In 1815 Italy was only a name on the map. It was a patchwork of kingdoms, duchies and papal lands. Within sixty years it was one country, with Rome as its capital.
This lesson follows the Risorgimento, which means “resurgence”. We meet a thinker, a statesman and a soldier. Each pulled Italy together in a different way.
Risorgimento: Italian for “resurgence”, the 19th-century movement for unity.
Redshirts: Garibaldi’s volunteers, named for their red shirts.
Plebiscite: a direct vote by the people on one question.
Papal States: lands around Rome ruled by the pope.
- How divided was Italy before unification?
- Who stirred Italy awake before 1859?
- How did Cavour use diplomacy against Austria?
- How did Garibaldi’s Redshirts conquer the south?
- When was the Kingdom of Italy proclaimed?
- Why did Venetia and Rome come last?
- Did unity make Italians overnight?
- What are the exam traps?
1How divided was Italy before unification?
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna redrew Europe after Napoleon. It put back the old rulers. Italy was split into several states. Austria held the north.
Austria ruled Lombardy and Venetia directly. It also held great influence over Parma, Modena and Tuscany. The pope ruled a large block of central Italy, the Papal States. A Bourbon king ruled the south, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Only one state had an Italian ruling house. This was the Kingdom of Sardinia, also called Piedmont. Its capital was Turin.
The old order could not hold forever. Uprisings in the 1820s and 1830s tried to break it. The red, white and green tricolour went underground and became a symbol of the cause.
Why does this matter? Italy had no common ruler, army or law. Unity meant removing Austria, the pope’s rule over the middle, and the Bourbon throne in the south.
- 1815: Vienna restores the old rulers.
- Austria held Lombardy and Venetia.
- Pope ruled the Papal States; Bourbons ruled the south.
- Only Piedmont had an Italian dynasty.
- Read about the Congress of Vienna.
2Who stirred Italy awake before 1859?
The first spark came from a thinker, Giuseppe Mazzini. In the 1830s he founded a secret society called Young Italy. Its aim was “one, free, independent, republican nation”.
Mazzini wanted a republic, not a king. He believed that the people themselves would rise. Several risings that he backed failed. But his words inspired a generation.
Then came 1848, the year of revolutions across Europe. The new pope, Pius IX, had at first seemed to favour reform. Uprisings spread through Italian cities. Austria crushed most of them.
Piedmont took a different path. Its king gave his country a constitution in 1848. A young nobleman, Camillo Cavour, rose in its government. He had founded a newspaper called Il Risorgimento. He became prime minister in 1852.
Cavour was no rebel. He built railways and trade. He believed Piedmont had to become strong first. Then it could face Austria.
Why does this matter? Remember the three different goals. Mazzini wanted a republic. Cavour wanted a stronger Piedmont. Garibaldi wanted Italy, whatever the form.
- Mazzini: Young Italy, a republic.
- 1848: revolutions across Europe.
- Cavour: PM of Piedmont from 1852.
- Cavour’s paper: Il Risorgimento.
3How did Cavour use diplomacy against Austria?
Piedmont alone could not beat Austria. Cavour needed a strong ally. In July 1858 he met France’s Napoleon III at Plombieres. They made a secret deal.
France would help Piedmont fight Austria. In return, France would get Savoy and Nice. The two men agreed to provoke Austria into starting the war.
War came in 1859. French and Piedmontese forces won at Magenta on 4 June, and later at Solferino. Garibaldi’s volunteers, called the Hunters of the Alps, also beat the Austrians at Varese and Como.
Then Napoleon III stopped. On 12 July the armistice of Villafranca was signed. Lombardy went to Piedmont. Austria kept Venetia and Mantua.
But the spark had spread. Uprisings in central Italy led Tuscany, Parma, Modena and part of the Papal States to join Piedmont. This was settled in March 1860.
France then collected its price. On 24 March 1860, the Treaty of Turin handed Savoy and Nice to France.
Why does this matter? Cavour won by clever alliances, not by the sword alone. But the price was high. Garibaldi himself was born in Nice.
- July 1858: Plombieres deal with Napoleon III.
- 1859: wins at Magenta and Solferino.
- 12 July 1859: Villafranca armistice; Lombardy to Piedmont.
- 24 March 1860: Savoy and Nice to France.
True or False: Mazzini wanted a united Italy ruled by a king.
4How did Garibaldi’s Redshirts conquer the south?
Giuseppe Garibaldi was a soldier and a hero. In May 1860 a revolt broke out in Palermo, Sicily. Garibaldi saw his chance.
