Download Cavour and the Italian War of 1859: The Unification of Italy

Cavour and the Italian
War of 1859: The
Unification of Italy
McKay 826-829
Section 13.64:
Italian Unification
Napoleon I
crowns self
King of Italy
Charles Albert
abdicates in favor of
Victor Emmanuel II
(1849)
Constitutional
monarchy
proclaimed in
Piedmont; in
Rome, Republic
proclaimed with
Mazzini as head
1805
1831
Garibaldi invades Sicily
& Italy
-Piemontese army under
Victor Emmanuel take
over from Garibaldi
Cavour
becomes
Prime Minister
in SardiniaPiedmont
1848
"Young Italy" founded by
Mazzini.
Charles Albert invades
Lombardy; Union of Venetia and
Piedmont declared, but after Battle of
Custozza, Charles Albert defeated
1850
War between
Austria and
Sardinia Piedmont
& France
- Sardinia gains
Lombardy
Kingdom of
Italy proclaimed
1861
1871
Italian troops
occupy Rome when
French abandon
city;
1871 (July) Rome
made Capital of
Kingdom
Italian Unification
• The patriotism of the Italians is like that of the
ancient Greeks, and is love of a single town, not
of a country; it is the feeling of a tribe, not of a
nation. Only by foreign conquest have they ever
been united. Leave them to themselves and they
split into fragments.
– Contemporary analysis
• [Italy is] a geographic expression
– Metternich
Nationalism
• Stems from a shared sense of regional and
cultural identity
• Nationalism combines with:
– Liberalism
• Movement towards modernization,
both economic and political unity
– Zollverein = free trade zone which
united German states (Prussia)
– Romanticism & Republicanism
• emphasized the importance of culture
and cultural uniqueness (Herder,
Father Jahn)
• Studied Volksgeist and national
history (Grim Brothers)
• Way to resist French occupation
• rejected the universality of
Enlightenment and stated that each
country had its own unique values
• Socialist Marxism rejects nationalism
– View “class consciousness” as a
universal & scientific fact
– Nationalism is a bourgeoisie invention
Barriers to Italian Unification
•
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Sectionalism
–
Northern Italy (Piedmont)
•
industrialized, centralized
bureaucracy
– Southern Italy (Naples & Sicily)
•
Agrarian, poor
Pope Pius IX
–
Had been sympathetic but after
1848 he denounced the isms of
modernity
•
“The Roman pontiff can and
ought to reconcile …himself
with progress, liberalism, and
modern civilization.” Syllabus
of Errors
Austria
–
Held northern Italian territories of
Lombardy, Venetia after 1815
–
Parma, Tuscany, and Modena
satellites
Italian Nationalism
•
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Italy was reorganized by
Napoleon I and the Congress
of Vienna
– governments content with
their independence
– but governments were
distant from their people
Italian desire for unification
fanned by Risorgimento
Risorgimento= resurgence
– Romantic movement for
Italian national unity and
independence, begun 1815
– Issued pamphlets glorifying
Roman Empire, Italian
uniqueness, and predicting
future Italian greatness
Italy will be united through
“The Heart, The Head, and the
Sword”
Giuseppe Mazzini (The Heart)
• “the spirit” or “the heart” of Italian
Unification,
• one of the first Italian nationalists
• a romantic, liberal, utopian republican
• Wanted:
– democratic republican gov.
– based on universal male suffrage
– Written constitution
• saw the expression of natural
communities, the basis for popular
democracy and international brotherhood
• Founded Young Italy
– Secret society
– Engaged in conspiracies and
propaganda
– Superseded by Risorgimento
• never succeeded
• His big chance came in 1848, but, when
Austria regained control, Mazzini left
1805-1872
Giuseppe Mazzini (18051872), the founder (1831) of Young Italy
• It was not for a material interest that the people of Vienna
fought in 1848; in weakening the empire they could only
lose power. It was not for an increase of wealth that the
people of Lombardy fought in the same year; the Austrian
Government had endeavoured in the year preceding to
excite the peasants against the landed proprietors, as they
had done in Gallicia; but everywhere they had failed. They
struggled, they still struggle, as do Poland, Germany, and
Hungary, for country and liberty; for a word inscribed upon
a banner, proclaiming to the world that they also live, think,
love, and labour for the benefit of all. They speak the same
language, they bear about them the impress of
consanguinity, they kneel beside the same tombs, they
glory in the same tradition; and they demand to associate
freely, without obstacles, without foreign domination, in
order to elaborate and express their idea; to contribute
their stone also to the great pyramid of history.
Camillo di Cavour (The Head)
•
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King Victor Emmanuel’s (Savoy) Prime Minister
Cavour was a Western liberal/Realpolitik practitioner
believed in progress, tolerance, limited suffrage
Directed an efficient government
Built up the infrastructure (RR, docks, agriculture)
Facilitated expansion of credit, lowering tariffs,
promoted free trade
Limited the role of the Church
•
Cut down number of holidays
•
Taxed church property, made clergy subject to Civil
Law
Engineered the unification process
saw nationalism as an avenue to modernization
An Italian Realpolitik
Was not a romantic revolutionary like Mazzini
•
Had tipped off Francis Joseph (Austria) of Mazzini’s
planned insurrection in Lombardy in 1853
Was not a republican (no universal suffrage)
Embraced the toughness of mind
Allied Piedmont with France in Crimean War
Why?
