The unification of Italy with Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italian: Risorgimento; resurrection or resurgence) has a truly inspiring story. On May 11, 1860, two steam ships carrying more than a thousand armed men entered the Port of Marsala in Sicily under the benevolent gaze of British warships. These men were volunteers from various regions of Italy, carrying outdated muskets and wearing red shirts; their leader was Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had gained fame for his fight for democratic revolution and the unity of Italy.
Who is Giuseppe Garibaldi? How Did He Unify Italy?
Most of Sicily, including Marsala (now a city in Sicily), was outside the control of the Kingdom of Naples Bourbon, which now existed only in name and was hated by the people. Rebellious peasants had scattered to rural areas in search of food and land, but they were not united and had no political orientation. However, Giuseppe Garibaldi could quickly fill this gap. His troops were in harmony with popular movements rebelling against established states in Italy. In Piedmont (Piemonte), King Victor Emmanuel II had managed to unite most of Northern Italy under a new liberal monarchy through wars and diplomacy. Pope Pius IX ruled Rome and the Papal States under the protection of a small French unit. A final and decisive move was still needed for the unification of Italy.
Unlike politicians, Giuseppe Garibaldi was a simple patriot, an uneducated soldier who shared all the hardships and dangers experienced by his men. His behavior and personality fascinated the Sicilians. They felt close to this saint-like person who rebelled on behalf of the oppressed, promising redistribution of lands and nationalization of church properties.
Giuseppe Garibaldi’s First Victory
Declaring himself dictator on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel II, Giuseppe Garibaldi faced a Neapolitan army twice the size of his own on May 15 at Calatafimi, north of Palermo. This army, positioned firmly on a terraced slope, was equipped with state-of-the-art rifles, unlike the antique muskets carried by Garibaldi’s forces.
Hours later, the battle was still inconclusive. Garibaldi’s lieutenant Bixio suggested retreating; but Garibaldi shouted in response: “We either create Italy, or we die!” Finally, with his 300 bravest men, he engaged in a fierce bayonet fight and repelled the Neapolitan troops.
The Fall of Palermo
After this victory, Giuseppe Garibaldi advanced towards Palermo, known as impregnable with a garrison of 20,000 men and artillery. Garibaldi’s superior strategic genius showed itself here. After trapping part of the enemy forces outside Palermo, he infiltrated his agents into the city. As planned, they incited the civilian population to revolt, allowing Garibaldi’s forces to enter the city. After 8 hours of fighting, they had captured most of the city. The garrison in the city retreated towards the royal palace and the cathedral and began mercilessly bombarding Palermo.
This was followed by intense street fighting. Most of Palermo was destroyed. Just as Giuseppe Garibaldi’s ammunition was about to run out and he was considering withdrawing from the city, a call for ceasefire came from General Lanza, the commander of the Palermo Garrison. Garibaldi met with Lanza’s envoys on the deck of the British warship Hannibal. The ship’s officers couldn’t hide their sympathy and admiration for him. After long negotiations, the Neapolitan forces surrendered on June 6.
News of this victory for freedom was met with excitement throughout Europe. However, only the British spoke in favor of what happened and wanted foreign powers to intervene in Italy. Concerned about Garibaldi’s victories and growing respect among the people, Victor Emmanuel asked him not to land on mainland Italy. Garibaldi either didn’t receive the message or chose to ignore it. Garibaldi’s army crossed to Calabria on August 19, and his advance forces were greeted as the people who liberated Italy. Garibaldi no longer felt the need to hide his passion for liberating Rome.
Giuseppe Garibaldi’s Democratic Republic Plan
In Turin, the capital of Piedmont, news of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s advance northward was met with concern by Prime Minister Count Camillo di Cavour. Garibaldi’s expedition frightened him because he was worried about securing his own position and that of Piedmont at the center of the unification movement. Cavour increasingly felt that events were slipping out of his control. Moreover, he disliked Garibaldi’s announced radical reform program, which included the idea of a democratic republic.
Meanwhile, these ideas led to a wave of rebellion that went as far as peasants killing landowners. Giuseppe Garibaldi refused to support these actions of the peasants; on the contrary, he sided with the landowners who provided food and worship for his army.
