Write the various steps of the unification of Italy?

Italy with a long history of political fragmentation was scattered over several dynastic states as well as the multi-national Habsburg Empire. In the middle of the nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven states, and only Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house. Northern Italy was ruled by Austrian Habsburgs, central Italy was under the Pope and southern Italian regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain. Not only was there political fragmentation, socially, the fragmentation was even more inherent with no common language. The following steps occurred to create a unified Italy.

1) Piedmont-Austria War: The first step towards the unification of Italy was the Piedmont- Austria War of 1869. The Emperor of France, Napoleon III was an active member of the ‘Carbonary Committee’ who agreed to help Cavour in the war against Austria. According to the pact between them, Lombardi and Venetia were to be united with Piedmont and the power of the Pope would be preserved. When Austria attacked Piedmont, the allied armies of Piedmont and France defeated Austria in the battle of Magenta and Solferino respectively. Austria was forced to sign the ‘Treaty of Villa franca’ with France and according to this treaty Lombardi was given to Piedmont. Thus, the first step towards the unification of Italy was the alliance of Lombardi with Piedmont.

2) Unification of Central Italy: The second step towards the unification of Italy was the unification of Central states like Parma, Modena and Tuscany with Piedmont. When Lord Palmerston, the then Prime Minister of England refused to interfere in the internal affair of any country, Cavour looked for aid from Napoleon III. Napoleon III was promised the territories of Savoy and Nice by Cavour, if he remained neutral in the affairs regarding Italy. Once the people of these states voted unanimously in favour of annexation, Napoleon III was handed over the territories by Cavour. Parma, Modena, Tuscany and Romagna, one of the Papal States agreed to side with Piedmont completing the second step in the unification process.

3) Annexation of Naples and Sicily: In the same time period, Garibaldi was requested to lead the revolt against the Bourbon dynasty by the people of Naples and Sicily in southern Italy. Under his leadership, the rebels were able to capture and occupy both Naples and Sicily which were annexed with Piedmont along with some portions of Rome.

4) Campaign of Rome: When Garibaldi was busy in Naples and Sicily, King Victor Emanuel II by order of Cavour marched towards Rome. The Papal army was defeated in Castelfidaro and Anacona when he attacked the Papal States on 11 September, 1960. Following this, Victor Emanuel occupied and annexed ‘Umvia’ and ‘Marches’ with Piedmont-Sardinia. During this time, Garibaldi retired to the island of Caprera after surrendering the conquered territories of Naples and Sicily to Victor Emanuel. This was the ‘fourth step’ towards the unification of Italy and this resulted in almost the whole of Italy to be united except for Venetia and Rome under the leadership of Piedmont-Sardinia. and The First Parliament of Italy was established when the representatives of all the states met on 18 February, 1861.

5) Annexation of Venetia: In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 Italy supported Prussia against Austria. The ‘Treaty of Prague’ was concluded between Austria and Prussia in 1866 when Austria was defeated in the battle of Sadwa. According to it, Austria ceded Venetia to Italy concluding the ‘fifth step’ towards the formation of the nation state of Italy.

6) Annexation of Rome:

In 1870 during the battle of Sedan fought between France and Prussia France withdrew its army from Rome. King Victor Emanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia took the advantage of this opportunity by attacking and capturing Rome. The last step towards the Unification of Italy was concluded on October 2, 1870, when Rome was annexed with Italy.

Unification of Italy was a momentous event in the history of the world. The three key players who made this event possible were Mazzini who is considered as the saint, Garibaldi who was the sword and Cavour who was considered to be the brain.