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Giuseppe Garibaldi
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Garibaldi was largely self-educated. He spent his youth as a sailor on Mediterranean merchant ships. In 1833 he joined Young Italy, the movement organized by the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini to free the Italian people and unify the country as a self-governing republic. In 1834 Garibaldi was ordered to seize a warship, but the plot was discovered by police. Garibaldi was condemned to death, but he escaped to South America, where he lived for 12 years. There he displayed unusual qualities of military leadership while participating in the revolt of the state of Rio Grande do Sul against Brazil, as well as later in a civil war in Uruguay. |
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When the revolutionary tide that swept over Europe in 1848 engulfed Italy, Garibaldi returned and again took part in the movement for Italian freedom and unification, thereafter known as the Risorgimento (Italian for "revival"). He organized a corps of about 3000 volunteers, which, in the service of the Piedmontese ruler Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, unsuccessfully fought the Austrians in Lombardy (Lombardia). In 1849 he led his volunteers to Rome to support the Roman Republic established by Mazzini and others. Garibaldi successfully defended the city against attacks by superior French forces for 30 days but was finally compelled to make terms with the French. Although he was allowed to depart from Rome with about 5000 of his followers, the line of retreat lay through territory controlled by the Austrians; the larger part of his force was killed, captured, or dispersed, and Garibaldi had to flee Italy to save his life. |
Garibaldi went to the United States in 1848, settled in Staten Island, New York, working as a candlemaker, and became a citizen. In 1854 he returned to Italy and bought a modest home on the island of Caprera northeast of Sardinia. At that time Garibaldi had separated politically from Mazzini, an undeviating republican; Garibaldi believed that the road to freedom and unity for Italy lay in alliance with the liberal ruler Victor Emmanuel II, king of Sardinia, and his premier, Conte Camillo Benso di Cavour. Thousands of other Italian patriots and revolutionaries were influenced by Garibaldi's position, a fact that did much to enhance the fortunes of the Sardinian monarch and influence the course of Italian history. |
| Garibaldi was deeply involved in the complicated military and political struggles that took place in the following years. Garibaldi's goal was to create a united Italy. In 1859 he led a successful expedition against the Austrian forces in the Alps; in 1860 he led a force of 1000 men from Genoa to Sicily, then ruled by the king of Naples. Distinctively clad in bright red shirts, Garibaldi's men became known as the Red Shirts and as The Thousand. Between May and August 1860, Garibaldi conquered Sicily and set up a provisional insular government. He then crossed to the Italian mainland; took Naples, defeating the Neapolitans in a decisive engagement on the banks of the Volturno River on October 26, 1860; and besieged the fortress of Gaeta, which fell in February 1861. | Garibaldi had conquered Naples and Sicily, and in October 1861 Victor Emmanuel arrived in Naples with his army to relieve Garibaldi and his men. Garibaldi gave the kingdom of Naples to Victor Emmanuel and returned to his home on Caprera, refusing all rewards. With the annexation of Umbria and Marches from the papal government, a united Italy was established in 1861 with Victor Emmanuel as king. The Italian kingdom was missing Rome, which was still a papal possession, and Venice, which was controlled by the Austrians. |
| In 1862 Victor Emmanuel and his advisors developed a plan to take Venice from the Austrians. They planned to preoccupy the Austrians by attacking them in the Balkans, then invade Venice. The Italian government recruited Garibaldi to mobilize an army, but decided against invading the Balkans. Garibaldi turned his attention to securing Rome for the Italian kingdom. He organized the Society for the Emancipation of Italy and visited Sicily, where he raised a force of volunteers. He was opposed by Victor Emmanuel, who did not want to risk war with France, which was guarding Rome. Victor Emmanuel defeated Garibaldi at the Battle of Aspromonte on August 29, 1862. Garibaldi was wounded and captured in that battle but was soon pardoned and released. | Despite the Aspromonte incident, the government went to Garibaldi again in 1866. Italy had made an alliance with Prussia to defeat the Austrians. Italy was promised Venice if the alliance was victorious. Garibaldi successfully invaded Tyrol with a volunteer force. This was an Italian victory. Venice became part of Italy in 1866. |
| In 1867 Garibaldi again raised a volunteer force with the aim of annexing the Papal States to the kingdom of Italy. After a number of initial engagements, he was defeated by combined papal and French forces at the Battle of Mentana on November 3, 1867. He was taken prisoner but was held only a short time. For about two years thereafter Garibaldi lived the life of a farmer on Caprera. | In 1870 he offered his services to the French government and fought with his two sons in the Franco-Prussian War. Rome was annexed to Italy in October 1870, and Garibaldi was elected a member of the Italian parliament in 1874. In his last years he sympathized with the developing socialist movement in Italy and other countries. Garibaldi's autobiography, Autobiography of Giuseppe Garibaldi, was published in 1887. |
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by Mauro ©