Key takeaways
- Wikipedia describes the Risorgimento as a movement that in 1861 annexed Italian states to the Kingdom of Sardinia, creating the Kingdom of Italy.
- The Parliament in Turin proclaimed Victor Emmanuel II King of Italy on 17 March 1861, the date Italy marks as its unification anniversary.
- The US Office of the Historian notes Italy incorporated Venetia and the former Papal States, including Rome, by 1871.
- Italian troops entered Rome through the breach at Porta Pia on 20 September 1870; the capital officially moved there in July 1871.
- Some historians extend the Risorgimento to 1918 or the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo, when Trento and Trieste were added.
The unification of Italy did not happen in a single year. The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on 17 March 1861, but Venice joined only in 1866, Rome in 1870, and Trento and Trieste after the First World War. The US State Department's Office of the Historian puts the core of it in two sentences: the modern state began in 1861 with the unification of most of the peninsula under the House of Savoy, and it incorporated Venetia and the former Papal States, including Rome, by 1871.
The clearest way to follow the Risorgimento — "resurgence" — is in stages, because each one was won by different people using different means.
The starting position after 1815
Before unification, the Office of the Historian notes, the United States dealt separately with the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Papal States, and kept consuls in ports up and down a fragmented peninsula. Austria held Lombardy–Venetia. Wikipedia credits Napoleonic rule with having swept away much of the old feudal order and with supplying the intellectual force behind unification movements after 1814 (the French side is in Napoleon's rise and fall).
Three currents competed. Giuseppe Mazzini, whom Wikipedia describes formulating in prison a programme for a free, republican Italy with Rome as capital, founded Young Italy after his release in 1831. Giuseppe Garibaldi, sentenced to death after an uprising in 1834, spent fourteen years in South America learning guerrilla warfare. And the monarchy of Piedmont-Sardinia offered a state with an army.
Stage one: 1848–1849, the failure that taught lessons
In 1848 King Charles Albert of Sardinia declared war on Austria and was decisively defeated at Custoza on 24 July. A Roman Republic was proclaimed on 9 February 1849 with Mazzini among its leaders, and fell to French intervention.
Wikipedia draws out what the patriots took from defeat: the small Italian states were outmatched by France and Austria; France would have to be paid for its help; the pope could not lead a united Italy; and republicanism was too weak, so unification would have to rest on Piedmont's monarchy under Victor Emmanuel II.
Stage two: Cavour, France and the war of 1859
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, became Piedmont's prime minister in 1852. Wikipedia calls him a moderniser of railways, banks and the army, and notes that joining Britain and France in the Crimean War in 1855 gave his diplomacy legitimacy with the great powers.
The pay-off came in April 1859, when Cavour, with a secret alliance with Napoleon III, provoked Austria into war. Wikipedia gives Austria an army of 140,000 against Sardinia's 70,000 — two to one — but the French arrived in time. After defeats at Magenta on 4 June and Solferino, Austria signed the Armistice of Villafranca on 12 July, giving up Lombardy. Tuscany, Parma, Modena and the Papal Legations were annexed on 22 March 1860. The bill arrived two days later: under the Treaty of Turin of 24 March 1860, Savoy and Nice went to France.
Stage three: Garibaldi's Thousand, 1860
The south was taken by volunteers. On 6 May 1860 Garibaldi sailed from Quarto near Genoa with about a thousand men, landed near Marsala, won at Calatafimi on 13 May and, Wikipedia notes, within three days had swelled to 4,000. He proclaimed himself dictator of Sicily in Victor Emmanuel's name, took Palermo, crossed to the mainland and entered Naples by train on 7 September.
When Garibaldi announced he would proclaim a Kingdom of Italy from Rome, the pope threatened excommunication and the decision, Wikipedia says, rested with Napoleon III. A Sardinian army marched south through the Papal States with Naples, not Rome, as its objective. At Teano Garibaldi greeted Victor Emmanuel as King of Italy and handed over his conquests. On 17 March 1861 the parliament in Turin proclaimed Victor Emmanuel King of Italy; Cavour died about three months later.
Stage four: Venetia in 1866 and Rome in 1870
Venetia came through someone else's war. Allied with Prussia in 1866, Italy lost on land at Custoza on 24 June and at sea at Lissa on 20 July, but Prussia's victory forced Austria to cede Venetia, which passed through Napoleon III to Italy on 19 October.
The referendum that followed on 21 and 22 October is a useful exercise in reading a number. Wikipedia reports 69 votes against out of more than 642,000 ballots. That is 69 ÷ 642,000 ≈ 0.011%, which Wikipedia rounds to 0.01% — and it notes that historians suggest the vote was held under military pressure. A result that one-sided is evidence about how the vote was run as much as about opinion.
Rome followed the fall of France. Napoleon III withdrew his garrison in August 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War; Italian troops breached the walls at Porta Pia on 20 September 1870, at a cost Wikipedia gives as 49 Italian soldiers and four officers, and 19 papal troops. A plebiscite on 2 October annexed Rome and Latium, and the capital officially moved from Florence in July 1871. Pius IX declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican.
Where the story ends depends on who tells it
Wikipedia notes that the Central Museum of the Risorgimento in Rome presents the movement as continuing to 1918 or the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo, when Italian-speaking Trento and Trieste were added — which is why choosing an end date is a periodisation decision, not a fact waiting to be found.
The new state's critics are part of the record too. Wikipedia quotes the historian Martin Clark — "It was Piedmontization all around" — on how Piedmont's constitution, taxes and officials were imposed nationwide, and describes savage insurrections in Sicily and the Naples region in the kingdom's first decade.
World History Timeline Sim, our app, lets you browse events by country and year, which suits a story told in stages; how historians date events explains why one event can carry several dates. The app is a companion to coursework, and its what-if outcomes are simulated rather than real. More is collected under education and brain training.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
In what year was Italy unified?
What were the separate roles of Mazzini, Cavour and Garibaldi?
Why did Italy cede Nice and Savoy to France?
How did Venetia become part of Italy?
Sources
- A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Italy (opens in a new tab)Office of the Historian, US Department of State — accessed
- Unification of Italy (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
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