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On 11 September, Cavour instigated the invasion of the [[Papal States]], led by [[Manfredo Fanti]]. The Papal Army was led by [[Louis Juchault de Lamoricière]], though [[Pope Pius IX]]'s hope that [[Napoleon III]] and [[Franz Josef I of Austria]] would come to his aid was unfounded. General [[Enrico Cialdini]]'s IV Corps attacked [[Pesaro]], [[Enrico Morozzo Della Rocca]]'s V Corps advanced on [[Perugia]], while Persano blockaded [[Ancona]]. On 18 September, the Papal Army under Lamoriciére were defeated during the [[Battle of Castelfidardo]], and the siege of Ancona began, finally surrendering on 29 September. According to Schneid, "The fall of Ancona ended the campaign in the Papal States. The Piedmontese Army occupied most of [[Umbria]] and [[Marche]]."<ref name=FS/>{{rp|65-67}}
On 11 September, Cavour instigated the invasion of the [[Papal States]], led by [[Manfredo Fanti]]. The Papal Army was led by [[Louis Juchault de Lamoricière]], though [[Pope Pius IX]]'s hope that [[Napoleon III]] and [[Franz Josef I of Austria]] would come to his aid was unfounded. General [[Enrico Cialdini]]'s IV Corps attacked [[Pesaro]], [[Enrico Morozzo Della Rocca]]'s V Corps advanced on [[Perugia]], while Persano blockaded [[Ancona]]. On 18 September, the Papal Army under Lamoriciére were defeated during the [[Battle of Castelfidardo]], and the siege of Ancona began, finally surrendering on 29 September. According to Schneid, "The fall of Ancona ended the campaign in the Papal States. The Piedmontese Army occupied most of [[Umbria]] and [[Marche]]."<ref name=FS/>{{rp|65-67}}


Between the end of September and the first days of October the decisive [[battle of Volturno]] took place, where around 50,000 Bourbon soldiers lost the battle against Garibaldi's men, who were approximately half the size.<ref>[[Girolamo Arnaldi]], ''Storia d'Italia, Volume 4'', UTET, Torino, 1965, p. 167</ref> It is believed that the forces actually engaged in the battle of 1 October were 28,000 Royal Bourbons against 20,000 Garibaldians, while on 2 October the Calabrian volunteers of Francesco Stocco, four Piedmontese companies and several dozen Piedmontese gunners in [[Santa Maria Capua Vetere]] joined the Garibaldians.<ref>Garibaldi e la formazione dell'Italia, G.M. Trevelyan, Appendice J-II-b-c, pag. 406</ref>
According to Schneid, "Garibaldi narrowly won the [[Battle of the Volturno|Battle of Volturno]]. The Southern Army placed [[Capua]] under siege, and the Piedmontese forces marched on Gaeta where the erstwhile Neapolitan king had taken refuge." The Savoia Brigade landed north of Capua, while Della Rocca's V Corps, and the rest of the Piedmontese Army, crossed the Neapolitan frontier.<ref name=FS/> A few days later (21 October) a [[plebiscite]] confirmed the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia by an overwhelming majority.

According to Schneid, "Garibaldi narrowly won the battle of Volturno. The Southern Army placed [[Capua]] under siege, and the Piedmontese forces marched on Gaeta where the erstwhile Neapolitan king had taken refuge." The Savoia Brigade landed north of Capua, while Della Rocca's V Corps, and the rest of the Piedmontese Army, crossed the Neapolitan frontier.<ref name=FS/> A few days later (21 October) a [[plebiscite]] confirmed the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia by an overwhelming majority.


The detailed results of the plebiscites were:
The detailed results of the plebiscites were:
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The end of the expedition is traditionally set with the famous meeting in [[Teano]]<ref>Other sources (including Del Boca) set the location of the meeting at {{Interlanguage link multi| Taverna della Catena|it}}, in the territory of the modern ''[[comune]]'' of [[Vairano Patenora]].</ref> (northern [[Campania]]) between Victor Emmanuel II and Garibaldi (26 October 1860). Others assign instead the end of the campaign to the King's entrance into Naples on 7 November. However, the military campaign was not yet fully completed, as Francis II [[Siege of Gaeta (1860)|held out in Gaeta]] until February of the next year, when he finally surrendered to the Sardinian army led by Enrico Cialdini, and left for exile in the Papal States.
The end of the expedition is traditionally set with the famous meeting in [[Teano]]<ref>Other sources (including Del Boca) set the location of the meeting at {{Interlanguage link multi| Taverna della Catena|it}}, in the territory of the modern ''[[comune]]'' of [[Vairano Patenora]].</ref> (northern [[Campania]]) between Victor Emmanuel II and Garibaldi (26 October 1860). Others assign instead the end of the campaign to the King's entrance into Naples on 7 November. The meeting at Teano has risen to a high symbolic value in Italian historiography, as it gives the [[House of Savoy]] sovereignty over the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and therefore over the entire Italian peninsula.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/incontro-di-teano_(Dizionario-di-Storia)/title=Teano, incontro di|publisher=[[Treccani]]|acces-date=27 January 2024|language=it}}</ref>

However, the military campaign was not yet fully completed, as Francis II held out in Gaeta. The [[Siege of Gaeta (1860)|siege of Gaeta]] was first started by Garibaldi, replaced on 4 November 1860 by the Sardinian army which concluded the siege on 13 February 1861. During the first ten days of November 1860 around 17,000 Bourbon soldiers, pursued by the troops of Victor Emmanuel II , took refuge in the [[Papal State]] in [[Terracina]], where they were disarmed and interned in the [[Alban Hills]] by the papal authorities and the French garrison of Rome.<ref>Garibaldi and the making of Italy - [[George Macaulay Trevelyan]] - pag. 276</ref> With the surrender of Francis II, the last Bourbons of the Two Sicilies went into exile in Rome under the protection of [[Pope Pius IX]].


