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Nationalist forces in Italy rebelled against their foreign rulers.
Republican forces fomented a revolt against the pope, declaring the Republic of Rome. -
Cavour become prime minister of Sardinia
Cavour become prime minister of Sardinia, a kingdom that included both the island of Sardinia and the Piedmont region of northern Italy. Like almost all successful ministers in European history, Cavour was crafty, clever, and entirely practical in his outlook. He used national alliances to achieve his goal of uniting the rest of Italy to Sardinia. -
Napoleon III agreed to help drive Austria out of the northern Italian provinces.
In 1858, the French emperor Napoleon III agreed to help drive Austria out of the northern Italian provinces.
Cavour then provoked a war with
the Austrians. A combined French-
Sardinian army won two quick victories.
Sardinia succeeded in taking all
of northern Italy, except Venetia. -
Garibaldi led an invasion
Garibaldi led an invasion of his followers, the Red Shirts, into the kingdom of Sicily, ostensibly to join a popular uprising. With covert assistance from Cavour, Garibaldi liberated both Sicily and Naples. Although Cavour was a monarchist and Garibaldi was a republican, they found common ground in their desire to unify their people. -
As Cavour was uniting northern Italy, he secretly started helping nationalist rebels in southern Italy.
a small army of Italian nationalists led by a
bold and visionary soldier, Giuseppe Garibaldi
captured Sicily. In battle, Garibaldi
always wore a bright red shirt, as did
his followers. As a result, they
became known as the Red Shirts.
From Sicily, Garibaldi and his
forces crossed to the Italian mainland
and marched north. Eventually, Garibaldi agreed to unite the southern areas he had conquered with The kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. -
The new Italian parliament, meeting in 1860, was officially referred to as “the eighth session of the Sardinian Parliament.”
The new Italian parliament, meeting in 1860, was officially referred to as “the eighth session of the Sardinian Parliament.” The vote was limited to men over the age of twenty-four who were literate and owned property—a total of about 8 percent of all Italian men in that age group. -
France declared war on Prussia
When France declared war on Prussia in 1870, occupying French troops abandoned Rome. This left the pope undefended, and the Italian army immediately marched in to complete the unification process. Rome, once the center and apex of Classical civilization, had enormous symbolic importance to the Italians, and it was immediately named the new Italian capital city.
