The Italian citizens lacked the opportunity to embrace national interests or even party affiliations due to the lack of national unifying party for the natives. Italians had very little to associate with, and even when Cavour presented the idea of unification, there was a lack of national attachment and motivation to support the process. The second condition was the absence of homogeny. The north and the south of Italy had diverse beliefs, culture, and socio-economic organizations.
This aspect was largely due to the historical influence by different foreign powers. Cavour established that the north and the south had nothing to connect them, thus harboring any efforts towards unification Gilmour Due to the impediments that were derailing the Italian unification like the lack of hegemony, a charismatic leader was needed to organize and coordinate the process.
Being a member of the cabinet in and later a Prime Minister, Cavour had the experience and political will to lead the process from the battlefront. King Victor Emmanuel I believed that Cavour had the capability and strategies to orchestrate the extensions of influence and conquer territories.
This aspect motivated Cavour who advocated policies that embraced hegemony, economic development through cooperation, as well as political liberation. After this informal pact between Cavour and Napoleon, Cavour declared war against Austria, which had occupied the northern states.
This war secured Lombardy, but Venetia remained under the authority of the foreign powers. This win was a step forward because acquiring the sovereignty of Lombardy motivated the rest of Italy as citizens realized that they could fight for independence through alternative means where diplomacy failed.
Rebellions against foreign powers emerged and Garibaldi staged a popular revolution that took the south with the help of the military force.
After seeing the ongoing success, Cavour discovered that he had to orchestrate an annexation in a gradual way that would not appear outwardly as the Piedmont expansion.
He was critical to ensure that he did not lose support of the people by perceiving the Piedmont expansion as a modification of another oppressive structure.
Cavour had a boost after he convinced the Piedmontese parliament to allow him to use his strategies to organize the unification of other states. This aspect depicted the magnitude of influence and trust that Cavour had acquired amongst the Italians. The parliament was impressed due to his previous diplomatic ties with France and Britain. This element persuaded the parliament to back Cavour in his endeavors Schneid In the quest to unify the rest of Italy, Cavour needed to apply all means possible whether arms or diplomacy.
However, he was aware that the expectation of the public was an aspect that embraced nationalistic and revolutionary sediments. With the knowledge about the expectations of the public, Cavour advocated universal suffrage and even though he did not believe in this idea, he used it as means to his desired end. This move the model used in the south as a democratic advancement to create numerous opportunities. People were convinced that the annexation process was people oriented.
Cavour designed a plebiscite to ensure that the unification process of the south was democratic and peaceful. His target was to annex Naples to Sardinia. The wording was made deliberately to imply that the South was being invited to join the United Kingdom of Italy rather than an annexation agenda.
These were largely conservative regimes, presided over by the old social orders. Although the Italian peninsula remained fragmented through the mids, the concept of a united Italy began to take root. Secret societies formed to oppose the conservative regimes. Several of these societies also promoted Italian nationalism and the idea of a unified Italian political state.
One such society was the group Young Italy, founded in by Guiseppe Mazzini. Mazzini was an ardent advocate of the necessity for Italian unification through the desires and actions of the Italian people. Thus, the movement of Italian unification, a process referred to as the Risorgimento resurgence proliferated by mid-century. The revolutions of ignited nationalist sentiment throughout the Italian peninsula. There were widespread uprisings in several Italian cities that year, mostly by the professional classes such as doctors, lawyers, shopkeepers as well as students.
Lombardy-Venetia and Milan tried to rise up against Austrian rule. Although the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia sent troops to aid the revolt, it was crushed by the Austrians at Custoza in July The Italian uprisings were unsuccessful and by the old regimes were once again in place. Yet, the idea of the Risorgimento continued to gain adherents after A skilled diplomat, Cavour secured an alliance with France. The Franco-Austrian War of was the agent that began the physical process of Italian unification.
By the end of the year Lombardy was added to the holdings of Piedmont-Sardinia. The northern Italian states held elections in and and voted to join the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, a major step towards unification, while Piedmont-Sardinia ceded Savoy and Nice to France.
Giuseppi Garibaldi, a native of Piedmont-Sardinia, was instrumental in bringing the southern Italian states into the unification process. Landing first in Sicily and then moving onwards into Naples, Garibaldi and his men overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and turned over the southern territories to Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia.
In early a national parliament convened and proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy, with Victor Emmanuel II as its king. At this point, there were only two major territories outside of the parameters of the new Kingdom of Italy: Rome and Venetia. In , taking advantage of the fact that France the country responsible at the time for guarding the Papal States was distracted by involvement in the Franco-Prussian War , the Italian army entered Rome.
During the summer of , the Italian capital moved to Rome from Florence it was moved from Turin to Florence in It seems that of the two, Cavour alone understood the relationship between national and international events, and was thus able to manipulate foreign policy for his own ends.
Garibaldi, a democrat, a warrior, and an anti-Catholic, was without question on the road to conflict with the monarchies of Europe. Cavour, with the added credibility of representing a monarch, blended perfectly with the political situation in Europe at the time.
Cavour was a realist who practice realistic politics. He allied with France when necessary and with France's key enemy, Prussia, was necessary. By keeping the goal in mind, Cavour used international power to achieve his domestic goals.
Garibaldi was forced to use his own grassroots strength, empowered by young Italian democrats interested in an idealistic future for their nation.
In that manner, it is quite doubtful that Garibaldi would have ever been able to gain the upper hand in Italy, relative to Cavour. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Summary Italian Unification Page 1 Page 2. Summary The movement to unite Italy into one cultural and political entity was known as the Risorgimento literally, "resurgence".
0コメント