GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY
Power of Austria Broken
The Carbonari—Mazzini and Garibaldi—Cavour, the Statesman—The Invasion
of Sicily—Occupation of Naples—Victor Emmanuel Takes Command—Watchword
of the Patriots—Garibaldi Marches Against Rome—Battle of
Ironclads—Final Act of Italian Unity
From the time of the fall of the Roman Empire until late in the
nineteenth century, a period of some fourteen hundred years, Italy
remained disunited, divided up among a series of states, small and
large, hostile and peaceful, while its territory was made the
battle-field of the surrounding Powers, the helpless prey of Germany,
France and Spain. Even the strong hand of Napoleon failed to bring it
unity, and after his fall its condition was worse than before, for
Austria held most of the north and exerted a controlling power over the
remainder of the peninsula, so that the fair form of liberty fled in
dismay from its shores.
But the work of Napoleon had inspired the patriots of Italy with a new
sentiment, that of union. Before the Napoleonic era the thought of a
united Italy scarcely existed, and patriotism meant adherence to
Sardinia, Naples, or some other of the many kingdoms and duchies. After
that era union became the watchword of the revolutionists, who felt
that the only hope of giving Italy a position of dignity and honor
among the nations lay in making it one country under one ruler. The
history of the nineteenth century in Italy is the record of the attempt
to reach this end, and its successful accomplishment. And on that
record the names of two men most prominently appear, Mazzini, the
indefatigable conspirator, and Garibaldi, the valorous fighter; to
whose names should be added that of the eminent statesman, Count
Cavour, and that of the man who shared their statecraft and labors,
Victor Emmanuel, the first king of united Italy.
THE CARBONARI
The basis of the revolutionary movements in Italy was the secret
political association known as the Carbonari, formed early in the
nineteenth century and including members of all classes in its ranks.
In 1814 this powerful society projected a revolution in Naples, and in
1820 it was strong enough to invade Naples with an army and force from
the king an oath to observe the new constitution which it had prepared.
The revolution was put down in the following year by the Austrians,
acting as the agents of the “Holy Alliance”—the compact of Austria,
Prussia and Russia.
An ordinance was passed condemning any one who should attend a meeting
of the Carbonari to capital punishment. But the society continued to
exist, despite this severe enactment, and was at the basis of many of
the outbreaks that took place in Italy from 1820 onward. Mazzini,
Garibaldi, and all the leading patriots were members of this powerful
organization, which was daring enough to condemn Napoleon III to death,
and almost to succeed in his assassination, for his failure to live up
to his obligations as an alleged member of the society.
MAZZINI AND GARIBALDI
Giuseppe Mazzini, a native of Genoa, became a member of the Carbonari
in 1830. His activity in revolutionary movements caused him soon after
to be proscribed, and in 1831 he sought Marseilles, where he organized
a new political society called “Young Italy,” whose watchword was “God
and the People,” and whose basic principle was the union of the several
states and kingdoms into one nation, as the only true foundation of
Italian liberty. This purpose he avowed in his writings and pursued
through exile and adversity with inflexible constancy, and it is
largely due to the work of this earnest patriot that Italy today is a
single kingdom instead of a medley of separate states. Only in one
particular did he fail. His persistent purpose was to establish a
republic, not a monarchy.
While Mazzini was thus working with his pen, his compatriot, Giuseppe
Garibaldi, was working as earnestly with his sword. This daring
soldier, a native of Nice and reared to a life on the sea, was banished
as a revolutionist in 1834, and the succeeding fourteen years of his
life were largely spent in South America, in whose wars he played a
leading part.
The revolution of 1848 opened Italy to these two patriots, and they
hastened to return; Garibaldi to offer his services to Charles Albert
of Sardinia, by whom, however, he was treated with coldness and
distrust. Mazzini, after founding the Roman republic in 1849, called
upon Garibaldi to come to its defense, and the latter displayed the
greatest heroism in the contest against the Neapolitan and French
invaders. He escaped from Rome on its capture by the French, and, after
many desperate conflicts and adventures with the Austrians, was again
driven into exile, and in 1850 became a resident of New York. For some
time he worked in a manufactory of candles on Staten Island, and
afterwards made several voyages on the Pacific.
The war in 1859 of Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel against the
Austrians in Lombardy opened a new and promising channel for the
devotion of Garibaldi to his native land. Being appointed major-general
and commissioned to raise a volunteer corps, he organized the hardy
body of mountaineers called the “Hunters of the Alps,” and with them
performed prodigies or valor on the plains of Lombardy, winning
victories over the Austrians at Varese, Como and other places. In his
ranks was his fellow-patriot Mazzini.