===Garibaldi's departure from Naples===
===Garibaldi's departure from Naples===

Revision as of 15:58, 27 January 2024

Expedition of the Thousand
Part of the wars of Italian unification

The beginning of the expedition at Quarto dei Mille, Genoa
Date1860–1861
Standort
Result

Garibaldine victory

Territorial
changes
Sicily, Southern Italy, Marche and Umbria ceded to the Kingdom of Sardinia
Belligerents

Kingdom of Sardinia Sardinia

Supported by:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Vereinigtes Königreich (naval)

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Two Sicilies

Supported by:
Papal States Papal States
Frankreich (naval)
Spanien (naval)
Commanders and leaders
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Kingdom of Sardinia Victor Emmanuel II
Kingdom of Sardinia Enrico Cialdini
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Rodney Mundy
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Francis II
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Giosuè Ritucci
Papal States Juchault de Lamoricière
Strength
90,000[1][2]

The Expedition of the Thousand (Italian: Spedizione dei Mille) was an event of the unification of Italy that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto near Genoa and landed in Marsala, Sicily, in order to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled by the Spanish House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.[3] The name of the expedition derives from the initial number of participants, which was around 1,000 people.[4]

The Garibaldians with the contribution of southern volunteers and reinforcements to the expedition, increased in number, creating the Southern Army. After a campaign of a few months with some victorious battles against the Bourbon army, the Thousand and the newborn southern army managed to conquer the entire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The expedition was a success and concluded with a plebiscite that brought Naples and Sicily into the Kingdom of Sardinia (also known as Piedmont-Sardinia), the last territorial conquest before the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861.

The project was an ambitious and risky venture aiming to conquer, with a thousand men, a kingdom with a larger regular army and a more powerful navy. The sea venture was the only desired action that was jointly decided by the "four fathers of the nation" Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel II, and Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, pursuing divergent goals. However, the Expedition was instigated by Francesco Crispi, who utilized his political influence to bolster the Italian unification project.[5]

The various groups participated in the expedition for a variety of reasons: for Garibaldi, it was to achieve a united Italy; for the Sicilian bourgeoisie, an independent Sicily as part of the Kingdom of Italy, and for common people, land distribution and the end of oppression.

The expedition and the whole enterprise were supported by the British Empire, which wanted to establish a friendly government in Southern Italy, which was becoming of great strategic value because of the imminent opening of the Suez Canal. The Bourbons were considered unreliable due to their increasing openings towards the Russian Empire. The Royal Navy defended the landing party from the Bourbons and donors from the United Kingdom supported the expedition financially with a large part of the money being used to bribe disloyal Bourbon military officers.[6] French and Spanish ships supported the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during the Siege of Gaeta.[7][8]

Background

Political context

Italy in March 1860 (still visible the borders of 1859).
  Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice, ceded to France from the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia following the Treaty of Turin (1860)
Rock in Quarto dei Mille from which the Expedition of the Thousand departed on the night of 5 May 1860. On top of the monument shines the Stella d'Italia ("Star of Italy")

Since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Italian peninsula was divided into a multitude of small independent states. The French Revolution and the constitution of the Cisalpine Republic and of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy gave birth to a political movement aimed at national reunification.[9] Insurrectional movements aimed at national self-determination were therefore born.[10] Some of them were viewed favorably by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia which took the lead in the movement for the political unification of the peninsula.[11]

The Expedition took place within the overall process of the unification of Italy, which was largely orchestrated by Camillo Cavour, Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, as his life's work. The Second Italian War of Independence ended on 11 July 1859; the terms of the armistice of Villafranca, wanted by Napoleon III, which recognized Lombardy (with the exclusion of Mantua) to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, but left Venice and all of the Veneto in Austrian hands, had created discontent among a large part of the Italian patriots.

Already since May 1859 the populations of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, of the Delegation of Romagna (Bologna, Ferrara, Ravenna and Forlì), of the Duchy of Modena and of the Duchy of Parma had expelled their sovereigns and requested annexation to the Kingdom of Sardinia, while the papal government had regained full possession of Umbria and the Marche, whose populations suffered harsh repression, culminating on 20 June 1859 in the bloody massacres of Perugia by the papal Swiss troops in the service of Pope Pius IX.

Napoleon III and Cavour were mutually indebted: the first because he had withdrawn from the Second Italian War of Independence before the expected conquest of Venice, the second because he had allowed the uprisings to spread to the territories of central-northern Italy, thus going beyond what was agreed with the Plombières Agreement.

The political stalemate was resolved on 24 March 1860, when Cavour signed the cession of the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice to France with the Treaty of Turin (1860), obtaining in exchange the consent of the French emperor to the annexation of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. After the annexation of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchies of Modena and Parma and the Romagna to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in March 1860, Italian patriots set their sights on the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which comprised all of southern mainland Italy and Sicily, as the next step toward their dream of unification of all Italian lands.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was led by a young and inexperienced monarch (Francis II of the Two Sicilies, who succeeded his father Ferdinand II only on 22 May 1859, less than a year before the expedition); in 1836 the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had worsened relations with the United Kingdom, to which it had owed its survival during the Napoleonic period, with the "sulphur question".[12] Finally, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had fallen into a sort of diplomatic isolation:[13] it had in fact refused to participate in the Crimean War alongside France and the United Kingdom, alongside which the Kingdom of Sardinia had instead participated, and ended up with being able to rely solely on one's own strength.

When the idea of a conference regarding the reorganization of Italy following recent events circulated in European diplomatic circles in the autumn of 1859, Francis II proved indifferent, not taking the opportunity to show an active presence internationally.[14] In 1860 Garibaldi, already the most famous Italian revolutionary leader, was in Genoa planning an expedition against Sicily and Naples, with the covert support of the United Kingdom.[15] Lorenzo del Boca suggested that British support for Garibaldi's expedition was spurred by the necessity to obtain more favourable economic conditions for Sicilian sulfur, which was needed in great quantities for munitions.[16]

Garibaldi, although close to republican and revolutionary circles, had already been in contact with King Victor Emmanuel II for some time to organize the Expedition of the Thousand. Despite his republican ideas, he agreed to collaborate with the House of Savoy until national unity was achieved; the contingencies are such that even the republican Giuseppe Mazzini wrote: "It is no longer a question of republic or monarchy: it is a question of national unity... to be or not to be".[17]

Sicilian independentism

Francesco Crispi, one of the architects of Italian unification.
Giuseppe Mazzini, highly influential leader of the Italian revolutionary and activist for the unification of Italy movement.