The Unification of Italy is Completed
Count Cavour had only one thing left to do. If he wanted to maintain Piedmont’s leadership position within the Italian Risorgimento movement, he had to act immediately. Cavour sent Piedmontese forces to the southern Papal States, thus potentially blocking Garibaldi’s advance to Rome. As the Piedmontese army easily passed through the Papal troops and advanced towards Naples without entering Rome, Garibaldi’s army was approaching the city from the south. Meanwhile, Cavour had convinced French Emperor Napoleon III not to intervene militarily.
Garibaldi, who reached Naples first, entered the city on September 7 to a noisy welcome. The Bourbon king of Naples, Francis II, had fled. Meanwhile, the Piedmontese army was approaching, and Giuseppe Garibaldi and King Victor Emmanuel II met on October 26 in Tiano, north of Naples. Garibaldi had to accept that he would not march to Rome and that liberation would not happen as he had envisioned. He accepted that while fighting for Piedmont, he should not plunge the country into civil war. He gave up all his duties and retreated to his farm on the desolate island of Caprera.
In February 1861, the first parliament of all Italy was established in Turin, and a month later proclaimed Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont, as the king of “United Italy”.
The New Italian State and the Risorgimento Movement
The new Italian state was formed with the Risorgimento, or Renaissance movement. In the upper part of the article, we gave many details about the unification of Italy. Now we will discuss the causes and consequences of this unification under main headings. The 1000-year division was followed by the unification of Italian states under the kingdom of Victor Emmanuel II. The last state to unite all of Italy under its sovereignty was the Ostrogothic Kingdom, which had replaced the Western Roman Empire from the 5th century AD. After this kingdom was destroyed by the Byzantine Empire, Northern Italy was conquered by the Lombards, and they were incorporated into the Empire of Charlemagne.
While Northern Italy passed to the Empire of Charlemagne (Carolingian Empire), in the Middle Ages, the popes had numerous small states in Central Italy, while prosperous city-states such as Venice, Florence, and Genoa increased their power. In the south, the Normans had conquered Sicily.
By the end of the 14th century, there were 5 major states in Italy that were quite different in terms of culture, economy, and state order: the Republics of Venice and Florence, the Duchy of Milan, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of Naples. Before 1800, except for a small number of intellectuals, national consciousness had not settled in Italy. The masses were ignorant, and the only thing they possessed was local traditions. For them, the concept of a united “Italy” was very distant and unimportant.
What is Risorgimento?
“Risorgimento”, meaning “Resurrection” or “Resurgence”, is the name given to a national revival movement in the 19th century that resulted in the unification of Italy. Its inspiration was the Roman Empire. The Italian Renaissance in the 15th century had aroused great admiration for Ancient Rome. Niccolò Machiavelli considered the Roman Republic to be the noblest state of all time and dreamed of reviving it. Eventually, the idea of a nation formed in Italy, and these thoughts were about fighting strongly against feudalism and Catholic bigotry under the name of political liberation.
Italian nationalism was primarily stimulated by Napoleon Bonaparte‘s conquests. As in other parts of Europe, this situation aroused anger against foreign occupation, as well as admiration for Napoleonic reforms (such as the beginning of public education and modern laws). After Napoleon’s fall, Italian patriots became increasingly reluctant to submit to the rule of the old regime. They strongly resisted the rule of Northern Italy by the reactionary and oppressive Austrian powerful chancellor Prince Metternich.
The first strong movement towards unification among educated Italians could only begin in the 1830s and 1840s. The leader of this movement was Giuseppe Mazzini, who advocated an independent and united republic to be achieved through uprising. Although police informants had disbanded the organization Mazzini founded and he had spent most of his life in exile, his goals aroused great sympathy in liberal Europe, and composers such as Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini supported him with their patriotic operas.
The First Revolutionary Uprisings in 1848
The expected uprising broke out in 1848, during the “year of revolutions” in Europe. Rebellions erupted in many Italian cities; within a short time, Austrian governors in northern cities had to leave; the rulers of Naples and Tuscany and the Pope were forced to issue liberal constitutions. In March, Austria’s military intervention was halted by the Piedmontese army. But the gains were short-lived. The hope of support from France was shattered with the suppression of the popular revolution in Paris in June and the massacre of citizens and workers.
An Austrian counter-operation under the command of Count Radetzky resulted in the defeat of the Piedmontese at Custozza and Novara and their request for peace. The old order was forcibly restored throughout Italy. Patriots fled abroad or underground. Ideals continued to live, but it became clear that a popular uprising alone would not be enough for the New Italian State.
