Victor Emmanuel II (Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was
King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title
King of Italy to become the first king of a
united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. The Italians gave him the epithet
Father of the Fatherland .