Subject: Italian Unification 1. List and briefly explain the obstacles to Italian unification.

Since the time of the Roman Empire, Italy had been disunited; as a result, there was not a country called Italy; instead, it only existed on the map as geographical expression. In addition to this, Italy, with the exception of Sardinia, was also under the foreign rule of one of the great powers of Europe - Austria. Because of division between the north of Italy and the south of Italy and failed attempts by Italian liberals to create an Italian state in the past, the Italian unification movement constantly faced a series of obstacles before completing the unification movement through policies and the element of luck. Most importantly, in addition to Italy being divided into eight states, Austria had played a major role in hindering Italian movements for unification. Austria was a multi-racial empire and in order to keep her country stable, Austria must suppress such movements calling for unification in the peninsula. Austria controlled Lombardy, Venetia, Parma, Modena, and Tuscany. Although the anti-Austrian Piedmont-Sardinia attempted to unite the other Italian states in a war of liberation against Austria, Austria was able to defeat Piedmont-Sardinia because of its military inferiority. Therefore, this event signaled the struggle of Italians to unify the country herself by military force. Consequently, Italy looked for an ally to combat the foreign rule of Austria. In addition to military inferiority, France, although an ally of Italy at the time after the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia entered the Crimean War on the side of France and Great Britain which helped earned Napoleon IIIs gratitude, also served as an obstacle. At first, France was interested in aiding the Sardinians because Austria was a traditional enemy of the French state and also Napoleon III looked for foreign military adventures in order to live up to his famous name. With the France as Italys ally, both combined forces were able to win a series of battles against the Austrians. At this time, it seemed as if Italy had luck on her side as it could almost see the unification movement slowly succeeding on the horizon. However, over the course of time, Napoleon decided to bring the conflict to a close because he was horrified by the high number of casualties from the conflict and the

fear that if the entire Italian peninsula was unified, it could be a threat to France. As a result, it led to Napoleons betrayal of the treaty with Piedmont and abortion of the war by signing a separate treaty with Austria, which stated that Piedmont would only be granted Lombardy. The third obstacle for Italian unification was the disunity present in the peninsula itself. Having different political views had made the unification movement more difficult. For instance, certain individuals, such as Mazzini and the Society of Young Italy, aimed to united Italy under a republic. While on the other hand, other Italians wanted to set up a constitutional government under the leadership of a monarch or a confederation of Italian states under the leadership of the pope. Therefore, disunity among the Italians made it hard to complete the unification. Soon, Italians came to a realization in which the only way to unify the country, they must solve their different political views and cooperate together as a whole than in divisions.

2. What role did each of the following have in the unification of Italy: a. Giuseppe Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini was known as the Soul of Italian Unification and saw the statebuilding in romanticized terms. Mazzini joined the secret nationalistic society of the Carbonari to oppose the monarch and founded Young Italy. At this time, Mazzini hoped that publicity and propaganda would create a revolutionary class; as a result, many of his writings argued that the overthrow of the Concert of Europe would lead to the founding of free, independent states based on linguistic and ethnic identity. As a result, many of Mazzinis efforts had a great impact upon the Italys movement for unification. For instance, he gave encouragement to Italian patriotism through his writings of the benefits of Italian unification, presented a new view of Italy, inspired Garibaldi to join the movement, helped to win international publicity for Italian freedom, and lastly, his actions put pressure on Cavour and others to act more positively. b. Count Carmillo di Cavour Count Carmillo di Cavour was, in fact, the true architect of Italian unification or the

Risorgimento as he supported Liberal ideas and urged unification of Italy in his

newspaper, Il Risorgimento. Cavour realized that creating an Italian state would require the expulsion of Austria from the Italian peninsula. Since the events in 1848 implied that succeeding in this expulsion would need the aid of some other European state, Cavour made a secret alliance with France by convincing Napoleon III of France to join the Piedmont-Sardinia in a joint attack on Austria. Cavour had already set the groundwork for this relationship by entering Piedmont-Sardinia in the Crimean War in order to gain the respect of both Great Britain and France. As a result of the war against Austrian rule, it helped inspire popular rebellions throughout the Italian peninsula

c. Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Garibaldi, at first, was a member of Mazzinis Young Italy movement. After Frances abolition of the treaty with Piedmont-Sardinia, Garibaldi threatened to attack France over the loss of what he considered as Italian territories (Savoy and Nice). However, instead, Garibaldi led his famous army of Red Shirts and conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which had been previously ruled by the incompetent and backward Bourbons. d. Vittorio Emmanuelo II (Victor Emmanuel II) Vittorio Emmanuelo II, the King of Piedmont-Sardinia, encouraged Italian unification by supported Garibaldis movement towards the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which resulted in success as this southern Italian kingdom fell. Subsequently, he met with Garibaldi in order to receive full control of southern Italy. With another series of plebiscites, it resulted in the proclamation of Vittorio Emmanuelo II as the first monarch of the unified Italy (without Rome). Soon, Emmanuelo took advantage of the Prussian victory over France in the FrancoPrussian War by capturing Rome after the French withdrew. He entered Rome and set up the new capital there.