Did Cavour help or hinder the unification of Italy?

• In 1852, Victor Emmanuel made Count Camillo Cavour his prime minister.
• Cavour came from a noble family .
• Cavour favored liberal goals.
• Being a  flexible, practical, crafty politician, he could resort to any means to achieve his goals.
• Cavour was a monarchist 
• Cavour never planned for the establishment of a united country, and his objective was to expand Piedmont with the annexation of Lombardy and Venetia, rather than a unified Italy. 
• Cavour became Victor Emmanuel II’s Prime Minister.
• He continued reforms to strengthen Piedmont-Sardinia.
• He improved communications – railways, roads, telegraph lines.
• He encouraged the building of factories and scientifically improved farming
• ‘He reformed the legal system.The influence of the Catholic Church was reduced.
• In 1855, led by Cavour, Sardinia joined Britain and France against Russia in the Crimean War. Sardinia did not win territory, but it did have a voice at the peace conference. Sardinia also gained the attention of Napoleon III.He attended the Peace Conference in Paris following the Crimean War.
• Napoleon III and Cavour met at Plombières. In 1858,   a secret deal  was  negotiated  by Cavour Napoleon,. Acording to this deal, Napolean  promised to aid Sardinia in case it had to enter into a war with Austria .But it was Cavour who  provoked that Austro-French War., that was obviously  supported by Napoleon III and France. The result was the  invasion of  Northern Italy, ( earlier  under the  Austrian rule). Lombardy was annexed by Sardina. 
• Meanwhile, nationalist groups overthrew Austrian-backed rulers in several other northern Italian states. These states then joined with Sardinia.

Although Cavour's ultimate dream was not a unified Italy, rather it was  only a strng desire to expand his territrories, a series of events  gradually led to the Italian unification