The success of the French and Sardinians in Lombardy during this war
stirred Italy to its center. The grand duke of Tuscany fled to Austria.
The duchess or Parma sought refuge in Switzerland. The duke of Modena
found shelter in the Austrian camp. Everywhere the brood of tyrants
took to flight. Bologna threw off its allegiance to the pope, and
proclaimed the king of Sardinia dictator. Several other towns in the
States of the Church, did the same. In the terms of the truce between
Louis Napoleon and Francis Joseph the rulers of these realms were to
resume their power if the people would permit. But the people would not
permit, and these minor states were all annexed to Sardinia, which
country was greatly expanded as a result of the war.
CAVOUR THE STATESMAN
It will not suffice to give all the credit for these revolutionary
movements to Mazzini, the organizer, Garibaldi, the soldier, and the
ambitious monarchs of France and Sardinia. More important than king and
emperor was the eminent statesman, Count Cavour, prime minister of
Sardinia from 1852. It is to this able man that the honor of the
unification of Italy most fully belongs, though he did not live to see
it. He sent a Sardinian army to the assistance of France and England in
the Crimea in 1855, and by this act gave his state a standing among the
Powers of Europe. He secured liberty of the press and favored
toleration in religion and freedom of trade. He rebelled against the
dominion of the papacy, and devoted his abilities to the liberation and
unity of Italy, undismayed by the angry fulminations from the Vatican.
The war of 1859 was his work, and he had the satisfaction of seeing
Sardinia increased by the addition of Lombardy, Tuscany, Parma and
Modena. A great step had been taken in the work to which he had devoted
his life.
THE INVASION OF SICILY
The next step in the great work was taken by Garibaldi, who now struck
at the powerful kingdom of Naples and Sicily in the south. It seemed a
difficult task. Francis II, the son and successor of the infamous “King
Bomba,” had a well-organized army of 150,000 men. But his father’s
tyranny had filled the land with secret societies, and fortunately at
this time the Swiss mercenaries were recalled home, leaving to Francis
only his native troops, many of them disloyal at heart to his cause.
This was the critical interval which Mazzini and Garibaldi chose for
their work.
At the beginning of April, 1860, the signal was given by separate
insurrections in Messina and Palermo. These were easily suppressed by
the troops in garrison; but though both cities were declared in a state
of siege, demonstrations took place by which the revolutionary chiefs
excited the public mind. On the 6th of May, Garibaldi started with two
steamers from Genoa with about a thousand Italian volunteers, and on
the 11th landed near Marsala, on the west coast of Sicily. He proceeded
to the mountains, and near Salemi gathered round him the scattered
bands of the free corps. By the 14th his army had increased to 4,000
men. He now issued a proclamation, in which he took upon himself the
dictatorship of Sicily, in the name of Victor Emmanuel, “king of
Italy.”
After waging various successful combats under the most difficult
circumstances, Garibaldi advanced upon the capital, announcing his
arrival by beacon-fires kindled at night. On the 27th he was in front
of the Porta Termina of Palermo, and at once gave the signal for the
attack. The people rose in mass, and assisted the operations of the
besiegers by barricade-fighting in the streets. In a few hours half the
town was in Garibaldi’s hands. But now General Lanza, whom the young
king had dispatched with strong reinforcements to Sicily, furiously
bombarded the insurgent city, so that Palermo was reduced almost to a
heap of ruins.
At this juncture, by the intervention of an English admiral, an
armistice was concluded, which led to the departure of the Neapolitan
troops and war vessels and the surrender of the town to Garibaldi, who
thus, with a band of 5,000 badly armed followers, had gained a signal
advantage over a regular army of 25,000 men. This event had tremendous
consequences, for it showed the utter hollowness of the Neapolitan
government, while Garibaldi’s fame was everywhere spread abroad. The
glowing fancy of the Italians beheld in him the national hero before
whom every enemy would bite the dust. This idea seemed to extend even
to the Neapolitan court itself, where all was doubt, confusion and
dismay. The king hastily summoned a liberal ministry, and offered to
restore the constitution of 1848, but the general verdict was, “too
late,” and his proclamation fell flat on a people who had no trust in
Bourbon faith.
