modena officer

During the Second Italian War of Independence (April to July, 1859) following the Battle of Magenta, the last Duke Francis V was again forced to flee, this time permanently. In December, Modena joined with the Tuscany and the Parma to form the "United Provinces of Central Italy", which were annexed to the growing Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in March 1860, which led the Italian unification movement, which further led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.In 1859 the Duchy of Modena was invaded by armies of France and Piedmont. On 14 June, Francis fled. On 18 March 1860, King Victor Emanuel II of Sardinia ordered Modena to be incorporated into the new kingdom of Italy. Francis protested it four days later.

After the loss of his duchy, Francis withdrew to Vienna, where he lived in the Palais Modena. He also had a summer residence at Schloss Wildenwart in Bavaria. Although he spent most of his time in Austria he occasionally traveled and in 1864 he visited Middle East.

On 7 March 1861, William Ewart Gladstone, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a verbal attack against Francis. Later Lord Derby and Constantine Phipps, Marquis of Normanby discovered that Gladstone's accusation had been entirely false.

Francis died at Vienna on 20 November 1875. He left most of his huge estate to his 1st cousin twice removed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who subsequently used the title Archduke of Austria-Este. His remains were kept at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.