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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