The arrival of Garibaldi in Naples was enough to set in blaze all the
combustible materials in that state. His appearance there was not long
delayed. Six weeks after the surrender of Palermo he marched against
Messina. On the 21st of July the fortress of Melazzo was evacuated, and
a week afterwards all Messina except the citadel was given up.
OCCUPATION OF NAPLES
Europe was astounded at the remarkable success of Garibaldi’s handful
of men. On the mainland his good fortune was still more astonishing. He
had hardly landed—which he did almost in the face of the Neapolitan
fleet—when Reggio was surrendered and its garrison withdrew. His
progress through the south of the kingdom was like a triumphal
procession. At the end of August he was at Cosenza; on the 5th of
September at Eboli, near Salerno. No resistance appeared. His very name
seemed to work like magic on the population. The capital had been
declared in a state of siege, and on September 6th the king took to
flight, retiring, with the 4,000 men still faithful to him, behind the
Volturno. The next day Garibaldi with a few followers, entered Naples,
whose populace received him with frantic shouts of welcome.
The remarkable achievements of Garibaldi filled all Italy with
overmastering excitement. He had declared that he would proclaim the
kingdom of Italy from the heart of its capital city, and nothing less
than this would content the people. The position of the pope had become
serious. He refused to grant the reforms suggested by the French
emperor, and threatened with excommunication any one who should meddle
with the domain of the Church. Money was collected from faithful
Catholics throughout the world, a summons was issued calling for
recruits to the holy army of the pope, and the exiled French General
Lamoriciere was given the chief command of the troops, composed of men
who had flocked to Rome from many nations. It was hoped that the name
of the celebrated French leader would have a favorable influence on the
troops of the French garrison of Rome.
The settlement of the perilous situation seemed to rest with Louis
Napoleon. If he had let Garibaldi have his way the latter would, no
doubt, have quickly ended the temporal sovereignty of the pope and made
Rome the capital of Italy. But Napoleon seems to have arranged with
Cavour to leave the king of Sardinia free to take possession of Naples,
Umbria and the other provinces provided that Rome and the “patrimony of
St. Peter” were left intact.
VICTOR EMMANUEL TAKES COMMAND
At the beginning of September two Sardinian army corps, under Fanti and
Cialdini, marched to the borders of the states of the Church.
Lamoriciere advanced against Cialdini with his motley troops, but was
quickly defeated, and on the following day was besieged in the fortress
of Ancona. On the 29th he and the garrison surrendered as prisoners of
war. On the 9th of October Victor Emmanuel arrived and took command.
There was no longer a papal army to oppose him, and the march southward
proceeded without a check.
The object of the king in assuming the chief command was to complete
the conquest of the kingdom of Naples, in conjunction with Garibaldi.
For though Garibaldi had entered the capital in triumph, the progress
on the line of the Volturno had been slow; and the expectation that the
Neapolitan army would go over to the invaders in a mass had not been
realized. The great majority of the troops remained faithful to the
flag, so that Garibaldi, although his irregular bands amounted to more
than 25,000 men, could not hope to drive away King Francis, or to take
the fortresses of Capua and Gaeta, without the help of Sardinia.
Against the diplomatic statesman Cavour, who fostered no illusions, and
saw the conditions of affairs in its true light, the simple, honest
Garibaldi cherished a deep aversion. He could never forgive Cavour for
having given up Nice, Garibaldi’s native town, to the French. On the
other hand, he felt attracted toward the king, who, in his opinion,
seemed to be the man raised up by Providence for the liberation of
Italy.
Accordingly, when Victor Emmanuel entered Sessa, at the head of his
army, Garibaldi was easily induced to place his dictatorial power in
the hands of the king, to whom he left the completion of the work of
the union of Italy. After greeting Victor Emmanuel with the title of
King of Italy, and giving the required resignation of his power, with
the words, “Sire, I obey,” he entered Naples, riding beside the king;
and then, after recommending his companions in arms to his majesty’s
special favor, he retired to his home on the island of Caprera,
refusing to receive a reward, in any shape or form, for his services to
the state and its head.
The progress of the Sardinian army compelled Francis to give up the
line of the Volturno, and he eventually took refuge, with his best
troops, in the fortress of Gaeta. On the maintenance of this fortress
hung the fate of the kingdom of Naples. Its defense is the only bright
point in the career of the feeble Francis, whose courage was aroused by
the heroic resolution of his young wife, the Bavarian Princess Mary.
