La Marmora, Alfonso Ferrero (1804–1878)

Piedmontese general and politician, twice prime minister of the kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, in 1859–60 and 1864. He commanded the Piedmontese forces that took part in the Crimean War, and later played a key role in the Risorgimento, the struggle for Italian unification.

La Marmora was born at Turin, and distinguished himself during the Sardinian war of independence from Austria in 1848. In that year, and again in 1849–55, he was minister of war, building the Piedmontese army into an efficient force that would form the basis of the future army of a unified Italy. In 1866, as foreign minister, he concluded a secret alliance with Prussia against Austria (the Seven Weeks' War), but was defeated by the Austrians at the battle of Custozza. La Marmora was accused of treason for not deploying his reserves in this engagement; in self-defence, he wrote Un po' piu di luce sugli eventi militari e politici dell' anno 1866/A Little More Light on the Military and Political Events of 1866, 1873, which embarrassed the Prussian chancellor Bismarck through its revelation of state secrets.