Major European Events from 1849 to 1878
Senior 6 · History
Major European Events from 1849 to 1878
Lesson 1 of 5
25 min
In 1849 there was no country called Italy. There was a peninsula divided into seven states, most of them ruled by foreign dynasties or by the Pope. The idea of a single Italian nation was kept alive above all by one exile, Giuseppe Mazzini. Read his words first.
"O, my brothers, love your Country! Our country is our Home, a house God has given us, placing therein a numerous family that loves us, and whom we love […]. In labouring for our own country on the right principle, we labour for Humanity. […] Before men can associate with the nations of which Humanity is composed, they must have a national existence. […] The true country is a community of free men and equals, bound together in fraternal concord to labour towards a common aim."
Giuseppe Mazzini, "Duties towards your Country" (1858), chapter V of The Duties of Man, anonymous English translation, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1892, pages 59 to 61.
Three ideas in this passage explain the whole Risorgimento. The nation is a family and a home, something natural rather than made by kings. Nationalism serves Humanity: for Mazzini, a free Italy would live in peace with other free nations. And the true nation is a community of "free men and equals", which means a republic, not a kingdom. That last idea put Mazzini at odds with the men who in the end made Italy.
Definition
Nationalism: the belief that people who share a language, culture and history form a nation, and that each nation should govern itself in its own state.
Risorgimento (Italian for "resurgence" or "revival"): the movement and the process by which the Italian states were united into one kingdom between about 1815 and 1871.
Unification: the joining of several separate states into one state under one government.
Piedmont-Sardinia (the Kingdom of Sardinia): the north-western Italian state, with its capital at Turin, ruled by the House of Savoy. It led the unification of Italy.
The unit begins in 1849 because that year ended the first attempt. In 1848 revolutions broke out across Italy. By 1849 all had failed: Austria defeated Piedmont at the Battle of Novara on 23 March 1849, and King Charles Albert abdicated in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel II. In Rome, Mazzini and Garibaldi defended a short-lived Roman Republic until French troops restored the Pope in July 1849. The lessons of failure shaped everything that followed: Italians alone could not defeat Austria, and the Pope would not lead a national war.
| State in 1849 | Ruled by |
|---|---|
| Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont, Savoy, Nice, Sardinia) | House of Savoy: Victor Emmanuel II; the only state to keep a constitution |
| Lombardy and Venetia | Austrian Empire, directly |
| Duchies of Parma and Modena; Grand Duchy of Tuscany | Rulers related to, or protected by, the Austrian Habsburgs |
| Papal States (Rome and central Italy) | Pope Pius IX, protected by French troops |
| Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Naples and Sicily) | Bourbon dynasty |
Read the diagram as a balance in 1849, heavily weighted towards failure. The Austrian chancellor Metternich had dismissed Italy as a "geographical expression", and in 1849 he seemed right. What tipped the balance in the next twelve years was not a change in Italian opinion alone but a change in international conditions: Piedmont found a powerful ally in France, and Austria lost its friends after the Crimean War.
Warning
Do not write the story backwards. In 1849 almost no one, not even Cavour, planned the kingdom of Italy that appeared in 1861. Cavour aimed first at a larger Kingdom of Northern Italy under Piedmont; the south joined because of Garibaldi's unplanned expedition. Examiners reward answers that show unification as the result of choices, chances and wars, not a fixed plan.
| Leader | Aims and methods | Main contribution | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giuseppe Mazzini (1805 to 1872) | A united, democratic republic, won by popular risings; founded Young Italy in 1831 | Spread the idea of one Italian nation; inspired a generation, including Garibaldi | Every rising he planned failed; he refused to accept the monarchy |
| Count Camillo di Cavour (1810 to 1861) | A stronger Piedmont through modernisation and diplomacy; Prime Minister from 1852 | Railways and reform; entered the Crimean War (1855); secret deal with Napoleon III at Plombières (1858); war of 1859; annexations of 1860 | Distrusted Garibaldi and Mazzini; gave Nice and Savoy to France; died on 6 June 1861 |
| Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807 to 1882) | A united Italy by volunteer warfare; a republican who accepted the king for the sake of unity | Expedition of the Thousand (1860): conquered Sicily and Naples and handed them to Victor Emmanuel at Teano on 26 October 1860 | Failed attempts on Rome in 1862 and 1867; his impatience alarmed the powers |
| King Victor Emmanuel II (1820 to 1878) | Expansion of the House of Savoy | Kept Piedmont's constitution after 1849; gave unification a respectable monarch acceptable to Europe; proclaimed King of Italy on 17 March 1861 | Relied on Cavour's policy; the new state was run as an enlarged Piedmont |
Tip
"Soul, brain and sword" is a starting point, not an answer. Older textbooks call Mazzini the soul, Cavour the brain and Garibaldi the sword of unification. Use the phrase, then complicate it: the "brain" did not plan the whole outcome, the "sword" nearly wrecked it in 1862, and the "soul" rejected the kingdom that was created. Add a fifth actor the phrase leaves out: Napoleon III of France.
Important
Discuss. Mazzini believed that a nation should free itself by the action of its own people. In the end Italy was united largely by a king, a prime minister, foreign armies and diplomacy. Does it matter how a nation is made? Think of what Italians gained and lost because unification came from above.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the analysis, the balance diagram, the tables, the definitions and the exercises.
