Italian Renunification
Italian Unification
Garibaldi was the "hero of two worlds" as a revolutionary in both South America and his native Italy.
Mazzini, an intellectual. Cavour, a statesman. Garibaldi, a fighter. Together, they formed the soul, the brain, and the brawn of the Risorgimento, historians' term for the movement for Italian unity. The Italian Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries had demonstrated Italians' artistic, literary, and scientific genius. The revolutions of 1848 illustrated the emotional power of Italian nationalism. By February 1849, however, Austrian and French forces had crushed the romantic nationalists, leaving Italy again divided into four parts:
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the south, ruled by the French
the Papal States in the middle, governed by the Pope
the states of northern Italy, controlled by Austrian forces
Courtesy of Robert Moss
Italy was divided into four separate parts until the entire country was eventually unified in 1870.
the Kingdom of Sardinia, commonly called Piedmont, ruled by a hereditary monarch named Victor Emmanuel
Giuseppe Mazzini
Hailing from Genoa, Giuseppe Mazzini was the revolutionary of the Risorgimento, first rallying Italian nationalists through Young Italy, an organization dedicated to uniting Italy in the causes of democracy and social reform. Later, after the revolutions of 1848, he promoted "the Party of Action" in a campaign to rid Italy of Austrian influences.
Excerpts from "General Instructions for the Members of Young Italy"
Young Italy is a brotherhood of Italians who believe in a law of Progress and Duty, and are convinced that Italy is destined to become one nation convinced also that she possesses sufficient strength within herself to become one, and that the ill success of her former efforts is to be attributed not to the weakness,...
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