Unification

of Italy 1848

Italy had been divided for centuries, but had some of the
most well-known Cities-Florence and Venice. It was
characterized by local rivalries allowing countries like France,
Austria and Spain to occupy it.

 Italy was a collection of states each with its own local

tradition, customs, culture which served to promote local
jealousies and retarded the growth of national
consciousness.
 Metternich even wrote that province is against province,
town against town, village against village and men against
men. Italy is merely a geographical expression’
 It is safe to say that Italy could not be united by, in
1848 because of foreign intervention.
 The Vienna settlement restored all traditional or
legitimate rulers who teamed up to suppress any attempt
by Italians to unify themselves.
Foreign Influence

Italy was under the heels of foreign domination. Austria was

entrenched in the north. Ruled Lombardy and Venetia directly

Indirectly ruled Modena, Parma and Tuscany as satellite

states through extended relations with the Austrian ruling
family. They received support from Austria each time they
were in trouble with revolutionary.

 The Pope controlled the central states in the middle of

Italy. Romana, Umbria ,and Rome. This cut Italy into two
halves creating an insurmountable barrier to unification.
The Church states had been created by Gregory I
founder of the Medieval papacy.
 The authority of the Pope for a while acted as a barrier
to Lombard’s expansionist policies and was strengthened
by his successor St Peter. This proved to be a huge
obstacle in the long run.
 No leader could take power from the Papacy which had
become an international institution backed by both
spiritual and material resources under its command.
 In the south the Bourbon family of Spain governed the
two Sicilian namely Naples and Sicily. These had links
with the Bourbons in France. Any attempt to fight these
two invited the intervention of France, which did so in
1848.

Language

 Piedmont-French was spoken more often

 In Naples it was Spanish
 In the Papal states it was Latin
 The first novel of the Risorgimento –The betrothed by
Alessandro Manzoni was published in 1827.
  It was written in Milanese. It was translated thirteen
years later into Italian dialect of Tuscany. This was the
first move towards a single language.

Society

It was highly fragmented. It was predominantly agrarian with

most of the land owned by the nobility and the Church. The
majority of Italians were peasants, illiterate and poor.

There were occasional revolts against poor economic and social

conditions. But these revolts had no national goal.

Only one thing was common, Roman Catholic Church. However,

the fact that it was the authority of one of the eight states,
made it less appealing nationally. Its wealth and power made it
a force for order.

Nationalism

 To talk of nationalism equally invokes external influence.

Napoleon’s defeat of the Peninsula resulted in the
Bourbons and the Hapsburgs (Austria) being driven out.
  He then introduced a uniform system of law, centralized
administration. Hatred of foreign rule helped to rally
Italians together. It gave people some lessons of
themselves as a nation and this never faded away from
their minds. It can be described as a temporary union of
Italy.
 Thus the French revolution gave them the
heritage/lesson of a nation, with equal rights before the
law, religious freedom, freedom of press and self-
government.

Vienna Settlement: 1814

After the defeat of Napoleon, Austria was allowed to replace

France in controlling Italy.

The states system kept Italy heavily divided. The Vienna

settlement left Italy in 8 states.

 Ignored this, Austria was given the right to determine

Italian destinies.
 Although Lombardy and Venetia were directly under
Austria, Metternich divided them into two provinces for
administrative purposes with governments in Milan and
Venice.
 Located in the Po valley, these two were the most
prosperous parts of Italy 1830.
 He used a divide and rule method. He would put German
administrators in Italian states and Italian
administrators to German states.
 This what also caused discontent
 Parma suffered extreme corruption and extreme
despotism under Marie-Louse.
 Modena had all forms of Austrian expression. All its
resources were taken by Austria, while all political
activity was ruthlessly suppressed through censorship,
and a powerful police system.
 In Piedmont the restoration of King Victor Emmanuel
signaled the return of a reactionary regime (legitimate
rulers).
 He withdrew all the reforms that Napoleon had granted
and restored the Royal constitution of 1770 and 1800.
This killed all hopes for opposition and worked to
postpone all movements for unification.
 Naples and the Papal states –rule was characterized by
unregulated tyranny(Extreme despotism)
 Bourbon rule in the south was worse with Gladstone
describing it as ‘ negation of God’
Secret Societies.

