Italian nationalism/unification Italian nationalism/unification The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era unleashed forces that engulfed the whole of Europe Nationalism became a potent force Although the votaries of counterrevolution made a valiant effort to check the progressive ideas at the Congress of Vienna, Europe was changing fast The rise of nationalism in Italy and Germany were two major events that dominated European history after 1815 The ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity from the French Revolution appealed to the people of Italy The reduction of the number of states into the Kingdom of Italy, Papal States, and the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, along with introduction of reforms by the Napoleonic regimes between 1796 and 1814 unleashed the forces of nationalism Joachim Murat, installed by his brother-in-law, Napolean I, as king of Naples and Sicily, even conceived the idea of the Union of Italy in 1815 before Napoleon’s defeat The provisions of the Congress of Vienna once again vivisected Italy The Bourbons were restored in the south in the form of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies The Papal States once again ruled over central Italy Austria dominated Italy by possessing LombardyVenetia and having close Habsburg ties with monarchs of various Italian states Only the northwestern part of Italy, the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, was free from foreign control The smaller states included the Grand Duchies of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena, where the ruling houses had close ties with the Habsburgs Italian nationalism was nurtured at first with a streak of romanticism Italian authors, particularly Alessandro Manzoni, contributed a great deal toward fostering Italian nationalism After 1796 the Freemasons advocated for a united Italy Apart from a common hatred of the Austrians, the political and economic advantages at the time of unified administration under Napoleon contributed to the rise of nationalism among Italians From 1810 onward, the secret societies that had sprung up in Italy against Napoleonic rule diverted their attention toward the new regimes after the Congress of Vienna The carbonari (literally, “charcoal burners”) members, numbering about 50,000, pledged to revolt, signing their names in blood They had a common goal of national independence and freedom from foreign domination The Kingdom of Two Sicilies, ruled by King Ferdinand I, felt the onslaught of a cabonari army led by General Guglielmo Pepe in July 1820 Pepe, a distinguished military officer, had joined the carbonari revolution A liberal constitution was created, but the following year the revolution was crushed by the Austrians 195 The constitution was scrapped, and revolutionaries were arrested Pepe went into exile for 20 years The insurrection in Piedmont-Sardinia led by a group of army officers under the leadership of Santorre di Santarosa in March 1821 also was short-lived King Victor Emanuel I abdicated in favor of his brother, and the new king, Charles Felix, sought Austrian help to crush the revolt Santarosa, who had become the minister of war at the time of the uprising, went into exile in France after the failure of the revolution The July Revolution of 1830 that swept over France had its impact in Italy, where a series of insurrections took place Francis IV, duke of Modena, with a plan to extend his dominion, had declared that he would not oppose the rebellions The French monarch, Louis-Philippe, also promised that he would oppose an Austrian intervention Encouraged by this, the carbonari revolutionaries began to rise in rebellion in northern and southern Italy The duchies of Parma and Modena, along with a sizable part of the Papal States, came under their control A program of Province Italian Unite was proclaimed But like the earlier insurrection of 1820s, carbonari attempts failed due to Austrian intervention Louis-Philippe did not come to their aid after an Austrian warning against French intervention By the spring of 1831 the resistance movement was crushed The Risorgimento in Italy would be dominated by three important nationalists, who had separate ideology and strategy, but had the common goal of achieving Italian unification Giuseppe Mazzini was a political theorist; Giuseppe Garibaldi was a soldier; and Count Camillo Benso di Cavour was a politician Mazzini joined the carbonari movement in 1827, but was imprisoned in Savona in 1830 After his release, he appealed to the new king, Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia, to liberate the Italian states from Austrian domination Although he had joined the carbonari as it was developing awareness among Italians, Mazzini was moving away from it As an exile in the French city of Marseille, Mazzini set up Giovine Italia (Young Italy) in 1831 for Italian unification He believed in the power of youth and membership was restricted to persons under the age of 40 By 1833, membership grew to 60,000 people Mazzini was avowedly anti-royalist and was in favor of a republican form of government Within his agenda, social reforms played an important part His vision of a democratic and republican Italy also extended beyond the borders of Italy The Young Italy movement spread, giving rise to Young Poland, Young