This paper examines the forces — both political and popular — that drove Italian unification in the mid-nineteenth century. It traces the competing visions of key leaders: Giuseppe Mazzini's republican idealism, Giuseppe Garibaldi's militant campaigns with his Thousand, and Count Cavour's cautious constitutionalism, alongside the support of Pallavicino and Victor Emmanuel II. The paper also considers how ordinary Italians — soldiers, citizens, and farmers — participated in and shaped the Risorgimento. Drawing on primary accounts from Garibaldi, soldier Giuseppe Cesare Abba, and diplomatic correspondence, the essay argues that Italian nationalism succeeded because shared ideals transcended the personal and political differences of its leaders.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Italy faced a great number of obstacles that would have impeded unification, but for the movement of its leaders and fighters who banded together under a shared ideal. Prior to the nineteenth century, Italy was split into many states and kingdoms, each corresponding to different ethnic peoples. Through the political activism of celebrated figures such as Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour, Pallavicino, and Victor Emmanuel II — and through the people's enthusiasm for seeing their kingdoms united — Italian nationalism was not merely a dream shared by many. In every respect, it also became a reality.
Of the proponents of Italian unification, perhaps the most vocal was revolutionary activist Giuseppe Mazzini. Like many nationalists, he believed that the strength of a nation came not from the individual powers of states, but from the unification of a people around a common idea. Mazzini was a firm proponent of this belief, having argued that to resolve the "question of nationality," one had to "[remake] the map of Europe" ("On Nationality"). In doing so, he drew public attention to the rest of Europe, where German-speaking peoples of Poland, Germany, Austria, and Hungary continued to fight wars that could have been avoided had those nations banded together under one form of government. A strong kingdom, Mazzini insisted, could only be realized through the solidarity of people who share the same ideals, having stated that "before acting, the instrument for action must be organized; before building, the ground must be one's own" ("On Nationality").
Mazzini's beliefs resonated with some of his celebrated peers. Italian war hero Giuseppe Garibaldi also believed in a unified, nationalistic Italy — a single state for its people. Garibaldi was a man of action and military conviction, however, and his approach was more direct than Mazzini's. Their beliefs were not altogether identical. Mazzini favored unification through subversion — through educating a "[republican and Unitarian] Young Italy" of revolutionaries who would stand for progress and the betterment of the nation ("Liberty"). Garibaldi, by contrast, believed that Italy could only be united under one government by bringing the various states together under a single leadership. His strategy was to conquer the kings of the cities, thereby uniting the people under his cause and strengthening Italy.
Garibaldi's method of unification struck many contemporaries as dictatorial, yet this did not halt the Risorgimento he led. In Palermo, Garibaldi and his Thousand emerged victorious, advancing his goal of unification. During negotiations with the Bourbon army, Garibaldi vehemently argued against any "formal declaration of respectful obeisance to the Bourbon King Francis II" ("Palermo"), insisting that bowing to a Bourbon king would move his cause in entirely the wrong direction. Accounts from soldiers who served with him confirm that his leadership powerfully boosted troop morale. Soldier Giuseppe Bandi, who sailed with Garibaldi to Sicily during the invasion of 1860, described Garibaldi as the beacon of liberty, having "made himself [liberty's] paladin" (Document 17). To the Thousand, Garibaldi's methods represented an honorable attempt to unite Italy.
This did not prevent some Italian leaders from distrusting Garibaldi, however. Count Camillo Cavour, a constitutional founder of the Kingdom of Italy, was particularly skeptical of Garibaldi and his Thousand. In various letters to leaders of Italy's southern kingdoms, Cavour advised against supporting "[Garibaldi] openly" or "[encouraging] private efforts on his behalf" (Document 18). Among Cavour's staunch supporters were Giorgio Pallavicino and Victor Emmanuel II. Pallavicino opposed Garibaldi's approach; like Cavour, he believed Garibaldi was too much of a dictator and would strip power from a king who could justly rule a united Italy. Victor Emmanuel served as King of Piedmont, Savoy, and Sardinia until 1861, when he was subsequently appointed King of Italy following the creation of the unified state.
Cavour's anxieties about a weakened Italy deepened when Garibaldi marched victoriously into the Kingdom of Naples. With Garibaldi's string of victories and his initial refusal to relinquish power, Victor Emmanuel's authority stood to diminish to the point that, unless the king himself joined forces with Garibaldi, the prospect of a united Italy seemed remote. This fear, however, did not reach its worst extreme. At a meeting between Emmanuel and Garibaldi, an observer named Farini described what appeared to be Garibaldi's acknowledgment of the "true" King of Italy:
Garibaldi went forward at the head of several hundred of his red-shirted men, and shouted, 'Long live the King of Italy'. Then there was a chorus of 'Viva', and the king affectionately took the hand of the legendary hero. We all rode together to Teano, Garibaldi on the left of the king, the rest of us…all mixed up with the red shirts on horse-back, Lombards, Venetians, Englishmen, Piedmontese, Genoese, Romagnoli (Document 20).
The leaders were certainly proponents of a united Italy, despite their differing visions of how to achieve it. The people, however, embraced the undertaking wholeheartedly. Throughout Garibaldi's march with his Thousand, it was evident that ordinary Italians were just as vocal about unification. Accounts by both Garibaldi and Giuseppe Cesare Abba — one of Garibaldi's Thousand — detail the participation of Italian citizens and volunteer soldiers on the campaign from Palermo toward Sicily and Naples.
Garibaldi's own account of the assault on Palermo reveals the depth of popular feeling toward his cause. While the Bourbons bombarded the city's inhabitants, the atmosphere at Garibaldi's arrival was one of fierce triumph. According to Garibaldi, "[the] local women were awe-inspiring in their patriotic fervor. Amidst the chaos of bombs and rifle-fire they cheered and applauded and waved us on" ("Palermo"). When Garibaldi told the people of Palermo that he had rejected the Bourbon proposal, the crowd erupted: "a roar of indignation and approval rose up unanimously from the noble-hearted crowd" ("Palermo"). He further described the scene:
Soldiers and citizens threw themselves into decision-making and activity…Women of every class went down into the streets to urge on the workers and the soldiers. The English and American officers from the ships in the port gave us their revolvers and hunting guns. Some of the Sardinian officers were also sympathetic to our cause… ("Assault on Palermo")
"Citizens and soldiers support and complicate Garibaldi's march"
Italy's strength was truly found in the similar ideals held by the leaders and the people of the nation. The dream of a unified Kingdom of Italy would not have been realized had those leaders not overcome their differences — the revolutionary treatises of Mazzini, the dictatorial tendencies of Garibaldi, the suspicions of Cavour and Pallavicino, and the monarchic authority of Victor Emmanuel II. Equally important were the reactions of the people, whose cries and enthusiasm for unification rang loudly and rang true throughout the nation. "[Without] unity there is no true nation; because, without unity there is no real strength" ("Liberty"). Even against the many obstacles that lined the path to unification, Italian nationalism paved the way for a united Italy, its collective strength breaking down the boundaries that had long divided the country's ethnic states.
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