 Faced by despotic foreign governments from all sides

Italians advanced their national aspirations through
secret societies such as the Carbonari and patriotic
groups like Young Italy.
 They were spread across the peninsula.
 They were formed essentially to expel Napoleon from
Italy.
 After the Vienna they continued to exist. Freemason
societies were common in the North while the Carbonari
were in the south. There were some coronary groups in
the north, but for the greater its members did not agree
with over the direction.
 Carbonari worked to keep the spirit of patriotism alive.
However they lacked the kind of organization to keep the
momentum for unification. Metternich wrote, ‘from the
want of known leaders, and of concerted action amongst
themselves, the secret societies are not nearly so
dangerous as we might fear.’
 Their strength was fretted away in local outbreaks which
proved powerless and only achieved temporary success.
 Their actions were divorced from unity of purpose and
failure was inevitable.
 They relied on isolated efforts, and always ended in
disaster.
 In 1821,Piedmont did not join Naples until it was almost
defeated.
 In 1830 the revolts were sporadic ill designed and
uncoordinated
 They narrow focused where a broad plan was needed.
 These were formidable in Naples, where it recruited
members from all disgruntled from the rule of Ferdinand
I. They were inspired by the revolution in Spain.
 They forced Ferdinand to grant a constitution which he
constantly violated, but Austria came to his aid. This was
followed by another in Piedmont demanded a constitution.
 King abdicated He was succeeded by Charles Felix, then
Charles Albert.
 Liberal. Supported rebels for a while but withdrew his
support and abandoned the movement
 About three revolts were staged,1820, 1830 and 1848.
Mazzini

 He was a republican who believed that Italy should be

unified as a republic.
 ‘We have no flag, no currency, no political name, and no
rank among other European nations, no common centre-
parliament, and no common market. We are dismembered
into to eight states (Modena, Tuscany, Lombardy,
Venetia, Lucca, Popedom, Piedmont and Naples.’ All
independent of one another, no alliance.
 Uses 8 lines of customs, trade barriers,8 different
currencies, weights, legislation, civil, admin organizations
divide us making us strangers to each other’, Mazzini.
 Missing-‘United action or speech, collective petition,
liberty of press, on introduction of foreign books, or
education, political discussions were bared.
 As a result prospects of a united Italy were very slim
under these circumstances. Jealousy limited their ability
to move forward.
 However without the teachings of Mazzini, the lessons on
unification might never have been learnt. Successive
failures became crucial lessons for unification.
 Whenever the unification of Italy is spoken of, Mazzini
holds and imperishable position as the pioneer of Italian
unification among the makers of modern Italy.
  His teachings reached the horizons of Italians and
created a feeling of public opinion in favour of national
independence.
 While he had a good vision his ideas led to needless
shedding of blood.
 He was too theoretical to visualize a united Italy out of
an insurrection. But this remained unrealized by 1848.
 His ideals of a united Italy were reserved for other
people to translate it from theory to practical.
 The later united Italy was built on a democratic
foundation he laid down.

1820 Liberal Revolts

 The revolts and uprisings were a means to attain local

independence, freedom and not unity
 These were inspired by the success of the Belgian and French
revolts
 Italians were in close contact with Belgian and French liberals
 All these were crushed by Austria, France and Russia

1830 Liberal Revolts

 French and Belgian revolts inspired them.

