World History: Unification of Italy

Deciding the fate of the Italian regions, the Congress of Vienna (1815), the restored the pre-Napoleonic patchwork of independent governments, either directly ruled or strongly influenced by the prevailing European powers, particularly Austria.

Thus, 5 main divisions restored and it reflected high level of Austrian control. Austria ruled the Italian provinces of Venetia and Lombardy in the north, and several other small states. Similarly, Spanish Bourbon family ruled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the south. Central Italy was the seat of Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal State.

The factors against the unification were as follows:

• Italy was broken into nine states.
• The Apennine Mountains run north and south, splitting the region in half.
• The Po River runs east and west, splitting the region in half.
• Pope wanted to keep control of the Papal States.
• Other European countries didn’t want to see a strong Italy, because that might upset the balance of power.

However, there was a growing discontent towards the foreign rulers; the Italians had come together in a war against Austria to get back the provinces she had taken in a previous war. In 1820s, secret revolutionary societies called Carbonari became active. The members of these Carbonari supported the initial failed revolutionary activities for Italian Reunification called Risorgimento with a dim idea of creating an Italian state. They failed mainly because there was no concrete plan and leadership.

In such circumstances, two prominent radical figures in the unification movement appeared viz. Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. The former was idealistic and the later was practical.

Giuseppe Mazzini

Giuseppe Mazzini was a young man of 26 years, when his activities in the Carbonari led him to be put in jail. While in prison, he concluded that Italy should be unified. He formulated a program for establishing a free, independent, and republican nation with Rome as its capital. After his release in 1831, he went to Marseille, where he organized a new political society called La Giovine Italia (Young Italy). The new society, whose motto was “God and the People”, sought the unification of Italy. It had 60,000 followers in the beginning of 1830s.

He planned a revolution in early 1833. However, the government discovered the plot before it could begin and many revolutionaries were arrested and executed.  Mazzini disappeared and was tried in absentia and sentenced to death.

During the violent year of 1848, revolts broke out in eight states on the Italian peninsula. Mazzini briefly headed a republican government at Rome. He believed that nation-states were the best hope for social justice, democracy, and peace in Europe. However, the 1848 rebellions failed in Italy as they did elsewhere in Europe. The former rulers of the Italian states drove Mazzini and other nationalist leaders into exile.

For many years, he remained in hiding. He made several failed attempts of resurrection before he died in 1872 of a lung disease.

Role of Camillo di Cavour

The largest and strongest of the Italian states was Piedmont-Sardinia, which was somewhat favouring to the nationalists. This Kingdom had also adopted a liberal constitution in 1848. Since the democratic idealism of Mazzini had already failed, the nationalists looked towards the unification of the Italy under the Piedmont-Sardinia as a sensible alternative.

In 1852, Sardinia’s King Victor Emmanuel II appointed Count Camillo di Cavour as his prime minister. This wealthy, middle-aged aristocrat, worked tirelessly to expand Piedmont-Sardinia’s power. Initially, his goal was to strengthen Sardinia’s power, not to unite Italy. At first, Cavour’s major goal was to get control of northern Italy for Sardinia. The greatest roadblock to annexing northern Italy was Austria. To expel the Austrians from the north, Cavour entered into an agreement with France. In 1858, the French emperor Napoleon III agreed to help drive Austria out of the northern provinces of Lombardy and Venetia.

Thus, a war between the combined French-Sardinian army and Austria triggered which resulted in the defeat of Austria. Sardinia succeeded in taking over all of northern Italy, except Venetia, from the Austrians.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

After control over almost entire northern Italy, Cavour looked at southern parts. He secretly started helping the nationalist rebels. In 1860, a small army of Italian nationalists led by Giuseppe Garibaldi was able to capture Sicily from the Bourbon Kings. This successful expedition is also known as Expedition of the Thousand. From Sicily, Garibaldi crossed to the Italian mainland and marched north to Rome.  He got immense support of the Volunteers. He wanted to capture Rome but Cavour persuaded him not do so, because there was a fear that the French troops might come to protect the Pope.

In battle, Garibaldi and his followers always wore bright red shirts. This is why they became known as Red Shirts.

The Expedition of the Thousand ended in a plebiscite in 1860, whereby the voters gave Garibaldi permission to unite the southern areas he conquered with the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. There was a meeting of Garibaldi and King Victor Emmanuel II arranged by Cavour in Naples.  Garibaldi willingly agreed to step aside and let the Sardinian king rule.

Thus, this was the last territorial conquest before the creation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861. King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed the King of Italy. This Kingdom of Italy existed until 1946 when the Italians opted for a republican constitution.

In 1866, the Austrian province of Venetia (including city of Venice) became part of Italy.

In 1870, Italian forces had also taken over the territories of the Papal States. With this, the city of Rome came under Italian control. The pope, however, would continue to govern a section of Rome known as Vatican City.

Garibaldi, who is now known as one of Italy’s “fathers of the fatherland” and also the “Hero of Two Worlds” (due to his military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe) retired to the rocky island of Caprera, refusing to accept any reward for his services. He again later took arms in Austro-Prussian War. After a political career full of ups and downs, he died in 1875, with his last wish of a simple cremation, much away from pomp and display.

Challenges of Italy after Unification

• The Unification itself was not a panacea for all problems of Italy. The centuries of separation had created fierce rivalries among the different Italian provinces.
• The major source of the tension in Italy was that the northern part of the country was industrialized while the southern part was agricultural. The people of these two regions had such as difference that they spoke two different versions of the Italian language and scarcely understood each other.
• The Italian Parliament was soon got filled with disorganized parties and vague politics. There was a frequent change in the cabinets and the prime ministers.
• In the south, violent peasant revolts broke out because of the economic problems. The northern parts were also affected by an array of strikes and riots. Thus, by the dawn of the 20^th century, Italy was a poor and wretched state.