Austria had issued an emphatic demand that the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia disarm within three days or face attack. Prime Minister Cavour made the Italian reply clear to Vienna on April 26 and at the same time the French minister to Austria told the Austrian foreign minister that France would consider an Austrian strike into Piedmont as an attack upon France. Three days later, Austrian troops began crossing the Ticino and the war was on. (By John Osborne)

Austria had issued an emphatic demand that the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia disarm within three days or face attack. Prime Minister Cavour made the Italian reply clear to Vienna on April 26 and three days later, the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef published his declaration of war. This gave the excuse for which Napoleon III and Piedmont Prime Minister Cavour had planned and France came to the aid of the Italians. (By John Osborne)

Austria had issued an emphatic demand that the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia disarm within three days or face attack. Prime Minister Cavour made the Italian position clear on April 26 and on the following day, King Victor-Emmanuel told his troops in a proclamation that this "insulting demand received the reply it deserved." Two days later, Austrian troops crossed the Ticino River into Piedmont and the war began in earnest.  (By John Osborne)

Austrian General Franz Gyulai, who commanded the Austrian troops in Lombardy, delivered an emphatic demand to Turin that the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia disarm within three days or face attack. On April 27, King Victor-Emmanuel told his troops in a proclamation that this "insulting demand received the reply it deserved" and, that day, Austria declared war on Piedmont-Sardinia.  (By John Osborne)

Kenneth Grahame was born in Scotland but was raised in rural Berkshire in southern England. While working as an official in the Bank of England for thirty years, Grahame published light stories in periodicals and in collections. In 1908 he published The Wind in the Willows, his most famous and enduring work. Grahame died in Berkshire in 1932. (By John Osborne)

Wilhelm Carl Grimm, the German writer and younger of the Brothers Grimm, died in Berlin aged seventy-three. The brothers had begun collecting and publishing German folk stories in 1812 ultimately telling 211 of their famous children's stories. Both Wilhelm and his brother Jacob went on to teach at the University of Gottingen but after their dismissal for political protest settled in Berlin. They also published an influential German dictionary and a collection of other German legends. (By John Osborne)