The Italian Unification |
TIME LINE |
During the 18th century, intellectual
changes began to dismantle traditional values and institutions.
Liberal ideas from France and Britain spread rapidly, and from 1789
the French Revolution became the genesis of "liberal Italians". A series
of political and military events resulted in a
unified
kingdom of Italy in 1861.
The settlements reached in 1815 at the Vienna Congress had restored Austrian domination over the Italian peninsula but had left Italy completely fragmented . The Congress had divided the territory among a number of European nations and the victors of the Napoleonic Wars. The Kingdom of Sardinia recovered Piedmont (Piemonte), Nice, and Savoy and acquired Genoa.
Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian patriot spearheaded a national revolutionary movement. Mazzini's ideology of an independent integrated republic spread quickly among large segments of the Italian people. Revolutionary cells formed throughout the Italian peninsula. Massive reforms that took place during the 1840s in the Papal States, Lucca, Tuscany, and the Kingdom of Sardinia were intended to slow the revolutionary movements, instead these reforms (1846 and 1847) only intensified the resolve of the revolutionary cells culminating in the Revolutions of 1848, that spread to Germany, the Austrian Empire, France, and parts of northern Italy. The first revolution on the Italian peninsula took place in the Kingdom of Sicily, which resulted in a constitution for the whole kingdom. An insurrection in 1848 caused pope Pius IX to flee Rome and a republic was proclaimed. King Charles Albert of Sardinia mobilized his army and marched to the assistance of Lombardy and joined in the war to drive the Austrians from Italian soil. While it initially looked as if the independence and unity of Italy was a realistic possibility, the Austrians defeated the Piedmontese and Charles Albert had to abdicate. His son, Victor Emmanuel II, succeeded him in 1849. A new revolutionary leader, Giuseppe Garibaldi, could not avoid Rome's destruction by the French in 1849. Only Sardinia held firm to their constitutional government Count Camillo di Cavour became prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia In 1852 . It was his leadership and accommodating policies that led to the unification of Italy in little more than a decade. Cavour was able to persuade Napoleon to a secretly planned war against Austria. By early 1859, Cavour had caused a crisis that provoked the Austrians to send an ultimatum demanding Piedmontese disarmament. As part of the "plan", Cavour rejected the ultimatum which led to the subsequent war with the Austrians. The French came to the aid of the Piedmontese and the Austrians were defeated in the two major battles of Magenta and Solferino. The Austrians were forced to surrender Lombardy, with its great city of Milan (my home town), to Napoleon III. Finally, in 1859, Napoleon transferred Lombardy to the sovereignty of Victor Emmanuel II.
Giuseppe Garibaldi Italian nationalist revolutionary hero and leader in the struggle for Italian unification and independence. Born in 1807 in Nice, France, he joined Mazzini's movement in 1833. In 1834 Garibaldi was ordered to seize a warship, but the plot was discovered by police and he was condemned to death. He escaped to South America, where he lived for 12 years. There he displayed unusual qualities of military leadership while participating in the revolt of the state of Rio Grande do Sul against Brazil, as well as later in a civil war in Uruguay. In 1848, Garibaldi traveled to the United States settled in Staten Island, New York, and later became a US citizen. During the same year he returned to Italy and participated (again) in the movement for Italian freedom and unification, which became widely known as the Risorgimento (Italian for "revival"). He organized a corps of volunteers, which served under the Piedmontese ruler Charles Albert, king of Sardinia. He unsuccessfully waged war against the Austrians in Lombardy and led his volunteers to Rome to support the Roman Republic established by Mazzini and others in 1849. Garibaldi defended Rome, initially successfully, against French forces, but in the end was forced to "settle" with the French. He was allowed to depart from Rome with about 5000 of his followers. However, the line of retreat reached directly through Austrians controlled territory. Garibaldi's force was killed, captured, or dispersed during his attempt to retreat, and Garibaldi had to flee Italy to save his life.
