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 the 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 city-
states 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 re-
establishment 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
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