 Rulers of Modena and Tuscany were overthrown and provisional
governments were set up in the Papal states.
 Austria backed by Russia ruthlessly supposed the revolts.
 The locals did not get any foreign assistance.
 Reaction triumphed and all it casted gloom on the Italian unity.
  The severity of the Austrian rule intensified and any revolution
ruthlessly crushed under the principle of legitimacy

Ideological differences/political differences

While Austria was the common enemy and overthrowing being the
prime aim, Italians failed to formulate a single line of action. Among
the leading political figures, each had a different way to unify Italy,
filled with mutual distrust which ended up impeding the chances of
coordinating the unification process.

The three different ideologies were: Republicans of Mazzini, the

federalists and the constitutional monarchists.

Republicans

They were followers of Mazzini. The prophet of Italian unification. He

joined the Carbonari in 1827. He participated in the 1830 revolutions
and was exiled to France. While in Marseilles he formed Young Italy
for people under the age of 40.’ideas grow quickly when watered by the
blood of the martyr’. Were taken to the mountains to share food of
the humble labourer, visit workshops, and the artisans, the neglected
speak about their rights, memories of the past, oppression,

He believed in mass education-people to realize that Italy was not a

geographical expression.

Mazzini had the vision of a united Italy

 All the Political leaders of this time were not agreed about the
kind of Italy they wanted.
 They also differed on the means to be used in unifying Italy.
  They were too divided and as individual states they could not face
the Grand Austrian army.

Constitutional Monarchists: Piedmont, House of Savoy

 It had an army that could take on Austria

 It was not under foreign influence
 Even Metternich remarked as early as 1817, that ‘the Turin
cabinet entertains ambitious views which can only be gratified at
the expense of Austria’.
 Charles Albert had ascended to the throne in 1831. He had
supported rebels in 1821.He expressed his desire to work for the
cause of Italy.
 He carried out a number of reforms to prepare Piedmont to
assume leadership of the unification process.
 Followers were not prepared to work with other groups or accept
any other route to unification nor a different unified Italy. This
again limited any chances of cooperation.

Federalists

 This was composed of the followers of the writings of Vincenzo

Gioberti-Primato
 He was a former Mazzinian
 It was a unique idea/ remote from among the many politicians in
Italy
 Operas of Guisepe Verdi were given a nationalist interpretation.
 It involved a confederation of all states to form a federation
under the Pope. For the greater part, the Pope’s power was seen
as an obstacle to unification.
  Now it was being designed to take lead in the unification. Papacy
was to revive its role of championing the interests of Italy
against foreign intruders.
 A new Pope ascended the throne

Pope Pius IX (Pio Nono)

 He became head of the Roman Catholic Church in 1846.

 He was hailed as a liberal and patriotic Pope because of the amnesty he gave
to all political offenders.
 He granted some reforms.
 Forced Metternich to withdraw from Ferrrara where he had sent his troops
to suppress a revolt in Tuscany
 Supporters of the Pope wanted the establishment of a federation of states
under the Papacy
 Italians pinned their hopes on him as he was believed to be anti-Austria and
was liberal
 He had studied the works of Giorberti. His first actions met the people’s
enthusiasm.
 He granted an amnesty to all political offenders. This was in defiance to
Austria.
 Metternich remarked ’we are prepared for anything but not a liberal Pope’.
 The Pope went on to grant other reforms-
 Constitution of a council of state,
 Membership one to the laymen,
 Established a municipality in Rome and
 the formation of a civic guard.
 People interpreted these reforms as a call to arms
 Following this, Sicily went on revolt, set up a constitutional government,
 all bourbon despotic rules were removed.
 Ferdinand II feared a revolution and went to grant a constitution in Naples
 The Pope was forced to follow Ferdinand’s example and did so,
 Tuscany also did the same
 Charles Albert also gave Piedmont a constitution
 Millan drove out Radetzky in the glorious five days
 Venice did the same and proclaimed the Republic of St Mark.
 So was Pope Pius IX a friend or an enemy?

