UNIFICATION OF ITALY: ANTECEDENTS, CAUSES, PHASES, CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The unification of Italy was the process by which the different States that existed on the Italian peninsula ended up forming a single country. It took place during the nineteenth century, in a historical context marked by the appearance of Romanticism and nationalism. These ideological currents defended the concept of the nation-state.

Since the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was divided between different nations. Some went through moments of great splendor, such as the Republic of Venice or Genoa, but always as independent countries. At the beginning of the unification process, in the 19th century, the Congress of Vienna had divided the Italian peninsula into seven states.

Italy in 1843 - Source: Italia_1843-fr.svg: * Italia_1843.svg: Gigillo83 under the Creative Commons Generic Attribution / Share-Alike 3.0 license

The unification, known in Italy as the Resurgence (Risorgimento in Italian), gained momentum when the Count of Cavour, minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, convinced the French Emperor Napoleon III to help create a single state on the peninsula. He agreed, especially because it was a way to weaken the Austrian Empire.

The result of this process was the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. In addition to the aforementioned Count of Cavour, other characters who stood out for their performances were King Victor Emmanuel II, Giusseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini.

Background

The disappearance of the Roman Empire, which marked the end of the Ancient Ages and the entry into the Middle Ages, caused the division of the different peoples of the Italian peninsula. Since that time, no movement had appeared that would achieve unification.

With the passage of time, some of these states came to be ruled by dynasties considered foreign, such as the Bourbons and the Habsburgs. The fall of Napoleon led the European powers to redesign the map of Europe, leaving Italy divided into seven different states:

- Piedmont- Sardinia (Liberal Monarchy. Capital Turin)

- Tuscany, Parma and Modena (Allied States of Austria)

- Papal States (held by the Pope)

- Lombard-Veneto Kingdom (they are part of the Austrian Empire)

- Kingdom of Naples and The Two Sicilies (Absolute Monarchy)

Foreign domination

Since the High Middle Ages, various foreign powers had controlled part of the Italian peninsula. The Germanic Empire, France, the Catalan-Aragonese crown, Spain and Austria, governed various areas of that territory.

A first antecedent of the later unification occurred after the French Revolution. Napoleon, in his intention to conquer the entire continent, gave Italy a new legal and social order, based on revolutionary principles.

In the social aspect, this French rule strengthened the liberal bourgeoisie, follower of the Enlightenment. Although the peasant masses lacked political consciousness, a nationalist sentiment based on the Gallic model began to appear in the cities.

Congress of Vienna

Napoleon's defeat ended this first experience. In 1815, the absolutist European powers had defeated the French emperor and were not in favor of any kind of territorial or ideological change.

Prince Metternich, Austrian Chancellor and one of the ideologues of the map of Europe coming out of the Congress of Vienna, expressed that the word Italy was nothing more than a "geographical expression", without having any kind of national meaning.

Revolutions of 1820

Despite the above, the ideas of the French Revolution had spread throughout Europe. Soon there were revolutions that tried to end the absolutist systems, led by the bourgeoisie.

In 1820, a revolutionary wave affected, especially, the Mediterranean area. The first place it exploded was in Spain, directed against Fernando VII. This had to swear the Constitution of 1812, liberal in nature. However, he asked for help from the rest of the absolutist countries, which sent an army to help him.

In Italy, meanwhile, a secret society that sought to end absolutism, the Carboneria, had become so strong that it was able to invade Naples with its own army. After their triumph, they began to use, provisionally, the Spanish Constitution of 1812.

However, the lack of popular support for this revolution and the sending of Austrian troops belonging to the Holy Alliance ended the attempt to establish a liberal regime.

In another area of ​​the peninsula, in Piedmont-Sardinia, another uprising also took place. In this case, the intention was to expel the Austrians from the area and unify Italy under the House of Savoy. Again, the Holy Alliance ended this revolution.

Revolutions of 1830

Ten years later, around 1830, a new series of revolutions broke out on the Italian peninsula. At that time, moreover, nationalist sentiment had greatly increased, as well as those in favor of unification.