In 1860 the only force opposed to the Bourbons that proved willing to take up arms was the Sicilian independentism.[18] The memory of the long revolution of 1848 is still alive on the island, where the repression by the Bourbons was particularly harsh. Subsequently, the Neapolitan government's attempts to reach a political solution were unsuccessful. Intolerance is not limited to the ruling classes, but concerns a large part of the urban and rural population who associates with the Risorgimento, as evidenced by their belonging to the ranks of Garibaldi volunteers from Marsala to Messina, up until the battle of Volturno.[19]

Many leading cadres of the 1848 revolution (including Rosolino Pilo and Francesco Crispi) fled to Turin. They participated in the Second Italian War of Independence and adopted a decidedly liberal and unitary political position. It is these follower of Giuseppe Mazzini who see, in insurrectional Sicily, in Garibaldi's intervention and in the House of Savoy, the fundamental elements for the success of the unification cause.[20] On 2 March 1860 Giuseppe Mazzini wrote a letter inciting the Sicilians to rebel and declaring: "Garibaldi must come".[20]

At the beginning of March Pilo turned to Garibaldi, first asking him for weapons, then inviting him to intervene directly.[21] Garibaldi considers any revolutionary movement that does not have a good chance of success to be inappropriate. He wants to lead the revolution if the people ask him to, and in the name of the King Victor Emmanuel II.[21][22] With the help of the local populations and the support of Piedmont, Garibaldi managed to avoid failures similar to those of the previous actions of the Bandiera brothers and Carlo Pisacane.[21]

Despite not receiving Garibaldi's support, Pilo traveled to Sicily on 25 March with the intention of preparing the ground for a future expedition.[23] Accompanied by Giovanni Corrao, also a follower of Giuseppe Mazzini, Pilo arrived in Messina and immediately made contact with representatives of the most important families. In this way he obtains the support of the landowners. In fact, once the expeditionary force had landed, the barons made their gangs, the picciotti[24] available. Pilo was killed in a clash on 21 May 1860.[25]

Internal situation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

In the first half of the 19th century several revolts broke out in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, all repressed by the Bourbons: the insurrection of 1820-24, the Calabrian revolution of 1847, the Sicilian independence revolution of 1848, the Calabrian insurrection of the same year, and the constitutional movement of Naples, also in 1848.[26]

From a military point of view, it is essential for the Two Sicilies to maintain close ties with the Austrian Empire. Twice the Bourbons regained the throne thanks to the intervention of the Austrian armies: in 1815, the Austrian Frederick Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza, defeated the army of Gioacchino Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law, during the battle of Tolentino and, in 1821, the Austrian Johann Maria Philipp Frimont defeats Guglielmo Pepe's troops during the battles of Rieti and Antrodoco.[27]

In 1860, however, the situation seemed much more favorable to the Bourbons: from 1821, in fact, the army received constant funding from the regime and was reinforced by units made up of foreigners (especially Swiss) who appeared loyal to the ruling house.[28]

The populations of the provinces of the peninsular part are generally close to the Bourbon dynasty, as demonstrated by the success of the Sanfedist movement which overthrew the Parthenopean Republic in 1799 by massacring the Jacobins of the Kingdom of Naples, as well as the anti-French of the period 1806-1815.[29]

Gancia revolt

Attack on the Gancia convent, Palermo, 4 April 1860.

The revolt began on 4 April in Palermo with an episode that was immediately repressed[30] whose protagonists, on the field, were Francesco Riso[21] and, far from the theater of the operation, Francesco Crispi, who coordinated the action of the Genoese rebels.[31] Despite the failure, the action gave rise to a series of demonstrations and insurrections,[30] including Rosolino Pilo's march from Messina to Piana dei Greci from 10 to 20 April. To those Pilo meets along the way he announces that they will have to be ready "for Garibaldi's arrival".

The news of the revolt was confirmed on the continent by an encrypted telegram sent by Nicola Fabrizi on 27 April. The content of the message is not at all encouraging and increases Garibaldi's uncertainty to the point that he initially gives up on the idea of an expedition. For those who support the company, this is a disappointment. Francesco Crispi, who had decoded the telegram, claimed to have been wrong and provided a new version, probably falsified, which convinced Garibaldi to undertake the expedition.[32][33]

Role of Cavour

Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, the first prime minister of unified Italy.

Cavour considered the expedition risky: he feared that it would damage relations with France, especially because he suspected that Garibaldi was targeting Rome. However, since his prestige was undermined by the transfer of Savoy and Nice, he did not consider himself in a position to express his dissent.[32]

For Cavour Garibaldi represented an "opportunity",[34] because through him it was possible to trigger an internal revolt in the Two Sicilies which would have forced the Kingdom of Sardinia to take measures to guarantee public order. Cavour therefore decided to wait and observe the evolution of events, to grasp any favorable developments in Piedmont: it was only when the chances of success of the expedition were significant that Cavour openly supported the initiative.[34]

With this in mind, on 18 April Cavour sent two warships to Sicily: the Governolo and the Authion. Officially their presence aimed to guarantee the protection of the Piedmontese citizens present on the island but, in reality, they had to accurately evaluate the forces at play.[35] At the same time, Cavour managed, through Giuseppe La Farina (sent after the landing in Sicily to monitor and maintain contact with Garibaldi), to follow all the preparatory phases of the expedition.[36] The definitive agreements between Cavour and King Victor Emmanuel II were concluded during a meeting in Bologna on 2 May. Cavour accepted that the government, with caution, would help Garibaldi in the expedition.[37]

Search for a casus belli

The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia needed a presentable casus belli in order to attack the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This was needed for the House of Savoy, which however never gave any declaration of war against the Bourbon kingdom, a necessary condition since this was among the requirements presented to Cavour. The only occurrence that would have satisfied this requirement was an uprising from within. Such an event would have felt the alienation of the people from the dynasty that ruled in Naples and, particularly, the inability of Francis II of the Two Sicilies, to exercise government in his domains.

Sicily, as shown by the history of the past decades, was fertile ground, and the liberal south, especially those returning after an amnesty granted by the young king, who worked in this direction for some time.[38][39] Meanwhile the organization of the expeditionary force was in full swing. Garibaldi, fresh from the brilliant Lombardy campaign with the Hunters of the Alps, had demonstrated his abilities as a military leader, facing a regular army with a light army made up of volunteers. Also for this expedition he would have resorted to enlisting volunteers willing to fight under his leadership.

The expedition

Departure and journey

Redshirts volunteers of the Thousand from Brescia, Lombardy (1860), hand-colored
The steamship Il Piemonte, one of the two steamships, that transported the Thousand to Sicily
The steamship Il Lombardo, the other steamship that transported the Thousand to Sicily
Plaque in memory of the presence of the Thousand in Porto Santo Stefano on 9 May 1860.