1848 Revolutions; Nationalist

 Imitation of the French revolutions

 In Italy it a nationalist revolt against foreign rule and a protest against the
repressive rule of Metternich and his allies.
 Sicily revolted first against King Ferdinand II of Naples, followed by Millan,
Venice, Lombardy, Tuscany, Piedmont and Rome.
 These revolts were led by three men King Charles Albert of Piedmont, Pope Pius
IX and Mazzini.
 Austria occupied Ferrara despite the Pope’s protests. This gave Charles Albert
an opportunity to intervene as defender of the Church. He accepted the
invitation of Milan to join the war. The Pope, the duke of Tuscany all joined the
war. Piedmont won the war at Goito over Radetzky, but did not pursue the
enemy, thus allowing them to take over Vicenza, Padua.
 The Pope felt it bad to fight a fellow catholic country. In April 1848, he issue
the Famous encyclical letter declaring the war ‘an abhorrent ‘from the counsels
of a Pope. He stated that he had no wish to lead the nationalist cause.
 From this announcement Gioberti’s dream collapsed. The plan for a federation
had to be shelved.
 All Catholics stopped fighting and stopped supporting the war. The movement
stopped.
 The King of Naples immediately withdrew the constitution and recalled his
troops from the front
 Defection of allies left Piedmont to face Austria alone. Venetia,Parma,Piacenza,
and Modena all passed a series of plebiscites in favour of incorporation with
Piedmont.
 In Sicily the crown was offered the son of the Sardinian King.
 However, Austria, regrouped and defeated Piedmont at Custozza and armistice
was signed at Salasco restoring Austria’s authority in Upper Italy.
 Failure by Charles Albert to proclaim the kingdom of upper Italy led to the
discredit of the idea of a monarch.
  It created room for liberals under Mazzini. They attacked Rome, and the Pope
went into exile. They proclaimed a republic. A provisional government was also
set up in Tuscany
 Piedmont resumed war against Austria but was again defeated this time at
Novara. Charles abdicated in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel and went into
exile.
 France intervened on the side of the Pope and restored the power of the Pope
overthrowing the republic and the Duke of Tuscany was restored as well.
 Thus once again returned to geographical expression

Charles Albert

 Had improved the state of Piedmont

 Granted economic and social reforms
 He codified the laws and reduced corruption
 He developed railways and abolished feudalism in Sardinia.
 Improved the finances
 Improved agriculture and developed industry
 Improved the trade policy through reduction of Tariffs.
 Modernized the army
 In the 1840s he became increasingly anti-Austria. In 1848 he acted in contrary
to his ways for the past 17 years.
 Those who wanted unity began to look towards him for leadership.
 Piedmont was independent, had strong and well-resourced than the rest.

Problem

 He had supported revolutions in 1821 but now crushed them.

 He supported the Roman Catholic Church throughout Italy.
 He ruled as an absolute monarch, with heavy reliance on secret police and spies
throughout the state.
 In 1831 Mazzini appealed to him to lead the national efforts. His response was to
order for the arrest of Mazzini as soon as he enters Piedmont. He went on to
suppress with severe brutality a Mazzini inspired conspiracy of army officers in
1833.
 However, it was a state that was nationally conscious of its Italian identity.
 It was Charles to whom many looked towards to confront Radetzky, but was
defeated heavily at Novara
 He abdicated in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel.
 Radetzky then took over Venice. Thus the revolutions had been completely
defeated.

Mazzini

 He wanted the expulsion of Austria from Italy through mass risings/

insurrections
 He hoped to educate people through newspapers
 In 1834 he organized an insurrection from Switzerland and France. He had
200 followers. The French group was defeated easily while the Swiss group
disagreed and never reached Piedmont. Some say they were all arrested.
 His insurrections had to be postponed.
 In 1844, he organized another invasion through the Bandiera brothers with
their 19 supporters. They landed in Naples where they were all caught and 9
of them were executed. Mazzini declared martyrs to the revolution

 In 1848

 He set a republic in Rome and became one of its rulers.

