Hi everybody,
you know we have been celebrating the 150 anniversary of the Unity of Italy. We have been involved in different projects and on Monday 6th June there was a formal ceremony at school and each of us were given a cockade.
Italy was formed by young people a little older than us who went to fight for an ideal. In a way they remind us of the young Lithuanians who more than a century later were killed by bullets and tanks while trying to liberate the country from the Soviet domination.
We have done a lot of research and this is what we have found out and learnt!
Follow us and you’ll get to know the story of the unification of Italy as well as the story of its symbols: the flag and the national anthem.
Let’s start with a quotation:
“Nessuno sa la durata del periodo di degradazione in cui ti avvolgi, o Italia; ma tutti sanno che non lontana è l’ora solenne del Risorgimento”.
“Noone knows how long the degeneration you are enveloped in will last, o Italy; but everybody knows that the solemn time of Resurgence is not far off”.
Giuseppe Garibaldi Memorie Autobiografiche
Why this word Risorgimento ( Resurgence)? Because after the defeat of Napoleon, the hope of being just one nation had died, Italy had died together with this hope. At that time the word Italy referred just to the boot-shaped peninsula and not to the idea of Italy as a nation.
After the defeat of Napoleonic France, the Congress of Vienna(1815) restored Austrian domination but it left Italy completely fragmented. Italy was like a puzzle and these are the pieces of the puzzle:
the kingdom of Lombardy and Veneto under the Austrian empire,
the Papal States that controlled the centre of the Italian peninsula,
the kingdom of Piedmont –Sardinia under Victor Emmanuel II
the kingdom of Sicily that occupied the southern half of the Italian peninsula and was under Bourbon Ferdinand
the Duchies of Tuscany, under Hapsburg Ferdinand III
the Duchy of Parma, under Napoleon’s wife Maria Luisa
the Duchy of Modena under Hapsburg Francis IV
the Duchy of Lucca under Bourbon Maria Luigia
But the patriots did not give up : nothing could stop them, they did everything secretely: they created secret societies the most important of which was the Carboneria .
Carboneria : that's a weird name. Wondering why this name? Well, carbon was what could start a fire so we think it represented what could start the fire of freedom. The society was at the root of many of the uprisings in Italy from 1820 until after unification. The place where they met was called Baracca and all the members were good cousins and they had to undergo complex initiation rituals. The aim of Carbonari was the creation of a constitutional monarchy or a republic, they wanted also to defend the rights of people against all forms of absolutism: to achieve their purposes, they were ready to commit assassinations and armed uprisings.
The 1820s
Two Sicilies insurrection: it was led by Guglielmo Pepe who conquered the peninsular part of the two Sicilies and forced the King Ferdinad I to grant a constitution. Then the King asked for the
Austrian help and the revolutionaries were defeated.
The Pindemont insurrection : it was led by Santorre di Santarosa. The revolt started in Alessandria, where troops adopted the tricolore of the Cisalpine Republic. The king's regent, prince Charles Albert, acting while the king Charles Felix was away, approved a new constitution but when the king returned he asked for help to the Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria, France) Di Santarosa's troops were defeated.
THE UPRISINGS WERE A TOTAL FAILURE
The 1830s
In 1830s a series of insurrections laid the groundwork for the creation of one nation along the Italian peninsula.
In the Duchy of Modena the revolutionaries troops guided by Menotti were first supported by the
Duke and by the French King but later on they had second thoughts and Menotti and other
conspirators were arrested.
At the same time, other insurrections arose in the Papal Legation of Bologna Forlì, Ravenna, Imola, Ferrara, Pesaro, Urbino and in the Duchy of Parma. These successful revolutions adopted the tricolore flag.
Insurrected provinces planned to unite as the United Italian Provinces. Pope Gregory XVI asked for Austrian help against the rebels. The Austrian army suppressed much of the revolutionary movement, and arrested many radical leaders.
