What were the gains and losses between 1861-1870 of the creation of Italy?

Many politicians including Cavour had very little understanding off the south. It was full of poverty and had a lack of economy therefore this meant that it was unsuitable for unification with Piedmont, based on the Piedmontese laws. The Piedmontese policies had a harmful effect on the south, because tariffs were reduced and local goods began to lose out to imports from the rest of Italy. Also the Piedmontese had tactlessly referred to the Southerners, as been ‘barbarous, shiftless and lazy’. This led to peasants and de-mobilised peasants to take to the hills of Sicily and the mainland, using weapons to terrorise local towns and villages. This began what was known as the Brigands War in 1860 and was not ended until 1866. For most of the time it will have tied down 100 000 Italian soldiers. The battle was fought with great brutality and claimed more lives than the wars of unification between 1848 and 1861 combined. However it did give a golden opportunity for the new state to extend northern control over the south by force. There was no response in the form of any constructive policy but in the long run the new state did not succeed in establishing a new power structure in this part of the kingdom.  

The other area that needs to be considered when weighing up the gains and losses of the creation of Italy is the geographical aspect. The Kingdom of Italy had been proclaimed in 1861, but still unification remained incomplete, as Rome was still run by the Pope and Venetia was still under the power of Austria. Cavour had already prior to this proclaimed that the kingdom should include Rome and Venetia and had already begun negotiations with the pope. However the Pope was disinclined to accept any of these requests, which made even gaining Rome difficult.

 In 1862 Garibaldi decided to take matters into his own hands and decided to march onto Rome. Victor Emmanuel who believed just like Garibaldi that they would have to take by force agreed to aid him. Garibaldi gathered 2000-3000 men and crossed over to the mainland to invade the Papal States. However their plot was revealed by mistake and so this meant that the Italian Government had to decide whether they would still go ahead with the expedition. Italy decided that it was not strong enough to appose the Great Powers and so to avoid a diplomatic blunder they disowned Garibaldi and allowed the Piedmontese army to stop him at Aspromonte.

In 1864, two years later, the Prime Minister Minghetti was able by means of the September Convention to persuade Napoleon to evacuate his troops from Rome over a period of two years as long as the capital of Italy would be relocated from Turin to Florence and not Rome and that Victor Emmanuel would defend the Papal States in return. Napoleon agreed as he thought that this proved that Italy had no further plans for acquiring Rome. By December 1866 France had removed its troops from Rome and by which time Italy had acquired Venice.

By 1865 Bismarck, who was the Minister President of Prussia was willing to risk war with Austria and calculated that the risk to Prussia would be greatly reduced if Austria were to face a war on two fronts. Prussia therefore proposed to Italy an anti-Austrian military alliance. All other attempts at gaining Venetia had failed therefore Italy had no other choice but to accept Prussia’s offer. In April 1866 Italy and Prussia signed an agreement by which it was agreed that Italy would fight Austria if Austria and Prussia went to war with each other within the next three months. Napoleon made his new deal with Austria agreeing that Venetia would be given to Italy providing that Italy could accept Papal Rule in Rome. In the next two months war broke out between Austria and Prussia. The Italian army was twice the size of Austrians Army with 40,000 troops, but it was poorly led, under equipped and disorganised. This was due to the lack of coordination between Italy and Prussia, as they did not get their plans together as a whole. As a result of this Italy lost at Custoza for the second time in 1866, even though Austria had more men injured and were at a greater disadvantage. On the 3 July there was a Battle at Sadowa where Prussia defeated Austria with a clear victory. However on 20 July 1866 a large naval fleet was lost off Lissa against a small Austrian fleet. Prussia decided that it was time to draw a truce. The irony of this situation was that the Italian Government had under resourced Garibaldi when he set out to acquire Sicily and he still had managed to have some victories, whereas the troops that fought against Austria had weapons of better technology and failed in every single aspect. In the October of that year there was a Peace of Vienna where Austria gave Venetia to Italy. Also a plebiscite was rigged to gain a popular blessing for this change.    

After gaining Venetia Italy turned its interests to Rome, which had been side tracked by the domestic problems. In 1867 Garibaldi tried again to take Rome. He escaped from the Island of Caprera disguised as a fisherman. Ratazzi who was the Italian Prime Minister distanced himself from the campaign to avoid a diplomatic nightmare. The people of Rome failed to turn up on the day planned for Revolution and the French army was sent in. In November at Mentana Garibaldi’s 3000 men were defeated by 9000 French soldiers. This was because the French army were technologically superior as they had muskets, which allowed quick fire. The French army then returned and stayed in Rome to defend the Pope again, which was major setback for the Italian Government. Garibaldi very unpopular because of this and was set back to the Island of Caprera.  

The next event was the Franco and Prussian war, which broke out in July 1870. Victor Emmanuel was tempted to support Napoleon III as his daughter was married to his cousin. However his government would not allow it therefore he had to break his promise of support and remain neutral. In 1870 France withdrew troops from Rome to defend the city of Paris, as they were in desperate need. In September Prussia had a decisive victory over the French at the Battle of Sedan. On the 8 September Victor Emmanuel sent a letter to the Pope requesting that they made an agreement that the Pope could still retain his religious position providing that he gave up his political power over Rome, but the pope refused. Consequently the Italian troops moved in on Rome, which was now unprotected by the French, as they had been required during the 1870 war. The Italian troops easily breached the walls of Rome and there were few casualties. On the 20 September Rome was annexed to the rest of Italy. Another plebiscite was held in Rome, which produced a positive result. This upset the pope and he decided to excommunicate Victor Emmanuel and the Italian Government, which meant that they were thrown out of the church.  

In conclusion it can be seen that there were many gains and losses to the creation of Italy. In my opinion there were more gains rather than losses as Italy had gained what it had set out to do, even though it may have taken some time due to a number of setbacks. The only major loss will have been to the Italian Government and Victor Emmanuel who had eventually been excommunicated from the church due their persistency to gain Rome and finally produce a properly Unified Italy.