The Creation of the State

of Italy

“Il Risorgimento

”

1815 -1870

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In 1815, Napoleon was defeated by the British and Prussians at the Battle of

Waterloo in Belgium.

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Also in 1815, just after Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna (in Austria) was

ratified, and Europe was re-organized after the Napoleonic Wars. The four

powers that really made up the congress were Great Britain, Prussia,

Russia, Austria, and eventually France under the restored Bourbon monarchy.

Europe looked like this …

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Italy was divided into many states, each with its

own government.

Many people wanted a

unified Italy, but that meant many people

would lose their power, and that

usually means ...

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…war.

Franco – Prussian War 18716

Needless to say, Austria in particular, was Italy’s biggest opponent to

unification.

Also, the different states were all controlled by foreign powers. For example, Austria controlled Tuscany and much of northern Italy like Lombard and Venetia, and Naples belonged to the Bourbon family of France. Parma was ruled by Marie-Louise, an Austrian, Napoleon’s second wife and Marie Antoinette’s grandniece. And Rome and the papal states belonged, of course, to the Pope and Catholic Church.

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The Congress of Vienna (1814-15) gave the Austrian Empire a

dominant role.

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Still, many people were inspired by the French revolution and supported a return to Italian tradition called “Il Risorgimento” (The Resurgence). People referred to as nationalists formed secret societies aimed at spreading the Risorgimento. The most famous of these secret societies was the Carbonari, and one of the most famous Carbonari was Giuseppe Mazzini. 9

Giuseppe Mazzini 1805 - 1872

Born in Genoa when it was under French rule, Mazzini was a Freemason who later went to become a member of the Carbonari in 1830. In 1831 he started an offshoot society called Young Italy championing Italian unity.

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Giuseppe Mazzini 1805 - 1872

Italian nationalist and patriot, who, together with Giuseppe Garibaldi, Camillo Benso di Cavour, and Victor Emmanuel II, is considered one of the fathers of the Italian Risorgimento. Mazzini felt that “neither king nor pope” should rule Italy, but that Italy should be "one, independent, free republic". 11

Camillo Benso, Conte di Cavour and King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia

Cavour

Victor Emmanuel II

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Cavour continued…

As the liberal revolts of 1848 and 1849 failed to take hold, public support began to shift toward a constitutional monarchy with Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia as “King of Italy”. The king’s chief minister was Cavour, and it was Cavour who really governed the kingdom of Sardinia. Cavour knew that Austria was the main obstacle to Italy’s unification. So… 13

Cavour secretly met with Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Cavour promised to give Napoleon the French speaking region of Nice (pronounced “niece”) if the French would help Sardinia drive out Austria.

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Garibaldi, Giuseppe (1807-1882)

Mazzini is considered to be “the soul of unification”, Cavour “the brain”, and Garibaldi “the sword”. When Garibaldi met Mazzini in 1833, he was profoundly changed, and joined Mazzini’s “Young Italy”. Garibaldi would always refer to Mazzini as “the master”. Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1861

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“Hero of Two Worlds”

After a failed insurrection with Mazzini in Piedmont in 1834, a Genoan court sentenced him to death in absentia. During his exile, he lived in Uruguay, South America and fell in love with his future wife, Anna Maria Ribeiro da Silva, a woman of Portuguese and Indian ancestry. 16

In Uruguay, Garibaldi fought alongside other Italian exiles on behalf of Uruguayans against the Argentinean dictator. Some claim it was in Uruguay that Garibaldi’s famous “Red Shirts” of “The Thousand” were first seen. His wife “Anita” also fought alongside her husband.

“Hero of Two Worlds”

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Garibaldi and “The Red Shirts”

In 1846, Garibaldi won world fame when he won two brilliant victories during Uruguay’s Civil War with his Italian Legion. When Garibaldi learned of the 1848 revolts in Italy, he and 60 of his men returned home to Italy to offer their military services.

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Giuseppe Garibaldi - 1866

Garibaldi and “The Red Shirts”

In 1849, Mazzini requests that Garibaldi help to occupy Rome which is under French protection. They successfully seize Rome, but can not defend it for more than a month. A future Napoleon III sends a huge French force to recapture Rome.

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It is during this retreat that Anita, sick and pregnant with their fifth child, suffers from the arduous march and dies on August 4th, 1849 in her husband’s arms. Garibaldi is deeply affected by her death.

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From 1850 - 1853, Garibaldi lived in exile in Staten Island, New York. After returning home to Italy in 1854, Garibaldi took up agriculture for 5 years until 1860 when revolts broke out in Palermo and Messina Sicily. This was the opportunity he needed…

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Garibaldi and “The Thousand”Garibaldi recruited about 1000

volunteers, mostly from northern Italy, to rid Sicily of the foreign Bourbon rule. From the Sardinian port of Genoa, Garibaldi and 1070 men traveled on two British ships to Marsala, Sicily. He swept across Sicily winning victory after victory and recruiting more men as he went. By the time he reached Naples in the “second Sicily”, he had 20,000 men.

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Over the next 10 years, Italy’s separate states joined Garibladi under Victor Emmanuel II’s rule of the Kingdom of Italy. Napoleon III eventually removed his troops from Rome, and the capital moved from Florence to Rome in 1871.

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Click here for the list of "The Thousand"

The Chronology of the Unification of Italy

1859

1860

1861

1870

1919(after WWI)

In 1871, Germany, too, became a unified state.

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Germany and Italy Become States in 1871

1871 German flag

Italy’s flag since 1797

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)

• Helped unify and strengthen the German states into one country.

• Wanting to unite Germany under a single cause, Bismarck provoked a war with France by changing the wording of a letter between French and Prussian (German) leaders, and then publishing it. This led to war with France (Franco- Prussian War of 1870-1871) which Germany won. Germany was created the following year in 1871.

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What is Bismarck saying here?

“The great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches... but by iron and

blood.”

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Bismarck died in 1898 of an inflammation of his lungs at his home Friedrichsruh near

Hamburg at 83 years of age. His final words were “vorwarts” (“forward”).

The WWII German battleship “Bismarck” named after Otto von Bismarck

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