Post-Unity Flashcards
How did Italy gain Rome
Interally FAIL
- Garibaldi tried to take Rome in August 1862
- with 4,000 men
- but was stopped at the Aspromonte mountains (shot in the foot) — but pardoned
- Ratazzi PM from March to December 1862 and was forced to stop Garibaldi
How did Italy gain Venetia
Interal attempts
- Garibaldi attempted arm uprisings in 1862 and 1864
- Garibaldi utalised his “party of action” to be the president of the Italian Freedom Association
- they met for the first time in March 1862
- May 1862 Garibaldi supporters led by Nullo were arrested at the Austrian border
- Garibaldi visited London in 1864
- During the Austro-Prussian War, Garibaldi’s volenteers defeated Austrain forces at the Battle of Bezzecca
= July 1866
How did Italy gain Venetia
Foreign support
- The Schleswig-Holstein affair of 1866 began the Austro-Prussian War of June 1866
- 1865, Napoleon promises neutrailty
- April 1866 General Govone miliary agreement with Italy which would gain Venetia for their support
- June 1866 = Italy declare war on Austria
- Austria signed an armistice with Bismark in July 1866 — in Peace of Prague
–> after Prussia crushed Austria at the Battle of Sadowa in early July - France was given Venetia who gave it to Italy [in October 1866 — Treaty of Vienna]
How did Italy gain Venetia
Italian (or lack of) efforts in the Austro- Prussian War
- 250,000 Italian soldiers vs. 130,000 Austrians
- 25% of the army reached the front = unorganised in BoL
- Admiral Persano = seasick and bribed to lead — later courtmarshalled = condemned for incompetence on 15 April 1867 and cashiered from duty
- 1/4 of 12 ironclad ships lost after fleet destroyed at the Battle of Lissa
- 1,450 shots fired and all missed
How did Italy gain Rome
France
- The September Convention 1864 agreed that Napoleon would evacuate French troops from rome = negotiated by Minghetti as PM from ‘63 to ‘64
– They fully left in December 1866
–> In return for the capital to switch from Turin to Florence
– resulted in 23 people being killed in riots in Turin
— However, Garibaldi tried to take Rome in November 1867, causing the French troops to return
How did Italy gain Rome
Internally – SUCCESS
- VE offered the Pope protection – In early September 1870, VE sent Count Gustavo Ponza di San Martino to Pope Pius IX offering aface-savingproposal
vs. Pope = “You will never enter Rome!” - General Cadorna breached the Aurelian Walls in September 1870
- 49 soldiers, 4 officers, 19 Zouaves died
How did Italy gain Venetia
Result
Plebiscites = 647246 vs. 69
– October 1866 rejocing at Austria’s departure
- resulted in high debt = paid by the 1859 Grist Tax and nationalising church land in 1867 + the great book of public debt = 2,241 million lire – in July 1861
–> FIXED?
How did Italy gain Rome
Result
- Plebiscites = 133681 vs. 1507
- Decree accepted October 9th 1870
- May 1871 = Law of Guarentees proposed
= 3,225,000 lire per year - Pope ignored it declared himslef ‘a prisoner of the Vatican’
- Rome = capital — July 1871
Obstacles to Unity
Political Weakness
- Cavour died June 1861
- 5 PMs in 5 years
- Farini tried to stab the King = PM in 1862 and was previously ordered to crush the Brigands
- 2.2% of the population could vote
- 60% eligible did so
Obstacles to Unity
The Papacy
- By March 1860, the Pope had lost 2/3rd of his land
- Garibaldi supporters = “Rome or death!”
- Fractious cohabitation:
December 1864 = Syllabus of Errors –> rejected ideologies and modernisation
+ July 1870 = Dogma of Papal Infallibility –> his statement were indisputable - Darwin’s Origin of Species 1859
- Pope ignored the Law of Guarentees in 1871 + “prisoner of the Vatican”
- The Pope did not officially recognise the Italian state until 1929
Obstacles to Unity
The South
- 1859 Casati Law = education complusory — not implimented in the South
- Garibaldi promised land redistribution (May 1860 = Naples take over) but supressed peasant revolts to side with wealthy land owners
- No railway in Sicily or Sardinia
- Brigands’ war 1861-1865 = 120,000 Piedmontese troops vs. 82,000 Brigands
Obstacles to Unity
Piedmontisation
- The legal system of Naples changed by 53 decrees in 2 days in February 1861
- Casati Law in 1859 was to make education complosory but was never implimented in the South
- Lombardy had been promised its own legal system and constitution
- Tuscany got to retain Tuscan customs and legal systems
Obstacles to Unity
Social and Economic problems
- 2450 million lire deficit by 1861
- northern wages were 20% higher than in the south
- no railways in Sicily and Sardinia
- 60% of state expenditure went towards paying debts by 1866
- So Parlaiment introduced the Grist Tax in 1859 (taxed the milling of corn)
- resulting in 250 deaths and 1,000 wounded in riots in response
- Debt was nationalised in teh ‘Great Book of Public Debt’ in July 1861
Successes of unification
The civil service and local government
The civil service was run by 30,000 bureaucrats
It gave jobs to veterans
Centralised government
Local governments made sure that the civil service’s policies were carried out
They were supported by 18,000 local police.
Successes of unification
The army
It had 215,000 soldiers
2 million in reserve
Regiments were from mixed states and rotated to ensure there were no divides in loyalty.
