Who was more responsible for the success of Italian Unification up to 1861? Cavour, Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel or Napoleon.

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Joshua Heugh

Who was more responsible for the success of Italian Unification up to 1861? Cavour,

Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel or Napoleon.

After the numerous failures of the revolutions, leading up to 1860 the many leaders had eventually made enough compromises and reforms so that unification could go ahead. Each leader had their own impact on the eventual success and all to an extent were needed for the decisions and actions, which they made. The unification of the North marked a significant event, which would lead to the unification of the whole of Italy.

Cavour leading Piedmont had implemented many reforms and instigated the unification through Piedmont which being the most prosperous state was the state, which had to lead. The south as far as we know without Garibaldi will not have been unified with the North. Victor Emmanuel was the figurehead of the state of Piedmont, although not the man pulling the strings he was the man to be seen as leading the process, a poster boy rather than someone whose actions actually had an influence. Napoleon was crucial in the early stages of unification where his much superior army was required to oust the Austrian army, later though he was not to play such a significant role.

Napoleon was the emperor of France from 1852 and so had seen the earlier revolutions and to some extent romanticised about them. Napoleon was a very pragmatic man as shown through some of his decisions, it also has to be understood that France was in a very volatile position in this period with many threats from different countries. It is therefore why stability was so high on Napoleon’s agenda. This is the only reason as to why Napoleon became involved in the unification process.

In 1849 he sent the French army to crush the Roman Republic and to provide protection for the Pope and from then on until he was forced to withdraw because of Prussia’s invasion in 1870. He therefore obviously wasn’t always keen on the idea of unification. However the prospect once it hit him of a stable unified Italian nation appealed to him. So when invited to offer support he was more than willing.

 

“He saw himself as a leader of the people’s of Europe in their search for freedom and national identity.” (Andrina Stiles The Unification of Italy 1815-70)

 The French army then worked in collaboration with the Piedmontese army in the battles of Magenta and Solbrino. After this Napoleon withdraw his support for the reason that Prussia was mobilizing along the Rhine and public opinion was against unifying Italy thus Napoleon believed it to be more important that carrying on.

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Napoleon’s role however was crucial even though he did pull out.

 “Whatever his motives for involving himself in Italy it can be argued that without him and him army the Austrians could not have been driven out of Lombardy in 1859.” (Years of Nationalism   Cowie and Wolfson)

Thus Napoleon had triggered the unification process. However he did not set up the circumstances, from which the snowball would roll off Garibaldi. summed up the feeling at the time

 “Do not forget the gratitude we owe Napoleon III and the French army, so many of whose valiant sons ...

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