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Italian unification

Italian unification (or Risorgimento) was the political and social process that unified disparate countries of the Italian peninsula into a single nation between the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

It is difficult to pin down exact dates for the beginning and end of Italian reunification, but most scholars agree that it began with the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the end of Napoleon's rule, and largely ended with the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, though the last irredented cities did not join the Kingdom of Italy until the Treaty of Saint-Germain after World War I.

Contents

Background

The establishment of the Italian Republic and later of the Kingdom of Italy, ruled by Napoleon, began to spur nationalism in those who lived in the region. As Napoleon's reign began to fail, other national monarchs he had installed tried to keep their thrones by feeding those nationalistic sentiments, setting the stage for the revolutions to come. Among these monarchs were the viceroy of Italy, Eugène de Beauharnais, who tried to get Austrian approval for his succession to the Kingdom of Italy, and Joachim Murat, who called for Italian patriots' help for the unification of Italy under his rule (See the Proclamation of Rimini).

Following the defeat of Napoleonic France, the Congress of Vienna was convened to redraw the European continent, dividing and doling out much of the Italian peninsula among the prevailing European powers, fracturing the region into a patchwork of independent governments.

But groups in several Italian states began to push the idea of a unified Italian state again, feeding the flames of nationalism that had already been ignited in the populace. At the time, the struggle for Italian unification was perceived to be waged primarily against the Austrian Empire and the Hapsburgs, since they directly controlled northeastern Italy and were the single most powerful force against unification. The Austrian Empire fought hard against nationalist sentiment growing on the Italian peninsula (as well as in the other parts of the Empire) — at the time, Austrian Chancellor Klemens Wenzel von Metternich stated that the word Italy was "purely a geographic expression."

Those in favor of unification also faced opposition from the Vatican, particularly after attempts to broker a confederation with the Papal States, which would have given them some measure of autonomy over the region, failed. The pope at the time, Pius IX, feared that giving up power in the region could mean the persecution of Italian Catholics (Hales, 1958).

Even among those who wanted to see the peninsula unified into one country, different groups could not agree on what form a unified state would take. One proposal (around 1847-1848) would have created a confederation of Italian states under the rulership of the Pope. Many leading revolutionaries wanted a republic. But eventually it was a king and his minister who had the power to unite the Italian states as a monarchy.


One of the most influential revolutionary groups was the Carbonari (coal-burners), a secret organization formed in southern Italy early in the 19th Century. Inspired by the principles of the French revolution, its members were mainly drawn from the middle class and intellectuals. After the Congress of Vienna divided the Italian peninsula among the European powers, Carbonari spread into the Papal States, the kingdom of Sardinia, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Modena and the kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. They were so feared that the reigning authorities passed an ordinance condemning anyone who attended a Carbonari meeting to death. But the society continued to exist and was at the root of many of the outbreaks in Italy from 1820 on. Carbonari condemned Napoleon III to death for failing to unite Italy and almost succeeded in assassinating him for his transgressions. Most leaders of the unification movement were members of this organization.

Two prominent figures in the unification movement were Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. Among the more conservative constitutional monarchic figures, Count Cavour and Victor Emmanuel II, later the first king of a united Italy, were also important.

Mazzini, a native of Genoa, became a member of the Carbonari in 1830. His activity in revolutionary movements caused him to be outlawed soon after he joined, and in 1831 he went to Marseilles, where he organized a new political society called La Giovine Italia ("Young Italy"). The new society, whose motto was "God and the People," sought the unification of Italy.

Garibaldi, a native of Nice (then part of Savoy in the Kingdom of Sardinia), participated in an uprising in Piedmont in 1834, was sentenced to death, and escaped to South America. He spent fourteen years there, taking part in several wars, and returned to Italy in 1848.

Early revolutionary activity (1820 to 1830)

Carbonari insurrections (1820 – 1821)

In 1814 the Carbonari began organizing revolutionary activities in Naples; by 1820 the group was strong enough to invade Naples with its own army, forcing the king to promise to implement a new constitution the Carbonari had drafted. But the revolution was put down the following year by the Austrians, acting as the agents of the "Holy Alliance" between Austria, Prussia and Russia.

Two Sicilies insurrection

In 1820, Spaniards revolted successfully over their constitution, which spurred a similar movement in Italy. Inspired by the Spaniards, a regiment in the army of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, commanded by Guglielmo Pepe, a Carbonari, revolted, conquering the peninsular part of Two Sicilies. The king, Ferdinand I, agreed to enact a new constitution. But the revolutionaries failed to court popular support and fell to Austrian troops of the Holy Alliance. Ferdinand abolished the constitution and began systematically persecuting revolutionaries.