In March 1860, exile Rosolino Pilo exhorted Giuseppe Garibaldi to take charge of an expedition to liberate southern Italy from Bourbon rule.[40] Garibaldi was against it at first, but eventually agreed.[40] By May 1860, Garibaldi had collected 1,089 volunteers for his expedition to Sicily.[41]

A total of 336 volunteers came from the contemporary Italian regions, including Genoa (156 volunteers),[42] Tuscany (78 volunteers),[43] Sicily (45 volunteers)[44] and Naples (46 volunteers), with only 11 from Rome and the Papal States. [45] The largest number of volunteers came from Austrian Lombardy and Venetia, with 434 from Lombardy and 194 from Venetia.[43][46] An additional 33 foreign volunteers joined the expedition.[41] This included 14 ethnic Italians from the Trentino region of Austria, as well as István Türr and three other Hungarians.[41] The volunteers came from middle-class backgrounds, with the vast majority being students and skilled craftsmen.[40][43]

The 1,089 volunteers were unfavourably armed with obsolete muskets,[41] and wore red shirts and grey trousers as their uniform.[47] Thus they became known as the Redshirts. The Redshirts were very popular and influenced many armies worldwide. For example, during the American Civil War, the Union's Garibaldi Guard and its Confederate counterpart, the Garibaldi Legion, wore red shirts as a part of their uniforms.

During the night of 5 May, a small group led by Nino Bixio "seized" two steamships in Genoa from the Rubattino shipping company. (The ships were actually secretly provided by Rubattino.) The two ships were renamed Il Piemonte and Il Lombardo. At nearby Quarto dei Mille, the volunteers (including Francesco Crispi's wife, Rosalia Montmasson) embarked for Sicily.[46]

According to Schneid, "Before embarking on the adventure, Garibaldi once again pledged his loyalty to Victor Emmanuel II and proclaimed that his intention was to conquer Sicily for the king. There is every indication that there was far more collusion between Cavour and Garibaldi, if not Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi. After Garibaldi landed in Sicily, Admiral Persano received orders to support the expedition."[48]

On 7 May, having no ammunition or gunpowder, Garibaldi decided to stop at Talamone, on the Tuscan coast, where he knew a military fort existed. In addition to the ammunition, he recovered three old cannons and a hundred rifles from the Sardinian army garrison stationed at fort.[49] A second stop was made on 9 May, near Porto Santo Stefano (capital of Monte Argentario), for coal supply.[49] Garibaldi officially obtained weapons and coal, as major general of the royal army,[50] a title obtained during the 1859 campaign.[51]

The two steamers, to avoid Bourbon ships, had followed an unusual route,[52] which had taken them almost to the Tunisian coast. On this route near the Tunisian coast, however, it was observed that on the morning of the last day of navigation, at the Il Lombardo's speed of 7 miles per hour and after 40 hours of navigation, the two steamers could not be more than 280 miles from the departure from Argentario promontory and therefore approximately at the height of the Aegadian Islands or to the west of them, at least 70 miles from Cape Bon, without considering delays and stops.[53] The Thousand, intending to turn towards Sciacca, after having excluded Menfi, between Selinunte and Sciacca, due to shallow water and disembarkation difficulties, then headed for Marsala, as they were informed by the crews of an English sailing ship and a Sicilian fishing vessel owned by master Strazzeri that the city's port was not protected by Bourbon vessels.[52] The absence of Bourbons convinced Garibaldi to head towards Marsala,[52] where the Thousand steamers arrived in the early hours of the afternoon of 11 May 1860.

The army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which the Expedition of the Thousand and the insurgents had to face, was numerically considerable. In 1860 the active army was made up of four army corps, one of the guards and three of the line, for a total of around 90,000 soldiers in active service and over 50,000 in the reserve, therefore overall the total of the Two Sicilies forces at full mobilization could have 143,586 personnel,[54] while according to other sources the maximum number that can be mobilized with the reserve would be set at 130,000 personne.[55]

Landing in Sicily

Garibaldi lands in Sicily based on a drawing from 1860

The ships were then accompanied by the British Royal Navy which consisted of HMS Hannibal followed by the gunboats HMS Argus and HMS Intrepid under the command of Admiral Rodney Mundy. They landed at Marsala, on the westernmost point of Sicily, on 11 May. With British ships present in the harbour, the Bourbon ships were deterred from interfering.[56] The Lombardo was attacked and sunk only after the disembarkation had been completed, while the Piemonte was captured. The landing had been preceded by the arrival of Francesco Crispi and others, who had the task of gaining the support of the locals for the volunteers.

According to what was stated by the English historian George Macaulay Trevelyan in his book Garibaldi and the Thousand, the two English ships HMS Argus and HMS Intrepid did nothing to help Garibaldi,[57] nor could they have because their boilers were turned off and they were moored offshore, with their commanders Marryat and Winnington-Ingram on the ground together with part of the crew.[58] The neutrality of the English navy was confirmed during the battle of Palermo, when Garibaldi, left almost without gunpowder, requested it in vain from the commanders of the war fleets moored off the coast of the city.[59] Garibaldi's men left Marsala and quickly moved inland. They were joined, as early as 12 May, by 200 Sicilian volunteers commanded by the Sant'Anna brothers.

Calatafimi and Palermo

Battle of Calatafimi, 15 May 1860

The Thousand, flanked by 500 Sicilian insurgents, had their first clash on 15 May 1860 in the battle of Calatafimi against around 3,000 Two Sicilies soldiers[60] led by General Francesco Landi. The news of the victory of the Thousand spread rapidly in the area, fomenting revolt among the Sicilian population.

In Alcamo, on the way to Palermo, the Two Sicilies troops were attacked by Sicilians who shot from houses and balconies and in retaliation the soldiers set many houses on fire.[61] In Partinico the population rebelled against the attempted forced requisition of goods and food by the retreating soldiers with a bloody popular revolt. The battle boosted the morale of the Thousand and, at the same time, depressed the Neapolitans, who were poorly led by their often corrupt higher officers, and started to feel abandoned. Having promised land to every male who volunteered to fight against the Bourbons the ranks of the Thousand enlarged to 1,200 with local men.[62]

The Thousand cross the "Admiral's Bridge" in Palermo.

After the battle of Calatafimi Garibaldi headed for Palermo passing through Alcamo and Partinico. Along the journey, the Thousand were joined by 3,200 Sicilians, bringing the number of fighters under Garibaldi's orders to 4,000 men.[63] From there, Garibaldi and the Sicilian volunteers arrived in Palermo on 27 May and prepared to enter the city, through the Admiral's Bridge and the Porto Termini manned by the Bourbon military. After a hard battle, the royal troops abandoned the field and returned to Palermo. A column of Garibaldi crossed the Porta Termini and entered the city, while another column entered Palermo crossing the Porta Sant'Antonino with less difficulty.[64]

