Italy Campaign Medal 1859 (France)

The Commemorative medal of the 1859 Italian Campaign (French: médaille commémorative de la campagne d'Italie de 1859) was a French commemorative medal established by Napoleon III, following the 1859 French campaign in Italy during the Second Italian War of Independence.

Early in 1815, there was a powerful popular movement in favour of national unification throughout the Italian Peninsula. This idea, championed by the King of Sardinia Victor Emmanuel II, was opposed by Pope Pius IX and the Austrian Empire who occupied the provinces of Lombardy and Veneto. In Europe, Italian unification was only supported by Emperor Napoleon III of the French Empire who, on 28 January 1859, based on the clauses of the Treaty of Turin, decided to bring aid and support from France. Piedmont being invaded by 100,000 Austrian soldiers on April 26, 1859, France declared war on the Austrian Empire on May 3, 1859.