On the night of 5 May, volunteers took two steamships at Genoa. The ships sailed from Quarto, near the city. The force had about 1,000 men. The exact number is given as 1,089. They wore red shirts and carried old muskets.
They landed at Marsala, in Sicily, on 11 May 1860. The Bourbon army was far larger. Yet Garibaldi won battle after battle. Local volunteers joined him. His army grew into the Southern Army.
He crossed to the mainland and moved north. The Bourbon kingdom fell apart. Then Garibaldi made a famous choice.
On 26 October 1860 he met King Victor Emmanuel II at Teano. Garibaldi handed over the south to the king of Piedmont. He did not make himself ruler.
Plebiscites then approved joining the new kingdom.
Why does this matter? Cavour won the north by diplomacy. Garibaldi won the south by force. Do not mix up the two methods.
- Left Quarto, 5 May 1860; about 1,000 men.
- Landed at Marsala, 11 May 1860.
- Teano meeting: 26 October 1860.
- Gave the south to Victor Emmanuel II.
Think it through: Why did Garibaldi hand over the south instead of ruling it himself?
He wanted a united Italy, not a kingdom of his own. Giving the land to Victor Emmanuel avoided a split between north and south. It also kept the cause together under one crown.
5When was the Kingdom of Italy proclaimed?
In February 1861 Victor Emmanuel called the first Italian parliament in Turin. On 17 March 1861 the parliament proclaimed him King of Italy. He became the first king of the new kingdom.
On 27 March 1861 Parliament declared Rome the capital. But Rome was not yet in the kingdom. The pope still ruled it, with French troops to guard him.
Cavour became the first prime minister of the new state. He died only three months later, in June 1861. He never saw Rome or Venetia join.
Turin was the first capital. In 1865 the government moved to Florence. The move upset Turin so badly that the king left the city in a hurry.
Italians gave Victor Emmanuel a title, “Father of the Fatherland”. Four people are often called the founders: Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour and the king.
Why does this matter? 1861 is the year to remember. But the unification was not complete. Two prizes were still missing.
- Proclaimed 17 March 1861.
- First king: Victor Emmanuel II.
- First capital Turin; then Florence in 1865.
- Cavour died in June 1861.
True or False: Garibaldi handed his southern conquests to Victor Emmanuel II instead of ruling them himself.
Remember: Kingdom 1861, Venetia 1866, Rome 1870.
6Why did Venetia and Rome come last?
Venetia was still under Austria. In 1866 Austria and Prussia went to war over who would lead the German states. Italy saw its chance. It allied with Prussia. Venetia joined Italy in 1866.
Rome was harder. The pope ruled it, and French troops protected him. Napoleon III did not want to lose the pope’s support.
In July 1870 France went to war with Prussia. French troops left Rome. Italy moved in.
On 20 September 1870, after three hours of cannon fire, the Italian army broke through the walls at Porta Pia. Rome fell. Rome and Latium joined the kingdom. A plebiscite on 2 October approved it. Rome became the official capital on 3 February 1871.
Pope Pius IX refused to accept the loss. He called himself a prisoner in the Vatican, though he was free to move about. The quarrel lasted until the Lateran Treaty of 1929.
Some Italian-speaking lands stayed outside. Trento and Trieste joined only in 1918.
Why does this matter? Many students put Rome and Venetia together. They joined four years apart.
- Venetia: 1866, allied with Prussia.
- Rome: 20 September 1870, Porta Pia.
- Capital: 3 February 1871.
- Pope’s quarrel ended: Lateran Treaty, 1929.
7Did unity make Italians overnight?
Not at all. The map was united. The people were not yet one nation. The north and the poorer south differed deeply.
The writer Massimo d’Azeglio put it in a famous line. “Italy is made. Now we must make Italians.”
Many people spoke local dialects at home. Many peasants had little sense of belonging to a single country.
The south stayed poor. In the following decades, large numbers of Italians left for the Americas. Many came from the south.
Why does this matter? Unification in 1861 was a political act. Making a shared national feeling took far longer.
- d’Azeglio: “Now we must make Italians.”
- Deep north-south gap.
- Large emigration followed.
- Compare with the unification of Germany.
True or False: Rome joined the Kingdom of Italy at the same time as Venetia, in 1866.
8What are the exam traps?
UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2018 asked who wrote biographies of Mazzini and Garibaldi, along with Shivaji and Shri Krishna. The answer was Lala Lajpat Rai (Source: UPSC CSP 2018). Read his life in ModHist0114.
- Mazzini wanted a republic. Cavour served a monarchy.
- Cavour used diplomacy; Garibaldi used force.
- Kingdom 1861; Venetia 1866; Rome 1870.
- Savoy and Nice went to France in 1860.
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