Later in 1860, the Central Duchies refused the restoration of Austrian princes. Revolts broke out in Modena, Parma and Tuscany. They formed themselves into alliances and invited VE II as king. Cavour returned to office in Jan 1860 and took this chance to carry out a plebiscite. They all agreed to join with Piedmont Sandrine. Cavour also met Nap III again and reached an agreement that France would get Nice and Savoy , Piedmont Sandrine would get Central Duchies. France would not intervene the plebiscites, and Austrian princes would not be restored in the Central Duchies. By this Central Duchies were united, but Nice and Savoy were given to France. This damaged the territorial integrity of Italy. If he did not asked for France help and fought by themselves, they might have unified nice and Savoy also. Cavour did not really care about that two Southern lands, he just care about his aim of piedmontizing the Northern Italy.
He believed in peace and stability. He did not agree with Garibaldi’s conquest in the South. When Garibaldi was getting more powerful and influential after the success in the conquest of the Two Sicilies, Cavour became jealous and fear. Firstly, because if Garibaldi gained power, he might make Italy a Republic based on a system of universal suffrage and spoilt Cavour’s dream of uniting Italy under Piedmont leadership. Piedmontization was more what he wanted. Secondly, it might be threatened with the lost of Napoleon III’s support, with a renewal of war with Austria, and if the war endangered the pope, it might led to some sort of general European intervention. Therefore, Cavour needed to stop Garibaldi’s invasion in Rome and Papal State. Thirdly, if Garibaldi succeeded in Sicily it seemed likely that Radicalism would go on to sweep Naples and the Papal Stated and threaten to divide Italy between a Radical republican south and Liberal monarchial north.
He did not help Garibaldi in the conquest of the Two Sicilies in order to get him out of the way and in the hope that failure would ruin the radicals once and for all, as he could not openly opposed Garibaldi as this might arose the opposition of the nationalists. This proven that he did not want Piedmont to take the risk of losing the leading power in Italy. He just wanted to achieve his aim in Piedmontization, if anything blocked his aim, he would try to get rid of it, no matter it was for the sake for unifying Italy or not.
But to a certain extent, Cavour did really put Italy first. If the pope in Papal state was in danger, it might provide a chance for foreign intervention, especially France might took this chance to infiltrate into Italy, as it was always a Catholic country. Therefore, he did not give any help in Garibaldi’s expedition. He did not want anything to ruin Italy unification movement.
Garibaldi was called the Sword of Italian unification movement. He was a republican and supported the Young Italian Movement introduced by Mazzini during the early uprising period. He was a great general, as he has a group of thousand loyal and mighty armies, the Red Shirt. In 1849, he organized the defence of the Roman republic against French. Although Rome was at last fallen into French occupation, it proved that he has tried his best to protect Italy’s land.
He did not support the idea of Cavour in asking for foreign aid. He was a patriotic, although he failed in protecting the Roman republic, he still insisted that unification movement should be and could be accomplished by the Italian themselves. His aim was unifying Italy in a whole, including the Northern and Southern parts of the territory into an Italian kingdom under the flag of the House of Savoy. In 1860, he took the chance of the liberal uprising against the Spanish Bourbon in Sicily and Naples, and led the 'Thousand Red Shirts' to occupy these two lands. His bravery made the unification of the South a reality. After conquering the two Sicilies, he attempted to capture Rome. He did not afraid of failure, and just wanted reminded the Italians that Rome was a part of Italy and it should also be captured in order to complete the unification movement.
After all the conquests, Garibaldi was a loyal and patriotic servant who put Italy first. He knew that his power was not big enough to really united Italy into a Republic. If he went on to attack Rome, Cavour who supported constitutional monarchy would opposed to it and might lead to a Civil War between Garibaldi and Piedmont Sardinia in the future as they supported different political systems. He accepted advise of Cavour and did not attack Rome. By this, Italy avoid direct confrontation with France. He also retired after this incident, at the climax of his career. Handed his lands which he conquered earlier to Victor Emmanuel and retired to become a farmer in a lonely inland. He did this was just because he put Italy first. He did not want to see Italy weaken because of a civil war. Also wanted to prevent direct conflicts with Cavour. To him, as long as Italy could be unified and strong , it was not a matter that Italy became a Republic or constitutional monarchy.
In conclusion, Garibaldi was really a hero, as he fought for Italy but not for himself and was not power-minded. Although Cavour put himself first, and did not aimed at unifying Italy as a whole, he did really helped in this movement. Without his plan and advise, Italy might not be unified successfully.
