These early successes, however, were short-lived and the supremacy of the Austrian military was to prove to be too significant to allow these revolutions to flourish. For example, King Charles Albert, who at the time ruled Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849, aspired to unite Italy under his leadership. He declared war on Austria and launched a full-out attack on the Quadrilateral. Lacking allies, Charles Albert was no match for the Austrian army. He was defeated at the Battle of Custoza (July 24, 1848), signed a truce, and withdrew his forces from Lombardy.
There were further defeats to follow. In 1848, Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg was appointed Prime Minister of Austria. This crushed any hopes that the Piedmontese had of the Austrians being prepared to give territorial concessions to prevent future conflict. In Piedmont, King Charles Albert was persuaded by Prime Minister Gioberti to try one more time to defeat the Austrians. However, Piedmont, the strongest state, suffered humiliating defeat with Radetsky and the Austrians crushing the Piedmont army in March 1849. Piedmont had now suffered humiliating defeat by the Austrians in two battles and it was also to have important short- and long-term repercucssions.
Before the first campaign against the Austrians, Charles Albert has famously claimed that Italy would “fare da se” (‘go it alone’). By this he meant that Italians did not need foreign help to get rid of the Austrians. Military defeat in 1848 and 1849 proved Charles Albert wrong.
The strength of the Austrian Military had been too much for Italy and the revolution but it is reasonable to say that some consideration must also be given to other drawbacks that Italy suffered from, namely, a lack of international allies, a lack of unity and a lack of popular support together with the Popes actions and poor leadership/organisation skills.
To defeat the Austrian Military, Italians would need help from foreign allies to counter-balance the might of Austria but the Pope’s influence on the Catholic powers of Europe was counter-revolutionary. France, who was traditionally Austria’s enemy might have at one stage been considered an ally, but France chose military action against Italian nationalists, crushing the Roman Republic and therefore giving little optimism to those in the nationalist camps.
There was also a lack of co-operation between the revolutionary groups, a lack of unity. Those in Sicily and Naples were particularly at loggerheads and in Piedmont Charles Albert would not accept volunteers from other Italian states in his army, or work with any other revolutionary groups, unless they declared loyalty to the Piedmont royal family. The revolutionaries were further divided in their aims and there was no universally accepted national leader who could coordinate policy.
It wasn’t just that provisional governments and the revolutionary movements lacked guidance they were also inexperienced, weak and lacking in resources, particularly that of military capability. They could not maintain themselves in power having gained it, partly owing to lack of support from the mass of the population, except perhaps while fighting was taking place. The liberals did not make concerted efforts to encourage popularity nor did they try hard to involve the peasants. Social reform was not important to liberals so therefore they did not strive to improve life for the ordinary person. However, some of the liberal ideas of liberty and democracy helped to reinforce the ideas of the more moderate nationalists and certainly encouraged demands for change.
In conclusion Austria’s military supremacy was probably the single most important factor in the failure of the revolutions. This was due to the Austrian army being superior in numbers, better equipped and much better lead than any other army in the Peninsula. In any conflict Austria were bound to win, even if the revolutionary forces had been able to present a united front, which they did not. By the middle of 1849 it was clear that the revolutions had failed, just as they had in 1820 and 1831, Lombardy and the Venetian Republic came under tighter Austrian control and worst of all, the strongest state, Piedmont had suffered humiliating defeat by the Austrian in two battles during 1848. Despite, ‘Italy’ , as in earlier revolutions suffering from major setbacks such as lack of unity, lack of popular support and a lack of international allies, I consider and have taken into account that the Austrian Military strength played an even more significant vital role in the failure of the 1848-9 revolutions. Austria remained dominant in a divided Italy and the Revolution was lost. Austria then went on to take the leading role in restoring the old regimes in 1849.