Giuseppe Garibaldi and the liberation of Southern Italy
When Garibaldi was still a child, Nice that was being ruled under Napoleonic of France, started being ruled by the Italian kingdom. It is believed that this is one of the factors that triggered the Garibaldis desire to liberate his nation and later unite it. Italy was deeply rooted in Garibaldis childhood experiences, particularly the experience of watching his hometown nationality being altered. Garibaldi firmly resisted his mothers desires of joining priesthood and set off for the sea at an early age of fifteen years. By the age of twenty five years, he had already risen to the position of a captain. In the early years of 1830, Garibaldi became actively involved in the movement of Young Italy, which was being led by one of his greatest mentors, Giuseppe Mazzini. This movement was firmly devoted to unification as well as liberation of Italy, most regions of which were under the rule of the Austria commonly known as Papacy.
Garibaldi became actively involved in a major plot of overthrowing the government of Piedmontese, but unfortunately the plot was not successful and he was therefore compelled to flee. In his absentia, Garibaldi was sentenced to death by the government for the failed coup attempt. Since he could not return to his nation for fear of his life, Garibaldi was forced to sail to South America. But his determination of liberation southern Italy did not fade and continued working hard and hoping that he would one day go back to his country and liberate Italians. While in exile Garibaldi became rebel and participated in South American conflicts where he successfully assisted in fighting Uruguay and Brazil. He led military forces which were very successful in defeating the Uruguayan dictator. His conflict experiences in South American proved very essential when he finally went back home and continued pursuing his desires of liberating Italy.
During the entire period Garibaldi stayed in South America, he maintained a close relationship with Mazzini who was a revolutionary colleague to him. By then, Mazzini was living in London where he had escaped to following the failed coup attempt, which he had engineered. On a continuous basis, Mazzini promoted Garibaldi since he saw the great potential the young military figure had in liberating and unifying Italy. In the wake of revolutions breakout across Europe in the late 1840s, Garibaldi returned to Italy. His first stop was in Nice, on his return Garibaldi was accompanied by his Italian Legion composed of more than sixty loyal fighters. As several rebellions and wars broke in his nation, Garibaldi effectively commanded military troops but was later forced to flee to Switzerland.
When Garibaldi went back to his nation, Italy was experiencing the 1840s revolution turmoil. He offered his military services to Albert of Sardinia and thus participated effectively in the ongoing armed conflict in his country. The monarch of being ruled by Albert displayed some elements of liberal inclinations. However, Garibaldi treated these inclinations with high levels of coolness although distrusting them. This was because he needed the support of the monarch in liberating the country and could revisit the issue later after his country was fully liberated. Piedmontese rebuffed him, and together with his troops, Garibaldi crossed over to Lombardy and provided a lot of military assistance to Milans provisional government, which had opposed the occupation of Austria. During the period of the first Italian independence war that was largely unsuccessful, Garibaldi led his troops to two victories which were minor at Morazzone and Luino.
Following his successful crushing of Piedmontese at Novara, he led his troops to Rome where they offered support to the nation which was under the rule of the Papal States. They faced a tough time when military forces from France were employed into the region by Louis Napoleon, who later became Napoleon III this particular encounter in fact threatened toppling the Garibaldis forces. In the late 1840s, the republican army that was being led by Garibaldi defeated the French army although the latter had more soldiers compared to the ones being commanded by Garibaldi. As a result, more reinforcements from France were sent to fight Garibaldi forces and this brought about the Rome Siege. Despite the strong resistance that was offered by Republican army being commanded by Garibaldi, French forces eventually prevailed. Having been defeated by the strong French forces, Garibaldi gave a speech which clearly showed his great loyalty and nationalism he had to his nation. In his speech he said that it does not matter where the Italians are dispersed by other military forces of other nations, but Rome will always be there.
A ceasefire was later negotiated and it was agreed that Garibaldi should withdraw all his troops, which were about four thousand from Rome. The great idea of liberating and unifying Italy was strongly opposed by Spain, France and Austria. These nations thus sent their troops which overpowered Garibaldis forces and forced him together with his troops to flee towards north, with the aim of reaching Venice. This is due to the fact that it is in this region where Venetians still resisted the Siege of Austrians. Following a grand march, he led his troops to a temporary refuge in the region of San Marino.
