"Cavour United Italy Not Because He Wanted to or Intended to, but Because Circumpstances Forced Him to". to What Extent Do You Agree?

In a letter to an Italian friend, Napoleon wrote, “I do not wish to see Italy united. I want only independence. Unity would bring danger to me…” (Doc 11). Despite all of the bitter resentment, Cavour was pleasantly surprised when the northern and central states of Italy called for a fusion, and he returned to power in 1860 (McKay et al

Therefore, they strategically persuaded European powers to fight against Austria…Italy provoked Austria into war Cavour then used Garibaldi’s popular appeal to his benefit. “When Garibaldi and Emmanuel rode through Naples to cheering crowds, they symbolically sealed the union of north and south, of monarch and people.” (McKay, 837) Italy was now unified.

After the Congress of Vienna Italy consisted of six separate states. Controversy over whether or not Italy should be unified stirred up during the mid to late 1800’s. The unification of the Italian states was an ongoing debate for quite some time. During the years of the debates people found the unification to be positive change, a negative change, and some had different opinions for their own certain reasons.

3. In the mid-nineteenth century, Italy wasn’t unified. Italy was made up of independent states that nationalist wanted unified, but failed. Mazzini was “the most important nationalist leader in Europe and brought new fervor to the cause” (690). Mazzini desperately wanted Italy to be united and it finally was and became the Italian Republic. In 1860, the country shaped boot became a nation-state. After the war with Austria, “the forces of romantic republican nationalism compelled Cavour to pursue the complete unification of northern and southern Italy” (691).

Gioberti suggests that the unification would remove civil disputes, such as wars and revolutions, that occurred within Italy as well as create such a strong Italy that no foreign forces could penetrate it. This was important at the time, while many foreign forces, such as Prussia and Austria, had invaded Italy. It was also important that Italy unify in order to prevent revolutions, for Italy had had multiple revolutions prior to this time period. Though some would disagree with these benefits, Marquis Massimo d’ Azeglio, a politician from Piedmont, had said “... ask any Italian, north or south, whether or not it is useful for Italy to free itself from foreign domination and influence, and no one, thank God, will reply other than in the affirmative.” (Document 6) Azeglio says that, though not everyone agrees with Unification, everyone would agree that it is better for Italy to free itself from foreign domination. This could possibly be done through Italian unification and the impossibility of foreign invaders, which was mentioned by Gioberti. Many people believed in the Italian unification for its abilities to create strength, remove civil problems, and prevent foreign domination and

When traveling in Italy, one would hardly guess the fragmentation that Italy had been previously associated with not 150 years prior. What were specific events that could have shifted Italian Identity that led to the unification of Italy in 1870? General Population: For or Against Unification of

1815 after the fall of Napoleon, the concert of Concert of Europe and the Congress of Vienna the conservative forces of Europe restored Italy back to its pre-napoleonic ways to make French invasion harder and to stop Italy's liberalist and nationalist movements. Austria was given direct control over Lombardy and Venetia and controlling some northern states indirectly. Many of these restored governments tried to stop the Italian unification. Ferdinand I ruled Naples and Sicily suppressing freedom of speech. In the Papal States used inquisition and torture to stop nationalism and liberalism.In 1820 a revolution in Spain triggered a revolt in Naples. Ferdinand I agreed to grant a series of laws but Metternich worried about the success of the

Before the organization of Italy as a country, it was broken into city-states one of which Machiavelli called home. He was a Florentine and was deeply concerned with how the political governments of Italy worked because the city-states were almost constantly at war with each another. Machiavelli wrote The Prince when the Republic of Florence fell and was replaced by an autocrat

During the Congress of Vienna the combined powers redrew the map of Europe, undoing many of the changes caused by the Napoleonic wars, and reinstated old rulers to their thrones. Prussia was to receive territories on the left bank on the Rhine River as a way to discourage any future French rebellion or aggression. Austria was given Lombardy and Venetia, as well as other small nationalities, in an attempt to keep the states within Italy from starting a rebellion. The kingdom of Poland was created, but was essentially made part of the Russian empire, with Czar Alexander occupying the throne. The French monarchy, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and Metternich’s Austrian monarchy “utilized the bureaucratized state apparatus inherited from Napoleon to repress liberals”. The redrawing of European territories was done without consideration for the peoples living within , thus feeding the already growing agitation of the people, and promoted the call for unification along nationalistic lines.

The Carbonari, in 1820, participated in a revolt in Naples against King Ferdinand’s government where the peasants and even the royal troops took part. Terrified of the revolting people, King Ferdinand vowed to give all adult males the vote through a constitution. However, he had no intention of doing this and did not grant adult men the vote. Ferdinand told the Congress of Laibach that he had been forced to grant change and requested the Austrians to help regain order within his country. Metternich sent the superior Austrian army into Naples where they easily overcame the rebels. The savage treatment of his people caused uproar and in 1821 the peasants took over Turin, the capital of Sardinia-Piedmont, causing the king (Victor Emmanuel) to relinquish his role and hand power to his nephew, Charles Albert. Victor’s brother, Charles Felix was unhappy with Charles Albert acting as Victor’s replacement and asked Metternich to help him stop the revolts. The Austrian Army marched in again and controlled the peasants but Charles Albert was forced to flee due to his promise of change to the rebels. There were more revolts in Modena, Parma and the Papal States in 1831 led by the Carbonari but yet again the Austrian army quelled them. Also, when Charles Albert reclaimed power in Sardinia there was hope he would support liberal ideas but he left people disillusioned by his cowardice in not supporting reform so not to

However, it was not just the power of Austria and it’s army which contributed to the failures of the revolutions, but the revolutionaries also contributed to their own downfall. Despite wanting change in Italy, there were numerous divisions between the revolutionaries such as the liberals and nationalists having different aims and incompetence in the face of Austria. Such divisions not only affected morale but had physical impacts such as in the battle of Custoza where the Papal States and Naples withdrew their troops in favour of their own interests.

The Italian Unification is a time period during which Italy becomes unified as one country. While trying to unify the country there were obstacles faced and conquered by Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi as they continued to unify Italy. They pushed Nationalism on the people. The problems that were faced during the time of the unification were the Austrian occupation of Lombardy and Venice. Also, the land still belonged to the Pope and not the government which meant that it did not really belong to everyone and didn’t symbolize unification. The last problem is there is an existence of many independent states which means there were states ruling themselves.

”My goal, which was, I believe, shared by most italians at that time, was to unite the country and rid it of foreign powers. Those who gave Italy her freedom would earn her people’s gratitude” (Garibaldi, page 6). During the age of Italian unification, there were three men who fought for her (Italy’s) freedom. Those men were Cavour the brains, Mazzini the soul, and Garibaldi the sword (Chastain).

The main political alignments of the newly unified Italy were the liberalists, socialist and the Catholic Church supporters and they all had different views and opposed each other. When Giolitti was in power he tried to win over all the key groups in order for them to accept and support the liberal state, however he was unable to do so because in trying to please one section he would end up alienating the other.

Obviously, the newly united Italian state was greeted with much celebration. Unfortunately, it was also only a start. In truth, fundamental problems still plagued the country and had to be addressed if complete hegemony was to be achieved: firstly, the new Kingdom of Italy suffered from extreme backwardness and secondly, it was still deeply divided. The new Italy was split between north and south, between cities and countryside, between regions, between cities and localities,