Essay Planning: Italian Unification

Question 1

Give Three Reasons for the Revolution in Italy in 1848?

Answer 1

Peasant Discontent

Nationalism

Liberalism

Question 2

How did Peasant Discontent cause the Revolution of Italy in 1848?

Answer 2

Peasant Discontent was paramount due to the failure of the Harvests in 1846/1847

This meant that there was a low supply of Wheat meaning that there were soaring prices increasing by 50%

Historian Jonathan Sperber - ‘in the mid-1840s, the high-prices, followed by indebtedness, poor business conditions and widespread-unemployment reflected the poor economic conditions in Europe’

• Continuing fall in agricultural prices since 1815
• Extract from a pamphlet issued in 1847 – “The condition of peasants is appalling. They dig all day just enough to obtain bread and oil”
• February 1848 – Food riots in Lombardy and some land seizures in Tuscany
• Meagre Seasonal Harvest in 1846 and 1847

Question 3

Give Evidence that Peasant Discontent was short lived in the Revolutions of 1848?

Answer 3

Italian revolutionary movements raised issues that had little interest for most peasants.

Demands for constitutional government, voting and civil rights, and national independence reflected and essentially urban and middle-class agenda. Revolutionary elements that were willing to confront the “Agrarian Question” were a minority everywhere. Peasant support for the revolution waned quickly after March 1848.

Question 4

How do some Historians try to refute the notion that Peasant Discontent was insignificant?

Why are these refutes wrong?

Answer 4

Some Historians try to refute this argument saying that after March 1848 many peasants served the national cause in the war against Austria as conscripts in the Piedmonts army.

A Significant exception, peasants either dropped out or turned against the revolution most notably so in Venetia, where peasant support was scorned by the revolutionary government and courted by the Austrians.

Question 5

Give Five Reasons Why the 1848 Revolutions failed?

Answer 5

Foreign intervention

The refusal of the Pope to support the revolutions

Lack of involvement from the masses

Lack of national leadership and aims

Question 6

How did Foreign Intervention contribute to the failure of the Revolutions of 1848?

Answer 6

Austrian intervention led not only to revolts continuously being crushed but also to the absolutist rule being restored by reinstating previous rulers

Piedmont was Italy’s strongest state and the fact that they couldn’t defeat Austria showed a great failure for the revolutionaries.

In the Austrian battles with both Piedmont and Venetia (where the Austrians surrendered for a short period of time in March 1848) success didn’t last long for the revolutionaries as Austria ultimately returned and crushed the revolutions using their strong military, showing they are clearly a very important reason as to why the 1848 revolutions failed.

Austria’s military power was also shown as they used troops on several occasions to restore previous monarchies that had fled to their thrones. Austria ensured none of the rulers forced to flee were away for long. For example, in Parma & Modena the rulers were restored as well as in Tuscany where Austria restored the Grand Duke who had fled in January 1849. This shows Austria’s great military power affecting all areas of Italy.

Question 7

What Plebisicte occured in 1860?

Answer 7

By the year 1860 however, a plebiscite in the mainland South demonstrated the majority of people’s desire for unity under Victor Emmanuel, with 1,302,064 voting for amalgamation. This signifies that it was not the lack of interest in unification, but more the inability and inconsistencies present throughout the areas of Italy that resulted in divisions, both socially and politically

Question 8

Why did the Pope mean that the Revolution of 1848 failed?

Answer 8

Pope Against Unification

Seen by Catholics as God’s representative on Earth
Pope made clear that the unification of the kingdom of Italy were “contrary to God’s wishes”

Establishing an idea meant forming a negative view towards unification amongst much of the nation, posing a challenge in rousing any form of interest in endeavouring to unify the states of the peninsula

Anyone who opposed the Pope was going against the divine cause of protecting the Church and with a high percentage of the population remainingfailthful; this was a very controversial matter

Question 9

What is Cavour credited with?

Answer 9

Establishing Piedmont as the leading economic power in Italy

• Building good relations with France and Britain so that these two great powers supported Piedmont’s cause
• Defeating Austria

Question 10

What did Cavour do?

Answer 10

Brought about stability by negotiating an alliance between the centre-left in the assembly and the centre right

Make Italy more liberal and modern

Cavour ended Customs duties with France, Britain, Belgium, and Austria to introduce Free Trade  Improved Piedmont’s status and helped its military development

Introduced the National Bank, the forerunner of Italy

Developed Railways and bult the Frejus Rail tunnel (BY 1859, 850/986 KM OF RAILWAY IN ITALY WERE PIEDMONTS)  Helped its military development

Piedmont was increasingly admired in British and French governing circles, and this laid the basis for the essential diplomacy that was to lead to unification

Question 11

Why do Some people downplay Cavour’s significance?

Answer 11

-Cavour’s single minded determination

-France alone would ally with Piedmont in order to defeat Austria

-The emergence of an unstable French Regime that was attracted to the idea of fighting Austria in Italy

Question 12

What did Mazzini do for Italian Unification?

