Napoleon III of France and Cavour, chief minister of Piedmont come to an agreement to try to remove Austrian influence from the Italian peninsula, and provoke Vienna into war. One of the largest battles was at Solferino where there were three monarchs - Franz Joseph of Austria, Victor Emanuel of Piedmont and Napoleon III. The ensuing conflict lasted until 1861 when finally emerged the brand new nation of Italy

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Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi - Overture, Iphigenia In Aulis; La Traviata - Conclusion - Ah, fors' e lui. Courtesy of musopen.org.

Picture - Entry of Garibaldi to Napoli, by Franz Wenzel Schwarz

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The Napoleonic Wars had a dramatic impact on Italy, completing redrawing boundaries. Even though the French were defeated, many of their political reforms were to be both profound and long-lasting. And the temporary unification of parts of the peninsula encouraged Italians to be aware of a common nationality. Yet only decades afterwards would there be real change. Some of the protagonists were Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo Cavour, the Prime Minister of Piedmont

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Music composed by Franz Liszt - Die Loreley, S. 532 (Piano Solo)

and Mikhail Glinka - Trio Pathétique

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An allied army of British, French and Italians besiege the Crimean port of Sevastopol in late 1854. Fighting also took place in the Baltic Sea and in the Far East, and in the Caucasus mountains at the siege of the fortress of Kars. The main event at Sevastopol was particularly protracted and bloody as the allies attempted to break through into the city

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Music composed by Frederich Chopin: Preludes No. 7 'The Polish dancer'; Nocturne in F sharp major

Picture - Battle of Malakoff

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The Russians invade Moldavia and Wallachia (in modern day Romania) and destroy the Ottoman Black Sea fleet at Sinop. Under public pressure, the French and British governments, concerned about growing Russian power, decide to send in troops to force the invaders to retreat. Seeking to neutralise the Russian threat in the Black Sea and Mediterranean, the Allies decide to invade Crimea. One of several early skirmishes was the famous 'charge of the light brigade'

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Music composed by Frederich Chopin

Picture - British cavalry charging against Russian forces at Balaclava

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The Ottoman Sultans attempt to reform their army and state, under pressure from outside powers, most notably Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, who lays claim to protecting Orthodox Christians within the Ottoman Empire. The Crimean War begins when Russia invades the Orthodox territories of Moldavia and Wallachia in modern day Romania.

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Music from Frederich Chopin: Nocturne in B flat minor, no. 1, and Polonaise no. 1

Picture - The First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813) against the Ottoman Empire

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The powers of Europe, especially Britain and France are concerned by the decline of the Ottoman Empire and growing power and ambition of Russia. This episode focuses on the problems of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II, who descendants once ruled a mighty empire that threatened Christendom, but in the 1800's was struggling under the pressures of modernity and the threat of regions breaking away e.g. in Egypt, Arabia and the Balkans. 

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Music: Chopin's Mazurka in C sharp minor, and Etude no. 3 in E major - 'Tristesse'; Mikhail Glinka - Trio Pathétique

Picture - Portrait of Sultan Mahmud II

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Revolutionary breaks out across Europe continent from France to Romania, Denmark to Italy. Slowly the authorities regained control but were unable to reverse all of the changes. Most governments, for example, kept some form of constitution, and liberals worked hard to defend what was left of their achievements. The events of 1848 gave millions of Europeans their first taste of politics, and remained an inspiration for later generations. 

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Music: Robert Schumann - Kinderszenen, courtesy of musopen.org

Picture: The revolutionary barricades in Vienna in May 1848

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In the first months of 1848, a tidal wave of revolution shook the political establishment of Europe to its foundations Events began with an uprising in Sicily in January, and by the end of the year the entire continent had been affected to some degree, including the overthrow of leaders in France, Austria, Italy and Germany

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Music: William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini, courtesy of musopen.org

Picture: Revolutionaries in Berlin in March 1848, waving the revolutionary flags

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King Charles X of France is overthrown and replaced by his cousin Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans. 

Meanwhile a 10 month long insurrection in Poland is crushed by the Russians. In the retribution which followed, eighty-thousand Poles are dragged off in chains to Siberia. 

The year 1830 also witnessed the formal independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire after a war which had begun nine years before.

And the Industrial Revolution gathers steam across western Europe

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Music from Feliox Mendelssohn, Italian Symphony, courtesy of musopen.org

Picture - Eugène_Delacroix (Liberty Leading the People)

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The Congress of Vienna 1814 at the end of the long Napoleonic Wars led to a period of relative peace on the continent of Europe. A network of institutions was established known as the ‘Concert of Europe’ where differences could be thrashed out before leading to war.

After the French Revolution, the basis of sovereignty shifted from individuals and families as leaders to nations and states. Throughout Europe a generation of individuals from the educated elite took the lead in developing movements of national liberation and liberal reform. But for more than thirty years the leaders of the Great Powers of the continent successfully managed to suppress these movements and clamped down on any signs of internal unrest or revolution

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Music: Frederich Chopin - Polonaise in A Flat Major; Franz Schubert's Symphony no.5

Picture: Congress of Vienna watercolour etching by August Friedrich Andreas

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