Aided by the Palermo insurrection, between 28 May and 30 May the Garibaldians and the insurgents, often fighting street by street, conquered the whole city, despite the indiscriminate bombardment carried out by the Bourbon ships and by the positions present on the floor in front of the Palazzo dei Normanni and the Castello a Mare. On 29 May there was a decisive counterattack by the royal troops which, however, was contained. Thus began the Siege of Palermo. On 30 May the Bourbons, barricaded in the fortresses along the walls, asked for an armistice (organized by the British Admiral Mundy), which was granted and which lasted from 30 May to 3 June. On 6 June the Bourbon troops defending the Sicilian capital capitulated in exchange for permission to leave the city, asking for the honor of arms, which Garibaldi granted as they were also Italian.[65] The garrison evacuated on 7 July, after King Francis II authorized the Neapolitan withdrawal.[48]: 62–63 

The support of national and international opinion

Garibaldi photographed in Palermo in June 1860, Garibaldi is celebrated as one of the greatest generals of modern times[66] and as the "Hero of the Two Worlds",[67]

On 21 June 1860 Garibaldi definitively occupied Palermo.[68] The news went around the world and public opinion took up the cause of the expedition.[69] In the United Kingdom, workers from Glasgow and Liverpool offered days of work to support the expedition.[69] The French daily newspaper Le Siècle launched an appeal for fundraising and the enlistment of volunteers.[70] Having left Marseille on 9 May, Alexandre Dumas arrived in Palermo on 30 May from his personal yacht to supply Garibaldi with weapons. A friend and admirer of Garibaldi, Dumas organized the propaganda of the expedition through the newspapers.

George Sand and Victor Hugo, then in exile, supported Garibaldi's action89. The same goes for Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. These, in the New-York Tribune, considered the conquest of Palermo "one of the most surprising military feats of our century".[71] Funds and volunteers arrived from all over Europe, the United States, Uruguay and Chile. Medici and Cosenz were joined by thirty-three Englishmen, as well as the socialist Paul de Flotte[71] who was the only foreign Garibaldian to obtain, posthumously, the Medal of the Thousand.

It is essentially the respect for the figure of Garibaldi that causes this outburst of generosity,[72] while the reactionary governments, Austrian Empire, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia and Spain, protest against the Sardinian government, the alleged beneficiary of the events.[73]

Formation of the dictatorial government

The decree with which Giuseppe Garibaldi assumes the title of Dictator in Sicily

On 7 July, Garibaldi proclaimed himself Dictator of Sicily "in the name of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy." Garibaldi then ordered Giacomo Medici to advance towards Messina, Enrico Cosenz to advance upon Catania, and Nino Bixio to advance upon Syracuse, gathering more Sicilian volunteer irregulars. King Francis II strengthened his Neapolitan garrisons at Messina and Syracuse.[48]: 63 

Meanwhile the dictatorial government was taking shape. On 2 June in Palermo, six ministries were created by Garibaldi: War, Interior, Finance, Justice, Public Education and Worship, Foreign Affairs and Commerce.[74] Garibaldi also appointed his representatives to the governments of London, Paris and Turin. He also signed a decree which assigned pensions to widows and state assistance to the orphans of those killed in the national cause.

The landings of reinforcements and the formation of the Southern Army

The Medici column enters Palermo

During the month of June, Garibaldi was joined by other Sicilian volunteers and those from other parts of Italy, whose arrivals occurred almost daily, forming part of what was then called the Southern Army. On 5 and 7 July over 2,000 volunteers[75] commanded by Enrico Cosenz landed in Palermo. On 9 July several hundred volunteers arrived at an old coal mine. On 22 July around 1,535 volunteers,[75] almost all from Lombardy, arrived in Palermo on two ships, under the command of Gaetano Sacchi.

The departures of the subsequent Garibaldi expeditions almost all took place from the port of Genoa and two from Livorno in the period from 24 May 1860 until 20 August 1860, when the departures from Genoa ceased, and then resumed with a final expedition from the port of Livorno, which took place between 1 September and 3 September (Nicotera expedition).

Overall, more than twenty naval expeditions departed, for a total of approximately 21,000 volunteers, in addition to the first 1,000. At the end of August 1860, departures from the northern ports were suspended by Cavour, who intended to invade the Papal States and the territory of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.[76]

Bourbon troops retreat

Catania insurrection
A Red Shirt volunteer of the Thousand, wearing the Marsala Medal

The Bourbon troops were ordered to retreat eastwards and evacuate Sicily. An insurrection that had broken out in Catania on 31 May, led by Nicola Fabrizi, was crushed by the local garrison, but the order to leave for Messina meant that this Neapolitan tactical success would have no practical results.

The city of Catania was severely affected by 15 days of state of siege, which added to the inconveniences due to the situation in which the island had found itself for two months.[77] On 3 June the royal troops retreated from Catania by land towards Messina, escorted from the sea by a warship followed by other chartered ships loaded with ammunition and everything they had been able to take from the city they had abandoned.

In Acireale, after the departure of the Bourbon troops, who abandoned the city, the exasperated population indulged in retaliation against supporters of the Bourbons, who were killed, but the situation was soon brought back to calm by the most influential citizens.

At the time only Syracuse, Augusta, Milazzo and Messina remained in royal hands in Sicily. In the meantime, Garibaldi issued his first law. A levy failed to muster more than 20,000 troops, while the peasants, who hoped for immediate relief from the grievous conditions to which they were forced by the landowners, revolted in several localities. At Bronte, on 4 August 1860, Garibaldi's friend Nino Bixio bloodily repressed one of these revolts with two battalions of Redshirts.

The pace of Garibaldi's victories had worried Cavour, who in early July sent him a proposal of immediate annexation of Sicily to Piedmont. Garibaldi, however, refused vehemently to allow such a move until the end of the war. Cavour's envoy, La Farina, was arrested and expelled from the island. He was replaced by the more malleable Agostino Depretis, who gained Garibaldi's trust and was appointed as pro-dictator.

On 25 June 1860, King Francis II of the Two Sicilies issued a constitution. However, this late attempt to conciliate his moderate subjects failed to rouse them to defend the regime, while liberals and revolutionaries were eager to welcome Garibaldi.

