Count Cavour
While nationalism destroyed empires, it also built nations.
Italy had many city-states. Italy was one of the countries to form as a result of crumbling empires. After the Congress of Vienna (1815), Austria ruled the Italian provinces of Venetia and Lombardy. Both territories were located in the north. In the south, the Spanish Bourbon family ruled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Between 1815 and 1848, an increasing amount of Italians became discontent living under foreign rulers. Amid growing discontent, two leaders appeared with two very different philosophical ideals. However, both each contributed to the unification of the nation-state Italy.
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UNIFICATION OF ITALY
By 1848, Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia was the largest and most powerful of the Italian states. King Victor Emanuel II appointed Camillo di Cavour as prime minister. Count Cavour was responsible for expanding the empire in the 1850s. He achieved expansion by careful diplomacy and well-chosen alliances. Cavour later wanted to unify all of the Italian states, as well as gain control of northern Italy for Sardinia. The greatest roadblock to annexing northern Italy was Austria. To help, Cavour asked France to defeat Austrian control in the northern territories. Napoleon III agreed to help drive out Austria with a combined French-Sardinian army. In two swift battles, Austria was driven out of the northern territories.
As Cavour was uniting the north of Italy, he began to consider the possibility of controlling the south. He secretly began helping nationalist rebels in southern Italy. Cavour was greeted by a fellow Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi.
A bold and romantic soldier, Giuseppe Garibaldi led a small band of nationalist in southern territories of Italy In May 1860, Garibaldi met Cavour with 1,000 soldiers. Garibaldi swiftly captured Siciliy and the city of Naples. In battle, Garibaldi always wore a bright red shirt. Due to this, his nationalist followers were called Red Shirts. He conquered southern Italy with the help of his Red Shirt armies using guerrilla warfare tactics. After a battle along the Volturno River, Garibaldi was able to unite majority of the Italian states. He united the southern territorties to those of the north. With this unification, Victor Emmanuel II was declared king of a united nation.
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Unified Italy
In 1832, an idealistic 26-year old Italian Guiseppe Mazzini organized a nationalist group called the Young Italy. The youth composed many nationalist movements; the Young Italy was a prime example. During 1848 revolts broke out in eight of the states on the Italian Peninsula. Guiseppe Mazzini was briefly part of the republican government in Rome. He believed that nation-states were the best hope of social justice, democracy, and peace in Europe. Rebellions by the Young Italy in 1848 failed. The foriegn rulers of the Italian states drove Mazzini and other nationalist into exile.
Guiseppe Mazzini
In 1870, Italian forces took over the last part of the territories known as the Papal States. The Roman Catholic Church popes had governed the territory as both its spiritual and earthly rulers. With this victory, the city of Rome came under Italian control. Soon after, Rome became the capital of the United Kingdom of Italy. The Pope, however, would continue to govern Rome known as Vatican City. The Papal States and Rome were the last to join Italy.
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