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The Risorgimento

The Risorgimento. Creating an Italian Nation-State. Eric Beckman, Anoka HS (MN) Most material adapted from John Merriman, A History of Modern Europe from the Renaissance to the Present , 1997. Political Unification of the Italian Peninsula, 1859-1870.

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The Risorgimento

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  1. The Risorgimento Creating an Italian Nation-State Eric Beckman, Anoka HS (MN) Most material adapted from John Merriman, A History of Modern Europe from the Renaissance to the Present, 1997.

  2. Political Unification of the Italian Peninsula, 1859-1870 • The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, a modern state, manipulated great power politics, nationalist sentiments, and popular insurrections to politically unite the Italian peninsula by creating the nation-state of Italy.

  3. Barriers to Italian Unification:Italy, “a mere geographic expression.” • Regional differences • Cultural • Economic • Political • Great power politics • Papacy • Political ideologies

  4. Forces Pushing for Unification • Common cultural elements • Nationalism • Ascendance of Piedmont-Sardinia • Great power politics King Victor-Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia, and later of Italy

  5. Common cultural elements • Catholicism • Written Italian St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome

  6. Nationalism • Revolutionary tradition: Carbonari • Liberals and Republicans • Mazzini • Garibaldi • Resentment of great power interference Guissepe Mazzini, founder of Giovine Italia (Young Italy)

  7. Nationalism: Politics “The history of every age proves that no people can attain a high degree of intelligence and morality unless its feeling of nationality is strongly developed. This noteworthy fact is an inevitable consequence of the laws that rule human nature. . . Therefore, if we so ardently desire the emancipation of Italy--if we declare that in the face of this great question all the petty questions that divide us must be silenced--it is not only that we may see our country glorious and powerful but that above all we may elevate her in intelligence and moral development up to the plane of the most civilized nations. . . Nationalism has become general; it grows daily; and it has already grown strong enough to keep all parts of Italy united despite the differences that distinguish them.” -The Program of Count di Cavour, 1846 Future Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia

  8. Nationalism • Romantic Theater: William Tell “This art of music which is based solely on sentiment and ideals cannot escape the influence of the times we live in, and the sentiment and the ideals of the present day are wholly concerned with steam, rapine, and barricades.” -Rossini

  9. The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia • Modern state • Constitutional monarchy • Efficient bureaucracy • Economically successful • Able political leadership, Cavour Count Camillo di CavourPrime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia

  10. Piedmont-Sardinia Played Great Power Politics • Crimean War • Alliance with France • Commercial treaty • Diplomatic marriage • Mutual defense treaty • French interest • Commerce • Nice and Savoy • Rome Napoleon III Emperor of France

  11. Isolated Austria • Piedmont-Sardinia provoked war with Austria • P-S Isolated Austria • French support for P-S • Austria defeated • Battles in northern Italy • France limits support • P-S gains Lombardy Francis Joseph Emperor of Austria

  12. Francis Joseph eventually adopted the appropriate facial hair for an old school monarch of his generation

  13. Annexations enlarged Piedmont-sardinia • Cavour encouraged revolutions • Successful: Romagna, Tuscany, Modena, and Parma • Annexed by P-S, approved by plebiscites • Unsuccessful: Rome • P-S treaty with France • F: recognized annexations • P-S: ceded Nice and Savoy

  14. Giuseppe Garibaldi Led Insurrections in the South • Garibaldi • Nationalist and Republican • Mutual distrust with Cavour • Commanded volunteer army: Red Shirts • Joined rebellions in Sicily (against milling taxes and bread prices) and Naples (led by urban workers) Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1860

  15. Garibaldi’s Move South “The General has ridden through the city on horseback. When the population sees him, they take fire. There is a magic in his look and in his name. It is only Garibaldi they want.” –a soldier

  16. The Enlarged Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia Added the Mezzogiorno • Garibaldi’s forces and local rebellions unseated the King of the Two Sicilies • P-S troops marched to Rome • Pope opposed unification • Garibaldi & Victor-Emmanuel • Victor-Emmanuel II: First King of Italy “Free, and nearly entirely united, the opinion of civilized nations is favorable to us; the just and liberal principles, now prevailing in the councils of Europe, are favorable to us. Italy herself, too, will become a guarantee of order and peace, and will once more be an efficacious instrument of universal civilization. . . .These facts have inspired the nation with great confidence in its own destinies. I take pleasure in manifesting to the first Parliament of Italy the joy I feel in my heart as king and soldier.” Victor Emmanuel, 1861

  17. Garibaldi’s Legacy Memorial in Washington Square, New York City Garabaldi on Horseback, 1900, Via dell' Independenza, Bologna Garibaldi Memorial in Taganrog, Russia Sculpture by Erminio Blotta, Argentina

  18. Additions to Italy • 1866- Prussia defeated Austria, Italy gained Venetia • 1870- Prussia defeated France, Italy gained Rome • Italia Irredenta-Nationalists agitate to add “unredeemed” lands to Italy

  19. The New State • “We have made Italy; now we must make Italians.” • Constitutional monarchy, limited male franchise • Number of male voters grew: 1871 (600,000), 1882 (2 million), 1912 (4 million) • National identity limited by illiteracy • 70% in 1871, 50% in 1900

  20. Continued Divisions • Weak sense of national identity. • “What is Italy?” • North vs. South • Increasing prosperity gap: landowners vs. rural proletariat • Migration • Social unrest • Political diversity

  21. Resistance to the State • Rebellions in South • Impoverished, unemployed, landless • Sympathy for bandits • Local sources of authority in the South • Organized crime • Notables • Repression of crime and rebellion in the south killed more people than all of the wars of the risorgimento • Anarchism • Opposition to the state • Assassination of King Umberto I (1900)

  22. A Nationalist State • Desire for national greatness through colonialism • Conquest of Eritrea (1889), Somalia (1890) and Libya (1911) • Failed attempt to conquer Ethiopia-1896 • Initially neutral, irredentism motivated Italian leaders to join WWI • Post-WWI fascism

  23. Conclusions • Between 1859 and 1870, Piedmont-Sardinia took the lead in forging an Italian nation-state • War, foreign intervention, nationalism, and popular insurrections all contributed to replacing eight political units with one Kingdom of Italy • The new state sought to extend its powers at home and abroad

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