Battle of Milazzo and the fall of Messina

Battle of Milazzo, 17–24 July 1860
The conquest of Sicily by the Expedition of the Thousand

On 20 July Garibaldi attacked Milazzo with 4,000 men, under the command of Medici and Cosenz, against Bosco's 4,500. On 1 August, Bosco surrendered with honours, and was taken by ship to Real Cittadella, which was soon under siege. Garibaldi arrived in Milazzo from Palermo by ship aboard the Scottish paddle steamer City of Aberdeen.[78] The steamship City of Aberdeen had been chartered thanks to subscriptions collected in Scotland, where Garibaldi was very popular, as he was considered the Italian Wallace.[79]

The Garibaldini led by Medici arrived in Messina on 27 July, when part of the Bourbon troops had already left the city.[80] The following day, Garibaldi arrived. With the city in the hands of the Thousand, General Tommaso Clary, commander of the Bourbons, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Military Command Cristiano Lobbia and Gen. Medici signed an agreement, which provided for the abandonment of Messina by the Bourbon militias, provided that no damage was caused to the city and that their embarkation towards Naples was not disturbed.[80]

Garibaldi had thus obtained a free field, and the Bourbon soldiers re-embarked towards the continent. With the conquest of Messina, Garibaldi began preparations to cross the Straits of Messina,[48]: 63–64  appointing Agostino Depretis prodictator to govern Sicily. Meanwhile, while Garibaldi was advancing in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, plans had been devised to stop him, through an attempt on his life, all without success.[81]

Landing and conquest in Calabria

Garibaldi captures Reggio Calabria, 21 August 1860.

Garibaldi had previously sent authoritative exponents of the anti-Bourbon conspiracy such as Antonino Plutino, Francesco Stocco and Giuseppe Pace to Calabria to prepare insurrections, while he had sent Nicola Mignogna to Basilicata.[82] With the neutralization of Messina, Garibaldi began preparations for the crossing to the continent.[83]

On 19 August Garibaldi's men disembarked in Calabria, a move opposed by Cavour. Garibaldi, however, disobeyed, an act which had the silent approval of King Victor Emmanuel II. According to Schneid, "The timing of Garibaldi's crossing of the Straits of Messina and the invasion of the Papal States was more than coincidence.[48]: 65 

After various attempts, Garibaldi landed in Calabria on 19 August 1860[84] with 3,700 men.[85] He chose a longer route to avoid the Bourbon troops and landed on the beach of Melito di Porto Salvo against the advice of Cavour, who had written the Dictator a letter urging him to not cross the Straits of Messina.[86]. Garibaldi's disobedience against Cavour had the silent approval of King Victor Emmanuel II.

Garibaldi now had almost 20,000 soldiers thanks to the aggregation of local volunteers to Garibaldi's Red Shirts, against the Bourbons' 80,000:[87] the confrontation therefore proved difficult from the beginning. However, against all expectations, he encountered only weak resistance. The Bourbons, apart from some episodes like that of Reggio Calabria, which was conquered at high cost by Bixio on 21 August, they offered insignificant resistance, as numerous units of the Bourbon army disbanded spontaneously or even joined Garibaldi's ranks. On 30 August the Bourbon army, commanded by General Giuseppe Ghio, was disarmed in Soveria Mannelli and surrendered without a fight to the column commanded by Francesco Stocco.[88] The Bourbon fleet behaved in a similar way.

Conquest of Basilicata and the advance towards Naples

On 2 September Garibaldi and his men entered Basilicata (the first region of the continental part of the kingdom to rise against the Bourbons),,[89] precisely in Rotonda. His passage to Lucania ended without problems, since the pro-dictatorial government was established well before his arrival (19 August), thanks to the contribution of Giacinto Albini and Pietro Lacava, authors of the Lucanian insurrection in favor of national unity.

The following day, Garibaldi crossed the coast of Maratea by boat and near Lagonegro he gathered the Lucanian men who followed him to the Battle of Volturno (among these was Carmine Crocco, later a famous post-unification brigand).[90] On 6 September Garibaldi met Giacinto Albini in Auletta and appointed the patriot Governor of Basilicata. On the night of the same day he slept in Eboli in the house of Francesco La Francesca and headed, with his troops, towards Naples, capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

The end

Garibaldi's entry into Naples, 7 September 1860
Battle of Volturno, 1 October 1860
Redshirt volunteers after the battle of Volturno
Meeting between King Victor Emmanuel II and Garibaldi at Teano, 26 October 1860

The last period of King Francis II's stay in Naples was marked by a conspiratorial climate towards him. Francis II no longer had faith in his ministers, even if they were apparently loyal to him. The soldiers and ministers gave contradictory advice, denigrating each other, the esprit de corps had weakened in the leaders more than in the troops.

Left without government and abandoned by the men of the court, Francis II, with Garibaldi continuing his advance towards Naples without obstacles, the king had almost no trust in anyone, uncertain whether to advance to face Garibaldi, resist Naples or retreat north.[91]

On 6 September, King Francis II fled Naples for the fortress city of Gaeta, and moved his army to the Volturno river. Garibaldi took possession of Naples, and on 11 September, crossed the Papal frontier.[48]: 65  The Bourbon troops, still present in abundance and quartered in the castles, offered no resistance and surrendered shortly after.

After Garibaldi's entry into Naples, the Italian situation was this: the southern regions (Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, and almost all of Campania) had been conquered by Garibaldi, while Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany had entered the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia following the Second Italian War of Independence and the subsequent plebiscites. However, the South and North of the peninsula were still separated by the presence of the Papal State. King Victor Emmanuel II then decided to intervene with his army to annex Marche and Umbria, still in the hands of the Papal State, and thus unite the north and south of Italy.

On 11 September, Cavour instigated the invasion of the Papal States, led by Manfredo Fanti. The Papal Army was led by Louis Juchault de Lamoricière, though Pope Pius IX's hope that Napoleon III and Franz Josef I of Austria would come to his aid was unfounded. General Enrico Cialdini's IV Corps attacked Pesaro, Enrico Morozzo Della Rocca's V Corps advanced on Perugia, while Persano blockaded Ancona. On 18 September, the Papal Army under Lamoriciére were defeated during the Battle of Castelfidardo, and the siege of Ancona began, finally surrendering on 29 September. According to Schneid, "The fall of Ancona ended the campaign in the Papal States. The Piedmontese Army occupied most of Umbria and Marche."[48]: 65–67 

Between the end of September and the first days of October the decisive battle of Volturno took place, where around 50,000 Bourbon soldiers lost the battle against Garibaldi's men, who were approximately half the size.[92] It is believed that the forces actually engaged in the battle of 1 October were 28,000 Royal Bourbons against 20,000 Garibaldians, while on 2 October the Calabrian volunteers of Francesco Stocco, four Piedmontese companies and several dozen Piedmontese gunners in Santa Maria Capua Vetere joined the Garibaldians.[93]

According to Schneid, "Garibaldi narrowly won the battle of Volturno. The Southern Army placed Capua under siege, and the Piedmontese forces marched on Gaeta where the erstwhile Neapolitan king had taken refuge." The Savoia Brigade landed north of Capua, while Della Rocca's V Corps, and the rest of the Piedmontese Army, crossed the Neapolitan frontier.[48] A few days later (21 October) a plebiscite confirmed the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia by an overwhelming majority.