Piedmont insurrection

The leader of the revolutionary movement in Piedmont was Santorre di Santarosa , who wanted to remove the Austrians and unify Italy under the Savoy dynasty. The Piedmont revolt started in Alessandria, where troops adopted the green, white and red tricolore of the Cisalpine Republic. The king's regent, acting while the king was away, approved a new constitution to appease the revolutionaries, but when the king returned he disavowed the constitution and called for "Holy Alliance" help. Di Santarosa's troops were defeated.

1830 insurrections

Around 1830, revolutionary sentiment in favor of a unified Italy began to boil over; a series of insurrections laid the groundwork for the creation of one nation along the Italian peninsula.

The Duke of Modena, Francis IV, was very ambitious, and had hoped to become king of Northern Italy by increasing his territory. In 1826, Francis made it clear that he would not oppose subverting opposition toward the unification of Italy. Encouraged by the declaration, revolutionaries in the region began to organize.

In 1830, during the July Revolution, revolutionaries forced the king to abdicate and started the July Monarchy with encouragement from the new French king, Louis-Philippe. Louis-Philippe had promised revolutionaries like Ciro Menotti that he would intervene if Austria tried to interfere with troops. But, fearing he would lose his throne, Louis-Philippe did not intervene in Menotti's planned uprising. But it was not to be — the Vatican caught wind of Menotti's planned insurrection and arrested him and other conspirators in 1831.

At the same time, other insurrections arose in the Papal Legations of Bologna, Forlì , Ravenna, Imola, Ferrara, Pesaro and Urbino. These successful revolutions, which adopted the tricolore in favor of the Papal flag, quickly spread to cover all the Papal Legations, and their newly-installed local governments proclaimed the creation of a united Italian nation.

The revolts in Modena and the Papal Legations inspired similar activity in the Duchy of Parma, where the tricolore flag was adopted; the duchess Marie Louise left the city.

Insurrected provinces planned to unite as the Province Italiane unite (united Italian Provinces), when Pope Gregory XVI asked for Austrian help against the rebels. Metternich warned Louis-Philippe that Austria had no intention to let Italian matters be, and that French intervention would not be tolerated. Louis-Philippe withheld any military help and even arrested Italian patriots living in France.

In the spring of 1831, the Austrian army began its march across the Italian peninsula, slowly crushing resistance in each province that had revolted, ending much of the fledging revolutionary movement and arresting its leaders, including Menotti.

Creation of Italian state

After fleeing the country because of earlier revolutionary activity, the revolutions of 1848 again opened Italy to Mazzini and Garibaldi, though both were again eventually forced to flee. Mazzini was back in Italy long enough to help found the Roman Republic in 1849, before once again being driven into exile — in 1850 he became a resident of New York City.

In 1859, a war incited by Cavour (the prime minister of Sardinia) and Napoleon III of France brought both men back to Italy. Garibaldi, commissioned a major-general and asked to raise a volunteer corps, lured Mazzini back to serve with him. Together they defeated the Austrian army at Lombardy, Varese, Como and other places. The success of the French and Sardinians in Lombardy stirred the Italian populace. The grand dukes of Tuscany, Parma and Modena fled to other countries, and several other towns in the Papal States cast off their allegiance to the pope, proclaiming the king of Sardinia dictator.

Cavour had much to do with the successful unification of Italy. In sending a Sardinian army (Bersaglieri) to assist France and England in the Crimea in 1855, he achieved standing among the European powers. He courted favor with the people by promoting religious tolerance, free trade, freedom of the press and rebelling against Papal dominance. Cavour successfully gained control of Lombardy, Tuscany, Parma and Modena, which in the end greatly helped unification.

The Mille expedition

Once the north had been united as the Kingdom of Italy, the unification movement turned to absorbing the powerful Kingdom of Two Sicilies in the south, a daunting task. Faced with strong political and military obstacles, nevertheless Garibaldi invaded the South with a thousand volunteers and raised a popular army in rebellion.

Francis II of the Two Sicilies, the son and successor of Ferdinand II, had a well-organized army of 150,000 men. But his father's tyranny had inspired many secret societies, and the kingdom's Swiss mercenaries were unexpectedly recalled home, leaving Francis only his unreliable native troops. It was a critical opportunity for the unification movement.

In April 1860, separate insurrections in Messina and Palermo occurred. These were easily suppressed by loyal troops. But despite a declared state of siege in these cities, unification supporters staged popular demonstrations which energized the populace. On May 6, 1860, Garibaldi and his cadre of about a thousand Italian volunteers (called the I Mille), steamed from Quarto near Genoa, and after a stop in Talamone on May 11 landed near Marsala on the west coast of Sicily.

