ITALIAN UNIFICATION FROM 1815-870

Background

The destiny of Italy was decided by 1815 Vienna congress, so therefore its unification would be a
violation to this settlement and a change of balance of power.The framers of this settlement were not
prepared to see such kind of development. Metternich referred Italy ‘as a mere geographical
expression’. meaning to say that it was not a country worth mentioning.The framers of the Vienna did
not want to disturb the balance of power by advocating the united Italy.His description seemed
appropriate with the following attributes of the state:

1.communication between different areas was not easy because of physical barriers such mountains
and rivers which were not navigable-north,central and south.

2.Patriotism of the people was focused on their city

3.There were custom barriers which hampered trade-thus the differences between north and south
were deep and real.

4.The Pope in the central Italy had been opposed to territorial consolidation under a common ruler-
thus Italian situation has less national aspirations.

5.Adminstrative unity was shattered by the terms of Vienna congress in 1815 and once again Italian
states had been reduced to a mere geographical expression-thus its boundaries had been drawn by
the congress of the powers and its unification was an international question as it would entail the
overthrow of the 1815 settlement.

6.Italy became a rockpit of Europe where foreign powers contented for mastery e.g Napoleon invaded
Naples and later on,Austria was given Lombardy and Venetia as compensation for her loss of
Austrian-Netherlands.

7.Some Italian states such as Parma,Modena,Tuscany were handed over to the Austrian princes.

8.Pope was restored and controlled all the states in central Italy

9.The Spanish Bourbon monarchy gained the two Sicilies-Naples and Sicily in the south

10.The Italian ruler of Piedmont was restored and gained Sardinia,Nice and Savoy but the last two
states were inhabited by the French. Thus, in the final analysis, Italy was mere a divided state into
north,central and south.The three zones needed to be united as one state.

From the above observation, the road to unification required leaders who were
practical,diplomatic,tactful in nature in their approach. From the three architects of Italian unification
(Count Cavour,Mazzini and Garibaldi), Cavour proved to have best qualities in handling this delicate
situation though the contributions of the other could not be ruled out.Austria was their common
enemy, thus expulsion of Austria from its territory was absolutely essential for the liberation and
unification of the country since Austria was a foreign state and would have no part in Italian
unity.Austria was given the mandate by the congress of Vienna to control the Italian
Peninsula.Metternich was determined to destroy the idea of Italy as a political expression and there
was little opposition to his views from other powers.The whole process of Italian unification needed a
radical change in attitude for Italians,its rulers and as well as non-Italians.

Factors that hindered the process of unification

1.Most Italians were found to be lacking political awareness and did not have the will to forge unity.

2.Italy did not have leaders worth mentioning but was extremely backwards in all respects.

3.All early liberal opinions and uprising were put down by Austria e.g Charcoal burners staged a revolt
against king Ferdinard of Naples but the success was temporary since Metternich intervened and
suppressed the uprising.

3.The rule of Pope became unpopular and did not support the idea of unification-0pposed all forms of
reforms and he protected French garrison in 1849.

4.The earliest movement directed towards achieving freedom from foreign rule was confined to a
small section-secret societies-charcoal burbers-the Carbonaris but very few Italians as yet thought in
terms of national unification.They encouraged people to revolt but were not yet ready for the cause.

5.Austrian presence was a major obstacle to Italian unity.

6.Different approaches to Italian unity was a problem e.g Mazzini was for a republican government,
Cavour wanted a monachial government (kingships) whilst the Pope wanted a federal state under his
Presidency-so they lacked common approach.

7.Italy was marked by physical barriers-is a mountainous areas-aspect of physiography.

8.Numerous customs barriers-hindered trade relations amongst Italian states.

9.Italy had many sovereign states e.g The Papal states in central Italy,The Bourbon states in
Southern Italy and Northern states were under monarchist government.

