Risorgimento

The nineteenth-century political and cultural movement that led to the unification of Italy in 1861. It joined nationalist ideas, popular uprisings, diplomacy, and wars against foreign rule.

Kingdom of Sardinia: The northwestern Italian state ruled by the House of Savoy that led the political unification of Italy. Its monarchy and government became the institutional center of unification.
Congress of Vienna: The 1814–1815 settlement that reorganized Europe after Napoleon’s defeat and restored old dynasties across much of Italy. Its restoration of divided states and foreign influence shaped nationalist opposition.
Giuseppe Mazzini: An Italian republican nationalist who founded Young Italy and advocated a united, independent republic. His organizing and writing gave the movement a popular republican program.
Kingdom of Italy: The unified Italian state proclaimed in 1861 under Victor Emmanuel II, initially excluding Rome and Venetia. It was the immediate political result of the Risorgimento’s campaigns and diplomacy.
Expedition of the Thousand: Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1860 campaign, in which volunteers conquered Sicily and Naples for the Sardinian king. Garibaldi’s conquest brought southern Italy into the unification process.
Carbonari: A secret revolutionary network active in Italy and elsewhere in Europe in the early nineteenth century. Its conspiracies and uprisings helped establish a tradition of Italian resistance.
Giuseppe Garibaldi: An Italian soldier and nationalist who led volunteer forces in campaigns that helped unify Italy. His military victories made popular action decisive in southern Italy.
Third Italian War of Independence: The 1866 conflict in which Italy allied with Prussia and acquired Venetia from Austria. It extended the new kingdom beyond the territory unified in 1861.
Second Italian War of Independence: The 1859 war in which France and Sardinia defeated Austria and gained Lombardy. The campaign weakened Austrian control in northern Italy and expanded Sardinia.
Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states: A wave of uprisings and constitutional revolutions across the Italian peninsula in 1848. Their defeat exposed the limits of insurrection while keeping national demands alive.

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