Francesco II

Today we remember HM Francesco II, last (for the time being) King of the Two Sicilies, born on this date in 1836.  In honour of King Francesco's birthday, here is a chart and map of Europe at his accession in 1859 on the eve of the vastly overrated "Risorgimento," including all the then-sovereign rulers of small German and Italian states.  I've never done a chart this comprehensive before.  I think it gives an idea of a what a beautiful complex organic patchwork the European political order used to be, even 70 years after the French Revolution, before the centralizers, modernizers, and republicans ruined it.