Lessons gained from early revolts

-the early failures in 1820s,1830s and 1848-9 Revolutions were not without lessons for others e.g
Mazzini and Cavour learnt something from these revolts.They realised that they had to change the
way to go about the issue of unity and freedom.It was clear that the defeat of Austria would ensure
Italian freedom and unification.They was need to have backing from the masses hence need for
mobilisation of the masses because the Charcoal burners failed because they did not have the
backing of the masses, possibly people were not ready for the cause.The other lesson was that the
Italia fara dese does not work since all early uprising by the Italians were suppressed by Austria.
THE Role of Cavour: his contribution by 1861

By 1861, the situation in Italy had greatly changed i.e much of Italy had been annexed to Sardinia-
Piedmont e.g Lombardy was surrendered to Piedmont after the defeat of Austria in 1858.

-the kingdom of Italy was declared in 1861, with Victor Emmanual 11 as king of Italy

-rulers of smaller states in Central and Southern Italy had been swept away and these states were
annexed to Piedmont

-Austrians had been destroyed from Northern Italy through French help, although they still entrenched
in Venetia but Lombardy was acquired by Cavour.However, the French garrison remained in Rome.
All these were due to Cavour’s role in solving the problems of 1848. The complete unification was
achieved by 1870 with the role of Bismarck who was pursuing his own interests in Germany e.g Autro-
Prussian war in 1866 at the battle of Sadowa-here was defeated and Venetia was taken by
Piedmont.This marked the end of Austrian influence in Italy.The Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 by
Bismarck finally unified Italy by defeating France which had influence in Rome,Nice and Savoy.Thus,
Cavour’s idea of foreign assistance was fulfilled by Bismarck by 1870-71.Though much credit can be
attributed to Mazzini and Garibaldi, Cavour had the ability to manipute events as they come to
Piedmont’s advantage as the rallying point for Italian unification.Therefore, the unification of Italy is
attributed to so many players e.g Mazzini ,Cavour,Garibaldi,Victor Emmanuel 11 and Bismarck who
was pursuing his own interests in Germany. Again, the unification of Italy was subject to both planning
and chances which were exploited by Cavour.

Cavour’s Approch

Derek Beales comments that the unification of Italy happened very quickly,owed much to good fortune
and was largely an affair of war and diplomacy....’ It was a result of risorgimento-national revival not
the sudden and accidental upshot of war and diplomacy.Cavour was not a revolutionary but was a
realist and believer of freedom,economic, military and political progressiveness.He was inspired by
the status of Britain.

-Cavour favoured an expanded Piedmont that who lead to a stronger northern Italy.Victor Emmanuel
and Cavour who were the leaders of Piedmont, saw success being achieved through foreign aid
because Piedmont was too weak to fight alone with strong common enemy Austria and did not wish to
raise revolutionary forces elsewhere.Cavour supported a united Italy at a later date and had the
misgivings about the wisdom of including the South and Rome.

-Intervention in the Crimean War of 1854-1856 was a significant step which he took to gain foreign aid
against Austria in 1858-1859.Cavour favoured an expansionist policy that would lead a stronger
northern Italy against a powerful Austria.Thus, Cavour’s internal reforms were quite instrumental in
making Piedmont to stand a chance against a strong Austria which proved to be a stubbling block to
Italian unification e.g he signed commercial treaties with Britain,France,Belgium,Netherlands,German
zollverein and also lowered tarrifs duties with other Italian states as way of promoting trade.Railway
construction was greatly improved to promote communication with other Italian states,France and
German states.Scientific farming was encouraged and Commerce and Industry were promoted thus
Piedmont’s exports greatly increased by 50%.There was also military reorganisation in order to meet
European standards-the army was well equipped and trained.As a result, Piedmont-Sardinia had
become unchallenged leader of Italy,most liberal and progressive state in the peninsula. The whole
process of Italian unification needed a strong state and leadership to champion the process. This
need was done by Cavour himself after identifying the weakness of the 1848 revolution in Italy.
Cavour learnt something from his predecessors and had the ability to manipute to his advantage.