Wanted to gain favor of the French (army)
Piedmont could not oust Austria without French help
Napoleon III
•
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Saw himself as the apostle of modernity
Had traveled Italy and participated in
insurrections there in 1831
Italy was Bonaparte family’s ancestral
home
Believed in idea of “doctrine of
nationalities”
–
Consolidation of nations meant
progress
agreed to help Pied. In war against Austria
Would show France that he supported
liberal causes (by fighting reactionary
Austria)
–
Silence his critics
Said he would support unity if “it could be
justified in the eyes of diplomacy and even
more in the eyes of public opinion…”
Envisioned Italy as four confederated
states under French domination
Cavour promised Nap Nice and Savoy
Plombieres Agreement (1859)
• Plombieres Agreement
– Treaty for war against Austria b/t Cavour &
Louis Napoleon
– stated that if Piedmont were at war
w/Austria then France would back them up
• Cavour wanted Venetia and Lombardy
– but he never intended to fully unify Italy
• Napoleon wanted
– to weaken Austria
– get Nice and Savoy
– get back at the Austrians (for Congress of
Vienna)
• All they needed was an excuse for war
• Austria did some stupid things:
– it imposed military conscription on Venetia
and Lombardy (super unpopular)
– Demanded Piedmont totally disarm on
border region or else war
• played right into Cavour’s hands
Napoleon’s Quandary
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French defeated Austria quickly
But Prussia was mobilizing
–
Nervous about French sphere of
influence
Then something unexpected happened
–
Italy began to erupt with revolutionary
activity
–
local governments were overthrown
–
Calls for unification with Piedmont
were made
Napoleon is no fan of revolution
Papacy was threatened so French
soldiers were sent in to protect pope
–
French Catholics resented the loss of
the Pope’s temporal power
–
Blamed Napoleon for this godless war
–
Napoleon III was fighting on both sides
of the war
So Napoleon III quickly made peace with
Austria
This stupefied Cavour
Treaty of Villafranca (1859)
• Napoleon III made peace b/c he realizes he is
falling into a trap (worried about Piedmont
getting too strong)!
• Piedmont received Lombardi
• Austria kept Venetia
• Offered compromise to the Italian unity
question
• Created a federal union of existing
governments with the Pope in charge
• Not what Cavour or Piedmontese or the patriots
wanted
• Revolution (from bottom up) continued and
drove out rulers of Tuscany, Modena, Parma,
Romagna
• Piedmont annexed these territories and held a
plebiscites
• Pope excommunicated leaders
– Romagna had been part of Papal States
• Reps from north Italy (except Venetia) met in
Turin in 1860 and held first parliament of the
new and improved Italy
Garibaldi (The Sword)
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1860 Italy consists of three parts
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Northern Piedmont
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Papal States
–
Southern States (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies)
ruled by Bourbon king in Naples
Giuseppe Garibaldi from the Piedmont
–
The Lafayette of Italy (Hero of 2 worlds)
–
Soldier of fortune in Uruguay and the United
States
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Organized “Garabaldi’s Thousand” or “Red
Shirts”
•
1, 150 personal followers
–
Led them on armed expedition to southern Italy
Cavour closed his eyes to Garibaldi’s bold move
Garibaldi sailed south and attacked
The corrupt and unpopular governments (2 Sicilys
) collapse
Garibaldi turned north toward Rome
Potential move against the French in Rome and
the Papacy threatened Cavour’s unification efforts
The Completion of Italian Unity
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Cavour anticipated Garibaldi’s move and
sent troops southward while carefully
avoiding Rome
Garibaldi accepts Victor Emmanuel’s
leadership and the north and south are
joined with seceding Papal states
Garibaldi now thought a monarchy was
best solution for unification
Rode in open carriage with Victor
Emmanuel thru streets of Naples
Approved overwhelmingly by Plebiscites
1861 Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed
1866 Venetia was added in return for
Italian support of Prussia against
Austria
1870 Rome was annexed after French
troops withdrew during the FrancoPrussian War
Italy was made by romance of Mazzini,
audacity of Garibaldi and cunning of
Cavour
The Heart, the Sword, and the Head
Italia Irredentism
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Claims for an expanded Italy continued
Nationalists want Dalmatian islands, Nice, Savoy
•
Italia Irredentism- An unredeemed Italy
– Has come to mean a demand for
territory on nationalistic grounds
Catholicism v Nationalism
–
Deep political differences between the Pope
and the new nation of Italy continued
–
Occupation of Rome 1870 (after French left)
renewed Pope’s condemnation
–
Italy took the Papal states
–
Pope secluded to Vatican city
Sectionalism/Republicanism/Socialism v
Nationalism
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Great differences between northern and
southern Italy continued to exist
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North looks upon South as backward
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Few within Italy possessed the vote
•
Only 600 thou out of 20 mil can vote
Garibaldi completes Italian
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fueled revolutionary discontent
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Gradually the revolutionary movement shifted unification & slips the Italian
Boot on King Victor Emmanuel
•
Marxian socialism, Anarchism,
Syndicalism