During the 18th century, intellectual changes began to dismantle traditional values and institutions. Liberal ideas from France and Britain spread rapidly, and from 1789 the French Revolution became the genesis of "liberal Italians".

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During the 18th century, intellectual changes began to dismantle traditional values and institutions. Liberal ideas from France and Britain spread rapidly, and from 1789 the French Revolution became the genesis of "liberal Italians".  A series of political and military events resulted in a unified kingdom of Italy in 1861. The settlements reached in 1815 at the Vienna Congress had restored Austrian domination over the Italian peninsula but had left Italy completely fragmented . The Congress had divided the territory among a number of European nations and the victors of the Napoleonic Wars.  The Kingdom of Sardinia recovered Piedmont (Piemonte), Nice, and Savoy and acquired Genoa.  


There were three major obstacles to unity at the time the congress took place, i.e. (a) the Austrian occupation of Lombardy and Venice in the north, (b) the principality under the sovereignty of the pope, i.e. the Papal States that controlled the center of the Italian peninsula; and  (c) the existence of various states that had maintained independence, such as the Kingdom of Sardinia, also called Piedmont-Sardinia, which located at the French border had slowly expanded since the Middle Ages and was considered the most advanced state in Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the  island of Sardinia and the region called Piedmont in northwestern Italy. The Kingdom of Sicily that occupied the island of Sicily and the entire southern half of the Italian peninsula . Other small states were the duchies of Toscana (Tuscany), Parma, and Modena.  In each of these states, the monarchs (all relatives of the Habsburgs, the ruling family of Austria) exercised absolute powers of government.

The story of Italy’s unification is a bit more complicated. The main figure in Italian unification was Camillo Cavour. Cavour was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. He successfully modernized his kingdom and performed some tricky political maneuvers. Cavour brought attention to Italy plight by helping out in the Crimean war. This commitment of troops in Crimea had far reaching implications. In a secret meeting between Napoleon III and Cavour, it was decided that the Austrian holdings in Italy needed to be eliminated. Austria launched a pre-emptive attack on Piedmont, but was defeated by the combined forces of Italy and France. France pulled out of the war early by declaring an early peace and took more land then was originally agreed upon. The kingdom of Piedmont still gained a significant amount of land though. Eventually through the efforts of Guiseppe Garibaldi, a popular Italian leader, all Italian areas except Austrian Venetia and the Papal States were secured for Piedmont. There were some attempts made on annexing this land, but unfortunately the Papal lands were under French protection, and Austria still occupied Venetia. By getting help from the Prussians, the Italians were finally able to take Venetia from the Austrians. The Papal Lands were also taken by Austrian help as well, but indirectly. The Franco-Prussian war made it necessary for the French garrisons in the Papal Lands to pull out, and so the Italians simply walked in and claimed the land for Italy.

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The German and Italian wars of unification were both spurred on by the rising tides of Nationalism and Liberalism. The German cause was supported more by those on the top of the social pyramid, then those on the bottom. Germany’s Junkers were the main supporters Bismarck, who led Prussia to unification. The unification of Italy owes itself to the common folk much more then the German cause. The popular support of unification by the population was vital in the wars of unification. The armies led by Guiseppe Garibaldi were common Italians fighting for unification, versus the armies of Prussia who ...

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