The invitation from Italy was nearly a year old, but with his customary talent for the dramatic, President Charles de Gaulle of France had waited for just the right occasion to stage his first state visit abroad. On June 24, 100 years ago, Emperor Napoleon III defeated the Austrians at Solferino alongside Sardinia's little Victor Emmanuel II, who two years later became the first king of a united Italy. Off went the imperial message to Paris—"Great battle, great victory!"—though it had been such a blood bath that a Swiss traveler, Henri Dunant, shocked...
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