Crimean War 1854-1856

Cavour believed that Itala fara dase or Italy will do it alone was not practical as evidenced by the
failure of revolutiories like Mazzini and Garibaldi.He believed in blood and iron and diplomacy through
use of Foreign aid.This foreign was not easy to get from either Britain or France since the destiny of
Italy was the product of Vienna settlement. It clearly demonstrates that the expulsion of Austria and
possible unification of Italy would entail re-adjustment of the balance of power and would become a
concern for European states. Cavour waited for his chances to come and his finest hour came when
the Crimean war broke where he joined on the side of Britain and France against Russia over Turkey.
The defeat of Russia resulted in a Peace treaty of Paris in 1856 where Cavour presented his issue to
Britain and France.Cavour never thought of a united Italy comprising the whole entire peninsula but
was probably thinking of a defined kingdom of Northern Italy.This was a diplomatic approach for
Cavour to gain friends in order to oust out Austria.Thus, Cavour’s plan was successful because she
got military support from France and moral support from Britain.

Napoleon 111’s motives was to upgrade French glory abroad by having some territorial gains from
Italy-Nice and Savoy as compensation for helping Cavour.Napoleon 111 did not want to see a united
Italy since such kind of move would violate the 1815 arrangement.To Cavour, sought much of
freedom rather than Italian unification.Thus, a territorial expansion of Piedmont in Northern Italy was
planned with the inclusion of states which were under Austria. Cavour was seeking nothing but
territorial expansion.Cavour’s aim was to use the Italian movement and the friendship of Napoleon
111 for the advantage of Sardinia.The idea of Italian unity was hypothetical, remote from immediate
reality-setting Piedmont at the head of national movement.National unity may have been a remote
ideal but later was forced by circumstances of events that led him to think of a united Italy but under
the leadership of Piedmont.Cavour was clearly in closer touch and in close sympathy with national
movement in Italy. As a result, Piedmont, became focus of national aspirations e.g many liberals had
a slogan ‘Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy’. Unification was distant objective and the immediate task was
the liberation of Italy from the Austrian yoke and set up of North Italian kingdom.

The role of Mazzini

-Mazzini and Garibaldi were advocating for the unification of all Italian states-central,northern and
southern.Mazzini did not reconcile to Cavours’s Italy.Mazzini(idealist-not practical) was a republican
whose ideas embraced all of Italy.He believed that Italy could free itself through revolution-‘Italia fara
dase’ –meaning Italy will go alone.This was not a practical approach considering the military strength
of Austria and again the initial phase of the call, most Italians were not yet prepared for the cause.He
is credited for raising the national feelings among the young Italians through his creation of the Young
Italy and Young Europe.He laid the foundation for the forthcoming nationalist leaders and these learnt
a lot from his mistakes.He was just an idealist not a practical man-wanted unity of all people thus he
sow the idea hence the father of Italian unification. Mazzini, being a revolutionary wanted to create a
republican state.The 1848 revolution failed because they were too parochial and
uncoordinated,lacked popular support and lack of realism among the revolutionaries.These revolts
hardly have produced significant results.The failure of these revolts had shown Mazzini’s ideas to be
unrealistic and the shortcomings of his leadership had been exposed.The slogan that ‘Italia fara dase
i.e Italy will do it alone’ was an illusion.This clearly proved that freedom could not be achieved without
foreign aid.

The role of Garibaldi and Southern Italy-His Contribution

Harsh despotism of Bourbons led to revolts of 1860 in Naples and Sicily but Gribaldi did not have
much interest in Italian unity.However ,he assisted them against despotism.Cavour took this chance
to send Piedmontese army and papal troops were defeated so they marched southwards to link up
with Garibaldi.Garibaldi handed over his cinquest to Victor Emmunuel 11 and the retired to his home
island.The southern part of Italy’s success was due to Garibaldi’s efforts but Cavour only manipulated
to his advantage.

The central states demanded union with Piedmont and these events put Sardinia to its advantage and
Napoleon 111 supported this since Nice and Savoy wanted union with France.The Pope Pius 1X
refused to become president of an Italian confederation and angered many,hence turned against him.
Garibaldi also participated in Cavour’s wars with Austria though being a revolutionary.