The July Revolution of 1830 developed in France had its repercussion in Italy. The Gallic rebels forced the monarch to abdicate, placing Louis Philippe of Orleans in his place. He promised some Italian revolutionaries that France would help them in the event that Austria attacked them militarily.

However, the uprising planned by the Italians was discovered by the papal police, who arrested the ringleaders.

This did not prevent other insurrections from appearing in the papal legations of Bologna, Ferrara, Ancona or Perugia. The rebels adopted the tricolor flag and organized a provisional government that proclaimed the creation of a unified Italy. Something similar happened in Parma.

All those regions were planning to unite, but Pope Gregory XVI's appeal to Austria for help prevented it. Metternich warned Louis Philippe of Orleans that he should not intervene and he backtracked on his promise to help the Italians.

In 1831, the Austrians sent an army that crossed the entire peninsula, ending the revolutionary movements in each territory.

Causes

The causes of Italian unification range from ideological motives, with the appearance of nationalist sentiment in European countries, to economic ones, with industrialists from the north of the peninsula promoting the process.

Ideological

The Romantic movement, which appeared in Germany, had a great nationalist component. It was about a current of cultural and political thought that was born as a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. His supporters emphasized sentiments, the aforementioned nationalism and liberalism.

In Italy in the first half of the 19th century, Romanticism was one of the factors that drove the idea of ​​unification. Writers like Leopardi and Manzoni, musicians like Verdi or philosophers like Gioberti, defended in their works the existence of a united Italy against the foreign powers.

With this cultural environment, the idea of ​​Risorgimento became stronger and stronger. The key was the defense of a cultural identity and a specifically Italian sentiment.

Another fundamental aspect for the unification movement to spread was language. The controversy appeared about the purity of the Italian language, then full of Gallicisms.

Secret societies

The influence of secret societies, very numerous at the time, was another of the causes that helped to spread the revolutionary ideals. Among the most important in Italy were the Carbonari, the Oleanders, and the Neo-Guelphs.

The Carbonería was formed in Italy during the Napoleonic era, led by Napoleon's own brother-in-law, Joaquín Murat. It was a society with Masonic influences and its objective was to combat absolutism and religious intolerance. Despite their ties to France, they faced the Gallic troops when they plundered Italy.

Once the French were expelled from the peninsula, the Carbonari set themselves the goal of unifying Italy and creating a liberal state. Most of its members belonged to the bourgeoisie, highlighting the figure of Giuseppe Mazzini among them.

Mazzini was jailed in 1831 for inciting the rebellion. Later, he created Young Italy, a paramilitary organization that sought to expel the Austrians from the areas they controlled in the Italian peninsula.

Economic reasons

One of the economic factors that influenced Italian unification was the support provided by the industrialists and merchants of the north, the richest part of the peninsula.

These sectors had the objective of creating a unified market, with a country united by efficient communications that would help to give way to industrial production.

It must be borne in mind that, at that time, the territorial division of Italy was an obstacle to trade. For industrialists in the North, it was essential to eliminate customs barriers that made it difficult to export goods. The south was a territory with almost no industries and was considered a good commercial market for the rich north.

All of the above led to the most developed state in the entire peninsula, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, becoming the driving force behind unification.

Phases (process)

Although historians mark different dates, the most common in which the year 1815 is indicated as the beginning of the Unification or Risorgimento. On the one hand, the Italians wanted to expel the Austrians from the north of the peninsula, for which they had the support of France.

The process had two failed attempts, in 1830 and 1848. Both were avoided by the Austrians. It was not until the Kingdom of Piedmont got the support of Napoleon III, that the different Italian territories began to unite.

War against Austria of 1848

After the wave of revolutions that broke out in some areas of Italy in 1848, the First War of Independence began. This faced the troops of Carlos Alberto de Savoya, who led an alliance formed by the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, against the Austrians.

Heroes of the unification, such as Garibaldi, Mazzini or Elia Bezna, returned to Italy to participate in this conflict. However, his presence was not fully accepted by the House of Savoy.

