Italy Unification (1859-1870)

  • During middle nineteenth century, Italy divided into seven states.
  • Only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house.
  • The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the centre was ruled by the Pope and southern regions by Bourbon kings of Spain.
  • 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic, formed secret society called Young Italy.
  • The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 meant that the mantle now fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war.
  • Chief Minister Cavour who led the movement to unify the regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat.
  • Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.
  • Leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1860, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Succeeded, to drive out the Spanish rulers. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy.


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