Near Salemi , Garibaldi's army attracted scattered bands of rebels, together defeating the opposing army at Catalafimi on the 13th. Within three days, the invading force had swelled to 4,000 men. On May 14, Garibaldi proclaimed himself dictator of Sicily, in the name of Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy. After waging various successful but hard-fought battles, Garibaldi advanced upon the Sicilian capital of Palermo, announcing his arrival by beacon-fires kindled at night. On May 27, the force laid siege to the Porta Termina of Palermo, while a mass uprising of street and barricade fighting broke out within the city.

With Palermo deemed insurgent, Neapolitan General Lanza , arriving in Sicily with some 25,000 troops, furiously bombarded Palermo, nearly to ruins. With the intervention of a British admiral, an armistice was declared, leading to the Neapolitan troops' departure and surrender of the town to Garibaldi and his much smaller army.

This resounding success demonstrated the weakness of the Neapolitan government. Garibaldi's fame spread and many Italians began to consider him a national hero. Doubt, confusion and dismay overtook the Neapolitan court — the king hastily summoned his ministry and offered to restore an earlier constitution, but these efforts failed to rebuild the peoples' trust in Bourbon governance.

Six weeks after the surrender of Palermo, Garibaldi attacked Messina. Within a week its citadel was surrendered. Having conquered Sicily, Garibaldi proceeded to the mainland, crossing the Straits of Messina with the Neapolitan fleet at hand. The garrison at Reggio Calabria promptly surrendered. Progressing northward, the populace everywhere hailed him and military resistance faded. At the end of August he was at Cosenza, and on September 5 at Eboli , near Salerno. Meanwhile Naples had been declared in a state of siege, and on September 6 the king gathered the 4,000 troops still faithful to him and retreated over the Volturno river. The next day Garibaldi, with a few followers, entered Naples, whose people openly welcomed him.

Defeat of Naples

Though Garibaldi had easily taken the capital, the Neapolitan army had not joined the rebellion en masse, holding firm along the Volturno River. Garibaldi's irregular bands of about 25,000 men could not drive away the king or take the fortresses of Capua and Gaeta without the help of the Sardinian army.

But the Sardinian army could only come by way of the Papal States, which extended across the entire center of the peninsula. Thumbing his nose at the Holy See, Garibaldi announced his intent to proclaim a "Kingdom of Italy" from Rome, the capital city of Pope Pius IX. Seeing this as a threat to the domain of the Catholic Church, Pius threatened excommunication for supporting such an effort. Afraid Garibaldi would attack Rome, Catholics worldwide sent money and volunteers for the Papal Army, which was commanded by General Lamoriciere , a French exile.

Settling the standoff now rested with Louis Napoleon. If he had let Garibaldi have his way the latter would, no doubt, have quickly ended the temporal sovereignty of the pope and made Rome the capital of Italy. But Napoleon seems to have arranged with Cavour to leave the king of Sardinia free to take possession of Naples, Umbria and the other provinces, provided that Rome and the "patrimony of St. Peter" were left intact.

It was in this situation that a Sardinian force of two army corps, under Fanti and Cialdini, marched to the frontier of the Papal States, its object being not Rome but Naples. The Papal troops under Lamoriciere advanced against Cialdini, but were quickly defeated and besieged in the fortress of Ancona, finally surrendering on September 29. On October 9, Victor Emmanuel II arrived and took command. There was no longer a papal army to oppose him, and the march southward proceeded unopposed.

Garibaldi distrusted the pragmatic Cavour, particularly due to Cavour's role in the French annexation of Nice, Garibaldi's birthplace. Nevertheless he trusted Victor Emmanuel. When the king entered Sessa at the head of Victor Emmanuel's army, Garibaldi willingly handed over his dictatorial power. After greeting Victor Emmanuel in Teano with the title of King of Italy, and resigning the next day with a brief telegram reading only Obbedisco (I obey), Garibaldi entered Naples riding beside the king. Garibaldi then retired to the island of Caprera, leaving the rest of the campaign to the king.

The progress of the Sardinian army compelled Francis to give up his line along the river, and he eventually took refuge with his best troops in the fortress of Gaeta. His morale boosted by his young wife, the Bavarian Princess Mary, Francis mounted a stubborn defense that lasted three months. But European allies refused him aid, and with disease combined with scarcity of food and munitions, the garrison was forced to surrender, though ragtag groups of Neapolitans loyal to Francis would fight on against the Italian government for years to come.

