Forcefully Unite Italy?

[Van Diemen]

I have decided to give the latest beta patch a try after not having played this game for over 1 year. This time I'm trying a new game starting in 1850 as Italy (Sardinia-Pietmonte). I was wondering however whether it would be possible to force the other Italian minors into a big Italian nation faster than the diplomatic way by conquest. Has anyone ever tried tried to see whether that is possible in this game or is the game so deterministic that one can hardly speed up the process of unification by doing it the "iron way"?