The Effect of Revolutions on the Cause of Unification in Italy

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The Effect of Revolutions on the Cause of Unification in Italy

There are many factors that may explain why so little was achieved in

Italy from 1848-9. In this essay I plan to examine how and why these

factors contributed o failure.

One point that should be made clear about Italian unification is that

rather than one large organisation there were many separate movements,

each with their own ideas and intentions concerning Italy. Between the

revolutionary movements there was a lack of co-operation and division.

Instead of working together to fight Austria on a united front they

tried it alone. Liberalists wanted constitutions and Nationalists

independence but Sicilians wanted complete separatism from Naples. It

has been said that Charles Albert simply wanted to gain more control

of the North.

The leaders of these movements, for example, Mazzini and Charles

Albert all had different ideas and ideals. There was little agreement

between leaders and this made it hard for them to co-operate with each

other as in earlier revolutions. Obviously this is a significant

reason for why so little was achieved because for people fighting for

unification they were not very united their selves.

The Austrian army was without a doubt more than a minor hindrance to

the Italians, the majority of its troops were trained soldiers and it

had years of experience when it came to revolts. The Italian

organisations were ill equipped and not trained for battle. This is

why guerrilla warfare was often resorted to. To make things worse a

proportion of the Austrian army were Italian peasants who didn't care

about unification. They were only concerned with their well being and

as they were never included in revolutionary plans it is easy to see

why.

The king of Piedmont, Charles Albert inability to lead is a reason in

itself. When there was a need for an army big enough to fight Austria

he hindered the growth of the army by refusing to accept Republican

volunteers and everyone else were forced to swear an allegiance to

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