possible expansions of Piedmont in case of victory . The kingdom of the Two Sicilies also retired , but the general Guglielmo Pepe refused to return to Naples and instead went to Venice to protect it against the Austrian counter - offensive . King Ferdinand II ' s retreat was mainly due to the ambiguous behaviour of Charles Albert of Piedmont , who had not clearly refused the proposal to obtain the Sicilian crown received from representatives of the rebellious island . In the revolutionary year of 1848 , popular uprisings were springing up everywhere in Europe . Revolutionaries in many countries supported a world - wide revolution — to establish constitutions and representative government in every corner of Europe and the world . Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were among these revolutionaries . In 1848 , Marx and Engels were located in Cologne , Germany where they were publishing the " Neue Rheinisch Zeitung " ( " New Rhineland News " ) . In their writings for the " Neue Rheinische Zeitung " , Marx and Engels supported the popular demands for a constitution and a democratically elected government which were being raised in the uprisings throughout Europe . Additionally , in the Italian states there was an additional popular demand for a single unified national state . Like nearly all the political left in Europe Marx and Engels strongly supported this popular national demand by the Italian people . and in Germany . However , a split in the political left was developing over the strategy and tactics to be employed in bringing about the unified state of Italy . The specific issue causing the debate was the role that France under Louis Napoleon should play in the unification of Italy . Both sides of the debate argued that uprisings of the Italian people against the foreign reactionary forces of Austria would occur as they had in the past . This time , however , it was likely to result in a unified state of Italy . One group of left revolutionaries argued that France ' s intervention in Italy against the Austrians would be helpful to the popular movement to unify Italy and promote democratic reform . This group argued that France would be joining the people ' s a war of liberation against foreign rule in Italy . According to radical émigré Ludwig Bambergen , France ' s role in the war would be progressive . The other side in this debate between the radicals of the political left argued that Napoleon III of France would imitate his uncle Napoleon I and follow up his march into Italy with another march into Germany . Napoleon III would not liberate Italy from foreign rule , but would be creating another act of foreign aggression on Italy . Radicals like , Jacob Venedey actually advised that revolutionaries of the political left should actually fight with the Ausrians against the French in order to further the cause of the unification of Italy . Expressin his concern over the threat Napoleon III presented to the German unification following his escapade in Italy , Venedey said , " Fight , bleed and prevail for a united Germany and you will bring the united German parliament home from the battlefield . " Much of the vigor of this debate would occur only in 1859 during the Northern Italian War of 1859 , but writing in the " Neue Rheinische Zeitung " published as early as June 23 , 1848 , Frederick Engels seemed to leave little room for doubt as to the side of the debate on which he stood . In that article written eleven years prior to 1859 , Engels made note that the city of Venice had requested aid from the French in helping unify Italy . However , the sarcasm and irony in Engels language can not be missed . Engels saw the French not as attempting to help the unification of Italy , but actually as a threat to that unification . Like Vendey , Engels saw the Napoleon as threatening the German revolution for constitutional rights and German unification as well as Italian unification . In the 1848 article , Engels warned that if the French crossed over the Alps into Italy to provide aid , that it would not be long before French troops would be on Rhine seeking to provide " aid " to the German revolution . In another article published in the " Neue Rheinsche Zeitung " on September 1 , 1848 , Engels once again noted that expecting salvation of the Italian revolution and Italian unification from Napoleon III was a bad mistake . Both Marx and Engels believed that the French presented a danger to the revolutionary uprisings then occurring throughout Europe in 1848 . Although this debate would reach its peak only in 1859 , it is clear from Engel ' s article that the battle lines between the two sides were already forming between revolutionaries of the European left in 1848 . Despite the fears of Frederick Engels , the French did not enter the First War for Italian Independence in 1848 . When the Piedmontese Army under Carl Albert King of Sardinia marched into Austrian held Italy with the intent of linking up with the revolutionaries of Venice , the Piedmontese met the large Austrian Army under Field Marshal Josef Radetzky . At the Curtatone on May 29 , 1848 , the Austrians attacked a combined force of Piedmontese and Tuscan troops . Although the Austrians won the battle , the resistance offered at Curtatone allowed the Piedmontese troops to regroup and win the Battle of Goito the next day — May 30 , 1848 . However , the Piedmontese Army was defeated by Radetzky and the Austrians at Custoza on July 25 , 1848 . The defeat of the Piedmontese at Custoza was followed up by the capture of Milan on August 6 , 1848 by the Austrians before an armistice could be signed later on August 9 , 1848 between Austria and Sardinia . This armistice , however , lasted less than seven months , before Charles Albert denounced the truce on March 12 , 1849 . The Austrian army took the military initiative in Lombardy and heavily defeated the Piedmontese at Novara on March 23 , 1849 . After this victory the Piedmontese were driven back to Borgomanero at the foot of the Alps , and the Austrian forces occupied Novara , Vercelli , Trino and Brescia , with the road to the Piedmontese capital , Turin , lying open to them . Charles Albert abdicated in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel , and a peace treaty was signed on August 9 , 1849 and Piedmont - Sardinia was forced to pay an indemnity of 65 million francs to Austria . The war marked the failure of Sardinia to defeat Austria singlehandedly . This caused Sardinia to seek allies against Austria and ultimately only with French ( 1859 ) and Prussian ( 1866 ) help would Sardinia be able to drive out the Austrians from Northern Italy .