2018 Italian Unification

NAME: ____________________________ PERIOD: ___ DATE: ____________
MRS. BRANFORD GLOBAL HISTORY 10

~ ITALIAN UNIFICATION ~
Timeline of Italian Unification
(1849 – 1878)
1849 Victor Emmanuel II
becomes king of Sardinia
1852 Count Cavour becomes

prime minister of Piedmont
1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi’s

invasion of the Two Sicilies
March Kingdom of Italy is

17, 1861 proclaimed
1866 Italy annexes Venetia

The Soul, The Brain, and The Sword of Italian Unification
1870 Italy annexes Rome, uniting
all of the Italian peninsula
After Napoleon I’s empire crumbled, the representatives at the Congress of Vienna decided to award
most of northern Italy to the Austrian Empire and to grant authority to several monarchs throughout the Italian
peninsula, instead of unifying them. Despite the Austrian Empire’s attempts to suppress it, nationalistic fervor
[passion] inspired by the French Revolution took hold of the Italians.
Revolutionary groups formed in Italy and tried to organize the people into revolt. Giuseppe Mazzini,
who was later known as “the soul” of Italian unification, was a part of one of the most influential groups, known
as the Carbonari, that created a secret organization called Young Italy in 1831. In southern Italy, another
member of the Carbonari, a general named Giuseppe Garibaldi gathered nationalistic volunteers called red
shirts to fight with him against the Austrian Empire and those Italian monarchs who did want to unify Italy.
Between 1814 and 1849, the rebellions started by nationalist organizations like those led by Mazzini and
Garibaldi were stamped down by local forces or Austrian troops. As a result, both Mazzini and Garibaldi were
exiled for their revolutionary actions. They returned when leaders in northern Italy started a campaign that
eventually brought Italy together.
In 1849, Victor Emmanuel II, a supporter of Italian unification, became the King of Sardinia in the
Piedmont region of northern Italy. Camillo di Cavour, an experienced and savvy diplomat, became
Emmanuel’s president of the Council of Ministers in 1852. Emmanuel and Cavour, with the help of France,
used Piedmontese and French troops to successfully pushed the Austrians out of Northern and Central Italy,
expanding the Kingdom of Sardinia to a large amount of the Italian peninsula by 1859.
Garibaldi, who had returned to Italy to aid in the unification, was convinced by Cavour in May of 1860
to concentrate his forces on Sicily where recent rebellions demonstrated that there was support for their cause.
Garibaldi and about a thousand red shirts conquered Sicily in three days. Garibaldi went on to attack several
other cities and invaded Naples, gaining support from the people and becoming a national hero in the process.
To finally defeat the army of Naples, Garibaldi needed help from the Sardinian army. Under Victor
Emmanuel’s command the Sardinian army marched south, defeating the Papal states, and coming to Garibaldi’s
aid. Garibaldi gave over his command to Emmanuel and they defeated the king of Naples. Only Rome and
Venetia remained. On February 18, 1861, Victor Emmanuel assembled the deputies of the first Italian
Parliament in Turin. On March 17 1861, the Parliament proclaimed Victor Emmanuel II King of Italy.
By 1871 both Venetia and Rome came under the control of the Italian government. Venetia was won
because the Italians sided with the Prussians in the Prusso-Austrian War in 1866 and Rome was taken by force
when French troops left the city to defend France against Prussia in 1870.
Source: Adapted from “Italian Unification.” New World Encyclopedia. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Italian_unification
1. Identify the four most important leaders of Italian Unification and explain why they were significant.
2. Which countries/empires did the Italians have to fight or make deals with to gain control of the entire Italian
peninsula?
3. How is Italian Unification and example of Nationalism?

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NAME: __________________________ PERIOD: _ DATE: ____________

MRS. BRANFORD GLOBAL HISTORY 10

1852 Count Cavour becomes

1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi’s

March Kingdom of Italy is

1866 Italy annexes Venetia

3. How is Italian Unification and example of Nationalism?

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