Ref.: ROME-54077
Infantry subaltern, 1855 In 1852 Camillo Benso of Cavour became the Prime minister of the Savoy Kingdom, precursor of Italy as an indipendenty country. The strategy of his domestic policy turned towards economic and industrial development. As regards the foreign policy his main concern was that of bringing the Italian question to the attention of the European Powers. The opportunity came with the out brake of the hostilities between Turkey and Russia in the Crimean. On the 26 January 1855 Cavour formed an alliance with England and France against Russia with the military agreement of participating in the conflict by providing a contingent of Sardinian troops. Thus, 15,000 men headed for the Crimean peninsula under the command of General Alfonso La Marmora and participated in both the Battle of Cernaia and the siege of Sebastopoli, the powerful stronghold which resisted to the Anglo-French-Piedmontese troops for about a year. The figurine represents an infantry subaltern wearing a blue-greyish cloth coat as assigned to the troops the 22 May 1855, its round edged collar could be turned up, it was single-breasted with six metal buttons, the back had no martingale but simply two buttons to hold the belt.