 Loius Napoleon president of France came the Pope’s rescue by sending
troops to attack the Roman Republic
 Mazzini received help from Garibaldi who returned from South America to
assist the revolutionaries.
 He engaged the Austrian troops under the feared general Radetzky, then
went Rome to defend the new Republic
 Rome was captured by the French in 1849, Garibaldi escape but his wife was
killed and many of his followers shot.
 The Roman republic collapsed and the Papacy restored to power in Roman.

Why Revolutions Failed

 They were crushed

 In Italy Charles Albert, Pope Pius IX, and Mazzini all followed different
paths allowing Radetzky to reorganize and defeat them.
 Lack of foreign assistance led to defeat by foreign intervening powers.
France and Austria made sure that all that had been gained was reversed.
Lessons Learnt from the 1848 Failures

 Wide spread revolutions across Italy shows that there was

considerable support for Italian Independence from autocratic rule.
 It is clear that focus towards Piedmont leadership had grown in 1848
but there is not much available in terms of evidence that they wanted
Italy united as a single state.
 In Italy there were no embryonic government structures like in
Germany where there was the Zollvereign to provide a focus for
Italian unification.
 There was demand for unification but there was no consensus among
the leaders on the way to unify Italy and the form of the Unified
Italy.
 They were divided by three ideologies or schools of thought.
 This disunity was evident in 1848 when republicans in Rome and the
monarchists in Piedmont could not join forces for a United Italy
 However it is clear also that while republicans were willing to work
with monarchists the opposite is true about the monarchists.
Monarchists looked more fearful of the revolutions than they feared
the Austrians.
 There was intense support from nationalists in 1848 when they joined
Mazzini and Garibaldi in Rome. They looked towards a united Italy,
thus the sense of a Greater Italy was indisputably present among
some revolutionaries who took part in the wars.
 Again the old order had been restored with its brutality, constitutions
granted were withdrawn and repression returned in all its forms.
 Once again Italy went under foreign domination. French troops now
occupied Rome while Austrian troops occupied northern Italy. Once
again the political clock had been turned back to 1815.
 Pope Pius IX returned to the papacy’s traditional reactionary policies.
He changed from someone they looked towards as leader of the
unification movement to become a leading opponent.
 It also revealed that there was serious lack of popular enthusiasm for
Italian unification. Most of the revolutionaries directed their efforts
 towards local freedoms. Only the fighting in Rome resembled some
national aspirations.
 Events of 1848 also show that most of Mazzini’s methods were
unrealistic and rather too theoretical.
 Divisions are most exposed with the Mazzini Garibaldi disagreements
in Rome in 1848 added to other groups.
 Italy also disagreed on the choices over struggles or push for change.
 There was lack of central leadership to give the revolution direction,
those looked towards terribly let down the people.
 Italian states were defeated by the military intervention of France
and Austria. ( excluding Naples)
 There was lack of foreign assistance coupled with the arrogance of
Charles Albert, who believed that ‘Italy will go it alone. Only to be
proved wrong in 1848-49.

Risorgimento II 1850-1870

A lot of factors came into play this period.

 Favorable king
 Reforms
 There was foreign assistance
 There was central leadership
 There was careful planning. Diplomacy
 It was an all-encompassing movement
 The concert of Europe had broken due to the Crimean war of 1854.
 Piedmont
 Became the springboard for Italian unification. Practical men pinned
their hopes on Piedmont for a number of reasons. It was not as
reactionary as other states were.
 Piedmont had two capable prime ministers Massimo d’Azeglio and
Cavour.
 Although Cavour is given much of the credit, indeed the reforms were
started by d’Azeglio.
 Azeglio

 He was appointed prime minister after the 1848 revolutions.