The Rise of the Kingdom of Piedmont
After 1849, Piedmont was the only state that could maintain its constitution and remain independent from Austrian rule. The new King Victor Emmanuel II was an enthusiastic constitutionalist. His passion was also supported by Prime Minister Count Cavour, a very talented statesman who began to modernize Piedmont after 1852. Cavour built railways and roads, promoted trade and trade agreements. The Kingdom of Piedmont realized that Northern Italy could not be liberated from Austrian rule without the help of France and tried to achieve this.
It sent a force of 15,000 men to fight alongside England and France in the Crimean War, thus gaining the chance to participate in the 1856 Paris Congress and impress French Emperor Napoleon III.
The result was an agreement made in Plombieres in 1858. France and Piedmont would fight together against Austria in case of an invasion threat. Piedmont would take Lombardy and Venice from Austria and unite with Northern and Central Italy. In return, it would cede Nice and Savoy to France. A year later, the expected war broke out. In 1859, the Piedmontese and French armies defeated the Austrians at Magenta and Solferino respectively.
But Napoleon III soon made a separate peace treaty with Austria, and the country only gave up Lombardy. When Cavour learned this, he was surprised, but events had gone too far to remain faithful to the agreement. Napoleon’s betrayal received reactions from liberal circles in Europe. Cavour persuaded the wavering Emperor to reject the treaty with Austria. He realized that the nationalist momentum should not disappear as it did in 1849. The next move would be the secret departure of two steamships carrying Giuseppe Garibaldi’s “Thousand” from Quarto near Genoa in May 1860.
The New Italian State is Established After the Risorgimento
The unification of Italy took place after Cavour’s death in 1861. Italy first took Venice from Austria during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and then took Rome from the pope during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 when the French garrison left the region.
But the New Italian State was based not on the popular democracy that Giuseppe Garibaldi and Mazzini wanted, but on the narrow and conservative constitution of Piedmont. In this system, there was a monarchy, an appointed senate, and an elected legislative assembly. Only 2% of the population of 27 million could vote based on property ownership. By 1882, this rate had only risen to 7%.
The great cultural and economic gap between North and South did not close, but rather deepened for many reasons. Central taxation created anger in the poor South and led to civil war shortly after unification. In the New Italy, which superficially appeared to be a single country, a sense of regional loyalty came to the fore. Many people thought that a federal structure might be better. The rise of fascism in the 1920s would be blamed on the failure of the central unitary state.
What Did Giuseppe Garibaldi Do and Experience in South America?
Garibaldi lived in exile in South America from 1836 to 1848. The turbulent and revolutionary events that took place on the continent during this period had a profound effect on the course of Garibaldi’s career. Garibaldi served as a sea captain during the unfortunate attempt of the Republic of Rio Grande do Sul to secede from the Brazilian Empire. In reality, his actions were limited to plundering Brazilian ships.
Throughout a series of dangerous adventures both on land and at sea, he managed to elope with Anna Maria Ribeiro da Silva (also known as Anita), who was married at the time, and remained her comrade-in-arms until Anita’s death. Following a series of victories by Brazilian forces in 1839-1840, Garibaldi eventually chose to end his service in the Rio Grande army. Accompanied by his wife Anita and their sons, he embarked on a long journey to Montevideo.
Here, he tried to pursue a career as a traveling trader and educator, but struggled to adapt to a civilian lifestyle. In 1842, he took command of the Uruguayan navy during a war of independence against Argentina’s authoritarian ruler Juan Manuel de Rosas. The following year, Garibaldi took command of a newly established Italian Legion in Montevideo, Uruguay, while serving the country. This group of soldiers, known as the Red Shirts, became strongly associated with Garibaldi’s name. After his victory in a modest but brave conflict during the Battle of Sant’Antonio in 1846, his fame was recognized even in Europe. In Italy, an honor sword was presented to him, paid for by donations.
In 1847, he briefly took charge of the defense of Montevideo, catching the attention of Alexandre Dumas père, who later played an important role in spreading his fame. Garibaldi’s reputation as an honest and competent man was widely accepted by foreign observers. His encounters in South America provided him with important training in guerrilla warfare methods, which he later used as a great advantage against French and Austrian military forces.
These armies were not trained in how to effectively combat such tactics. These first victories for independence stamped him as a professional resistor, a tireless figure who spent the rest of his life in the gaucho clothes of the pampas, fighting for freedom with the same enthusiasm as in his youth.
