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There was lots of uprisings in Austria during this period of time. Liberalism and Nationalism were big influences of the revolution in The Austrian Empire. The Hungarian people took up the largest portion of the Austrian Empire. Because of this they decided to break off into their own country.

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Revolutions of 1848 in the German States (Part 3 of 5)

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Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a respected Catholic priest, was the father of the Mexican revolution. He gave Mexico independence and freedom.

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Struggle for Mexican Independence - War, Causes & Effects

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Mexico was first populated more than 13,000 years ago before the Spanish conquered and colonized the country in the 16th century. In 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest, launched the Mexican War of Independence when he issued his Grito de Dolores, or "Cry of Delores."

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Italy used the help of other foreign countries to achieve unification. Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini, Count Cavour and Victor Emanuel II are considered to be “the fathers of the revolution."

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Key Facts & Summary

Also known as Risorgimento, the Italian unification was a political and social movement that consolidated different states of the Italian peninsula into a single state of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century.

The process began in 1815, with the Congress of Vienna acting as a detonator, and was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital. However, the last Italian territories under foreign rule did not join the Kingdom of Italy until 1918, after Italy finally defeated Austria-Hungary in World War I.

As other foreign powers were responsible for the situation of Italy, their very presence motivated Italians to strive for unification, however, Italy's successful unification, ironically, would not have come to pass without the help of other foreign powers.

The situation of Italy after unification can best be described after the statement of professor Serge Hughes: "Now that we have made Italy, we must make Italians."

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini, Count Cavour and Victor Emannuel II are considered to be "the fathers of the fatherland".

Prologue

Italy was first united by Rome in the third century B.C. It remained for over 700 years the de facto extension of the capital of the Roman Republic and Empire. It experienced a privileged status and evaded being converted into a province. Even with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Italy remained united under the Ostrogothic Kingdom. However, this would later be disputed between the Kingdom of the Lombards and the Eastern Roman Empire.

Following the conquest of the Frankish Empire, the title of King of Italy merged with the office of Holy Roman Emperor. The emperors that followed had little concern for the governance of Italy as a state. This led Italy to gradually devolve into a system of city-states. Southern Italy was governed by the Kingdom of Sicily or Kingdom of Naples, initially established by the Normans. Central Italy was governed by the Pope as a temporal kingdom known as the Papal States.

It remained as such through the Renaissance but began to deteriorate with the rise of modern nation-states. Italy, including the Papal States, became the site of proxy wars between the major powers: The Holy Roman Empire including Austria, Spain, and France. Harbingers of national unity appeared as early as 1454, beginning with the Italic League treaty and in the 15th century, the foreign policy of Cosimo de Medici and Lorenzo de Medici helped to emphasize this.

This influenced and led Renaissance writers such as Dante, Petrarch, Machiavelli and Guicciardini to express opposition to foreign domination. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 formally ended the rule of the Holy Roman Emperors in Italy but the Spanish branch of the Habsburg dynasty continued to rule most of Italy down to the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701-1714. After this war, Spain ceded Naples, Milan and Sardinia to the Austrian Empire and Sicily to Savoy.

Italian Unification

Italy was thus divided into many small principalities, and it would remain that way until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.

Unification under Napoleon

During the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and proceeded to conquer the Italian states. This conquest was a success and it brought the small principalities under a single administrative unit. Through this process, Italy became part of the French Empire and thus imbibed the ideals of the French Revolution which promoted liberty, equality, fraternity and strengthened the people's participation in the political process. The empire established by Napoleon had served as a fuel for revolutionary ideas, as he even encouraged nationalism.

Napoleon thus implemented a wide array of liberal reforms in France and across Continental Europe, especially in Italy and Germany, as summarized by British historian Andrew Roberts:
"The ideas that underpin our modern world-meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on-were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon.

As the Napoleonic Wars went on in Europe, Napoleon reign began to fail and other national monarchs he had installed tried to keep their thrones by feeding those nationalistic sentiments, setting the stage for the revolutions to come. Among these monarchs were the viceroy of Italy, Eugène de Beauharnais, who tried to get the Austrian Empire's approval for his succession to the Kingdom of Italy, and Joachim Murat, who called for Italian patriots' help for the unification of Italy under his rule.

Both men failed to consolidate their grip on Italy. Eugène fought in the Battle of Lützen in 1813 and was then ordered by Napoleon to go back to Italy and defend it from Austria. He was holding out at the Battle of Mincio until Napoleon abdicated in 1814. Murat fought in the Battle of Leipzig and despite France's defeat in Leipzig in 1813, Murat reached an agreement with the Austrian Empire in order to save his throne.

However, during the Hundred Days, the period in which Napoleon although defeated, returned from his exile and tried to consolidate power again, Murat realized that the European powers meeting at the Congress of Vienna, intended to remove him as well from power. Murat issued a proclamation to the Italian patriots in Rimini and moved north to fight against Austria in the Neapolitan War in order to strengthen his rule in Italy by military means. He was however defeated by the Austrian in the Battle of Tolentino in 1815.

