While the Austro-Hungarian expeditionary force actively prepared for war, the Roman Liberation Allied Army, formed by the Kingdom of Italy's forces and Garibaldi's volunteers, was advancing on Rome like a force that split bamboo. They were now only a little over twenty kilometers from the city.
"We encountered no resistance along the way. It seems the Italian civilians and soldiers within the Papal States support our actions as well. With their support, this trip to Rome will surely resolve the final issue with ease," Cadorna, a Kingdom of Italy general, said optimistically to Garibaldi.
Garibaldi did not refute him, but he clearly understood that the lack of meaningful resistance was not due to Pius IX's mercy. Rather, Pius IX had concentrated all his strength in Rome. Thus, he said, "Unification is the shared aspiration of the entire Italian nation. But our true enemy has yet to appear. Only Rome, the seat of the Pope, is the final stumbling block to Italian unification, and the last refuge of the remnants blocking that path. Only by taking Rome can our cause be considered complete!"
"Mm, you are right. But our army will crush them easily," Cadorna said confidently.
In Italy, a land whose fighting strength was hard to fathom, the Kingdom of Sardinia could be considered the most militarily capable—or rather, the governments of those Italian states that had been unified were simply too incompetent.
Thus, facing the Papal States alone, Cadorna was certain that today, he himself would complete the final piece of territory in the great cause of Kingdom of Italy unification, and his name would be recorded in Italian history.
By coincidence, on August 30, the day Garibaldi and Cadorna arrived at Rome, French Emperor Napoleon III had also withdrawn to the Sedan region. The Prussian Army had already