The detailed results of the plebiscites were:

Results of the plebiscites of 21 October 1860 [94]
Territory Number of inhabitants Voters In favor of annexation Against annexation
Kingdom of Naples 6,500,000 1,650,000 1,302,064 10,302
Kingdom of Sicily 2,232,000 575,000 432,053 667

The end of the expedition is traditionally set with the famous meeting in Teano[95] (northern Campania) between Victor Emmanuel II and Garibaldi (26 October 1860). Others assign instead the end of the campaign to the King's entrance into Naples on 7 November. The meeting at Teano has risen to a high symbolic value in Italian historiography, as it gives the House of Savoy sovereignty over the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and therefore over the entire Italian peninsula.[96]

However, the military campaign was not yet fully completed, as Francis II held out in Gaeta. The siege of Gaeta was first started by Garibaldi, replaced on 4 November 1860 by the Sardinian army which concluded the siege on 13 February 1861. During the first ten days of November 1860 around 17,000 Bourbon soldiers, pursued by the troops of Victor Emmanuel II , took refuge in the Papal State in Terracina, where they were disarmed and interned in the Alban Hills by the papal authorities and the French garrison of Rome.[97] With the surrender of Francis II, the last Bourbons of the Two Sicilies went into exile in Rome under the protection of Pope Pius IX.

Garibaldi's departure from Naples

Garibaldi's departure from Naples, 9 November 1860

On 9 November 1860 at 4 am Garibaldi boarded a rowing boat in the harbor of Santa Lucia of Naples, to embark on board the ship Washington.[98] Six months and three days had passed since the departure on the night between 5 and 6 May 1860, starting the Expedition of the Thousands.

Garibaldi returned to Caprera after having accomplished a difficult feat, despite a letter from the king asking him to stay: Garibaldi's response was that he was leaving for the moment, but that he would be ready to leave again on the day in which the country and the king they needed him.

The decision was subsequently explained by Garibaldi, who described, with his frank language, the exaggerated flattery of which he had been the object of many respected people, who until shortly before had been Bourbons and who very quickly proclaimed themselves Garibaldines, as well as expressing criticism towards other protagonists of the events of that and subsequent period.[99]

The role of the Italian tricolour

Flag of Two Sicilies from 21 June 1860 to 17 March 1861

The Italian tricolour accompanied, although not officially,[100] the volunteers of the Expedition of the Thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi.[101] Garibaldi, in particular, had an absolute deference and respect for the Italian flag.[102] Shortly after the loss of Sicily, on 25 June 1860, trying to limit the damage given the growing participation of the population in the Expedition of the Thousand, King Francis II of the Two Sicilies, decreed that the green, white and red flag was also the official banner of his Kingdom, with the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies coat of arms superimposed on the white.[103][104][105]

Adopted on 21 June 1860, this lasted until 17 March 1861, when the Two Sicilies was incorporated into the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, after its defeat in the Expedition of the Thousand. Ironically, in the final phase of the Expedition of the Thousand, the tricolour of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies fluttered in antagonism to the tricolour flag of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.[106] Two of the original tricolours that flew on the Il Lombardo steamship that participated, together with Il Piemonte, in the Expedition of the Thousand, are preserved, respectively, inside the Central Museum of the Risorgimento at the Vittoriano in Rome[107] and the Museum of the Risorgimento in Palermo.[108]

Maps

The route of the Expedition of the Thousand.
The invasion of the Papal States by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Aftermath

The proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy

Most important officers of the Italian State paying homage to the Italian Unknown Soldier at Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome on 17 March 2023 on the occasion of the 162nd anniversary of the unification of Italy

On the basis of the annexation plebiscites of October 1860 and following the capitulations of the fortresses of Gaeta and Messina, on 17 March 1861, while the fortress of Civitella del Tronto, despite the siege, still resisted (it surrendered three days later late), the Kingdom of unified Italy was proclaimed, of which the southern regions, already part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, became part. On 7 November the King Victor Emmanuel II entered Naples. In the same month, Marche and Umbria also chose to join the Kingdom of Italy with a plebiscite.

Thus, once the Italian peninsula was unified, Victor Emmanuel II could be proclaimed King of Italy by the newly elected Italian parliament gathered in Turin. The newly proclaimed Kingdom of Italy preserved the regulatory and constitutional apparatus of the previous Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, with the constitution (Statuto Albertino) definitively extended to all the provinces of the new kingdom.[109]

Italy celebrates the anniversary of the unification every fifty years, on 17 March (the date of proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy). The anniversary occurred in 1911 (50th), 1961 (100th), 2011 (150th) and 2021 (160th) with several celebrations throughout the country.[110] While remaining a working day, 17 March is considered a "day promoting the values linked to national identity".[111] The National Unity and Armed Forces Day, celebrated on 4 November, commemorates the end of World War I with the Armistice of Villa Giusti, a war event considered to complete the process of unification of Italy.[112]

"Once Italy is made, Italians must be made" (in Italian Fatta l'Italia, bisogna fare gli italiani). This motto, attributed by most to Massimo d'Azeglio but by some to Ferdinando Martini, underlines the important and difficult task that awaits the government of the young kingdom. In fact, Massimo d'Azeglio glimpsed both the limits of reunification and the limitations of the Savoy leadership, so much so that he proposed his own personal solution both from a constitutional (federal state) and economic (liberal economy) point of view, to overcome the profound differences that were present in the various Italian regions.[113]

The repercussions on diplomatic relations

Carlo Bossoli: the royal procession at the opening of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy

The disapproval of the various European states culminated in the direct participation of the Sardinian army in the Expedition of the Thousand.[114] In reaction, Spain and the Russian Empire interrupted diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Sardinia, while the Austrian Empire, which had not maintained relations with this country since 1859, after the Second Italian War of Independence,[114] sent its troops to the Mincio border. France made no hostile statements, but recalled its ambassador. Queen Victoria and her prime minister John Russell convinced the Kingdom of Prussia not to hinder the ongoing process of Italian unification.[115] On 26 October 1860, the same day as the meeting in Teano between the king and Garibaldi, Austria organized a congress in Warsaw to apply measures against the Kingdom of Sardinia, without success; held back by this crisis, Cavour was unable to be present at Teano.[114]

After the creation of the Kingdom of Italy, the United Kingdom and the Swiss Confederation were the first to recognize the new state (30 March 1861), followed by the United States on 13 April.[114][116] France negotiated the presence of French troops in Rome and recognized the Kingdom of Italy on 15 June, shortly after Cavour's death. It will then be Portugal's turn on 27 June, followed by Greece, the Ottoman Empire and the Scandinavian countries. The recognition of the Netherlands and Belgium occurred in two phases: they recognized the new title of Victor Emmanuel II in July, then the kingdom in November, after a long clash between conservatives and liberals in the Belgian parliament over the latter.[116]

