Italy: history 1796–1870

For earlier Italian history see Italy: history to 1796.

The period 1796 to 1871 was marked by two major events: the invasion of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796, leading to the Napoleonic era that ended in 1815; and the rise of nationalist movements, leading to the eventual unification of Italy. When Rome was taken from the French in 1870, the Italian peninsula was fully united as a single nation under the control of the Italian people for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.

Foreign domination in the 17th and 18th centuries Until the early 19th century Italy had been a fragmented region, split by wars between its various parts. Foreign domination was the rule, with Austrian, Spanish, and French influence controlling Italy's destiny.

During the 17th century France and Spain dominated Italy. The Italian peninsula was divided into competing states, each under the influence of one of the European powers. Italy was frequently drawn into Europe's wars, but only as part of the wider power struggle. The various states of Italy were as likely to be fighting each other as a foreign power.

Following the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) and the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Austria took over Spanish territories in Italy. Although Italy now entered a more stable period, it remained fully under the control of foreign powers. More redistribution of power followed with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), which ended the War of the Austrian Succession. As Italy entered the second half of the 18th century, it was under the control of Spanish, French, and Austrian princes and kings.

The Napoleonic era In 1796 France invaded and conquered Italy under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte. By 1797 the Austrians had been defeated and the Austrian Habsburg emperor, Francis II, was forced to sign the Treaty of Campo-Formio. Austrian control was reduced in Italy, although it was given Venice and lands north of the River Adige. Much of the rest of Italy was divided up into ‘sister republics’, such as the Cisalpine, Roman, and Ligurian republics, controlled by the French. However, these republics soon discovered that their freedom was only nominal under the presidency of Napoleon.

In 1800 Napoleon beat the Austrians decisively at the Battle of Marengo, and increased French dominance in Italy. The Cisalpine Republic was declared the Italian Republic in 1802, and Napoleon crowned himself king of Italy in Milan in 1805. In the following year he made his brother, Joseph, king of Naples. The rest of Italy was made part of the French Empire. On the overthrow of Napoleon in 1814 the kingdom of Italy collapsed.

The period of French rule had temporarily unified Italy and introduced the principles of the French Revolution, including republican government, equality, and the rule of law. However, at the Congress of Vienna (1815) Italy was again divided between Austria (which ruled the northeast), the pope (who ruled the Papal States in the centre), the kingdom of Sardinia (which also included Piedmont in the northwest and was now given Genoa), the kingdom of the Two Sicilies (see Sicily) in the south (restored to the Bourbons), and a handful of smaller duchies.

Although much of Italy had been united under the French Empire, the settlement that ended the Napoleonic Wars had made unification even less likely, as it reinforced the division of Italy into a patchwork of states that were either closely tied to the Austrian Empire or determined to guard their independence.

Early nationalist movements Once restored to power, the rule of the kings and princes was more oppressive and antirevolutionary than before the era of the French Revolution. However, these rulers failed to realize that the Italy of 1815 was different to that of 1796. Ideas of freedom and equality had been strongly developed among the Italian people by the experience of French rule. National pride had also been aroused, and the idea of a future where Italy was one united nation, free from foreign influence, had increased in popularity. This was the beginning of the Risorgimento (‘revival’), the movement for the unity and independence of Italy. Secret societies, the most important of which was the Carbonari, flourished among the educated classes, and uprisings broke out in the south in 1820, and again in 1831.

The development of ideas of nationalism and liberalism is one of the defining characteristics of the period after 1815 in European history. In its newly developed wish for a single national identity, and the growing strength of radical and liberal groups, Italy was part of this wider European movement. Across Europe, newly restored monarchs tried to turn the clock back to pre-1789, as if the French Revolution had never occurred. However the power of new ideas would prove greater than that of old ones.

The first attempt to unite Italy was made by the radical Giuseppe Mazzini. In 1831, while in exile in Marseille, the fiery patriot organized a political society called Giovane Italia (Young Italy) for the unification of his country. Two uprisings, in 1834 and 1844, failed miserably. Mazzini went to London, from where he worked hard to spread his republican theories among the Italian people.

