Indeed, the Regia Marina exceeded its budget by roughly 75,000,000 lira between 1861 and 1865. Italy once again had a turnover in Prime Ministers following public backlash over the September Convention of 1864. Minghetti was ousted and Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora succeeded him on 28 September 1864. La Marmora's first objective as prime minister was to cut government expenditures and finally balance the Italian budget. After appointing General Diego Angioletti to the office of Minister of the Navy, La Marmora worked the shrink the size of the Regia Marina's budget, and bring the era of overspending budgetary outlays to an end. Using Spain's decision to finally recognize the Kingdom of Italy as a catalyst to begin debates over the size of the naval budget, La Marmora argued before the Chamber of Deputies that the Regia Marina possessed or had under construction more than enough warships of all types, including ironclads, to defeat the Imperial Austrian Navy in battle. Despite strong opposition from Persano, Cugia, and Bixio, La Marmora's government began to reduce naval expenditures and ended further ironclad purchases and construction projects for the time being. The government would instead focus on completing ships already under construction or under contract in the lead up to the Seven Weeks War. Austria's attention was drawn away from Italy at a time when it appeared the ironclad arms race between the two nations was fading. In late 1863, the Schleswig-Holstein Question once again captured the attention of most of the German Confederation after Christian IX of Denmark became King of Denmark and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein. He declared the Duchy of Schleswig an integral part of Denmark in a violation of the London Protocol of 1852, which emphasized the status of the Kingdom of Denmark as distinct from the independent Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The annexation of the largely German populations of Schleswig and Holstein gave the German Confederation a "casus belli" to use against Denmark, and the Second Schleswig War began when Prussian and Austrian troops crossed the border into Schleswig in February 1864. After eight months of fighting, the Danes were defeated and the two nations won control of Schleswig and Holstein in the Peace of Vienna. The Peace of Vienna was not to last however. Shortly after concluding the Second Schleswig War, Minister President of Prussia Otto von Bismarck began to lay the foundations for diplomatically isolating Austria and giving Prussia the opportunity to settle the German Question once and for all by force of arms.