Garibaldi's dream of a united Italy motivated his successful expedition against the Austrian forces in the Alps in 1859. In 1860 he conquered Sicily and set up a provisional insular government. Garibaldi then conquered Naples, which he then delivered to Victor Emmanuel in 1861 and returned to his home on Caprera. With the annexation of Umbria and Marches from the papal government, a united Italy was finally established in 1861 with Victor Emmanuel as its king. The Italian kingdom was missing Rome, which was still a papal possession, and Venice, which was controlled by the Austrians. Venice was added to Italy in 1866 after Prussia defeated Austria in the Seven Weeks' War, in which Italy sided with Prussia; Venice was its reward. Then, in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III withdrew his troops from Rome. With the city of Rome and the remaining Papal States left unprotected, Italian troops moved into Rome without opposition. Rome voted for union with Italy in October 1870 and, in July 1871, Rome became the capital of a united Italy.
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1672-1803 Muratori, Alfieri and Genovesi ignite the fire of revolution. 1796 Milan is occupied by the French under French General Napoleon Bonaparte who founds the Cispadane Republic (including Modena, Bologna, and Ferrara). 1797 Pope submits to Bonaparte; Uprisings against French in Verona; French enter Venice; Cisalpine Republic established in Lombardy; Venice given to Austria. 1798 Roman Republic declared; Ferdinand IV enters Rome (later retaken by French); Abdication of Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy. 1799 French occupation of Naples; Milan taken by Russians; Austrians enter Turin; Naples capitulates to Bourbons. 1801 Napoleon occupies Milan; Kingdom of Etruria founded by Napoleon in Tuscany; Treaty of Florence between France and Naples. 1802 Cisalpine Republic called Italian Republic; France annexes Piedmont. 1805 Napoleon crowns himself King of Italy; Ligurian Republic annexed to France; also Parma and Piacenza. 1806 Venetia annexed to Kingdom of Italy; Joseph Bonaparte declared King of the Two Sicilies. 1808 Joachim Murat becomes King of Naples; Papal States partly annexed to Kingdom of Italy. 1809 Napoleon annexes Rome and Papal States to French empire. 1814 Napoleon defeated; banished to Elba. 1820 Revolt in Naples. 1821 Revolt in Piedmont. 1831 Revolution in the Papal States; King Charles Albert becomes King of Sardinia; "Young Italy" founded by Mazzini. 1845 Pius IX becomes Pope. 1848 Uprisings in Palermo; Constitutional edict in Naples; Constitutional monarchy proclaimed in Piedmont; Constitution granted in Rome, Republic proclaimed with Mazzini as head. Successful revolution in Milan; Venice proclaimed a Republic; Charles Albert [Piedmont and Sardinia] invades Lombardy; Tuscan forces invade Lombardy; Naples constitution denied; Union of Venetia and Piedmont declared, soon overthrown; Battle of Custozza, Charles Albert defeated. 1849 Charles Albert abdicates in favor of Victor Emmanuel II; Sicilian revolution crushed by Naples; Austrians take Florence; Venice surrenders to Austria. 1850 Cavour becomes Prime Minister in Sardinia-Piedmonte. 1852 Napoleon III becomes emperor of France. 1858 Meeting of Cavour and Napoleon III. 1859 War between Austria and Sardinia Piedmont; Austria defeated by Piemontese and French; Sardinia gains Lombardy. 1860 Tuscany and Emilia declare for union with Sardinia-Piedmonte; Revolution in Sicily, Garibaldi lands and is victorious; invades Italy and gains victory; enters Naples Piemontese army under Victor Emmanuel take over from Garibaldi; Marche and Umbria vote for annexation to Piedmonte. 1861 Sicily and Naples vote to join Kingdom of Italy; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed. 1866 Italy joins Prussia in War against Austria; gains Venetia; 1870 Italian troops occupy Rome when French abandon city; 1871 (July) Rome made Capital of Kingdom
Links: Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento
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Created: November 1996 |
Updated: 03/06/05 |
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