The revolutions of 1848–49 The year of 1848 saw revolutions in France, Germany, Hungary, and elsewhere in Europe. Acting as part of this mainly uncoordinated series of revolts, Italians rose against their rulers. The king of Sardinia supported uprisings in Lombardy and Venice, but the Austrians won the Battle of Custozza and placed their Italian possessions under martial law. Pope Pius IX, who since 1846 had passed certain measures of reform, fled to Gaeta. Mazzini hurried back to Rome, and a republic was set up with himself and two others as triumvirs (rulers) governing on the ancient Roman model.

In 1849 Charles Albert, king of Sardinia–Piedmont, received a crushing defeat from the Austrians under Count Radetzky, and abdicated at Novara, leaving his son, Victor Emmanuel II, to make a treaty with Austria. Lombardy returned to Austria, and a part of the Piedmontese territory was also given to the Austrians. Venice, too, returned to Austrian rule.

With the revolt in the north of Italy now crushed, further foreign intervention to end the revolutions in Italy began. The idea that the Italians should be allowed to decide their own future or to unify their country was not recognized as valid by the European powers.

The French decided to crush the republic led by Mazzini in Rome, and restore the city to the pope. A French army led by Gen Oudinot was sent to besiege the city. He was defeated at Civitavecchia by the commander of the Roman republican army, Giuseppe Garibaldi, recently returned from exile in South America. The Neapolitans, supported by Spanish soldiers, marched northwards, and were also defeated by Garibaldi at Palestrina and Velletri. However, in spite of these successes, French troops succeeded in entering Rome and the pope returned in 1850.

The achievements of Cavour and Garibaldi At this low point in the nationalist struggle to unify Italy, Count Camillo Benso di Cavour became the most prominent and powerful supporter of the nationalist cause. In 1852 Victor Emmanuel appointed Cavour as prime minister of Sardinia–Piedmont. Soon after the Societá Nazionale (‘national society’) was formed with the motto ‘Unity, Independence and Victor Emmanuel’. Sardinia–Piedmont's international standing was enhanced by its involvement in the Crimean War (1854–56) alongside France and Britain.

In 1858 Cavour began negotiations at Plombières with Napoleon III, who offered French aid to the Italians against Austria in return for Nice and Savoy. In the resulting Franco-Austrian War (1859), the Austrians were defeated at Montebello, Palestro, Magenta, and Solferino, and Lombardy was taken by Piedmont. In central Italy, revolts occurred in Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and some of the Papal States. Piedmontese officials helped establish new governments in these areas, which in 1860 held referendums that showed strong support for union with Piedmont in a new kingdom of Northern Italy.

In 1860 Garibaldi, with his ‘Thousand Volunteers’, set out for Sicily, and the Bourbon armies were defeated at Calatifimi and Melazzo. Assuming the title of dictator, Garibaldi entered Naples in September 1860, the Bourbon king having fled. Cavour's troops then invaded the Papal States, and met Garibaldi's forces in the Volturno, where Garibaldi gave up his command to Victor Emmanuel as king of Italy. The assembly of the first Italian parliament in Turin in 1861 confirmed this title. Cavour died in the same year.

The final stages of unification Rome was still held by the pope and the Austrians still held Venetia. In 1862 Garibaldi, working without the knowledge of Victor Emmanuel, raised troops to free Rome and make it the capital of Italy. However, Garibaldi's army was stopped at Aspromonte by the Piedmontese, who did not wish to endanger their relations with the French (French troops had garrisoned Rome since 1849). By the Franco-Italian Convention of 1864 the French agreed to leave Rome within two years, on condition that the Papal States were recognized as an independent state, and the capital of Italy was moved from Turin to Florence.

During the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 Italy allied itself with Prussia against Austria. Although defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Custozza, Prussian victory in the war enabled Italy to take Venetia from Austria. Austria had been so weakened by Prussian defeat that it was unable to prevent the loss of its final Italian territory to its less powerful southern neighbour.

In 1867, in spite of the agreement of 1864, Garibaldi made another attack on Rome and Napoleon III sent back his troops to defend the pope. The French defeated the Italians under Garibaldi at Mentana. Rome continued to be controlled by France until 1870, when, during the Franco-Prussian War, the Italian army under Cadorna, after a brief resistance, entered the city. The pope ceased to have any territorial sovereignty until the Vatican City State was established in 1929. In 1871 Rome was officially made the capital of the now fully united kingdom of Italy.

For Italian history after 1870 see Italy.