Major Steps in the Unification of Italy 1797

Major Steps in the Unification of Italy 1797 - 1929

Nationalism "A country is not merely a geographic territory. . A country is the sense of love which unites as one all the sons and daughters of that geographic territory. So long as a single person amongst you has no vote to represent him in the development of the national life; so long as there is one person left to vegetate in ignorance while others are educated; so long as a single person that is able and willing to work languishes in poverty through lack of a job, you have no country in the sense in which a country ought to exist. The right to vote, education, and employment are three main pillars of a nation. The life of your country will be immortal so long as you are ready to die for your fellow men and women. “ From Giuseppe Mazzini: A Memoir by E. A. Venturi.

As the French Revolution begins in 1789, independent citystates still dominate Italy with the Papal States dividing the peninsula.

Napoleon conquered the Italian peninsula and created the puppet Kingdom of Italy in 1797. Napoleon combined the smaller Italian city-states into larger units to make his rule more efficient. Opposition to him as a foreign ruler stimulated Italian nationalism.

The Congress of Vienna (1815) restored the Italian city-states with their pre-Napoleon reactionary governments. Austria gained control of Lombardy and Venezia and dominated many of the smaller states. The Bourbon dynasty was returned to rule in Naples. The Congress of Vienna established a system, the Concert of Europe, to stop the growth of revolutionary nationalism set in motion by the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.

The "Risorgimento" (national unification) movement grew in strength after 1815 in reaction to the Vienna settlement. There was a great deal of dissatisfaction with the reestablishment of many of the old monarchies. The new growing sense of Italian nationalism considered the Hapsburgs and Bourbons as foreigners.

The Carbonari The "Carbonari" (carbon burners), a nationalist society operating in secret, encouraged the growth of nationalism. The Carbonari were liberals promoting the establishment of constitutional monarchies in the Italian states and were angry at the Vienna settlement. They began to lead nationalist revolts beginning in 1820. The Austrian army crushed these revolts as the Austrian Foreign Minister Klemens von Metternich declared, "Italy is merely a geographical expression. "

Giuseppe Mazzini “The Heart” Giuseppe Mazzini founded the Italian nationalist Young Italy movement in 1831. Mazzini became the spiritual leader of the Italian nationalist movement. He focused his organizing almost entirely on the young believing that the nationalist spirit needed time to grow and that the young were more accepting of this new spirit.

Camillo di Cavour “The Head” Camillo Benso di Cavour, a strong nationalist, became the Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia in 1852. Cavour was also a believer in Realpolitik allowing him to take steps that Romantic idealists like Mazzini would never make. Cavour believed in constitutional monarchy and was a pragmatist willing to compromise in order to create a unified Italy under the monarchy of Piedmont. Sardinia.

The Crimean War, 1853 -1856, sent an alliance of European nations against Russia. Piedmont-Sardinia declared war on Russia and joined Britain and France in their alliance. The Kingdom of Sardinia contributed little to the war effort, but its support gained the favor of the British and especially the French for the nationalist cause. Cavour gained the opportunity to bring up the subject of Italian unification at the Paris Peace Conference of 1856 hosted by Napoleon III.

Cavour encouraged the investment of foreign capital from countries such as Britain and France to develop industry in Piedmont. Britain and France now had a financial interest in Italian unification and the elimination of all Austrian influence from the Italian peninsula. Public opinion mounted in Britain and France in favor of the unification of Italy. Britain stood to gain increased trade from an independent Italy. France wanted to weaken Austria, especially after 1858, hoping to gain new territory in northwestern Italy.

Giuseppe Garibaldi “The Sword” Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Red Shirts, after training on the island of Sardinia, landed in Sicily, conquered the island, then crossed to southern Italy and began the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples. The King of Naples fled and Garibaldi prepared to declare a republic in Sicily and Naples in 1860.

The Kingdom of Italy, including most of northern Italy with the exception of Venezia, was proclaimed with Victor Emmanuel II as its king on March 17, 1861. Cavour was Prime Minister but he died of a heart attack on June 6, 1861. However, the subsequent prime ministers continued Cavour's policies of unification.

Garibaldi threatened to march on Rome and make war with the French. Napoleon III agreed to evacuate all French troops from Rome by 1866. When a revolt began in the Papal States, the army of Piedmont. Sardinia intervened to restore order.

Garibaldi met King Victor Emmanuel and turned over the territory his Red Shirts controlled in southern Italy to the King in 1864. The Kingdom of Italy under Victor Emmanuel II now stretched from Piedmont and Lombardy in the north to Sicily in the south including all of the old provinces with the exception of Rome and Venetia.

Garibaldi & His “Red Shirts” Unite with Cavour

Now all of Italy was united with the exception of the area around Rome where the Pope, supported by French troops stationed there since 1849, still ruled what was left of the Papal States.

Problems facing unified Italy Differences between rural south and industrialized north Loyalty to region/state vs. idea of country Conflict with Catholic Church