For three months the defense continued. But no European Power came to
the aid of the king, disease appeared with scarcity of food and of
munitions of war, and the garrison was at length forced to capitulate.
The fall of Gaeta was practically the completion of the great work of
the unification of Italy. Only Rome and Venice remained to be added to
the united kingdom. On February 18, 1861, Victor Emmanuel assembled at
Turin the deputies of all the states that acknowledged his supremacy,
and in their presence assumed the title of King of Italy, which he was
the first to bear. In four months afterwards Count Cavour, to whom this
great work was largely due, died. He had lived long enough to see the
purpose of his life practically accomplished.
WATCHWORD OF THE PATRIOTS
Great as had been the change which two years had made, the patriots of
Italy were not satisfied. “Free from the Alps to the Adriatic!” was
their cry; “Rome and Venice!” became the watchword of the
revolutionists. Mazzini, who had sought to found a republic, was far
from content, and the agitation went on. Garibaldi was drawn into it,
and made bitter complaint of the treatment his followers had received.
In 1862, disheartened at the inaction of the king, he determined to
undertake against Rome an expedition like that which he had led against
Naples two years before.
In June he sailed from Genoa and landed at Palermo, where he was
quickly joined by an enthusiastic party of volunteers. They supposed
that the government secretly favored their design, but the king had no
idea of fighting against the French troops in Rome and arousing
international complications, and he energetically warned all Italians
against taking part in revolutionary enterprises.
GARIBALDI MARCHES AGAINST ROME
But Garibaldi persisted in his design. When his way was barred by the
garrison of Messina he tuned aside to Catania, where he embarked with
2,000 volunteers, declaring he would enter Rome as a victor, or perish
beneath its walls. He landed at Melito on the 24th of August, and threw
himself at once, with his followers, into the Calabrian mountains. But
his enterprise was quickly and disastrously ended. General Cialdini
despatched a division of the regular army, under Colonel Pallavicino,
against the volunteer bands. At Aspromonte, on the 28th of August, the
two forces came into collision. A chance shot was followed by several
volleys from the regulars. Garibaldi forbade his men to return the fire
of their fellow-subjects of the Italian kingdom. He was wounded, and
taken prisoner with his followers, a few of whom had been slain in the
short combat. A government steamer carried the wounded chief to
Varignano, where he was held in a sort of honorable imprisonment, and
was compelled to undergo a tedious and painful operation for the
healing of his wound. He had at least the consolation that all Europe
looked with sympathy and interest upon the unfortunate hero; and a
general sense of relief was felt when, restored to health, he was set
free, and allowed to return to his rocky island of Caprera.
Victor Emmanuel was seeking to accomplish his end by safer means. The
French garrison of Rome was the obstacle in his way, and this was
finally removed through a treaty with Louis Napoleon in September,
1864, the emperor agreeing to withdraw his troops during the succeeding
two years, in which the pope was to raise an army large enough to
defend his dominions. Florence was to replace Turin as the capital of
Italy. This arrangement created such disturbances in Turin that the
king was forced to leave that city hastily for his new capital. In
December, 1866, the last of the French troops departed from Rome, in
spite of the efforts of the pope to retain them. By their withdrawal
Italy was freed from the presence of foreign soldiers for the first
time probably in a thousand years.
In 1866 came an event which reacted favorably for Italy, though her
part in it was the reverse of triumphant. This was the war between
Prussia and Austria. Italy was in alliance with Prussia, and Victor
Emmanuel hastened to lead an army across the Mincio to the invasion of
Venetia, the last Austrian province in Italy. Garibaldi at the same
time was to invade the Tyrol with his volunteers. The enterprise ended
in disaster. The Austrian troops, under the Archduke Albert,
encountered the Italians at Custozza and gained a brilliant victory,
despite the much greater numbers of the Italians.
Fortunately for Italy, the Austrians had been unsuccessful in the
north, and the emperor, with the hope of gaining the alliance of France
and breaking the compact between Italy and Prussia, decided to cede
Venetia to Louis Napoleon. His purpose failed. All Napoleon did in
response was to act as a peacemaker, while the Italian king refused to
recede from his alliance. Though the Austrians were retreating from a
country which no longer belonged to them, the invasion of Venetia by
the Italians continued, and several conflicts with the Austrian army
took place.
BATTLE OF IRONCLADS
But the most memorable event of this brief war occurred on the sea—the
greatest battle of ironclad ships in the period between the American
Civil War and the Japan-China contest. Both countries concerned had
fleets on the Adriatic. Italy was the strongest in navel vessels,
possessing ten ironclads and a considerable number of wooden ships.
