The Unification of Italy
• Italian unification (Italian: Risorgimento meaning the Resurgence) was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century.
Nationalism• What is nationalism?
– The belief that the greatest loyalty should be to a nation of people who share a common culture & history
• Two Types of Nationalism
• Nationalism that unifies culturally similar lands and people
• Nationalism that separates culturally different lands and people
History of Italy• The Italian Peninsula is fragmented politically until
the 1860s. Remained essentially as it was during the Renaissance; a series of expanded city-states.
• Why: • -Individual rulers of city-states did not want to lose their
autonomy
• -Napoleonic Wars had divided the loyalties of the Italians and the Congress of Vienna had not addressed the Peninsula
• -Austrian government held influence in Northern Italy (Economic and Political)
• -Papacy’s desire not to see a united Italy as a secular state
The Congress of Vienna had left the Italian peninsula divided into many countries.
Austria ruled in the north, Hapsburg Monarchs ruled in the center, and Bourbon Kings ruled in Naples and Sicily.
The Pope even had his own country in the area around Rome.
Barriers to Italian Unification:Italy, “a mere geographic expression.”
• Regional differences–Cultural
–Economic
–Political
• Great power politics
• Papacy
• Political ideologies
Forces Pushing for Unification
• Common cultural elements
– Catholicism
–Written Italian
• Nationalism
– Resentment of great power interference
• Ascendance of Piedmont-Sardinia
–Modern state
• Constitutional monarchy
• Efficient bureaucracyKing Victor-Emmanuel II of King Victor-Emmanuel II of
Piedmont-Sardinia, and later Piedmont-Sardinia, and later of Italyof Italy
Plans for Italian Unification
• Plan 1 - unite behind Pope (1848/9) - Austria and France defeat the Roman Republic
• Plan 2 - unite behind only independent state, Piedmont (Sardinia) - made independent by Congress of Europe as a buffer between France and Austria
• Piedmont Prime Minister Cavour aids France in Crimean War with 10,000 troops - thrusts Piedmont onto world stage
-Originated in a radical student group known as Young Italy in the 1831.-Organization was led by Giuseppe Mazzini-Mazzini pictured a liberal republican government, like France’s 1st Republic-The power base of Young Italy came from southern Italy (Sicily)-The Sicilians viewed unification as a step towards economic prosperity
Push towards Unification
• One of Mazzini’s most devoted followers is Giuseppe Garibaldi
• -Garibaldi is trained as a military officer and devoted to the cause of unification
• 1848-Following the continental wide revolts, a unification movement begins in the northwest section of Italy known as the Piedmont or the Kingdom of Sardinia
• 1852: Count Camillio Cavour becomes the Prime Minister of Sardinia.
• Believed in a unification movement led by Sardinia
• Favored unification of the north to enhance the region economically
• Rationale was that unification could only be achieved by war with Austria
• 1855: Sardinia supplies troops to a British/French war against Russia (Crimean War)
• Sardinia gains an ally in France under the government of Napoleon III
• 1859 Prime Minister Cavour & Napoleon III scheme to provoke war to drive Austria out of Italy
• France gets provinces of Nice & Savoy for help and Sardinia gains Lombardy
• Piedmont/France drives Austria - Napoleon III fears Piedmont - signs own treaty with Austria
In the South • The movement in the north toward unification causes massive demonstrations in the south calling for a truly united peninsula
Issues in the South
•-Southern Italy was more politically unstable than the north
•-The south lacked the accomplished political leadership of the north
•-The south lacked the economic advantages of the north
Impact of Garibaldi• -Garibaldi returns after serving as a mercenary in the
Latin American wars for independence
• -Garibaldi is regarded as a ‘mythic’ figure
• -Speculation that he is being financed by northern politicians
• -Garibaldi’s army (1000 Red shirts) march through Sicily, uncontested
• -The army stops at the Papal States
• -By 1861, Garibaldi effectively controls Sicily (Italian Peninsula, south of Rome)
Garibaldi now realized he would need the support of the Sardinian monarchy, teaming up with king Victor Emmannuel II and Prime Minister Camilo Cavour to fight the Austrians who controlled northern Italy.
Cavour gave Garibaldi’s home city, Nice, to France in return for an alliance. Garibaldi was enraged, but continued to support Sardinia.
• March 1861 @ Turin: The Kingdom of Italy is organized with a constitutional monarchy as the government. The Sardinians assume the key leadership roles in the new nation-state. The Constitution is supported by plebiscite.
• *1866: Venetia is added
• *1870: The Roman Papal states are added except the Vatican City
Italian Unification Timeline
1870 - Franco-Prussian War, Italy takes RomeITALY UNIFIED
1859 – War With Austria, Italy gets Lombardy with help of Napoleon III
1852 – Cavour becomes Prime Minister of Sardinia
•1861- Victor Emmanuel II Proclaimed “King of Italy”•Cavour dies
1860 – Garibaldi and the “Red Shirt”Land in Sicily
1871: Rome proclaimed capitalof unified Italy
1866: 7 Weeks’ War, Italy sides with Prussia & receives Venice
Revolution of 1848
