Italian Unification: A 19th-Century Transformation
**1. Birth of Unity Consciousness**
In 1815, Italy was a geographical entity, not a political unit. It comprised the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Lombardo-Venetia (under Austrian authority), the Duchies of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Italy began to revive its classical roots, those of ancient Rome, especially through painting, sculpture, novels, and drama. Liberals, lacking a means of opposition to Austrian governments, met in secret societies, which spread throughout Italy among the bourgeoisie and veteran soldiers of Napoleon.
A cultural movement, Il Risorgimento, emerged among intellectuals and became conducive to Italian unity. Intellectuals such as Giuseppe Giusti, Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi, Cesare Cantù, Luigi Carlo Farini, and Carlo Troya, alongside idealists and men of action like Mazzini, Garibaldi, and La Farina, followed the path of armed rebellion and revolution to achieve the unification of the peninsula. Revolutionaries rallied to Mazzini, who championed collaboration between people and believed in the unity of mankind. He thought society would improve if guided by a common idea, a belief instilled with the will to sacrifice. Mazzini saw two major obstacles: the Vatican and the Austrian Empire. According to Mazzini, the Church hampered social and political progress, and the Austrian Empire represented the denial of the national principle.
Mazzini founded two movements: Young Italy (in Marseille in 1832) and Young Europe (in Bern in 1834). He claimed the right of all Italians to unite under one government emanating from popular sovereignty, with the same laws, rights, and duties for all, within a European framework based on national criteria and with liberal and progressive political systems.
In Italy, two schools of thought existed: Neoguelphism, which sought to reconcile Catholicism and freedom, proposing the Pope’s coronation as temporal lord of a future united Italy; and the other, led by Cesare Balbo and Massimo d’Azeglio, which emphasized independence over unity, assigning the House of Savoy the mission of expelling the Austrians and leading the unification movement.
**2. Unifying Project**
In late 1847, the idea of revolution began to manifest in Italy. The uprising started in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, where Ferdinand II resisted any change. The population of Palermo took up arms in 1848, forcing the king to promise a constitution. This uprising extended the revolution throughout Italy: in March, Tuscany, Piedmont-Sardinia, and the Papal States underwent constitutional reforms.
The fall of Metternich in Vienna led to riots in Venice and Milan. In Modena and Parma, rulers were deposed, and liberal and national ideas continued to spread. Carlos Alberto of Savoy declared war on the Empire, aiming to annex Lombardy, Venice, Parma, and Modena to begin unification. He tried to exploit the Empire’s crisis following the French Revolution of 1848, which had spread throughout its territory, especially in the German states and Hungary. However, Piedmont was defeated at the Battle of Custozza (July 25, 1848) and signed an armistice, returning conquered territories. The following year, Piedmont was again defeated at Novara (March 23, 1849), abandoning the unifying project and forcing Tuscany to surrender. That year, Venice, which had proclaimed a Republic, fell in August, and in Naples, Ferdinand II regained power, retaking Sicily.
In Rome, Pope Pius IX was seen as the real leader to complete Italian unification. His government’s actions reinforced this reputation: reforming the administration, granting greater press freedom, introducing gas-lit streets, approving railway construction, and issuing an amnesty decree on July 17, 1846. Metternich, fearing these actions, ordered the occupation of Ferrara in the summer of 1847. In February 1848, Pius IX concluded a speech asking for divine protection for Italy. Italian patriots saw these words as support for war with Austria, but Pius IX did not take sides, as both were Catholic armies. For Mazzini and the Neoguelphs, this position, based on religious obligations, made it difficult to attend to Italy’s sovereignty. Mazzini then became a strong critic of Pius IX in Rome, calling him a traitor.
In November 1848, a revolt broke out in Rome following the assassination of Pellegrino Rossi, head of government. Revolutionaries besieged the Quirinal, and the Pope escaped to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A provisional government, the Constituent Assembly, was formed to draft a new constitution. The Roman Republic was proclaimed, ruled by a triumvirate of Mazzini, Armellini, and Saffi. In April 1849, a Franco-Spanish army landed in Civitavecchia, defeated the Roman army, and restored the Pope to power, with Napoleon Bonaparte’s support. The Republic of Rome was the last gasp of the 1848 dream in Italy, but nationalist groups regrouped and reorganized to make the revolution that would unify Italy.
**3. The Role of Cavour (1849-1859)**
The failure of Neoguelphs to establish Pope Pius IX in power and of Mazzini’s supporters after the 1848 revolution led the House of Savoy to remain the only force capable of uniting and leading the Italian nationalist movement. Charles Albert’s abdication after the defeat at Novara brought his son Victor Emmanuel II to the throne.
In the early years of his reign, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, served as Minister for Agriculture and Trade and formed his first government in November 1852. He quickly established reforms, including new ecclesiastical legislation, and modernized Piedmont with economic and industrial measures commensurate with the Industrial Revolution, leading the House of Savoy to see itself capable of both political and economic unification. Cavour was anti-Austrian but aware of international politics, so he brought the Savoy monarchy closer to the partisan forces of unification scattered throughout Italy, especially Lombardo-Venetian nationalists. In 1856, he established the Società Nazionale, uniting all Italian revolutionaries: Republicans, Tuscan liberals, Neapolitan and Sicilian exiles, and figures like La Farina and Garibaldi. Thus, the nationalist cause spread throughout Italy, with the House of Savoy at the head of the project.
