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This video explains that there was a secret society called Young Italy. This society wanted to liberate Italian states, and turn them into a free Republic. There was a ruler named Cavour, who worked out an align with Napolean, so that they could defeat Austria in war, in 1859. At this point, the Italians were just giving up more and more states. Some states were lost during war, so Italy started occupying them. After all of the states were claimed, the unification of Italy was complete.

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Before Mexico gained their independence, they were under Spanish control. The population was very loyal to the Spanish King. Many armies marched on Mexicos capital, and they were then joined my 10's of thousands of men. One of the army leaders had a major tactical error, which many knew was a mistake. After that two army leaders had a talk, coming up with a plan to let Mexico gain their independence.

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Mexican War of Independence | 3 Minute History

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Ecuador started off very un-even, there was many different cultures all over, and things just didn't work out. Many were mad that they were being ruled, so their cultures grew even bigger. After a while, many economic improvements came around, and people were really starting to notice. Even though things were getting better, it still took the liberals around 20 years to gain their independence. Ecuador had many leaders trying to help them through gaining their independence, but some how they all ended up dying, most with unknown reasonings.

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The unification of Italy was lead by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. But Italy was officialy unified by Victor Emmanuel II. Victor Emmanuel II was a well known king, known as the "gentleman king". He was a ruler of WWI and WWII, and he participated in other world changing activities.

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Summary

For many centuries, the Italian peninsula was a politically fragmented conglomeration of states. This was the case when the United States announced its independence from Great Britain in 1776. When war broke out between Austria and the Revolutionary French Government in 1792, the French invaded the Italian peninsula, consolidated many of the Italian states, and established them as republics. In 1799 the Austrian and Russian armies pushed the French out of the Italian peninsula, which led to the demise of the fledgling republics.

After Napoleon's rise to power, the Italian peninsula was once again conquered by the French. Under Napoleon, the peninsula was divided into three entities: the northern parts which were annexed to the French Empire (Piedmont, Liguria, Parma, Piacenza, Tuscany, and Rome), the newly created Kingdom of Italy (Lombardy, Venice, Reggio, Modena, Romagna, and the Marshes) ruled by Napoleon himself, and the Kingdom of Naples, which was first ruled by Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte, but then passed to Napoleon's brother-in-law Joachim Murat.

The period of French invasion and occupation was important in many ways. It introduced revolutionary ideas about government and society, resulting in an overthrow of the old established ruling orders and the destruction of the last vestiges of feudalism. The ideals of freedom and equality were very influential. Also of consequence, the concept of nationalism was introduced, thus sowing the seeds of Italian nationalism throughout most parts of the northern and central Italian peninsula.

With the downfall of Napoleon in 1814 and the redistribution of territory by the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), most of the Italian states were reconstituted: the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (often referred to as Sardinia), the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Parma, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (fused together from the old Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily). These were largely conservative regimes, presided over by the old social orders.

Although the Italian peninsula remained fragmented through the mid-1800s, the concept of a united Italy began to take root. Secret societies formed to oppose the conservative regimes. Several of these societies also promoted Italian nationalism and the idea of a unified Italian political state. One such society was the group Young Italy, founded in 1831 by Guiseppe Mazzini. Mazzini was an ardent advocate of the necessity for Italian unification through the desires and actions of the Italian people. Thus, the movement of Italian unification, a process referred to as the Risorgimento (resurgence) proliferated by mid-century.

The revolutions of 1848 ignited nationalist sentiment throughout the Italian peninsula. There were widespread uprisings in several Italian cities that year, mostly by the professional classes (such as doctors, lawyers, shopkeepers) as well as students. Lombardy-Venetia and Milan tried to rise up against Austrian rule. Although the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia sent troops to aid the revolt, it was crushed by the Austrians at Custoza in July 1848. The Italian uprisings were unsuccessful and by 1849 the old regimes were once again in place.

Yet, the idea of the Risorgimento continued to gain adherents after 1848. The final push for Italian unification came in 1859, led by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (then the wealthiest and most liberal of the Italian states), and orchestrated by Piedmont-Sardinia's Prime Minister, Count Camillo di Cavour. A skilled diplomat, Cavour secured an alliance with France. The Franco-Austrian War of 1859 was the agent that began the physical process of Italian unification. The Austrians were defeated by the French and Piedmontese at Magenta and Solferino, and thus relinquished Lombardy. By the end of the year Lombardy was added to the holdings of Piedmont-Sardinia.

The northern Italian states held elections in 1859 and 1860 and voted to join the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, a major step towards unification, while Piedmont-Sardinia ceded Savoy and Nice to France. Giuseppi Garibaldi, a native of Piedmont-Sardinia, was instrumental in bringing the southern Italian states into the unification process. In 1860, Garibaldi cobbled together an army (referred to as the "Thousand") to march into the southern part of the peninsula. Landing first in Sicily and then moving onwards into Naples, Garibaldi and his men overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and turned over the southern territories to Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia. In early 1861 a national parliament convened and proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy, with Victor Emmanuel II as its king. At this point, there were only two major territories outside of the parameters of the new Kingdom of Italy: Rome and Venetia.

In 1866 Italy joined Prussia in a campaign against Austria (the 1866 Austro-Prussian War) and thus won Venetia. In 1870, taking advantage of the fact that France (the country responsible at the time for guarding the Papal States) was distracted by involvement in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the Italian army entered Rome. That year, Rome and the Papal States were incorporated into Italy and the Risorgimento completed. During the summer of 1871, the Italian capital moved to Rome from Florence (it was moved from Turin to Florence in 1865).