The Italians achieved some initial victories, but the Pope decided to withdraw his forces, fearful of the possible expansion of the Kingdom of Sardinia. After this, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies did the same.

Finally, the Austrians managed to prevail and forced the defeated to sign, on August 9, 1848, the armistice of Salasco. This forced the defeated to accept what was established by the Congress of Vienna.

Second war of independence

At the end of the 50s of the 19th century, the conflict was reactivated again. On this occasion, it was the King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II, and his Prime Minister, Count Camilo de Cavour, who started the movements to confront the Austrians, who had annexed the states of Lombardy and Venice.

The plan was to seek the support of some great power. Thus, they managed to sign a secret agreement with Napoleon III, Emperor of France.

The military campaign was very short, ending with the victory of the Sardinians and the French and the defeat of Austria.

However, Napoleon III signed an armistice with Austria without consulting his allies. This established that Lombardy passed into the hands of Victor Emmanuel II, but that Venice was to remain under Austrian rule. France, for its part, obtained sovereignty over Savoy and Nice.

Annexation of the States of Parma, Modena and Tuscany

The victory against the Austrians inflamed the desire for unification in other areas of the peninsula. The year after it occurred, in 1860, Parma, Modena and Tuscany decided to join the Kingdom of Sardinia by means of a plebiscite.

Revolution of the Two Sicilies

The protagonist of the next stage of Italian unification was Giuseppe Garibaldi. He led an army of volunteers, called the Thousand Red Shirts, which headed towards Sicily. In no time, he managed to control the entire island. After that, he set course for the Naples region.

Already in that region, his troops obtained several important victories, which caused the Neapolitan king, Francis II, to flee to the Papal States.

The Sardinian army, under the command of Victor Emmanuel II, conquered the States of the Church with the exception of Rome itself. Afterward, he met Garibaldi in Naples. The Two Sicilies declared their incorporation into the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Finally, on March 13, 1861, the first national parliament declared Victor Emmanuel II as King of Italy.

Annexation of Venice (1866)

At that time, one of the most important cities on the peninsula still belonged to Austria: Venice. For that reason, the Italians sought an agreement with Prussia that would allow them to annex the city.

The strategy was totally successful. The Treaty of Vienna, signed on October 3, 1866, as well as the Armistice of Cormos, signed 9 days later, ratified the annexation of Venice to the kingdom of Italy.

Incorporation of the Papal States (1870)

By 1870, unification was practically complete. Only the Papal States, and especially the city of Rome, remained a problem.

In their previous agreements, Victor Emmanuel II had promised Napoleon III that the Pope would continue to control the city of Rome. Later, in 1862, Garibaldi had tried to take it, but was rejected, just as it would be again five years later.

The situation began to change in 1870, when due to the war between France and Prussia, Napoleon III had to withdraw the garrison defending Rome.

As soon as this happened, the Italians attacked the city and, despite the resistance of the papal garrison, they managed to conquer it without too much trouble. In September 1870, Victor Emmanuel II settled in Rome and declared the city the capital of the kingdom of Italy.

Despite the fait accompli, the Pope did not accept the annexation of Rome to Italy. To express his rejection, the Pontiff locked himself in the Vatican Palace.

The so-called Roman Question was not resolved until 1929, when Mussolini and Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaties. These recognized the Vatican State as an independent country.

Consequences

The first consequence of the unification was the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. Thus, in 1871, its capital was established in Rome, governed by a constitutional monarchy.

Irredentism

Despite all the above, there were still some regions that Italians considered their own outside the new kingdom. Thus, Trentino, Alto Adige, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia and Ragusa were still in the hands of the Austrians, becoming known as irredenta (not liberated) provinces.

In some of them, nationalist movements appeared seeking their incorporation into Italy. Over time, these groups spread to Nice and Corsica, in French hands.

This situation was not resolved until the First World War ended. Italy had participated in the victorious side and, through the Treaty of Versailles, annexed the provinces into the hands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Economic development

After unification, Italy experienced great economic development, although it was implemented very unevenly.

