Italian nationalism and the unification of Italy
Giles Poole
In the period before 1861, a combination of factors led to the unification of Italy. Two men in particular played important roles, they being Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian revolutionary and hero of Risorgimento ; and Count Cavour, Prime Minister of the Italian State of Piedmont. However, while the actions of Garibaldi were certainly motivated by Italian nationalism, it is certainly arguable that Cavour never truly believed in or desired the unification of Italy, only the expansion of the State of Piedmont. This would therefore show that Piedmontese expansionism was an important factor in the unification of Italy. Furthermore, we must also consider the role of nationalist societies, as well as Giuseppe Mazzini, considered by many the founding father of the Risorgimento. Nationalist secret societies such as the Carbonari, (who were especially strong in southern Italy, with around 60,000 members in Naples 130 ) were the first to campaign towards Unification. Members were enthusiastic, patriotic and daring, however with no clear political agenda, factions struggled to work together and little progress was made towards Unification. However Giuseppe Mazzini did certainly play a part in the Unification of Italy. Not only was he a tireless supporter of Italian nationalism, but also he was the one who originally converted Garibaldi to the cause, along with a large number of young Italians. However, while he certainly can be considered an Italian nationalist, it is questionable how significant his role was in the Unification. First of all, his ideas were very radical for the time, and so this alienated a number of important people. For example his belief in equal rights and democracy for all meant moderate liberals saw him as dangerous, his determination to avoid foreign interference
made it hard to attract French support, his ideas of redistribution of wealth meant he received no support from wealthy figures, and his ideal of republicanism meant that individual Italian rulers disliked him. Therefore it is not surprising that he was on the whole not materially involved in the Unification of Italy; in fact, his last piece of active contribution was in the governing of the Roman Republic, over 10 years before Unification in 1861. Furthermore he was absent from the country for over 40 years in total, and so became out of touch with the events in Italy, meaning his ideas of the development of an Italian national identity were exaggerated. On the other hand, we cannot ignore the fact that he recruited whole swathes of Italian youth to the cause. In fact, Mack Smith described him as the ‘Great teacher and inspiration of rebellious youth’ and the ‘greatest prophet of Risorgimento. Many of these recruits joined his group Young Italy, and while their exploits were on the whole were ineffectual (such as the Naples uprising of 1832 and the anti-Austrian revolt in Milan 1853), they were involved in starting the Anti-Neapolitan uprising in Palermo, which was the reason for Garibaldi’s expedition to capture Sicily (thus diverting him from starting a campaign against the French government to recover Nice, something that would not have helped the cause of Unification). Therefore, while Mazzini was influential in the sense that he recruited and inspired many, his lack of active, effective contribution to the unification of Italy means that he cannot be considered the most important figure in the unification. One figure who does need to be discussed is Prime Minister Cavour, who dictated the policy of Piedmont. While his exploits did contribute to the Unification of Italy, it is arguable that he was never a real supporter of Italian nationalism. He undeniably always put Piedmontese interests before the interests of Italian unity, and like many in Turin, he was
130 Robert Pearce and Andrina Stiles, The Unification of Italy 1815-70 (Hodder Murray; London, 2006) p. 20
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