The Resorgimento of Italy?

1. The Resorgimento of Italy?

2. Unification - A Reluctant Nation? • “The Patriotism of the Italians is like that of the ancient Greeks, and is love of a single town, not of a country; it is the feeling of a tribe, not of a nation. Only by foreign conquest have they ever been united. Leave them to themselves and they split into fragments.”Luigi Blanch

3. Invaders Queue up & Divide the Peninsular amongst themselves • 80 City States in Medieval Italy • Consolidated into 10 Provinces during Renaissance - Machiavelli’s handbook • French Invasion of 1494 • Venice crushed • With help of jealous neighbours • Spanish Counter-invasion • Florence isolated • Medici help Spanish • The Borgias and the Papacy • Ottoman Turks and Greek Corsairs • Austrian Habsburgs

4. The Winds of Change blow a Gale • The French Revolution • Puppet Italian State • Centralised • Industrialisation • New Legal System • Decimalisation • Public Works • But - • Too Interventionist • Heavy handed • United many Italians with a common dislike of foreign ruler

5. 1815 - A Return to the Status Quo? • Congress of Vienna • Viennese Emperor returned to Lombardy • Bourbons return to Naples • Venice to Austria • Genoa to Piedmont • Austrian Grand Duke to Tuscany • National consciousness • French Revolutionary ideas • Expanding middle classes • Industrial Revolution • Revival of Trade • Secret Societies • North faster than South

6. 1848 - A Year for Revolutions • Civil Disturbances and fighting • Naples, Tuscans, Romans and Piedmontese over Milan • Sicilians invite Piedmontese King to replace Bourbons • Professional intelligentsia took part in uprisings • lawyers, students and artists • Garibaldi and Mazzini • The poor were uninterested • Infighting and intriguing • Landowners rallied to governing classes • 1849 old regimes all restored

7. Giuseppi Garibaldi (1807 - 1882)International Superstar • Young Italy Secret Society • 1833 Failed Insurrection • 1834 Exile to South America • 1848 returns to defend Roman Republic • pursued across peninsula by French, Neapolitan and Austrian troops • Works for reunification through Piedmont • 1859 command against Austrians

9. Count Camillo di Cavour • Piedmont – the Dynamo for Unification • French speaking area (Cavour had trouble speaking Italian) • Rome completely disinterested • House of Savoy • Cavour • Theoretical Liberal • Reforms, freedom of speech, new ideas • Practical Machiavellian • Allowed revolutionary insurrections so that his own liberal revolution appeared less threatening • Compared Piedmont to Prussia • Showing Italians how to govern themselves! • Province by Province (Salami Tactics) • Provoked Lombardy war with Austria in 1859

11. Cavour gives Garibaldi free reign • Traded Nice and Savoy to France • Bitterly resented by many in Piedmont • Given free reign to invade Italian States in return by Louis Napoleon (especially Bourbon States) • Garibaldi’s invasion of Sicily 1860 • Cavour ready to disown if necessary • Ready to endorse if successful • Race for control of Central Italy • Cavour afraid that Garibaldi won’t hand over newly won Sicily • Race for Naples (Garibaldi gets there first) • Cavour starts uprisings in Papal States • Asks Garibaldi to hand over Naples and Sicily to avoid a civil war • Anti-Clerical Garibaldi

13. Italy is born • Peninsular under Cavour’s control except • Venice – Austria • Rome – Papal Control (French Army) • Plebiscites to justify resorgimento • Constitutional Monarchy • 1848 Articles of Sardinia • King Vittorio Emanuele II • Power between King and Parliament left deliberately vague • King appointed Ministers and signed statutes • King could issue Proclamations • Appointed Senate - Conservative • Plebiscites undermined ‘Divine Rule’ • Cavour’s balancing act • Garibaldi’s Revolutionaries preferred Monarch to Pope • Catholics preferred Catholic King to heathen Garibaldi

14. Parliamentary Democracy? • 300,000 voters out of 22 Million • Widespread corruption and intimidation • Weak Party Politics • Coalition Governments • Alliances were all • If PMs plans failed – just change the plan and the coalition! • Parties owed allegiance to strong personalities rather than to ideology – However two loose groupings: • Conservative Liberal versus Radical-Democrat • Deregulation versus Radical Reforms • Radicals had instituted much of the nationalist unification feeling • Liberals consolidated and reflected most ‘Educated’ opinion

15. A Civil War or Counter-Revolution? • Garibaldi’s Radicals frustrated by Cavour’s Liberals, rigging of elections and treatment of redshirts • Garibaldi sets up rival government in Naples and Sicily • Southern mistrust of Northern Piedmontese • Exiled Bourbon leaders encourage insurrection • Degenerates into Brigandage • Piedmont use of Terror • Garibaldi injured and captured • Pardoned by King

16. Tidying Up • Cavour dies 1861 • Foreign policy becomes more timid • France more apprehensive of enlarged Italy • Venice still Austrian • Italy joins Prussia in its 1866 war against Austria • Battle of Custoza • Austrians defeated Italian army twice its size • Italian ironclads defeated by smaller Austrian Navy • However, Prussia defeated Austria • Italy gains Venice and Austrian lands as reward • Austria keeps Trentino

17. All Roads Lead To Rome? • Roman disinterest in Risorgimento • Papal Industry! • Garibaldi’s unsuccessful marches on Rome • 1862 & 1867 • Repelled by French Army • French troops guard Rome and the Pope • Withdrawn to fight Franco-Prussian War • Rome wide open • Pope furious – Loss of Papal Authority • Diplomatic Immunity • Freedom of Communication • Stipend • Church boycotts Italian Politics • Tries to prohibit Catholics from political activity We’ll get a Rope! And Hang the Pope! So up with Garibaldi!