Major Events

Overall Impact upon U.S. Foreign Policy

The history of recognitions (and the establishment of relations, where applicable) between the United States and the Italian states impacted several different areas of U.S. policy, including:

Trade and Commerce. The industrialization process that swept through the northern United States in the early nineteenth century spread through the northern and central Italian states in the mid-nineteenth century. As a result, the Italian states (and after 1861, the Kingdom of Italy) and the United States both sought to cultivate trade and commercial ties for mutual benefit.

Immigration and Citizenship. By the 1870s Italian immigration to the New World (both to the United States as well as to Argentina, amongst other South American countries) began to increase. Indeed, some of the "fathers" of modern Italy spent time in the United States. Garibaldi spent enough time in the U.S. to gain a U.S. passport, and was offered a commission in the U.S. Army during the Civil War.

U.S. Civil War. The unification of the Italian states impacted the foreign policy of the United States in numerous ways. Perhaps the issue that had the most immediate impact upon U.S. foreign policy in the early 1860s was over the question of recognition of the U.S. Confederacy. The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed just as the U.S. Civil War began. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln wanted to ensure that the new Italian state did not recognize the U.S. Confederacy. Washington also worried that, with Italy's long coastline, Confederate ships might seek shelter in Italian waters. With this in mind, the Italian government gave "strong assurances that no Confederate ship would be admitted to Italian ports unless it was a question of adverse weather conditions or other vis major."

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Unification of Italian States - Countries - Office of the Historian

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Mexico gained their independence by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, and he was alongside the Spanish followers when they gained their independence. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla gave a long speech that became very famous. This speech stopped Spanish colonial rule in Mexico.

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Ecuador gained their independence by their leader, Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá. He led their forces to victory, and helped Ecuador become an independent country.  Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá was very well known as a Liberator, for Ecuador and Peru.

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On this page: Spanish Economic Decline | Enlightenment Ideals, the Seed of Independence | Identification With the South American Independence Movement | Heeding the Call for Help |

The colonial economy of Ecuador's Sierra region revolved around textiles and other light manufactures, while the coastal economy, based largely in Guayaquil, relied on shipping and trade. The eighteenth century brought hardship to Spain, and consequently, to its colonies. Ecuador suffered a severe depression throughout most of the eighteenth century. Textile production, the staple of the Sierra economy, fell to less than half of its seventeenth century height. The weak economy hurt the "haves" more than the "have-nots"; by some accounts, the situation actually improved for Ecuador's native population during the colony's economic decline.
Enlightenment Ideals, the Seed of Independence
At the same time the Spanish colonial economy began to fail, messages of the Enlightenment being wrought in Europe penetrated Quito's cultural isolation and began to be disseminated throughout the country on the backs of missionaries. Enlightenment ideals embodied notions of nationalism and individualism and the concepts of equality and freedom. The failing economy and flagging administrative authority of the Quito Audencia combined with the introduction of Enlightenment ideals set the stage for Ecuador's independence.

Criollos formed the thrust that finally lead to independence.

Civil disturbances plagued the Quito
Audencia, particularly in the Sierra, from the mid-eighteenth century until the end of the colonial era. However, it was not until the criollos (persons of pure Spanish descent born in the New World) entered the revolutionary picture that independence really began to take form. The criollos resented the privileges afforded to the peninsulares (persons from Spain) and, as a result, sought independence from the crown.
Identification With the South American Idependence Movement

Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá lead the Ecuadorian separatist forces to victory.

Ecuador's criollo population tried several times to take control of the Quito Audencia in the decade that followed Napoleon's invasion of Spain, but it was not until 1820 that the criollos had enough force to realize emancipation from Spanish colonial rule. In October of 1820, in Guayaquil, a junta under the leadership of José Joaquín Olmedo declared Ecuador's independence from its colonial master. Unlike the earlier juntas, Olmedo appealed to Argentina and Venezuela for support. Ecuador's identification with the wider South American independence movement - led principally by Venezuelan Simón Bolívar Palacios and the Argentinean José de San Martín - was ultimately what permitted it to throw of the shackles of Spanish domination as early as it did. Without help from Bolívar and San Martín, Ecuador likely would have languished under colonial rule for at least a few more decades.
Heeding the Call for Help
Bolívar and San Martín heeded Olmedo's call for help, sending him significant contingents of troops and a number of skilled offers. Antonio José de Sucre Alcalá led the combined Ecuadorian and foreign forces to a number of successive victories before finally being stopped at the city of Ambato in the highlands south of Quito. The royalist success was short lived, Martín sent Sucre the necessary reinforcements and the brilliant young lieutenant went on the offensive again. After another series of triumphs and a decisive victory at the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, 1822, Ecuador achieved its independence. Within hours of his victory on the slopes the volcano outside of Quito, Sucre received the formal surrender of the Quito Audiencia.

On this page: Spanish Economic Decline | Enlightenment Ideals, the Seed of Independence | Identification With the South American Independence Movement | Heeding the Call for Help |

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The History of the Independence of Ecuador

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On this page: Spanish Economic Decline | Enlightenment Ideals, the Seed of Independence | Identification With the South American Independence Movement |