AGAIN A COMPLETE FAILURE
All hell broke: the 1840s
In 1848, revolts began first in Lombardy, then on the island of Sicily and in Naples against King Ferdinand, who granted The Kingdom of two Sicilies a constitution.
In February 1848 there were revolts in Tuscany and Ferdinand granted the Tuscans a constitution. On 21 February, Pope Pius IX granted a constitution to the Papal States.
Meanwhile in Lombardy tensions increased until the Milanese and Venetians rose up in revolt on 18 March 1848. The insurrection in Milan succeeded in expelling the Austrian garrison after five days of street fights -18 March till 22 March- (Cinque Giornate di Milano). An Austrian army under Marshal Radetzky besieged Milan, but they were forced to retreat. Soon the King of Sardinia declared war on Austria. He was defeated at the Battle of Custoza on July 24 by Radetzky who regained control of all of Lombardy-Venetia save Venice itself, where a republic was declared under Daniele Manin.
Pius IX fled Rome. Then Garibaldi and other patriots arrived in Rome. In early 1849 a Roman Republic was declared and in March 1849 Mazzini arrived in Rome and was appointed Chief Minister.
Charles Albert declared war to Austria. He was defeated and abdicated in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel II
There remained the Roman and the Venetian Republics. In April a French force was sent to Rome. After a two month Rome capitulated and the Pope was restored.
Garibaldi and Mazzini once again went into exile — Mazzini in London and Garibaldi in New York. Meanwhile, the Austrians besieged Venice, which surrendered and restored order in central Italy and established their control over the Papal Legation.
THE DREAM LASTED JUST A FEW MONTHS
Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour comes on the scene! He hoped to be helped by Britain and France in expelling the Austrians, so he supported them in the Crimean war which Piedmont entered in 1855, but he was unsuccessful, as Italian matters were ignored at the Congress of Paris
On January 14, 1858, an Italian nationalist Felice Orsini attempted to assassinate Napoleon III, the French Emperor. Napoleon tried to do something for Italy. Cavour met with Napoleon III and the two signed a secret agreement. Cavour and Napoleon III agreed to fight against Austria. Piedmont would gain the Austrian territories in Italy (Lombardy and Venice) as well as the Duchies of Parma and Modena while France would gain Piedmont's territories of Savoy and Nice. In order to allow the French to intervene without appearing as the aggressors, Cavour provoked Austria.
The war itself was quite short. ( 2nd war of independence 59-60) The Austrian troops were defeated at Magenta and then at Solferino
Napoleon III suddenly decided to end the war so he met privately with Franz Joseph at Villafranca and agreed on the outlines of a settlement to the conflict. Pindemont obtained Lombardy and the territories as far as Parma. The Kingdom of Sardinia was made up of most of Northern and Central Italy. Napoleon III gained Savoy and Nice. The Austrians retained Venice.
By the spring of 1860, only four states remained in Italy - the Austrians in Venetia, the Papal States (now minus the Legations), the new expanded Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The 1860s
The legendary Mille and their expedition
In April 1860 insurrections began in Sicily. Garibaldi with about a thousand volunteers left Genoa and landed in Marsala. He conquered Sicily and then defeated the Neapolitean troops at Volturno. Meanwhile the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia conquered Marche and Umbria. Garibaldi met Victor Emmanuel II near Teano and gave him all the territories he had conquered. After that Garibaldi retired to the island of Caprera.
Garibaldi decided to return and in June 1862, he gathered volunteers for the campaign, under the slogan Roma o Morte (Rome or Death).He was defeated in the Aspromonte where he was wounded and imprisoned but finally released.
The seat of government was moved from Turin, the old Sardinian capital, to Florence in 1865.
In 1866 Venice was added to Italy after Prussia defeated Austria in the Seven Weeks' war where Italy sided with Prussia.( 3rd independence war)
In 1870 Italian troops occupied Rome when French abandoned the city. Rome voted for union with Italy and on July 1871 Rome became capital of united Italy.
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