The Kingdom of Sardinia was a state in Southern Europe which existed from the early 14th until the mid-19th century. It was the predecessor state of today's Italy. When it was acquired by the Duke of Savoy in 1720, it was a small state with weak institutions. However, the Savoyards united it with their possessions on the Italian mainland and, by the time of the Crimean War in 1853, had built the resulting kingdom—often called Piedmont-Sardinia or just Piedmont in this period—into one of the great powers of Europe. Its final capital was Turin, the centre of Savoyard power since the Middle Ages.