The Making of Italy
🔑 Key Leaders
- Giuseppe Garibaldi – Military leader, led the Red Shirts.
- Count Cavour – Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, master diplomat.
- Victor Emmanuel II – King who became ruler of united Italy.
🗺 Pre-Unification Italy
- Divided into 7 states:
- Sardinia-Piedmont – ruled by the House of Savoy (Italian).
- North – under Austrian Habsburg rule 🇦🇹.
- Central – under Popes, backed by France 🇫🇷.
- South – under Spanish Bourbon kings 🇪🇸.
🛠 Steps to Unification
- Mazzini’s Secret Societies → Young Italy & Young Europe inspired unity.
- Count Cavour’s Diplomacy → Allied with France, defeated Austria → freed Northern Italy.
- Garibaldi’s Red Shirts → Defeated Bourbon kings → freed the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.
- Victor Emmanuel II’s Victory → Took control from Garibaldi, defeated Papal forces → 1861 Kingdom of Italy proclaimed.
- 1871 → Rome occupied after French withdrawal → made capital of Italy.
📅 Timeline
- 1805 – Napoleon crowned himself King of Italy.
- 1831 – Young Italy founded by Mazzini.
- 1848 – Republic declared in Rome with Mazzini as head.
- 1849 – Charles Albert defeated at Custozza.
- 1850 – Victor Emmanuel II becomes King of Sardinia-Piedmont; Cavour becomes PM.
- 1860 – Garibaldi’s Sicily campaign; Piemontese army takes over.
- 1861 – Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy.
- 1871 – Rome made capital after French troops leave.
🎨 Visualising the Nation
👩 Allegories
- Nations personified as female figures to symbolise unity & ideals.
- 🇫🇷 Marianne → French nation (liberty, reason).
- 🇩🇪 Germania → German nation (strength, unity).
🎨 Frederic Sorrieu’s Vision (1848)
- Series of four prints → Dream of a world of democratic & social republics.
- First print:
- Procession of nations paying homage to Statue of Liberty 🗽.
- Liberty holds torch of enlightenment & Charter of the Rights of Man.
- Broken symbols of absolutism on the ground.
- Nations identified by flags & costumes.
- USA & Switzerland leading, followed by France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, etc.
- Heavenly figures (Christ, saints, angels) watching over → symbolising fraternity.
📜 Ernst Renan’s View on Nationhood
- Nation ≠ only language, race, religion, or territory.
- Formed by shared past, sacrifices, will to live together.
- Nation = daily plebiscite (continuous consent of the people).
- Against annexing regions against their will.
- Nations essential for freedom; prevent domination by a single ruler/law.
🏳️ Meanings of Symbols (Germania)
| Symbol | Significance |
|---|---|
| Broken chains ⛓️ | Freedom |
| Crown of oak leaves 🌿 | Heroism |
| Breastplate with eagle 🦅 | Strength of German Empire |
| Sword ⚔️ | Readiness to fight |
| Olive branch around sword 🕊️ | Peace with readiness |
| Black-Red-Gold tricolour 🚩 | Flag of liberal-nationalists (1848) |
| Rays of rising sun 🌅 | Beginning of a new era |