Congress of Vienna - Italy is split again

The Congress of Vienna in 1815 aimed to restore Europe to its former position, reversing everything that happened since the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, however, they couldn't undo everything. The desire for unification increased even more than before.

Although the Kingdom of Italy established by Napoleon crumbled, and the Italian peninsula remained fragmented through the mid-1800s, the concept of a united Italy began to take root.

Revolutions of 1848

It quickly became clear to many Italians that the Italy created by the Congress of Vienna was inefficient and ineffective. Hunger due to crop failures, lack of employment and other necessities were absent, the ruling class idle, unmoved and unwilling to make changes.

Secret societies formed to oppose the newly established conservative regimes. Several of these societies also promoted Italian nationalism and the idea of a unified Italian political state. One such society was the Carbonari, and it aimed to liberate Italy through armed uprisings. The Carbonari were inspired by the principles of the French Revolution.

Young Italy was formed in 1831 and aimed at the independence and unification of Italy and the subsequent establishment of a republic. This organization tried to encourage young men to join and support the cause of unification. Thus, the movement of Italian unification, a process referred to as the Risorgimento, proliferated by mid-century. Young Italy attracted the attention of Giuseppe Garibaldi, another iconic figure in the Italian unification. Garibaldi joined forces with Mazinni in 1833 and together they worked forward to accomplish their ideals. In February 1834 a failed Mazzinian insurrection in Piedmont forced Garibaldi to flee to South America.

Garibaldi returned amidst the turmoil of the revolutions in 1848 and offered his services to Charles Albert of Sardinia. He offered assistance to the provisional government of Milan which revolted against the Austrians. In the course of the following unsuccessful First Italian War of Independence, Garibaldi won minor victories.

However, the new pope soon proved to be of no use for the unification, he ordered his troops to retreat and the rest of the revolutionaries were vastly outnumbered. A crushing defeat at the battle of Novara in 1849, forced Garibaldi to move to Rome and support the recently proclaimed Roman Republic in the Papal States after the pope was forced to flee due to many Italians protesting against his previous decision.

However, Napoleon III of France sent an army to return the papacy to Rome, wishing to gain favour with the pope. Mazzini urged Garibaldi to take the defence of the city of Rome. Despite a great victory over France's superior numbers, it was clear that they couldn't hold the city for much longer. The Roman Assembly met and debated three options: surrender, fight or retreat to the Apennine mountains and continue the resistance, Garibaldi chose the third option and said: "Wherever we will go, that will be Rome." The two sides negotiated a truce and withdrew from Rome. Mazzini and Garibaldi parted on different paths, yet they would continue to fight for Italy's unification, their actions, although thwarted, managed to.

Second Italian War of Independence

Charles Albert was forced to abdicate during the revolutions, leaving the crown to his son Victor Emmanuel II, the third great figure of Italian unification.

The war had begun but not long after, France entered into secret negotiations with Austria fearing the possibility of Prussian involvement. An armistice was signed which granted Sardinia-Piedmont the state of Lombardy but Austria would retain control over the central states of Italy. Much to Emmanuel's dismay, this latter term was never enforced, however, and the French made no attempt to expel the Italian garrisons that then assumed control over the regions since the outbreak of the war.

In return for French backing, Cavour ceded Nice and Savoy to France. This decision enraged the Italians and the preeminent general during the conflict namely Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had returned to Italy since 1854. Garibaldi abandoned Mazzini's republican ideal of the liberation of Italy, assuming that only Emmanuel II could achieve it together with the help of Cavour and so they allied.

In order to stop Garibaldi, Cavour ordered Sardinian troops into the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. He organized a plebiscite to annex Naples to Sardinia. Garibaldi was thus outmanoeuvred by Cavour's realpolitik, a notion that states that politics should be conducted in terms of a realistic assessment of power and the self-interest of individual nation-states by any means.

Austro-Prussian War

Although most states of the Italian Peninsula were united and the Kingdom Of Italy was created, Venice and the much reduced Papal States were still far from their control. Garibaldi took up arms again in 1866, this time with the full support of the Italian government. The increasing discord between Austria and Prussia over the German Question turned into open war in 1866, granting an opportunity for Italy to try and capture Venice.

The German state of Prussia was aware of the tensions provoked by Austria's presence in Venice, and the Italian Government seeking an ally against Austria, so they decided to ally with Italy. On the 8th of April, 1866, Alfonso La Marmora, the President of the Council, entered into an agreement with Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian Prime Minister. Italy would now vow to support Prussia in the case of war against Austria. Austria soon realized the brewing threat and offered the transfer of Venice back to Italy as an olive branch.

Faced with a difficult choice, La Marmora tried to stall and decided not to support a war against either Prussia or Austria. Prussia, on the other hand, would not wait and on June 12th, cut all ties with Austria and invaded some of its territories four days later. Italy finally joined the battle on June 23rd starting the Third Italian War of Unification.