 He believed in Italy’s leadership of the struggle for unification. He
incorporated Cavour in government and even recommended that Cavour
should succeed him.(no more jealous among Italians)
 Reduced the powers of the church through the Sicardi Laws. This move
annoyed the pope and Austria, but increased the support of the Liberals.
 The king of Piedmont modified the laws to remove civil marriages and
maintained the Church marriages. He also stopped a bill that suppressed
some religious orders and seizing of their wealth.
 He maintained the constitution

Cavour
In 1852 Cavour became prime minister for a period of 8 years. He was a
former soldier, Piedmontese
He travelled to both France and England where he came in contact with
revolutionary and parliamentary systems.
Became Member of Parliament in 1848 representing Turin.

The Crimean war 1854

 France and Britain against Russia over the resort Island of Crimea.
Piedmont had no interests in in the Far East and no quarrel with Russia so
was Austria.
 Cavour was not interested in joining the war.
 However, Victor Emmanuel saw an opportunity and wanted to replace Cavour
with someone interested.

Italy’s involvement

It was an opportunity for Cavour to internationalize the Italian cause.

It was opportunity to established an alliance with Britain and France
Italy was invited by Britain and France to join the war on their side. Cavour
joined because he wished to enlist their support in the event of war against
Austria to achieve unification.
Cavour sent troops to Crimea with intention to achieve unification.
 Analysis
 The benefits were not immediate. He did not get any territory as a result of
his participation. However, It should be noted that at this stage Cavour’s
intention was to gain friendship and be invited to a peace conference where
he would get an opportunity to expose Austrian brutality and advance the
cause of Italian unification.
 It should be noted that both King Victor Emmanuel and Cavour realized the
importance of taking part in this war as they both wanted Italian unification.
 AS part of the victors, the international reputation of Piedmont was raised.

The Paris Treaty-1856

 Italy was invited to attend but looks like more as an observer.
 Austria did not attend the conference because it had stayed out of the war.
(neutral)
 Austria also lost the respect of Britain and France as well as Russia.
 Austria could not stop Cavour from attending the treaty.
 At the treaty did not receive any territory –but received sympathetic
hearing from Britain and France. Cavour was able to present the Italian
situation in the absence of Austria.
 It is said that napoleon became very restless and wanted to help.

Importance

Both the Crimean war and Paris treat participation by Cavour reinforces the
interpretation that Cavour was the architect of Italian unification. With this he is
viewed a skillful far sighted and a nationalist politician. This is because France
later assisted militarily while Britain gave diplomatic assistance. Eg Britain
remained neutral in the war between Italy and Austria, and shielded
Garibaldi’s troops from possible attack

This also highlights Cavour’s realistic approach in realizing that Italy will not go it
alone. This also places the importance of foreign assistance to the unification of
Italy. This also marked breakdown of the concert of Europe which had been very
active during the first phase before 1850.

 He hoped to gain some powerful allies in Europe especially given that

Piedmont’s main rival Austria was not involved.
  When the war ended in 1856, Piedmont although invited to Paris congress,
Italy did not gain land. Cavour’s job became that of securing the support of
France and Britain in the struggle against Austria. Historian David Thompson
notes that although Piedmont did not gain land it managed to expose the
brutalities of Austria.
 Furthermore, he believes that Italy benefitted much in the form of
sympathetic hearing from France especially Napoleon III who showed
interest to help. Thus Italy had gained a powerful ally that initially stood
between Italy and unification. However, these were expressions of sympathy
and nothing concrete.
 Italy gained prestige, status from leading states like Britain and France.
However, the Paris treaty has no evidence of British and French support

