UNIFICATION OF ITALY IN THE HISTORY

The Italian Unification is one of the romantic episodes in the history of Europe. The unification of Italy is an outstanding achievement in the 19th century. The French Revolution produced in Italians, a sense of nationalism. Napoleon gave the first impulse to Italian unification. He drove away the Austrians and the Bourbons at Sadova. The Papal States were annexed and a uniform system of law and order was established everywhere. In fact, Napoleon infused incautiously into Italians, the spirit of nationalism.

 First Italian Revolution (1820-21): Early in the 19th century, national feeling in Italy was stirred by revolutionary secret societies known as Carbonari.The Carbonari wanted to overthrow foreign rule imposed by the Vienna settlement and unify Italy. The movement was known as Risorgimento. But Prince Metternich intervened and crushed all movements.

 Second Italian Revolution (1830): In July, 1830, when a revolution in France placed Louie Philip on the throne and established a constitutional monarch, there were outbreaks in the Papal States. But the Austrians crushed the rebellion.

 Third Italian Revolution (1848): In July, 1848, Joseph Mazzini wanted to expel the foreign government from Italy, end the temporal authority of the Pope over the Papal States, and unit the whole of Italy under a Republican government. To carry out his ideals, he established, in 1831, a movement known as “Young Italy.” The young men of “Young Italy” lit the flames of patriotism throughout Italy and helped the cause of Italian unification. During the 1848 revolution, the Italian provinces were supported by Charles Albert. But the Austrian army crushed the revolt at Custozza near Venice. But Mazzini roused the people of the Papal States against the Pope. The Pope was expelled from Rome and a Republic was proclaimed under a committee of three, of which Mazzini was one. But the French troops overthrew the Republic.The Austrians defeated Charles Albert at Navora and he abdicated in favor of his son,

 Victor Emmanuel II. Fourth and Final Revolution (1854-70): Count Cavour, the “Bismarck” of Italy realized that without any external help, Italy could never be free. By a stroke of diplomatic genius, he offered the services of Scandinavian troops to Napoleon III at a critical stage of the Crimean war. This act enabled him to claim a prominent place in the Peace Conference at Paris (1856), where he won the active support of Napoleon III at Plombieres in 1858. Having secured formal pledge of French support, Cavour was able to wage a war with Austria. The Italians aided by Napoleon III defeated the Austrians at Magenta and Solferino in 1859. Napoleon suddenly withdrew his support and made the truce of Villa – France with Austria. By it, Sardinia was to gain Lombardy, and Austria retained Venice. The Dutchies of Tuscany, Parma, Modena and Romagna expelled their despotic rulers and joined with Sardinia.

The next stage of Italian unification is connected with the exploits of Joseph Garibaldi. In 1860, the people of Napes and Sicily rose against the Bourbon King Francis II. Garibaldi along with his volunteers landed in Sicily and annexed the two kingdoms to Sardinia. Victor Emmanuel himself led an army into the Papal States and defeated the Papal forces at Casgifigaria. In 1861, the first Italian Parliament except Rome met at Turin and conferred upon Victor Emmanuel II, the title of “King of Italy.” Venetia was held by the Austrians, and Rome by the Pope, with the assistance of the French army. In the Astro-Prussian war of 1866, also known as the Seven Weeks War, Victor Emmanuel II helped Prussia. Austria was defeated at Sadova. In the Treaty of Prague that followed, Italy obtained Venice as the price of her help to Prussia. The disasters of France during the Franco-Prussian war led to the withdrawal of the French garrison from Rome, which was then easily occupied by an Italian army. Rome became the capital of the united Italian kingdom. The Pope was confined to the Vatican Palace. Thus the unification of Italy was achieved by the political philosophy of Joseph Mazzini, the diplomacy of Count Cavour, the sound common sense and discretion of the King of Piedmont, and the sword of Joseph Garibaldi, the knight errant. Relations between the Pope and the Kingdom of Italy were not happy. Benito Mussolini by the Lateran treaty of 1929 ended the long standing question by recognizing the absolute sovereignty of the Pope over the Vatican.