Garibaldi together with his few remaining troops finally managed to get to Portoverene, which is located near La Spezia. However, he was forced by the government of Piedmontese to emigrate abroad once more. After staying for a while in Tangier, Garibaldi then went to the Island of Staten. During this particular exile period, Garibaldi avoided a lot of publicity he instead worked in the factory of his host, Antonio Meucci, as a candle maker. He was however not satisfied with his new job as he kept meditating how he would one day liberate his nation, which had proved to be an uphill task for him mainly because he was being opposed by several governments neighboring Italy.
In 1854, Garibaldi went back to his country applying his dead brothers legacy. Caprera Italian Island located in the northern part of Sardinia and devoted himself fully to agriculture. Five years, the second independence war of Italy, commonly known as the battle of Austro-Sardinia broke out. Due to the great experience and desire to liberate his nation, Garibaldi was appointed as the major general he created a unit of volunteers which was commonly called Hunters of the Alps. Having tried to liberate Italy for several years, through the republican ideals of Mazzini, Garibaldi finally left his mentors camp to join the monarchy of Piedmontese. He made this all important move since he strongly believed that this was the only monarchy with the capacity of liberating Italy.
Together with his several volunteers, Garibaldi won major battles over Austrians in several places such as Como and Varese. He was however greatly disappointed when Nice, his home town was eventually surrendered to France, in exchange of significant military assistance from the French. In 1860 when Garibaldi was Nices deputy in the parliament of Piedmontese in Turin, he led his troops in vehemently attacking Cavour because of his actions of ceding Nice to Frances Emperor, Louis Napoleon.
Having fought for several years in order to achieve Italian liberation, the Government of Italy eventually bought Garibaldis ideas. In fact, when the Austro-Prussian conflict broke out in 1866, Garibaldi was fully supported by the ruling Italian government. Garibaldi led his fellow countrymen to join hands with Prussia in order to fight Austria and Hungary. In doing so, Garibaldi and his team hoped that that Italy could take Venetia away from the rule of Austrians this battle became the third independence war of Italy. This powerful Italian military leader and liberator gathered the Alp Hunters and led them in invading Trentino. The Austrians suffered humiliating defeat on the hands of Garibaldi and his Alp Hunters at Bezzacca.
After the battle, this great Italian military leader and liberator led a party that was purely political, the party agitated relentlessly for Romes capture. In the late 1860s, Garibaldi marched again to the city, however the army of Papal which was being supported by the auxiliary force of France opposed Garibaldis move. During this particular armed conflict, Mentana Battle, Garibaldi suffered a gun shot which badly wounded his leg. He was therefore forced to withdraw from the territory of Papal. Although the Italian government had joined hands with Garibaldis forces during the Austro Prussian battle, it imprisoned him for a while before releasing him and allowing him to go back to Caprera.
Despite the great challenges and drawbacks Garibaldi suffered in his attempts to liberate and unify Italy, he never relented on his tough mission. In 1860s, Italy was again locked in political upheavals, which again called Garibaldi to go to battle. He arrived in Sicily in the early 1860s accompanied by his loyal followers. The troops under the leadership of Garibaldi were informally referred as Thousand Red Shirts. When the Prussian-Franco conflict started in 1870, the public opinion of the Italians strongly favored Prussians. In fact, several Italians signed up to become volunteers in the war in order to assist the Prussians in fighting the French. Following the garrison of France being called back from Rome, the army of Italy eventually captured states of Papal without the physical presence of Garibaldi, but using his war tactics and ideologies. Following the collapse of wartime during the second empire of France in the Sedan battle, Garibaldi was faced a lot of hostility under the rule of Napoleon III and was thus forced support the third republic of France. This great Italian military and political leader led his troops and effectively conquered Neapolitan troops. The defeat of these troops basically meant the defeat of the island and easy crossing the Messina Straits into the mainland of Italy. After Garibaldi, matched northwards and reached Naples, he made an entry which was quite triumphant, into a city that had not experienced any major defeat in the past. At this point, Garibaldi declared him self an Italian dictator.
Conclusion
Throughout his life, Garibaldi was actively involved in several battles most of which were aimed at liberating his nation. Even though this great Italian military leader and liberator suffered several defeats which at times forced him to flee from his beloved nation, his desire to liberate his nation and people never escaped from his mind. He spent his entire life fighting for what he strongly believed was the right thing and course for his nation. Despite the fact that it took him and his followers several decades to fully achieve the full fruits of their labor, Garibaldi and his troops eventually managed to liberate Italy.
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