VICTOR AMADEUS III

born June 26, 1726, Turin, Piedmont, kingdom of Sardinia died Oct. 16, 1796, Moncalieri, near Turin Savoyard king of Sardinia (Piedmont-Sardinia) from 1773 to 1796. Victor Amadeus, the son of Charles Emmanuel III, was incapable and extravagant, and he chose equally incapable ministers. On the outbreak of the French Revolution he sided with the royalists and was eventually brought into conflict with the French Republic. Although his troops had some successes against the French in 1792, 1794, and 1795, his army became demoralized and the treasury empty; and Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign of 1796 forced Victor Amadeus to accept the Armistice of Cherasco and the Treaty of Paris, whereby he ceded Savoy and Nice to France and granted free passage across Piedmont to the French. He died soon afterward, being succeeded by his timid and ascetic son, Charles Emmanuel IV.