Question

Explain the process of unification of Italy?

Answer 1

Hint: During the year 1815 the fear of repression drove many liberal nationalists underground. Secret societies were made to spread revolutionary ideas among the masses. To be a revolutionary at this time, meant opposing the monarchical forms especially after the Congress of Vienna. One such revolutionary behind the unification of Italy was Giuseppe Mazzini.

Complete answer: Giuseppe Mazzini was born in Genoa in 1807. He became a member of the secret society. In 1831 he was sent to exile for his revolution in Liguria. However, he subsequently founded two secret societies, Young Europe in Berne and Young Italy in Marseilles. The members of these societies were like-minded people from, France, Poland, Italy and German states. He believed that Italy should not be divided into small kingdoms, rather become a unified one. This led to the setting up of secret societies in other places such as Switzerland, France etc. The process starts with the revolutions in different parts of Europe. In 1830, Mazzini put together a plan for the unitary Italian Republic, and formed Young Italy, a secret society to accomplish his goals. Then Bourbon king who had restored power under conservationists was thrown out and a constitutional monarch was installed with Louis Philippe as its head. This nationalist feeling spread to other regions and Greece who was the part of Ottoman from 15 years got independence in 1832. Through the support of France, they marched into South Italy in 1860 to persuade and mobilise local peasants to throw out Spanish rule from the country. Finally, Victor Emmanuel II in 1861 became a proclaimed king of united Italy.

Note: It was the first Italian democratic movement consisting of all classes. The peasant masses who had supported revolutionaries in southern Italy believed that ‘La Talia’ was Victor Emmanuel’s wife as they had never heard of Italia.