1 Ch. 25: Nationalism in Europe Sec. 1: The Unification of Italy

2 Liberals & Nationalists in Italy  Early 1800s many thinkers & writers tried to revive interest in Italy’s traditions; the nationalist movement was known as risorgimento (resurgence)  goals were liberation & unification

3  One such group was the Carbonari & the most famous was Giuseppe Mazzini  called for all Italian patriots to join his Young Italy movement  dedicated to spreading the ideas of the risorgimento  Mazzini felt Italy should be ruled by a republic & not a king or pope

4  In 1848 liberals & nationals led revolts in several Italian states but the revolts failed  Conservative nationalists wanted a federation of Italian states ruled by the pope  Other Italians wanted a constitutional monarchy under King Victor Emmanuel II, didn’t support liberals

5 Sardinia, France, & Austria  His chief minister, Camillo Benso di Cavour was a republican, patriot, & supported the goals of the liberals Cavour actually governed the kingdom of Sardinia not the King Cavour reorganized & strengthened the Sardinian army He helped to establish banks, factories, railroads & improved trade w/ other countries

6  Cavour tried to reduce the political influence of the church  Cavour proposed an alliance of France & Sardinia against Austria bcuz he saw Austria as the biggest barrier to Italian unification  Napoleon III agreed bcuz he figured w/ Austria out of the way, France could dominate the Italian states

7  1859 Cavour began military preparations for war & Austria declared war  The French & Sardinian forces had some success  Napoleon feared that Prussia would help the Austrians so he signed an armistice w/ Austria  Sardinia received Lombardi, but Austria kept Venitia & some Austrian rulers were put back in power  Napoleon received Nice & Savoy  But the Italian people held rebellions & voted to join the kingdom of Sardinia

8 Garibaldi & the Thousand  The southern half of Italy was called the kingdom of the Two Sicilies  Nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi was devoted to Italian freedom  Spring 1860 Garibaldi & his 1,000 soldiers invaded & captured Sicily  Garibaldi became a hero

9  Garibaldi wanted to capture Rome but Covour didn’t want Garibaldi to displace King Emmanuel so he sent an army to stop Garibaldi  Garibaldi & Emmanuel met in Naples & Garibaldi agreed to support the King if the king let him serve as the gov. of Naples  the king refused

10 Unification & its Problems  1860 Italians held plebiscites voting to unite  1861 Victor Emmanuel II as king of Italy  1870 Rome became capital of Italy  Still there were problems: country remained divided by cultural traditions, tensions between industrialized north & agricultural south