Answer 12

Spreading Nationalistic and Patriotic ideas was Mazzinis line of duty

With the purpose of changing Italy into a ‘one, independent and free republic’ by a popular uprising he created the Young Italy, a movement that by 1833 consisted of 60,000 members and was spreading towards other countries, eventually creating the Young Europe.

Question 13

Limitations of the work of Mazzini?

Answer 13

Mazzini believed that the popular revolutions that he had in plans would help to achieve the state of his dreams, but all the following uprisings, e.g. the one in 1834 in Piedmont, organised in co-operation with Garibaldi, ended in failure and Mazzini, once again arrested and with a death sentence, was forced to go into exile to London.

In politics, however, he had some achievements, for during his exiles (1837-1840 and 1850) he gained the British sympathy and support for the case and for himself, which was important, for it gave the Unification the recognition on the international arena.

Question 14

Historians’ view on Mazzini?

Answer 14

Denis Mach Smith Biography 1994 Mazzini wanted ‘the brotherhood of people’

Many claim that Mazzini’s work was ‘pure fantasy’

Farmer describes him as a ‘doer’ and not merely a ‘thinker’

Question 15

How did Garibaldi lead to unification?

Answer 15

For Italy, Garibaldi is the ultimate hero.

Took a leading role in attempting to sustain the revolutions of 1848

He was the key reason why Italian unification being not simply a matter for the more developed north of Italy

His daring expedition le to Sicily falling to the nationalists, the invasion of Naples and the historic meeting with Vittore Emanuele

Without this expedition, there would have been no Italy

Garibaldi was the doer, the soldier, the man of action

Question 16

Farmer Views of Garibaldi?

Answer 16

Farmer –> ‘educated, impetuous and first and foremost a soldier’

‘very different from the wily Cavour’

‘attracted by Mazzinian ideas’

According to historian Denis Mack Smith, a writer for Britannica, the majority of the military victories during the Risorgimento were led by Garibaldi. This military precision, combined with Garibaldi’s unwavering patriotism and personal charm, made him a celebrated icon of Italian nationalism. Smith writes, “the object of his nationalism was always the liberation of peoples and not patriotic aggrandizement.”

Question 17

Simpson and Jones’ views of Garibaldi?

Answer 17

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Question 18

What was the Rome Question?

Answer 18

Rome Question’

Pope had lost Papal States to the new Italy, and papal lands were now restricted to Rome, which was protected by French troops.

The facts that Rome could not be a part of Italy had major implications  It’s the most famous city, implied a rift with the Catholic Church

Beyond the symbolic importance of Rome at the heart of Italy, the absence of Rome meant that there were significant numbers of Italian speakers living outside the borders of the new Italian states

To the likes of Garibaldi, the absence of Rome was heart-wrenching since it was seen as a necessity.

This created a problem for Italy in the 1860s as it meant that they weren’t fully unified.

Question 19

What was the problem of the south?

Answer 19

THE PROBLEM OF THE SOUTH

• Problems of Taxation  Italy heavily in debt  Piedmont forced to take on these debts
• Further South, Italy was a poor country. Outside Piedmont there were limited railways, and roads in some areas were badly in need if repair.
• Agricultural productivity in many areas was low and farming methods were backwards
• The New Government raised taxes on salt and tobacco and applied the Piedmontese tax on the milling grain – the macinto- to the whole of Italy
• Anger in the south as a result of these new taxes
• In areas of central Italy, attacks on tax collectors were accompanied by shouts of “Long live the Pope”
• Another response to the increase in taxes was emigration to the North and South America.
• In 1850, less than 4000 Italians were reportedly in the USA: after mass emigration began in 1876, the Italian population of the USA grew to 44,000 by 1880.

Question 20

Lack of a Unified Feeling

Answer 20

2.) Lack of a Unified Feeling  A point in case being the Brigands War and what happened Pontelandolfo

Pontelandolfo  Start of a new kingdom caused civil unrest. On August 14 1861, a band of outlaws entered the small town of Pontelandolfo ans started rioting against conscription,

They burned the Italian flag and murdered a tax collector

One of them left an account of what happened  “immediately began shooting the priests and men we came across”

The events in Pontelandolfo of 1862 are of considerable interest to present-day inhabitants of the Campania region, and there is still resentment of the violence and the imposition of what seemed to be alien rule by a foreign power.

The New Italy Suffered from both Regional and Social Discontent as the historian Giulano Proacci (1970) comments, ‘Mass protest thus became a constant social and political feature of the new Italy’

Italian state failed to acknowledge the civil war in the south, regarding it as merely a campaign against ‘bandits’

However, the truth was that a large number of the annexed inhabitants of th south resisted Piedmont rule so much so that by 1864, 100k troops were being deployed in the South

It was easy for Piedmont’s government to summon up images of a healthy north allied with a diseased south that was infecting Italy with a sort of moral gangrene.

Question 21

Examine the reasons why the attempts to unify Italy were more successful in 1859-60 than they had been in 1848-9?

Answer 21

1.) Leadership  Cavour
2.) Less Foreign Intervention
3.) Stronger Nationalism

Question 22

Proacci G. 1970 History of the Italian People view on Revolution of 1848?