The Orsini Incident

 Felice Orsini was an Italian nationalist who was disappointed by Napoleon

III’s failure to honour his pledge to help Italy. It was rather a disastrous
way of reminder to a leader of a country.
 He tried to assassinate the French president.
 The incident resulted in the death of 10 people and left 150 wounded
 It was not the first time he attempted to assassinate the French president.
 Napoleon demanded that Piedmont deal with the culprits which Cavour did
 He was imprisoned and sentenced to death. While in prison, he wrote several
letters to Napoleon III, begging him to help Italy. What struck Napoleon
III was that Orsini did not try to absolve himself or plead for pardon.
 Napoleon pardoned him and promised to act in line with his promise. It was
an attempt to force Napoleon stick to his promise. There is no evidence that
Orsini acted in conjunction with Cavour.
This incident pushed Napoleon into action. Napoleon later approached Cavour
through intermediaries for a meeting.

 Asses the role of Cavour.

Cavour tried to use his 18-year-old cousin to have relations with Napoleon in
or der to persuade him to support Italy. This cousin had also had a
relationship with Victor Emmanuel. There is no evidence that this worked.
Both accounts work to show Italian nationalists realized that Italy
unification could not be realized without foreign aid.
Pact of Plombirres

Cavour met Napoleon III at Plombierres a village in the Alps and signed a treaty. A
plot to fight Austria was hatched. Unification of Italy was achieved in less than
three years signing this treaty. Thus making it a central aspect in the history of
Italy. Makes foreign assistance playing a major role.
Terms
 France and Piedmont would go to war if attacked by Austria
 Piedmont would get Lombardy and Venetia
 France would get Nice and Savoy
Cavour’s task was that of making Austria appear the aggressor.
He started to mobilize with the aim of antagonizing Austria so that it will attack
Piedmont.
However, Cavour remained suspicious of Napoleon III (Had a grass hopper mind)

 This strengthened through marriage arrangements.

 The daughter of Victor Emmanuel was to marry a cousin of the French
emperor.
 Britain and Prussia were in sympathy with Piedmont and chose to remain
neutral.
 However, they did not want the balance of power to be disturbed through
the defeat of Austria.
 Cavour’s role was to make Austria appear the aggressor.
 He prepared for this war working with other groups like the National
Society of Italy.
 Cavour even met Garibaldi in December 1858 and informed him of the plan
and asked him to join the Piedmontese army. (he did not tell him about Nice)
 The inclusion of other Italians makes the war more Italian than of individual
states of the 1848.
 Cavour also secretly supplied Hungary and Romania to help in increasing an
anti-Austrian movement.
 Napoleon wanted to dismantle the Vienna settlement of 1815.

War with Austria

 Cavour started mobilization and Austria demanded that they demobilize
 Thousands of volunteers went to Piedmont to join the army ready to fight for the
Italian cause.
  Cavour refused to demobilize and Austria threatened attack falling into Cavour’s
trap
 Austria went on to give an Ultimatum to Piedmont while they mobilized. (aggressor)
 Britain and Russia called for a congress of powers to settle to settle the issue.
Britain did not like the presence of France alone in the Italian Risorgimento II.
 Cavour did not like a congress because it would wreck his plans.
 While powers were making frantic efforts to establish peace Austria declared war
making them the aggressor.
 Piedmont and France jointly went to war with Austria. They won two critical
victories at Magenta and Solferino.
 France suffered heavy casualties and was afraid that Britain would team up with
Prussia and Russia intervene against Napoleon III. (Prussia was mobilizing on the
Rhineland.
 As a result, he pulled out after some double dealing.
 He signed a treaty with Austria at Villafranca without Cavour’s knowledge
 When Cavour learnt of it, he resigned.

Treaty of Villafranca

 Piedmont received Lombardy without other lands promised at Plombierres

 But France received Nice and Savoy as promised.
 Austria retained Venetia

The situation was rather paradoxical. The aim was to unify Italy by driving out Austria
and join /merge lands /states under Piedmont. Instead of gaining lands Cavour agreed
to give away land. There is no indication of Cavour’s intention to regain these
territories bringing to question his desire to unify Italy.
However, what is important is that Cavour made one step towards unification by gaining
Lombardy. This emphasizes the importance of foreign assistance.

