Unification of Italy

Italian unification summary

For centuries, the Italian peninsula was a conglomeration of different city-states. Each had its own culture, a form of government, and non-Italian rulers. The path to unification was a long, windy, and bumpy road. The beginning of the unification movement, called the Risorgimento, is kicked off by Napoleon and ends with the savvy diplomat Count Camillo de Cavour.

The Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy

The story of Italian unification begins when the French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte pushed the Austrians and Sardinians out of Northern and Central Italy in 1796. By the 19th century, the Italian peninsula became the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

Napoleon's army also brought ideas about government and society that had been at the center of the French Revolution:

• Banished old feudal practices
• Promote popular sovereignty

These new ideologies inspired thoughts of unification and stirred nationalist sentiment among the popolo, or the Italian people, two of the most potent ideologies to grow from the French Revolution. In many cases, nationalists also pushed for liberal reform, as they believed that political equality and freedom should be the basis of a nation.

Congress of Vienna

Napoleon's reign came to an end in 1815. The big powers of Europe at the time, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, met at the Congress of Vienna in September 1814 with the goal of undoing the Napoleon debacle and hoped to squash any revolutionary ideas that circulated around the French Revolution.

Secret societies, like the Carbonari and Giovane Italia, popped up all over Italy that spread the word about nationalism and a future unified Italian country that could be controlled by the people, rather than a sovereign or papal power. Thus, the Risorgimento movement was born.

Nationalists like Giuseppe Mazzini rose to the top of the movement and created the secret society Giovane Italia, or Young Italy. Giovane Italia was one of the early nationalist societies that influenced and encouraged idealists, most of whom were young men, to fight for Italian independence. Many influential leaders of the movement, like Giuseppe Garibaldi, were members of these societies.

The first round of revolts pushing for unification happened in January of 1848 when the people of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies led a revolt against King Ferdinand II. The revolts spread like wildfire and spread to northern Italy, where King Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia declared war on the Austrian Empire in a doomed attempt to oust the Austrians. The Austrians defeated King Albert and his Italian army in what became known as the First Italian War of Independence.

While the Revolutions of 1848 and the First Italian War of Independence were unsuccessful in ousting the Austrians, a minor success was that many uneasy rulers decided to grant constitutions; even the Papal States responded by installing the short-lived Roman Republic.

Garibaldi led a group of young Northern Italian men, easily identified by their red shirts, that were often referred to as "redshirts."

The campaign began in May of 1860 when they set sail toward Sicily. The Redshirts quickly took the Sicilian city of Palermo and gathered Sicilians who were eager to defeat their Bourbon rulers. They continued up the peninsula and entered Naples, where the Bourbon rulers were defeated. Garibaldi combined conquered Naples and the Kingdom of Two Sicilies into the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

The Kingdom of Italy and the Third War of Italian Independence

In 1861, The Kingdom of Italy was officially declared with King Victor Emmanual II on the throne. An Italian parliament was founded and created a government that represented all of the Italian peninsula, minus the Papal States (which included Rome) and Venice, which would not be a part of Italy until 1866 and 1871 respectively.

King Victor Emmanual II saw the war between the Austrians and Prussians, called the Austro-Prussian War, as an opportunity to annex the Papal States and Venice. He strategically allied Italy with Prussia and declared war on Austria. The Italian army pushed the Austrians out of Venice, and after a series of diplomatic decisions, Venice was given to the Kingdom of Italy as outlined in the Peace of Prague treaty.

Rome and the Papal States were added to the Kingdom of Italy in 1870 when the Italian army captured the Vatican. Finally, the unification of Italy was complete.

Fathers of Italian unification

While many activists and Italian people played a role in furthering the unification movement, the four leaders below are considered the "fathers of the fatherland."

Guiseppe Mazzini

Giuseppe Mazzini, a Father of Unification, believed that this new Italy under unification should be the third version of Rome. Mazzini's view is considered to be more romantic.

Mazzini was exiled for his nationalist actions. Then helped found the group Young Italy, or Giovani Italia, in 1831 to:

• Replace the fading Carbonari society.
• Encourage youth to be involved.
• Further unification causes in general.
• Embrace all classes of Italian society.

Guiseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi believed in a democracy but worked with King Victor Emmanual II. His view of Italian Unification, under a democratic government rather than a constitutional monarchy, was never realized, but his role is nonetheless important.

Garibaldi was essential in assembling the Expedition of the Thousand and is credited with capturing Naples and Sicily for the new Kingdom of Italy. As well as being known as an incredibly effective military leader, he became a hero to those liberated from the absolutist rule.

King Victor Emmanuel II

Victor Emmanuel II was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia between the years of 1849 and 1861 and became the first King of unified Italy in 1861 as the head of a constitutional monarchy. He assisted Garibaldi's military expedition by leading the north into unification while Garibaldi did the same with the south.

He led Italy through the Third War of Italian Independence that successfully annexed Venice and the Papal States in 1871. King Victor Emmanual II also shaped the Italian government by moving the capital of Italy to Rome and relocating the Pope to Vatican City.

Count Camillo di Cavour

Count Camillo di Cavour was a believer in the theory of realpolitik. He was a strategic leader and proactive at creating alliances and situations that would benefit Italy. Cavour's application of realpolitik meant that he was willing to compromise and take actions that would benefit Italy as a whole.

Perhaps the most influential action he took was during the Crimean War, which broke out while he was Prime Minister in 1853. Cavour threw Italy's hat in the ring by creating an alliance with the British and French in 1855. This partnership with France allowed the constitutional monarchy under King Victor Emmanual II to assemble.

Unification of Italy causes

• The invasion of Napoleon also brought ideas about republicanism to the people of the Italian peninsula. Even after the Vienna Settlement returned the city-states to their monarchical rulers, those ideas only continued to grow and reach more people.
• The Crimean War allowed Italy an opportunity to remove its Austrian rulers by creating alliances with the French.
• Nationalism and the philosophy of realpolitik replaced many of the romantic and liberal ideas of governing.