This cry of revolt form the south was irresistible to Garibaldi to play a hero. He gave up his quest to release his home town from foreign control for a much easier battle. Garibaldi was a fighter and enjoyed being the leader of the ‘people’; Cavour on the other hand was a diplomat. If Garibaldi had got to Nice war with France would have almost been inevitable. Garibaldi would have attacked and been defeated by the French and repercussions of an event like this could have led to Cavour loosing all he had gained up until now. Garibaldi’s trip to the south could have also had the same effects.
Cavour’s northern kingdom was made up of all the Northern states of the peninsula, all of which were al relatively as socially, economically and industrially advanced as each other. The south however had much more ground to gain in these areas. Uniting north and south at this time would certainly not be practical for the economy, which is exactly what Garibaldi wanted to do. This is just another example of his ignorance towards Cavour considering Cavour has he most to lose from this. It was hardly surprising that when Garibaldi asked for arms to fight the Bourbon monarchy Cavour said no. He even asked Garibaldi to not go ahead, Cavour was not to concerned at this point though because he didn’t expect Garibaldi to succeed.
Garibaldi a head – strong, guerrilla fighter did not let the lack of support from Cavour pull him own nor did he take note of Cavour’s concern regarding the jeopardy Garibaldi is putting his efforts in.
When Garibaldi arrived in Sicily, being a natural leader soon rallied public support and helped overthrow the monarchy. France may have intervened at any time, this could have meant the destruction of everything achieved in the unification up until now could be lost. Fortunately for Garibaldi (and Cavour) the didn’t and Garibaldi soon had hlped Naples to the same end. Garibaldi now had the whole of Sicily in his hand yet he wanted more. He wanted to re unite the capital with Italy, Rome! The capital being under French protection was sure to be the basis of war with France if Garibaldi attacked it. Cavour had to do something! He marched south with the Piedmontese army and met Garibaldi at Teano, where to Cavour’s surprise, pledged allegiance o Victor Emanuel and then handed over al he had conquered. Cavour had to accept.
Garibaldi now having completed the annexation of Sicily and Naples left to live on Cabrera turning down offers from Victor Emanuel of a title and castle. This seems very noble of Garibaldi but it may not have been his interest to receive reward but just to fight. Garibaldi came back to Italy with the intention of starting a fight with someone. It didn’t matter who as long as he was the saviour and hero. For example he was headed for Nice somewhere with a lot more of a reason to fight for then turned to an easier fight with a beter odds of winning. To some his could look like he was just trying to become a face for the people of Italy!
If Garibaldi had been such a patriot and he believed that Rome and Nice belonged to Italy why didn’t he carry on? Maybe it was because he had had his taste of being he leader and now he was happy he had made his mark. When he was confronted by Cavour why didn’t he fight for what he believes in? Maybe because he was only trying to be the hero and realised that Cavour was the only true reason Italy is united and fighting him would be like nailing up his own coffin as far as public support was concerned, so he just left Cavour to clean up the mess he left in the South.
If Garibaldi had reached the capital the French would have definitely attacked because of French public support towards Catholism and the French troops stationed in the region. The effects of this could have been disastrous for Cavour.
Garibaldi has been said to have had his countries best interests at heart, if this was so the why did he not listen o the advice of Cavour who had been leader of the country for years? Garibaldi who had been away from the country in America for years surely must have realise that Cavour had some idea of how to go about unifying Italy.
The addition of these two new states meant a lot of needless but necessary work for Cavour. Garibaldi bing the rouge leader had just conquered the south not giving them the choice of Independence etc. therefore Cavour making sure that no one entered the unification of Italy unwillingly declared Plebiscites. The vote went unanimously towards unification!
Garibaldi did not wreck everything Cavour achieved, but he came close enough to it. He is a good leader and a strong fighter “a man of action”. Without his conquest of Sicily Cavour may not have seen complete unification in his lifetime. Garibaldi’s methods were questionable but it brought a favourable end, most importantly he achieved his goal fast. Cavour was a diplomat and believed that unification could have gone down a political route.
Garibaldi’s strong ideas of leadership nearly cost Cavour his. Garibaldi is far from a patriot or hero. His story is rather gold plated and stands for nothing compared to what Cavour achieved for Italy in his lifetime. Cavour had stuck by the side of Piedmont the whole way though fighting every battle at her side. Garibaldi was a newcomer compared to Cavour’s commitment to his national duty. So what was the argument for hi, again?!