The Austrian Empire had no chance against these combined forces and after suffering numerous defats, mostly to Prussia, a peace treaty ensued. The cessation of hostilities was agreed to at the Armistice of Cormons signed on 12 August, followed by the Treaty of Vienna on 3 October 1866. The terms of the Peace of Prague included the giving of the Iron Crown of Lombardy to Victor Emmanuel II, the King of Italy. Venice was won by Italy after a plebiscite but Trentino, Rome, Friuli and Trieste remained to be captured.

End of the unification

By the end of the war, Italy's desire for unification had been emboldened, making the Third War for Independence another crucial step on the path to full national unity.
In 1871 Prussia attacks France starting the Franco-Prussian War. France, which had some troops in Rome, had to pull them back in order to fight the Prussians. Italy sees its chance and invades Rome successfully conquering it and making the Pope a prisoner in his own home.

This will turn the Pope against the Italian state for several decades. Officially, the capital was not moved from Florence to Rome until July 1871.

The unification of Italy was thus completed by the Capture of Rome and later by the annexation of Trentino, Friuli and Trieste at the end of World War I, also called in Italy the Fourth Italian War of Independence.

Aftermath

Dante Alighieri, Machiavelli, Cesare Borgia developed the national consciousness of Italy, however, their work and aspirations were developed and completed by Cavour, Mazzini, Garibaldi and Emmanuel II, men considered to be the fathers of Italy.

After the unification, Italy faced a number of problems. The middle class and aristocracy had never truly been won over by the revolutionary ideals that trickled down from France. The Pope was still against the state until Mussolini came to power.

In addition, the Italian parliament experienced gridlock as socialists and liberals failed to compromise on even the most basic pieces of legislation. Italians were still as disunited as ever, these issues plague Italy throughout the 19th century and some could say even today.

Bibliography:

[1.] Wawro, Geoffrey. "Austria versus the Risorgimento: A New Look at Austria's Italian strategy in the 1860s." European History Quarterly 26#1 (1996): 7-29.

[2.] Smith, Denis Mack. Victor Emanuel, Cavour, and the Risorgimento (Oxford University Press, 1971)

[3.] Riall, Lucy. The Italian Risorgimento: State, Society, and National Unification (Routledge, 1994)

[4.] Pearce, Robert, and Andrina Stiles. Access to History: The Unification of Italy 1789-1896 (4th rf., Hodder Education, 2015), textbook.

[5.] Ascoli, Albert Russell and Krystyna Von Henneberg, eds. Making and Remaking Italy: The Cultivation of National Identity around the Risorgimento (2001)

[6.] De Cesare, Raffaele (1909). The Last Days of Papal Rome. Archibald Constable & Co. p. 443

[7.] Maurizio Isabella, "Aristocratic Liberalism and Risorgimento: Cesare Balbo and Piedmontese Political Thought after 1848." History of European Ideas 39#6 (2013): 835-857.

[8.] Jasper Ridley, Garibaldi (2001)

[9.] Denis Mack Smith, Mazzini (1996).

[10.] Nelson Moe, "'This is not Italy!': Ruling and Representing the South, 1860-1861", in The View from the Vesuvius: Italian Culture and the Southern Question, 156-183 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 166.

Image source:

[1.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Italian-unification.gif
[2.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Episodio_delle_cinque_giornate_%28Baldassare_Verazzi%29.jpg
[3.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Code_Civil_1804.png
[4.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_of_Europe#/media/File:Europe_1815_map_en.png
[5.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Museo_Torre_di_San_Martino_della_Battaglia_-_affresco_05.jpg
[6.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Mazzini#/media/File:Giuseppe_Mazzini.jpg
[7.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/First_meeting_between_Giuseppe_Garibaldi.jpg
[8.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Napol%C3%A9on_III_%C3%A0_la_bataille_de_Solf%C3%A9rino..jpg
[9.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Vittorio_Emanuele_II_ritratto.jpg
[10.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Camillo_benso_Conte_di_Cavour_iii.jpg
[11.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Cacciata_degli_austriaci_da_Bologna_%281848%29.jpg
[12.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_unification#/media/File:Proclamation_of_the_Kingdom_of_Italy.jpg

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Italian Unification | Facts, Summary, Revolution, Historical Context

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Also known as Risorgimento, the Italian unification was a political and social movement that consolidated different states of the Italian peninsula into a single state of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century. The process began in 1815, with the Congress of Vienna acting as a detonator, and was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital.

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A few American border Spaniards plot to overthrow Spanish rule. They were eventually successful in their attempts to overthrow Spanish rule.

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The countries inside of the Austrian empire wanted independence from Austria and to be independent. These evolutions led to the end of Metternich age. He was the prime minister of the empire and was overruled.

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1848 Revolutions in Austria | School History

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The 1848 Revolutions in Austria were a set of revolutions that took place in the Austrian Empire from March 1848 to November 1849. Much of the revolutionary activity had a nationalist character. The Empire ruled from Vienna, it included ethnic Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Romanians, Coats, Italians and Serbs.

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Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini were the fathers of this unification of Italy. They led Italy, with the help of other nations, to overall unity and independence in Italy

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First Italian Unification War | 3 Minute History