In this way, the old inequalities between the north and the south were maintained with the unification.

Political and social consequences

Italians began to divide between two great ideological currents. On the one hand, the liberals, related to the industrial and commercial sectors of the north. On the other, the conservatives, representatives of the agricultural interests of the south.

As noted, the new state was ruled by a parliamentary monarchy. The vote, however, was limited to a minority, with frequent episodes of corruption.

In the political aspect, those who benefited the most from unification were the northern bourgeoisie. Likewise, the moderate monarchists imposed themselves on the republican and democratic sectors, represented by Garibaldi and Mazzini, among others.

As with the economy, unification also made Italy a political and military power in Europe.

Main participants

The most important figures of the Italian unification were the King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II, the Count of Cavour; Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini.

Victor Emmanuel II

Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia, was one of the promoters of the strategy that allowed the unification of Italy.

Together with their prime minister, the Count of Cavour, they reached an agreement with Napoleon III to confront the Austrians, starting the movements that would lead to the constitution of the kingdom of Italy.

Victor Emmanuel II himself became the first king of unified Italy, being considered the Father of the Nation. The monarch ruled within a constitutional monarchy, with a very moderate character.

Earl of Cavour

Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, was initiated into political life in 1847, when he founded a moderate liberal newspaper with a name that already demonstrated his ultimate goal: Risorgimento. Two years later, he was elected deputy in Piedmont-Sardinia.

Benso held various positions in various governments, reaching in 1852 the position of President of the Council of Ministers. From that position, he developed a policy of modernization of the kingdom, both politically and economically.

Thanks to this modernization, the kingdom became the most developed of all the peninsula. This allowed a very powerful bourgeoisie to form, in favor of Italian unification in order to expand their markets.

The Count of Cavour understood that the Italians were going to need foreign aid to confront the Austrians and he dedicated part of his foreign policy to obtaining that support. In July 1858, he met with Napoleon III and obtained French collaboration to carry out the unification.

Despite his important role, the Count of Cavour saw his anti-centralist stance defeated when the way to organize the unified kingdom was being discussed.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Garibaldi was one of the main Italian nationalist leaders. While still young, in 1832, he took part in a republican mutiny in Piedmont, which led to his being sentenced to exile. His main influences at that time were Giuseppe Mazzini and the French socialist Saint-Simon.

Serving his sentence, Garibaldi lived in South America between 1836 and 1848. In that region he participated in several uprisings against the Spanish and Portuguese, always on the side of the supporters of the independence of the American colonies.

In 1848, Garibaldi returned to Lombardy to fight the Austrian army. When the Count of Cavour was appointed Prime Minister of Piedmont, he gave Garibaldi command of the kingdom's forces in the second war against Austria. The revolutionary achieved several important victories, which helped bring the final goal closer.

One of his most important performances was the taking of the Two Sicilies. Garibaldi, commanding the Thousand Red Shirts, took the island in 1860. After this, he entered Naples, handing it over to Víctor Manuel II.

In 1861 the new Kingdom of Italy was established. Despite having achieved that goal, Garibaldi was not satisfied, since Rome remained in the hands of the Pope.

Giuseppe Mazzini

Giuseppe Mazzini's participation in politics began in 1815, when he opposed the Republic of Genoa joining the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Years later, in 1827, he joined La Carbonería, although he left that secret society when he felt disappointed by its limited effectiveness.

After spending time in jail for his revolutionary activities, Mazzini went to France, where, in 1831, he founded the Young Italy organization. His first objective was to promote a republican uprising in Sardinia, but the failure of this attempt earned him being sentenced, in absentia, to death.

Unable to return to his country and expelled from France, Mazzini traveled through Europe founded some revolutionary associations. During the following years he promoted various insurrections of a republican nature, both in Rome and in Mantua and Milan, although he never achieved his final objectives.

Finally, the liberal monarchists assumed command of the Italian nationalist movement, so that, after unification, the system chosen for the new country was the monarchy.

References

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