Austria’s ironclad fleet was seven in number, plated with thin iron and
with no very heavy guns. In addition there was a number of wooden
vessels and gunboats. But in command of this fleet was an admiral in
whose blood was the iron which was lacking on his ships, Tegetthoff,
the Nelson of the Adriatic. Inferior as his ships were, his men were
thoroughly drilled in the use of the guns and the evolutions of the
ships, and when he sailed it was with the one thought of victory.
Persano, the Italian admiral, as if despising his adversary, engaged in
siege of the fortified island of Lissa, near the Dalmatian coast,
leaving the Austrians to do what they pleased. What they pleased was to
attack him with a fury such as has been rarely seen. Early on July 20,
1866, when the Italians were preparing for a combined assault of the
island by land and sea, their movement was checked by the signal
displayed on a scouting frigate: “Suspicious-looking ships are in
sight.” Soon afterwards the Austrian fleet appeared, the ironclads
leading, the wooden ships in the rear.
The battle that followed has had no parallel before or since. The whole
Austrian fleet was converted into rams. Tegetthoff gave one final order
to his captains: “Close with the enemy and ram everything grey.” Grey
was the color of the Italian ships. The Austrian were painted black, so
as to prevent any danger of error.
Fire was opened at two miles distance, the balls being wasted in the
waters between the fleets. “Full steam ahead,” signaled Tegetthoff. On
came the fleets, firing steadily, the balls now beginning to tell.
“Ironclads will ram and sink the enemy,” signaled Tegetthoff. It was
the last order he gave until the battle was won.
Soon the two lines of ironclads closed amid thick clouds of smoke.
Tegetthoff, in his flagship, the Ferdinand Max, twice rammed a grey
ironclad without effect. Then, out of the smoke, loomed up the tall
masts of the Re d’Italia, Persano’s flagship in the beginning of the
fray. Against this vessel the Ferdinand Max rushed at full speed, and
struck her fairly amidships. Her sides of iron were crushed in by the
powerful blow, her tall masts toppled over, and down beneath the waves
sank the great ship with her crew of 600 men. The next minute another
Italian ship came rushing upon the Austrian, and was only avoided by a
quick turn of the helm.
One other great disaster occurred to the Italians. The Palestro was set
on fire, and the pumps were put actively to work to drown the magazine.
The crew thought the work had been successfully performed, and that
they were getting the fire under control, when there suddenly came a
terrible burst of flame attended by a roar that drowned all the din of
the battle. It was the death knell of 400 men, for the Palestro had
blown up with all on board. The great ironclad turret ship and ram of
the Italian fleet, the Affondatore, to which Admiral Persano had
shifted his flag, far the most powerful vessel in the Adriatic, kept
outside of the battle line, and was of little service in the fray. It
was apparently afraid to encounter Tegetthoff’s terrible rams. The
battle ended with the Austrian fleet, wooden vessels and all, passing
practically unharmed through the Italian lines into the harbor of
Lissa, leaving death and destruction in their rear. Tegetthoff was the
one Austrian who came out of that war with fame. Persano on his return
home was put on trial for cowardice and incompetence. He was convicted
of the latter and dismissed from the navy in disgrace.
FINAL ACT OF ITALIAN UNITY
But Italy, though defeated by land and sea, gained a valuable prize
from the war, for Napoleon ceded Venetia to the Italian king, and soon
afterwards Victor Emmanuel entered Venice in triumph. Thus was
completed the second act in the unification of Italy.
The national party, with Garibaldi at its head, still aimed at the
possession of Rome, as the historic capital of the peninsula. In 1867
he made a second attempt to capture Rome, but the papal army,
strengthened with a new French auxiliary force, defeated his badly
armed volunteers, and he was taken prisoner and held captive for a
time, after which he was sent back to Caprera. This led to the French
army of occupation being returned to Civita Vecchia, where it was kept
for several years.
The final act came as a consequence of the Franco-German war of 1870,
which rendered necessary the withdrawal of the French troops from
Italy. The pope was requested to make a peaceful abdication. As he
refused this, the States of the Church were occupied up to the walls of
the capital, and a three-hours’ cannonade of the city sufficed to bring
the long strife to an end. Rome became the capital of Italy, and the
whole peninsula, for the first time since the fall of the ancient Roman
empire, was concentrated into a single nation, under one king.