The fate of the fighters

Nino Bixio c. 1860

The officers of the dissolved land and sea armies of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies are authorized to enlist in the army and navy of the Kingdom of Italy while maintaining their rank. On the other hand, those who refused to take the oath to the new king and remained loyal to Francis II were deported to the prison camps of Alessandria, San Maurizio Canavese and Fenestrelle Fort, the best known of these camps, where most of the prisoners died of hunger or disease.[117][118] Other soldiers managed to hide and continued to fight for the independence of the Two Sicilies by joining the brigands.[119] Unlike the Bourbon officers, the rank of Garibaldi officer is recognized only in very rare cases,[120] while the majority of Garibaldi commanders played an important role in the Italian army: Nino Bixio, the Neapolitan Enrico Cosenz and Giuseppe Sirtori. Even among those who joined Garibaldi during the expedition, the disappointment was such for some, like Carmine Crocco, that they embraced the cause of brigandage.[121]

The disappointment with the unification

In the aftermath of unification, most of the expectations raised by the Expedition of the Thousand were disappointed by the newly established unitary state, especially in Sicily. After believing that Garibaldi, who conveyed the image of protector of the oppressed, would improve their living conditions, farmers and the poorest sections of the population instead had to face higher taxes and compulsory conscription.[83]

Many liberals of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies who responded to the appeal for the unification of Italy are disappointed, the political situation remains substantially unchanged since the development achieved under Bourbon rule suddenly stops. The clergy was disappointed, both by the loss of Umbria and the Marche belonging to the Papal State, and by the frequent expropriations of ecclesiastical assets, the suppression of religious orders and the closure of numerous schools of social utility.[122]

Legacy

An episode of brigantaggio in 1864

The Expedition of the Thousand has traditionally been one of the most celebrated events of the Italian Risorgimento, the process of the unification of Italy.

In the following years, the rise of local resistance (the so-called brigantaggio or brigandage), required at one point the presence of some 140,000 Piedmontese troops to maintain control of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Traditionally, the handling of the brigantaggio has received a negative judgement by Italian historians, in strict contrast with the heroism attributed to Garibaldi and his followers; the English historian Denis Mack Smith,[123] for example, points out the deficiencies and reticence of the sources available for the period 1861–1946,[124] but the same historian also pointed out the backwardness of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies at the time of the unification.[125][126]

The expedition, moreover, obtained the support of the powerful great landowners of southern Italy in exchange for the promise that their properties be left intact in the upcoming political settlement. Numerous Sicilian peasants, however, had joined the Mille hoping instead for a redistribution of the land to the people working it. The consequences of this misunderstanding became evident at Bronte.

Historiography

Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy.
Francis II, the last King of Two Sicilies

The Expedition of the Thousand constitutes an essential stage in the history of the Italian state and has given rise to numerous historiographical controversies. Some historians see in Garibaldi's enterprise the origin of complex phenomena such as post-unification brigandage, the north-south imbalance, the absent emigration in the South before unification and the Southern Question.[127]

Some schools of thought believe that traditional historiography has proposed a hagiographic vision of the Expedition of the Thousand, to be linked to the damnatio memoriae that struck the fallen Bourbon dynasty and to the violent repression of brigandage by the new Kingdom of Italy. In the first decade of unity a real civil war broke out,[128] and the "pacification" of the dissident provinces required as many as 120,000 soldiers,[129] the suspension of civil rights (Pica law), the exercise of retaliation on the civilian population, the destruction and the sacking of entire villages, as in Pontelandolfo and Casalduni.[130] It should be considered that anti-Savoy brigandage was a phenomenon almost exclusively linked to Southern Italy, and did not occur in the other states annexed by force, from the Center or the North.

Francesco Saverio Nitti, states that brigandage was an endemic phenomenon in the South before the unification of Italy: "Every part of Europe had brigands and criminals, who in times of war and misfortune dominated the countryside and made themselves outlaws [ ...] but there was only one country in Europe where banditry has always existed [...] a country where banditry for several centuries can resemble an immense river of blood and hatred [...] a country where for centuries the monarchy has it is based on banditry, which has become like a historical agent, this country is Southern Italy".[131][132]

Likewise, the thesis that sees the south as hostile to the Savoys after the unification of Italy does not explain that, during the birth of the Italian Republic in the referendum of 2 June 1946, the south voted en masse in favor of the monarchy of the Savoys and the Savoys, while the North voted overwhelmingly for the republic; In the period 1946-1972 the monarchist parties (later merged into the Italian Democratic Party of Monarchical Unity (PDIUM)) acquired fame especially in the South and in Naples, where, during the 1946 referendum, several Neapolitan citizens died. during the clashes between republicans and monarchists, and in particular the massacre in Via Medina, in Naples.[133][134]

Filmography

A scene from the film The Leopard by Luchino Visconti (1963)

See also

References

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  56. ^ These were: Stromboli (steam corvette), Valoroso (brigandine), Partenope (sail frigate) and the armed steamer Capri.
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  126. ^ "This difference between North and South was fundamental. A peasant from Calabria had little in common with one from Piedmont, and Turin was infinitely more like Paris and London than Naples and Palermo, for these two-halves were on quite different levels of civilization. Poets might write of the South as the garden of the world, the land of Sybaris and Capri, and stay-at-home politicians sometimes believed them; but in fact, most southerners lived in squalor, afflicted by drought, malaria, and earthquakes. The Bourbon rulers of Naples and Sicily before 1860 had been staunch supporters of a feudal system glamorized by the trappings of a courtly and corrupt society. They had feared the traffic of ideas and had tried to keep their subjects insulated from the agricultural and industrial revolutions of northern Europe. Roads were scanty or nonexistent, and passports were necessary even for internal travel. In the 'annus mirabilis' of 1860 these backward regions were conquered by Garibaldi and annexed by plebiscite to the North." —Italy: a modern history, Denis Mack Smith, page 3
  127. ^ Viglione, Massimo; Agnoli, Francesco Mario (2001). La rivoluzione italiana : storia critica del Risorgimento (in Italian). Rome. p. 98.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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  131. ^ Francesco Saverio Nitti Eroi e briganti (edizione 1899) - Edizioni Osanna Venosa, 1987, pp. 9-33.
  132. ^ Eroi e briganti
  133. ^ Il massacro di via Medina a Napoli 1946
  134. ^ Quei monarchici di Napoli uccisi anche dalla storia da ilgiornale.it

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