Introduction

The revolutions of 1848 ended in failure

1867 → Hungry achieved autonom

1871 → Italy and Germany finished unifying

realpolitik::the politics of reality

Countries to consider → Germany Russia, Italy, the Hapsburg empire

The Unification of Italy

Timeline

1815 → Italy consists of separate states

1820 → the Carbonari forced the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies into a parliamentary government with a constitution. Suppressed by Austria with the aid of Prussia and Russia

1831-1832 → Another insurrection by the Carbonari, this time in the Papal states, is supressed.

1831 → Mazzini founds Young Italy

1834 → Mazzini’s followers attempt and fail to invade Savoy

1937 → setbacks

1841 → more setbacks

1843-1844 → even more setbacks

1848 → Italian liberal-nationalism enjoys initial success. Sicily gains a constitution. Tuscany and Piedmont-Sardinia promise constitutions Austrians are driven out of Milan in Lombardy. Austrians evacuate Venice which is declared a republic. THe pope flees rome. But the revolution is crushed by Hapsburg Austria.

1855 → PIedmont joins England and France in the Crimean War against Russia. In the resulting peace conference, Count Cavour denounces Austria’s occupation of Italian lands.

1858 → Cavour and Napoleon III reach a secret agreement that maneuvers Austria into declaring war and appearing the aggressor. Piedmont gains merely Lombardy.

1860 → The kingdom of the Two Sicilies is liberated from its Bourbon ruler, the revolt is led by Garibaldi

1861 → Garibaldi turns over his conquests to Piedmont, whose ruler King VIctor of Emmanuel is declared king of Italy

1866 → Italy sides with Prussian in the conflict between Prussia and Austria and gains the territory of Venetia.

1870 → in the Franco-Prussian war France withdrew its garrisons from Rome and it falls to the Italians. Unity is achieved.

Forces for and Against Unity

in 1815, Italy consists of separate states: The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the south, ruled by a Bourbon King; the Papal States in the middle, governed by the pope; Lombardy and Venetia in the north, ruled by Austria; Tuscany, Parma, and Modena, ruled by Hapsburg princes under Austria; and Piedmont in the northwest and the island of Sardinia, ruled by an Italian dynasty, the House of Savoy.

Most Italians clung to the values of the Old Regime and rejected the values associated with the French Revolution and the Enlightenment.

During the wars of the French Revolution, France had occupied Italy and gave them constitutions, representative assemblies, a standard law system, improved trade, and better roads.

Many believed achieving national unity would halt the progress started by the French.

The intellectual elite awakened interest in Italy’s glorious past and appealed mainly to university students and the middle class.

Failed Revolutions

the Carbonari:: a secret society which kept alive the hopes for liberty and independence from foreign rule in the period after 1815.

in 1820 the Carbonari force the ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to grant a constitution and a parliamentary government. They are suppressed by Austria with the aid of Prussia and Russia, who also suppresses constitutional government in NAples and a revolution in Piedmont.

in 1831-1832 the Austrians suppress another insurrection by the Carbonari in the Papal States.

Giuseppe Mazzini