Wars of Italian Unification: A Visual History

The Wars of Italian Unification (1848-1871) were the conflicts by which the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, guided by Cavour, united Italy. The First War of Independence (1848-1849) saw Piedmont beaten by Austria at Custoza and Novara and the republics of Rome and Venice crushed. Cavour's alliance with Napoleon III brought the Second War (1859), whose victories at Magenta and Solferino won Lombardy; central Italy voted to join, and in 1860 Garibaldi's Thousand overthrew the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies while Piedmont took the Papal States except Rome; the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in March 1861. Venetia came in 1866 after the Third War, fought alongside Prussia despite defeats at Custoza and Lissa; Rome was taken on 20 September 1870 when the French garrison left for the war with Prussia. About 40,000 died in the wars, and 'brigandage' in the south killed many more.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Wars of Italian Unification (Risorgimento). The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Population of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Italy

Timeline of the Wars of Italian Unification (Risorgimento)

1. 1848
   Revolutions; first war; Custoza
2. 1849
   Novara; Roman Republic falls; Venice surrenders
3. 1859
   Magenta; Solferino; Villafranca
4. 1860
   Central Italy votes; Garibaldi's Thousand; Teano
5. 1861
   Kingdom of Italy proclaimed17 March.
6. 1866
   Custoza; Lissa; Venetia gained
7. 1867
   Mentana
8. 1870
   Rome taken20 September.
9. 1871
   Rome becomes capital

1848-1849: the first war

The revolutions of 1848 raised Milan's Five Days and Venice's republic; Charles Albert of Piedmont declared war on Austria in March 1848 but Radetzky beat him at Custoza in July and, after a truce, at Novara in March 1849, whereupon he abdicated for Victor Emmanuel II. Mazzini's Roman Republic, defended by Garibaldi, fell to French troops sent by Louis Napoleon in July 1849; Venice held out under Manin until August. Austria ruled Lombardy-Venetia again and Piedmont alone kept a constitution.

1859-1861: Cavour, Napoleon III and Garibaldi

Cavour, prime minister from 1852, sent troops to the Crimea to buy influence and at Plombieres in 1858 secured Napoleon III's promise to fight for Lombardy and Venetia in return for Nice and Savoy. Austria's ultimatum in April 1859 gave the pretext; French and Piedmontese armies won at Magenta and the bloodbath of Solferino (24 June), which inspired the Red Cross, but Napoleon made a separate peace at Villafranca giving Piedmont only Lombardy. Tuscany, Parma, Modena and the Romagna voted for annexation in 1860; Garibaldi sailed from Genoa in May with 1,000 red-shirted volunteers, took Sicily and Naples, and handed them to Victor Emmanuel at Teano in October; the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on 17 March 1861 and Cavour died in June.

1866-1870: Venice and Rome

Allied to Prussia in 1866, Italy lost at Custoza and, at sea, at Lissa, but Prussia's victory at Koniggratz gave it Venetia anyway. Garibaldi's attempts on Rome were stopped by the Italian army at Aspromonte (1862, where he was shot in the foot) and by French troops at Mentana (1867). When Napoleon III withdrew the garrison in 1870 Italian troops breached the Porta Pia on 20 September; the Pope shut himself in the Vatican as a 'prisoner' until the Lateran treaty of 1929. The south, unified by conquest, saw years of brigand war and emigration; 'we have made Italy, now we must make Italians', said d'Azeglio.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918)
• Holy Roman Empire (800 to 1806)
• Second French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)
• Italian Empire (1882 to 1947)
• Spanish Empire (1492 to 1976)
• British Empire (1583 to 1997)

Wars of the same era and region

• Wars of German Unification (1864 to 1871)
• Franco-Prussian War (1870 to 1871)
• Crimean War (1853 to 1856)
• French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792 to 1815)
• Greek War of Independence (1821 to 1829)
• World War I (1914 to 1918)

8 surprising things about the Wars of Italian Unification (Risorgimento)

1. Metternich called Italy 'a geographical expression'; d'Azeglio, after 1861, said 'we have made Italy, now we must make Italians'.
2. Henri Dunant's horror at the 40,000 casualties of Solferino led him to found the Red Cross in 1863.
3. Garibaldi's Thousand sailed in two stolen steamers; his red shirts came from a job lot meant for Argentine slaughterhouse workers.
4. Nice, Garibaldi's birthplace, was handed to France in 1860 as Cavour's price, which the general never forgave.
5. Victor Emmanuel kept the numeral II from Piedmont rather than becoming Victor Emmanuel I of Italy.
6. The Pope refused to recognise the Italian state and forbade Catholics to vote in its elections until 1919.
7. The 'brigands' war' in the south after 1861 cost more Italian soldiers' lives than all the wars against Austria.
8. The Battle of Lissa in 1866 was the first major ironclad fleet action and the last decided by ramming.

Sources

• Risorgimento Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Unification of Italy Wikipedia
• Giuseppe Garibaldi Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Lucy Riall, Risorgimento: The History of Italy from Napoleon to Nation State (2009) Palgrave Macmillan

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