Italian Unification
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Italian Unification
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi can be seen as a contrast between two inspirational and great leaders during the time of the Italian Unification. Cavour was a nobleman, always calm and well educated while Garibaldi was a rough passionate soldier with little education. Though these men both contributed greatly to the unifying of Italy, they are very different in their accomplishments as well as their motives.
Garibaldi had been a republican, under the influence of Giuseppe Mazzini in 1831, but turned monarchist, showing his allegiance to Victor Emmanuel. He was very passionate about uniting Italy and spent his entire life fighting for the expulsion of Austrian control and to be independent.
Cavour was nominated First Minister of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia in 1852, however at this point in time, he showed little interest in the unifying of Italy. He participated in many foreign affairs starting in 1853 with the Crimean War where he entered Piedmontese troops alongside the French. This led him to attended the peace conference of Paris in 1856. “Certain historians, have maintained that the Piedmontese intervention in the war was part of a deep-laid plan of Cavours to intrude himself into the Congress where, it is claimed, his effects contributed greatly to unification” By participating in this war along with the greatest powers in Europe, Cavour was able to gain respect and allies if he would happen to go against Austria, one of them being France. Plots were devised in hopes to bring down Austria, France looking to become the strongest power if Austria were to be defeated and Piedmont, looking to be freed from Austrias control and eventually be able to unite.
“(The plan for) Piedmont was to expand over northern Italy once Austria had been defeated, but the Pope and the King of Naples were to be left alone, and no stipulations were made about the form of government to be adopted in the proposed Kingdom of Central Italy” .
What they needed was an operation to provoke Austria into war, making them look like the aggressors. “In April 1859 Austria issued an ultimatum demanding unilateral demobilization by
4 Piedmont. The Austrians had mobilized a large army in northern Italy, but could not afford the expense of maintaining it for long” . This began the War of 1859. Cavour played it so if Austria lost, Lombardy and Venetia would be released from Austrian control, in which they did.
Garibaldi however, had different ideas for Italy. He wanted Rome, Venetia, Naples and Sicily to become part of a united Italy as soon as possible. Cavour believed in using diplomacy and limited war to unite Italy while Garibaldis plan was for a military expedition. Garibaldi was able to invade Sicily and appointed himself the dictator. While there, he abolished many tax collections upon crops, but also helped suppress peasant revolts, winning the support of landowners but not the peasants. This caused much more violence and instability, which prevented his idea of using Sicily as a starting ground for an attack upon the mainland, which he considered a stage in the unification. With Garibaldis invasion of Sicily a success, Cavour wanted to annex Sicily to Piedmont immediately. However, Sicily was part of the Kingdom of Naples and though they wanted their independence from Naples, they did not want to be controlled by Piedmont. Meanwhile,Garibaldi began his march to Rome to over the Papal States.
. Cavour greatly feared that the growing popularity of Garibaldi in Sicily, Naples and now Piedmont could eventually make him the leader of a successful revolutionary coup and take over Piedmont and then all of Italy. Cavour knew that something had to be done to stop this from happening. He organized an invasion of the Papal States with the Piedmontese army to stop Garibaldi before he reached Rome. When this interception occurred, all of south Italy and central Italy became under the control of Piedmont and gave Cavour the opportunity to unify. “Cavours decision to take the drastic step of invading the Papal States had been successful and had made the unification of Italy a reality.”
After Cavours success, he arranged for plebiscites in Naples, Sicily and then the Papal States. The question asked, Should there be a united Italy under Victor Emmanuel? had a overwhelming in favor vote. In March of 1861, the