First march on Rome

The fall of Gaeta brought the unification movement to the brink of fruition — only Rome and Venice remained to be added. On February 18, 1861, Victor Emmanuel assembled the deputies of all the states that acknowledged his supremacy at Turin, and in their presence assumed the title of King of Italy, which he was the first to bear. Four months later Cavour, having seen his life's work nearly complete, died.

With the motto "Free from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea," the unification movement looked to incorporate Rome and Venice. Garibaldi, frustrated at inaction by the king, and bristling over perceived snubs, organized a new venture. In June 1862, he sailed from Genoa and landed at Palermo, where he gathered volunteers. Though the king was wary of fighting the French troops supporting the Papal army, and discouraged such moves, Garibaldi apparently believed he had the secret backing of the Italian government.

When the garrison of Messina proved steadfast, Garibaldi detoured to Catania with 2,000 volunteers, where he declared he would enter Rome as a victor, or perish beneath its walls. On August 24 he landed at Melito and disappeared into the Calabrian mountains . General Cialdini dispatched a division of the regular army, under Colonel Pallavicino, against the volunteer bands. On August 28 the two forces met at Aspromonte . A chance shot was followed by several volleys from the regulars, but Garibaldi forbade his men to return fire on fellow Italians. The volunteers suffered several casualties, including Garibaldi himself who was wounded; many were taken prisoner.

Garibaldi was taken by steamer to Varignano , where he was held under house arrest and underwent a tedious and painful operation for his injuries. Eventually restored to health, he was set free, and allowed to return to the rocky island of Caprera.

Third Independence War (1866)

In 1866, with the Austro-Prussian War, Austria-Hungary handed the leading position among German states to Prussia. The Kingdom of Italy allied itself with Prussia, since Austria-Hungary still occupied the territory of Venetia, which Italian irredentists sought to include in unification; a pact between Prussia and Italy, signed on 8 April, supported a postwar Italian acquisition of Venetia.

Within the context of Italian unification, the Austro-Prussian war is called Third Independence War, after the First (1848) and the Second (1859 – 1861).

On June 20, the Kingdom of Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. The Italian army, commanded by Victor Emmanuel II and general La Marmora, was defeated at the battle of Custoza on June 24. On July 20 the Regia Marina was defeated in the battle of Lissa. The following day, Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps volunteers defeated Austrians in the battle of Bezzecca , and moved toward Trento to free it. Meanwhile, Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck signed an armistice with Austria on July 26. Italy, deserted by her ally, recalled Garibaldi, who had conquered part of Trentino, and itself signed an armistice with Austria-Hungary on August 12.

Under terms of a peace treaty signed in Vienna on October 12, Austria-Hungary would cede Venetia to France. On October 19, France annexed Venetia to the Kingdom of Italy.

Rome (1870)

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War started, and French Emperor Napoleon III could no longer protect the Papal States. Soon after, the Italian government declared war against the Papal States. The Italian army, commanded by General Raffaele Cadorna , entered in Rome on September 20, and the city and Latium were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. Initially the Italian government had offered to let the pope keep the Leonine City (the walled part of Rome on the opposite side of the Tiber from the Seven Hills of Rome). But the pope rejected the offer because acceptance would have been an implied endorsement of the legitimacy of the Italian kingdom's rule over his former domain. Officially, the capital was not moved from Florence to Rome until early 1871.

Pope Pius IX declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican, although he was not actually restrained from coming and going. Rather, being deposed and stripped of much of his former power also removed a measure of personal protection — if he had walked the streets of Rome he might have been in danger from political opponents who had formerly kept their views private.

Modern era

Italian unification was completed at the end of World War I with the annexation of Trieste and Trento (with respective territories of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino.

The Kingdom of Italy had declared neutrality at the beginning of the war, largely because of its promise to Austria-Hungary to stay neutral. However, it had also promised France that it would intervene should it be attacked. To free itself from some of its obligations, the Kingdom of Italy (with the London Pact, signed in 1915), surrendered Friuli, Trentino and some other territories. The new front contributed to central empires' defeat.

Secession movements

The Italian unification process was popular with the Italian people. Nevertheless, dissenters were present in 19th century (mostly the rulers of the annexed states); regionalist sympathies continue to the present day. There are two chief secession movements represented by active political parties: one in the North (Lega Nord), and one in the South (Due Sicilie). The former has elected representatives to the national parliament.

A similar situation exists with the self-proclaimed principality of Seborga. Its historical claim to independence lies in being excluded from various treaties that unified the modern Italian state. Consequently, it will not identify itself as a "secession" movement, since it claims that it was never a part of Italy in the first place. Seborga's claims of independence have not been recognized by any government.

References

See also


Last updated: 07-31-2005 09:21:39
Last updated: 08-17-2005 22:16:42