Plots, Revolts, civil wars

It involved states in the North;

Cavour plotted revolts in Naples and Papal states before invasion by Piedmontese troops.
In Sicily a revolt occurred in April 1860.
Garibaldi planned the revolt in Nice. He spent time in Piedmont looking for guns and Cavour
gave him some faulty guns.
 He wanted to stop him but could not do so because Garibaldi was popular.
 Cavour did nothing to help Garibaldi, by refusing to give him the rifles that he
wanted. Instead he gave him faulty guns
  Cavour was unpopular at the time and elections were close. He did not know exactly
where Garibaldi was heading to. He ordered his arrest.
 He did not want him to attack the papal states. It could bring There were French
troops there.
 Victor Emmanuel was keen to form a new government and supported Garibaldi.

Plebiscites

 Five states organized plebiscites to determine to unite with Piedmont or not. (who
organized)
 These were Emilia, Modena, Parma, Rogmana and Tuscany
 They all voted in favour of the formation of a confederation of Northern states.
 Mazzini carried out protests, calling for the creation of a larger Monarchy in Italy.
 It did not receive any support.
 Following the plebiscites the kingdom of Italy was created in 1861. It included all
states except Venetia and Rome and the states in the South.
 Basically it was the unification of the confederation of the North.
 Cavour quickly returned to office.

Incorporating the Southern States Guiessepe Garibaldi - Expedition of the 1000

 Another key player comes into the fold.
 He was republican and a follower of Mazzini.
 However, in 1860 he committed himself to fight for unification under Victor
Emmanuel II.
 He met Garibaldi and agreed to Garibaldi’s attack of the southern and Papal states.
But the king later adjusted his plans to the extension of power and influence of
Piedmont rather than the complete unification of Italy. He refused to support
Garibaldi.
 He attacked Sicily in 1860. Events here are a bit scrambled. There was a French
Patrol fleet stationed at Marsala as well as the British fleet.
 According to Williams, with a small force of 1000 soldiers Garibaldi waited for the
French fleet to leave. It is not clear why the French fleet had to leave. Garibaldi
sailed amongst British ships.
 It is clearly hinted that the French Navy had sight of him but could not fire
fearing contact with the British Navy. Whether the British assisted him, it is not
clear but it would seem the British by not attacking him actually supported him.
 He won against Naples, (Calatafimi garrison defeated), capture Palermo-capital of
Sicily with the aid local uprisings. People of Naples took him to be their liberator.
  This was beyond Cavour and Victor Emmanuel’s calculations. Although this was not
part of his plan, he had to accept because he could not oppose Garibaldi was now
very popular with the Southerners.
 Garibaldi then went all out to conquer Naples. Hid soldiers were now called the Red
shirts. He took over Naples in September 1860 and declared himself leader of the
two Sicilies. Naples agreed to be incorporated into the Northern confederation.
 As Garibaldi aimed for Rome Cavour quickly moved in, he proclaimed that Rome will
be capital of Italy. He feared that Catholic countries world-wide would join to
protect Rome and the Pope.

Venetia 1866

 This was purely the work of foreign influence and largely outside the control of
Piedmont.
 It was a result of the work of Bismarck and Napoleon III.
 Venetia was united to Italy after the Austro-Prussian war of 1866.
 Bismarck used his diplomacy to isolate Austria after securing Napoleon III’s
neutrality with an agreement that Venetia will become part of Italy.
 Bismarck agreed to fight Austria with Italy.
 Prussian victory saw the handing over of Venetia to Italy.

 Rome 1870
 Was handed over to Italy after Prussian victory over France in 1870.
 During this war Napoleon had to recall his soldiers from Rome.
 The Italian army quickly defeated Rome.
 The Pope refused to hand over Rome to Italy.
 He withdrew to the Vatican City which became an independent state.