Chapter 10 Nationalism Triumphs in Europe Section 3 Unifying Italy

Setting the Scene At the Congress of Vienna, Italian nationalists hoped to end centuries of foreign rule and achieve unity. To Metternich, the idea of a unified Italy was laughable. Italy, he was convinced, was a mere "geographic expression/' Although the people of the Italian peninsula spoke the same language, they had not experienced political unity since Roman times. By the early 1800s, though, Italian patriots were determined to build a new, united Italy. As in Germany, unification was brought about by the efforts of a strong state and a shrewd, ruthless politician—Count Camillo Cavour.

I. Obstacles to Italian Unity In Italy, people identified with local regions rather than with the idea of an Italian nation

I. Obstacles to Italian Unity Napoleon’s invasion sparked dreams of national unity, but the Congress of Vienna ignored the nationalists

I. Obstacles to Italian Unity Between 1820 and 1848, nationalist revolts exploded across the region but were crushed by Austria

I. Obstacles to Italian Unity In the 1830s, the nationalist leader Giuseppe Mazzini founded Young Italy

I. Obstacles to Italian Unity Nationalists like Mazzini felt a united Italy made sense because of geography and a common language and history

II. The Struggle for Italy After 1848, leadership of the Risorgimento passed to Victor Emmanuel II’s kingdom of Sardinia

II. The Struggle for Italy In 1852 Victor Emmanuel made Count Camillo Cavour, a monarchist who believed in Realpolitik, his prime minister

II. The Struggle for Italy In 1859, Cavour provoked war with and defeated Austria, and several other northern Italian states joined with Sardinia

II. The Struggle for Italy In southern Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi recruited a force of 1,000 "Red Shirts'' and won control of Sicily and southern Italy

II. The Struggle for Italy Sardinian troops overran the Papal States and joined Garibaldi’s forces in Naples. In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was crowned king of Italy

III. Challenges Facing the New Nation Italy had no tradition of unity and few Italians felt ties to the new nation

III. Challenges Facing the New Nation The greatest division was between the richer, urban north and the poorer, rural south Merano, Italy

III. Challenges Facing the New Nation Hostility between Italy and the Roman Catholic Church further divided the nation

III. Challenges Facing the New Nation Italy was a constitutional monarchy with a two-house legislature, but only a small number of men could vote

III. Challenges Facing the New Nation Radical socialists and anarchists forced the government to extended suffrage and improve social conditions

III. Challenges Facing the New Nation Industrialization brought urbanization, and reformers caused improvements in education and working conditions

III. Challenges Facing the New Nation A population explosion resulted in many people emigrating for the United States, Canada, and Latin American nations Family waiting to land at Ellis Island