Cavour understood that the Italian cause needed international backing to make its claims to European powers. After the Crimean War (1853-1856), in which the Piedmontese army participated, Piedmont was able to present the Italians’ claims to form a single nation at the peace negotiations in Paris. Piedmont found a defender in Napoleon III, eager to break the Congress of Vienna system and become a first-rate power, seeing in the Italian cause an opportunity to carry out his objectives. In February 1858, Napoleon III sent word to Victor Emmanuel II that France would intervene in favor of Piedmont in the event of war against Austria. This promise was confirmed at the Conference of Plombières (July 21, 1858) between Napoleon III and Cavour. However, the need to please French Catholics led Napoleon III to establish a model of Italian unity that clashed with Cavour’s aspirations. The conference established common patterns of action and objectives.
Napoleon III wanted an Italian federation of four kingdoms headed by the Pope: Northern Italy (Piedmont, Lombardy, and Veneto), Central Italy (Tuscany, Parma, and Modena), the Papal States, and the Two Sicilies. In return, France would get Savoy and Nice, and Italy could become a satellite state of France. Thus, an alliance was signed between France and Savoy.
Cavour reorganized the Piedmontese army, creating a new military unit, the Hunters of the Alps, led by Garibaldi. Savoy would unite all revolutionary forces in the war against Austria.
**4. The Unifying Process**
First Phase: Incorporation of Lombardy and Central Duchies (1859-1860)
On April 23, 1859, Austria declared war on Piedmont due to its intentions to expel the Austrians from Italy. The initial stages of the war favored the Piedmontese army, which achieved victories at Magenta and Solferino. However, Napoleon III broke the alliance with Piedmont, fearing the loss of support from French Catholics. The Peace of Villafranca was signed between France, Piedmont, and Austria, behind Cavour’s back, ceding Lombardy to France, which then gave it to Piedmont. In return, the deposed dukes were restored to their thrones, and the Pope recovered temporal power over his state. Following Victor Emmanuel II’s political actions, Cavour resigned.
Insurrections in the central duchies were led by Garibaldi, who decided to join Piedmont after a plebiscite in Parma, Tuscany, Modena, and Lucca, agreeing to Victor Emmanuel II as king. Cavour returned to office and got Napoleon III to accept the new situation in Italy in exchange for Nice and Savoy, as established in the Treaty of Turin (1860).
Second Phase: Annexation of Southern Italy (1860)
Garibaldi formed the Action Party, known as the Red Shirts, and intervened in Piedmont, defying Victor Emmanuel II, intending to occupy Nice quickly to prevent the plebiscite on its incorporation into France. However, he decided to go to Sicily under the pretext of an anti-dynastic revolt on the island. Sicily asked for help from Piedmont, which refused. Garibaldi took the island and proclaimed himself dictator on behalf of Victor Emmanuel II. He defeated the Neapolitans in Calabria and Sicily, also becoming Dictator of Naples. For Cavour, the solution was to take Naples and remove Garibaldi, who was accumulating too much power, but this required passing through the Papal States, risking civil war.
A rebellion in the Papal States allowed the passage of Victor Emmanuel II’s army and union with Garibaldi, who delivered the conquered territories to the king. Plebiscites ratified the accession of the Two Sicilies, Umbria, and Marche to the Kingdom of Piedmont.
In the House established after the 1859 general election, the birth of the Kingdom of Italy and King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy was proclaimed (1861).
Third Phase: Incorporation of Veneto (1866)
The Italian government allied with Prussia in the Seven Weeks’ War between Austria and Prussia. Austria defeated the Italians at Custozza, and Victor Emmanuel II’s fleet was destroyed at Lissa. France’s defeat against Austria at Sedan led to the Peace of Prague, where Emperor Franz Joseph ceded Veneto to France, which, after a plebiscite, gave it to Italy. Victor Emmanuel II had to give up the only achievement made in the war, Tyrol. Despite obtaining Veneto and recognition of the Kingdom of Italy, the war was considered a failure due to its excessive cost and the crisis of confidence in the Italian army and the king.
Fourth Phase: Occupation of the Papal States (1870)
The total occupation of the Papal States was caused by Garibaldi’s insistence on conquering Rome. After the Seven Weeks’ War, Garibaldi continued his intention to occupy Rome. In response, the French aided the Pope, winning at the Battle of Mentana in 1867 against Garibaldi, who was arrested and exiled to Caprera by the Piedmontese, although he later returned to the political scene of a now-unified Italy.
In 1870, Napoleon III capitulated at Sedan after the Franco-Prussian War and withdrew his troops from Rome. Victor Emmanuel II entered Rome. A few months later, a law (March 1871) regulated relations between the Pope and the Kingdom of Italy, confining future popes to the Vatican. A plebiscite ratified Lazio’s annexation to Italy. On August 1, 1871, Rome became the capital of unified Italy. Trentino, Tyrol, and Trieste remained outside the new national state.