Mazzini + Cavour- The Italian Unification

Count Camillo de Cavour was born in Turin, Italy. He spent a lot of time traveling to other countries however, where he was able to pick up different ideas of how he would like to rule a country or state. Cavour was the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, a state in Northern Italy. Count Cavour was able bring his ideas of how he would like to rule a country into play through his role as prime minister. He learned a lot through French society especially through his observance of the ‘July Days’ in France which was a huge economic failure. Cavour learned that economics and finance would be very important in his country and he was able to focus on these aspects rather than social aspects. Cavour therefore was able to take control of his country in a diplomatic way. Cavour was known for his political news paper called ‘Il Risorgimento” where he was able to express his ideas of creating a Unified Italy to the Italian people. Count Cavour was also very well known for his idea of ‘Realpolitik’. Realpolitik was the vision of having a country or state that was very much in favour of idealism and nationalism. He was able to also bring this to his country of Piedmont-Sardinia where he began his Italian Unification movement. Part way through his rule, Britain and Russia were fighting in the Crimean war. Cavour decided to bring Piedmont- Sardinia into the war against Britain and Russia to prove the strength of his country. He in fact did end up proving Piedmont-Sardinia’s strength by winning this war. Not to long after, Cavour decided that he would like to take power away from Austria in Italy by winning over the states that Austria was in control of.  He knew that he would need the help of a strong ally and therefore went to France’s Napoleon III for help. The two leaders met in Plombières to discuss their plans. Napoleon would agree to help Cavour fight a war against Austria with certain terms. Napoleon III would only go to war if it was initiated by Austria. Austria soon initiated a war with Piedmont- Sardinia and Napoleon III brought in his French troops to assist Cavour. Piedmont- Sardinia won this war and won power over Lombardy, Venetia (Venice), Nice and Savoy. Nice and Savoy were given to Napoleon III as they were French states by majority. Camillo de Cavour was therefore fairly successful in his plan to Unify Italy in a practical manner as he was able to fight Austria and therefore take power of new Italian states which helped to unify the country.

Mazzini was very different from Cavour in the way that he was able to inflict his views onto the Italian people. Mazzini spent his time trying to influence people to follow him. Mazzini’s dream of creating a republic upset the people of Europe. It also upset the status quo that European forces were trying to keep. This upset the Quadruple Alliance the Holy Alliance as they were constantly thwarting his plans at insurrection. Mazzini’s ideas were too radical to create change in a progressive society. If he had tried to create a republic in a later time period where the people themselves had more radical ideas, his dreams may have been put to reality. He may have been able to create a republic that would last much longer than the Roman Republic lasted. Cavour was truly able to inflict his dreams upon the Italian states. It can be said that Cavour’s accomplishments were greater because he accomplished the unification of some of the Northern states, which was his aim. He was able to use his policy of “Realpolitik” to achieve influence on powerful European countries. Cavour was also able to establish a good personal relationship with Napoleon III who then aided him with the expansion of Piedmont. Cavour’s role can be seen as more practical because his ideas had a visible outcome in the uniting of the northern Italian states.

Overall, both Mazzini and Cavour had important roles in the Unification of Italy. Mazzini had an important role of sparking new radical ideas in Italy. Cavour on the other hand, had a more realistic outlook on how to unify the many states and it can therefore be said that he played a more practical role in the unification of Italy than Mazzini.