18. Prime-Ministers of Italy

19. Papal Hostility to the Republic • Radicalism and Liberalism regarded as un-Christian • Pope condemns Liberalism in 1864 • ‘Syllabus of Errors’ • Liberal Italy gets revenge by dissolving 25,000 orders and non-sanctioning of religious marriage ceremonies • 1870 Annexation of Rome • New Italy worried about ‘Rescuing of Pope’ • Law of Guarantees offered • Diplomatic immunity • No taxation • Freedom of communication • Pope refuses to agree • Good Catholics should avoid ‘legitimising’ the new regime • Impasse until 1890s when Socialism regarded as bigger threat to Christianity Pope Pius IX

20. Parliamentary Dominance of Fractious Liberals • Tiny electorate • About 500 voters per constituency • Working class removed from political life • Franchise • Property + Literacy + Male + >25 • Aristocracy removed from political life • Catholic embargo • Party Bosses • Personality based • Fluid loyalties • Corrupt • Giolitti Blackmail dossiers • Fragile Alliances • 29 governments between 1870 and 1911 • However, often same personnel shift between governments

21. Degrees of Liberalism Conservative Liberals More Laissez-Faire Free Trade Balance Budget Strong armed forces Left Liberals Extend Franchise State Education More anti-clerical Public Works through government expenditure Centrists

22. 1870 – 1876Imposing Public Order • Conservative Liberal Period of Dominance • Public Order • The South ‘Pacified’ • Low Government Expenditure • Pay off Unification debts • Balanced Budget 1876 • Minghetti Government falls 1876 • Mistakenly arrested influential individuals for plotting to overthrow government

23. Depretis and Transformism • Traditionally regarded as Left Liberal • Transformismo Policy • “I hope my words will help bring about the fertile transformation of parties, and the unification of all shades of Liberal in Parliament” • Prepared to accept political opponents in government • Cynical way to neutralise political opponents or • Protecting Liberal Italy from • Radical Left (socialists) • Conservative Right (Catholics) • Colonial Adventures • Treaty of Berlin snub • Abyssinia • Dogali Disaster

24. First Parliamentary Dictatorship:Francesco Crispi 1819 - 1901 • Revolutionary Radical Sicilian • Fiery sounding Agenda but matures politically – • Supports Monarchy • Imperial Expansion • Bismarck Model • Theoretical Left Liberal, Authoritarian in Practice • Lots of Liberal, Progressive Reforms • Public Health Act, Penal Code, Regional Self Government • Used decrees, bullying, martial law • Scandals and Corruption • Vain • Triple Alliance • Austria and Germany

25. Left Liberal Crispi versus the new Socialists • Crispi’s reforms would seem to appeal to Socialists • Agricultural depression • High prices • Peasants forced off land and into cities • Breeding ground for new socialist ideas • Food riots in South • Dealing with Socialist threat • sends in army • Military courts

26. Power Corrupts? Crispi: • “We Italians are authoritarian to the very marrow of our bones, and by tradition, habit and education we have become conditioned either to command too much or to obey too much. We may learn from books and from foreigners that liberty is something to be desired for its own sake, but we never, absolutely never, feel that is true deep down in our hearts!"

27. Live by the Nationalist SwordDie by the Nationalist Sword • Rise of Nationalism • Scramble for Colonies • Battle of Adowa, 1896 • Political tampering • Corruption • Unprepared and Inefficient Armed Forces • Outnumbered • Nationalists humbled • Confidence of Liberal movement dented • Fall of Crispi

28. Giovanni GiolittiExpanding Liberalism? • Ruthless Opportunist or the Real Transformismo • Works with any party • Steals many Socialist ideas • Old Age Pensions • Health Insurance • Public Holidays • Women and Children regulated in workforce • Franchise extended all males >30 • Socialists neutralised – brought into government • Unprincipled tactics • Parliament loses even more respect • Papal edict revoked in 1905 • Catholics re-engaging with Liberal Italy

29. Italian Colonial Ambitions bring down another government! • Tripolitania • Only real estate left in North Africa • Ottoman • Invasion successful • 3 weeks • Occupation Difficult • Guerilla War breaks out • Expensive • Deters Italian Settlement • Alienated anti-war Socialists • Withdraw support

30. 1913 General Election • Newly enfranchised masses • Liberals win 318 out of 511 seats • Seemingly Victorious • Secret Electoral Deal • Giolitti and Catholics • Liberals would not support divorce • Support Religious schools and reopening orders • Anti-Clerical Liberals livid • Transformismo dead • Giolitti resigned expecting to make a new coalition • Out of power for next six years • Professor Antonio Salandra outmanoeuvres wily Giolitti

31. Drift to War • Crispi’s Triple Alliance pledges • Italians suspicious of Austria • Preferred British and French institutions • Military drained by Libyan Adventure • Budget drained too • Neutrality • Worried by Central powers victory • Revenge • Conservative Salandra keen to cash in on Patriotic fervour • Giolitti argues for continued neutrality • The Highest bidder • Deal with Central Powers and Allies at the same time • Secret Treaty of London • Secret from everyone – even parliament • Pillaging the old Austro-Hungarian Empire to tempting to resist