Answer 22

“The defeat of the 1848 movement was certainly a grave blow to the cause of Italian independence and liberty; but this had by now gone too far on its way to be stopped”

Question 23

Adapted from Duggan, C. 2007. The force of destiny?

Answer 23

“As the revolutionary movement collapsed, everywhere in Italy except in Piedmont the clocks wwere turned back”

“Instead the floodgates had been opened and a dangerous tide of social and political unrest unleashed “

“In Piedmont the new king was eager after his father’s defeat to revoke the constitution, but the Austrians made him keep it”

Question 24

Why to some, was the Revolutions of 1848 considered as a success?

Answer 24

A prime example of partial success was when streets were full of people in Naples and Sicily, but whether they were ordinary sightseers or revolutionaries is impossible to say, came forward after hearing about talks of Revolution in the Public Square due to the lack of reforms being given.

Arms were available had been handed out there were clashes with the government troops. Next day peasants from outside the city arrived to join in the rising. The Neapolitan army retold by the shelling the city and they would join two days later by 5000 reinforcements. They found that revolutionaries had sex play successfully taken over the city and were demanding a restoration of the famous 1812 constitution that had been abolished by the king of Naples in 1816. A compromise was offered. It was refused. Fighting continued on by the revolutionaries had taken over most of the island. Are provisional government was set up with the help of middle class moderates will becoming anxious about what the peasants might do next. A civic guards formed to control the masses who are marching on town and villages what, destroying properties, freeing prisoners and burning tax collection records for stop a parliament was elected and it declared the Naples and Sicily were finally totally separated and divided and the king of Naples was no longer king of Sicily. This is evidence that there were some success as the Syrians Ames we’re always in 1848 to free themselves from Naples. They were not concerned with national unity and wanted a separatist movement and so they got it. Thus the revolutions of 18 votes a liberated Sicily which suggests that the author Terry state at the time did not always manage to control Sicily.

Question 25

Why was Italy not a united country due to divisions?

Answer 25

In many ways, it is difficult to justify the use of the term ‘unity’

For example, south resented the imposition of what they saw as ‘foreign’ rule and especially military service and new taxation by Piedmont

This is because there was no federal rule in which the different regions had their own local impositions

Instead Piedmont’s, laws, administration and government were imposed which is exactly what Cavour wanted.

Led to a large scale rebellion by many area of research indicates this was a popula uprising similar to a civil war

Thousands of troops were enegaged in suppressing the rising, which left resentment that has lasted to the present day

Question 26

What Italy Politically Unified by 1871?

Answer 26

Politically, there as greater unity in the sense of new national instructions

National Monarchy, but Vittore Emmanuel’s heart really lay in Piedmont rather than Italy as a whole.

The monarch took their title from Piedmont, so vittore Emmanuel was not VE I of Italy; but rather VEII of Piedmont who became king of Italy

The same is true of the parliament and electoral system

Official language was the classic Italian of northern Italy although remember Hearder

All this did give Italy a greater sense of unity but it was imposed rather than coming from geniune integration

Question 27

As historian Alexander Grab explains in Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe

Answer 27

efore Napoléon’s invasion in 1796, there were ten Italian states: the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, and the Republic of Lucca, the Papal State, the Duchy of Modena, the Duchy of Parma, the Grand-Duchy of Tuscany, and the Kingdom of Naples. States were drastically different from one another in terms of culture, economic layout, laws, language and dialect, and currency–there was no semblance of unity on the peninsula.

Question 28

What did Grab say about Nationalism in Italy?

Answer 28

Provincial and municipal rivalries and competition between city and country intensified the diversity

Question 29

Aaron Gillette describes in his book Racial Theories in Fascist Italy, Mazzini’s

Answer 29

As scholar Aaron Gillette describes in his book Racial Theories in Fascist Italy, Mazzini’s vision of nationalism was rooted in the perception of ancient Rome as the birthplace of modern civilisation, responsible for many values and practices in Western society. This concept is known as Romanità. Mazzini envisioned the peninsula unified as a republic, governed by the values of the Catholic Church, which he believed aligned with the values of Romanità, but outside the Church’s direct influence. Mazzini earned the nickname “The Beating Heart of Italy” and in 1831, he organised a political movement called Young Italy.

Young Italy was devoted to Italian nationalism and fighting for a unified republic. Though the movement gained momentum among young Italians, it ultimately failed after numerous unsuccessful insurrections. Nonetheless, the sentiment of Mazzini and the movement would live on through his writings and legacy.

Question 30

what da’zeglio say about Italians?

Answer 30

Though pride in Romanità and collective calls for unification had been rampant during the Risorgimento, after unification, there was still no cohesive Italian identity. As Massimo D’Azeglio, former Prime Minister of Sardinia said after Italy’s unification: “We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.”

Question 31

Why did the Revolutions of 1848 fail?

Answer 31

ANSWER:

Question 32

What did Klemens Von Metternich say about French Revolutions?

Answer 32

When France sneezes, Europe catches a cold

Question 33

What did Roger Price say about the Revolutions of 1848?

Answer 33

“The decisive factor in 1848 was the coinidence between severe economic, social and political ifficulties”