Italian Unification

Obstacles to Unification  Frequent warfare and foreign rule had led people to identify with local regions  Austria, France, and independent Italian states were not unified  In response to this foreign rule, secret patriotic societies focused their efforts on expelling the Austrian forces from northern Italy  These forces revolted between and were crushed by the Austrian forces

Italian Nationalism  In the 1830s, a nationalist leader, Giuseppe Mazzini founded “Young Italy”  The goal of the society was to create an independent, republic of Italy  The revolution had failed, but nationalism remained, why!?  Nationalism reminded Italians of the glory of Rome  Shared a common language and history  Unification would end trade barriers and stimulate industry

Southern Italian Movements  The Italian nationalist movement, or Risorgimento, passed to the kingdom of Sardinia  Victor Emmanuel II, the king of Sardinia, wanted to unify to expand his power  In 1852, Victor Emmanuel II made Count Camillo Cavour his prime minister  Wanted to end Austrian power in Italy and annex its provinces  In 1858, Cavour negotiated a secret deal with Napoleon to aid Sardinia in a war with Austria  With the help of France, Sardinia defeated Austria and annexed Lombardy  Other nationalist provinces overthrew Austrian-backed rulers and joined with the Sardinians

Garibaldi and the Two Sicilies  Giuseppe Garibaldi, a long-time nationalist who engineered the unification of Italy  Garibaldi wanted to create an Italian republic and accepted aid from Cavour  Garibaldi recruited a force of 1,000 red-shirted volunteers  Cavour provided them arms and two ships to take them south into Sicily  Garibaldi’s “Red Shirts” quickly won control of Sicily and went north into the rest of Italy

Unification!  Garibaldi turned over Naples and Sicily to Victor Emmanuel II  In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was crowned king of Italy  At unification, two areas remained outside of the new Italian nation: Rome and Venetia  But not for long….  In a deal with Otto von Bismarck, Italy acquired Venetia after the Austro-Prussian War  During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, France withdrew from Rome  For the first time since the fall of Rome, Italy was a united nation

Challenges for Italy  Italy had no tradition of unity  Few Italians felt loyalty to the new nation  Regional rivalries remained  Hostility between Italy and Roman Catholic Church divided the nation  Popes resented the seizure of the papal states and Rome  Papacy was left with a small territory of the Vatican  Popes encouraged the Italians not to cooperate with the new government

Turmoil  Italy was a constitutional monarchy under Victor Emmanuel  Set up a two-house legislature  In the late 1800s, social unrest increased as socialists organized strikes and anarchists turned to sabotage and violence  Slowly, the government extended suffrage to more men and passed laws to improve social conditions  Turmoil continued  Many people emigrated (left their homeland) and went to the United States, Canada, and Latin America

Progress  Despite problems, Italy developed economically in the Industrial Revolution  Although they lacked natural resources, industries sprouted up in the north  Industrialization brought urbanization  Reformers improved education and working conditions