After the difficult battles of Magenta (4 June) and Solferino (24 June), Napoleon III , without consulting his Sardinian ally Cavour , proposed the armistice on 8 July and an interview on 11 July with the Emperor of Austria François- Joseph I . Although victorious, Napoleon III was frightened by the hecatomb (nearly 40,000 killed or wounded at Solferino) and the idea of ​​having to continue an autumn and winter campaign against the Austrians entrenched in the quadrilateral. Moreover, the government and the Empress send him alarming information about the state of French opinion, Which is execrable. In particular, the Catholics, hitherto supported by the imperial regime, fear for the Papal States and the Pope's independence if Austria were eliminated from Italy. Finally, an anti-French feeling spread in Germany, where the Austrians were supported. The number of Prussian deaths is nearly 400 000 soldiers near the Rhine, stripped of French troops.