However, the argument that carries the greatest weight is that the individuals who led these revolts and were at the forefront of the revolutionary movements were not united themselves in how they wanted Italy to unite. Austria clearly had a central role in putting down many of the revolts and so played an important role in both the failure of the 1820-21 revolutions and the ones that took place between 1848-49. Prior to 1820, Italy was unsettled and highly divided with nationalists, liberals and extremists amongst the masses. As the hostility in Italy increased under Austrian rule, secret societies emerged such as ‘The Carbonari’ – which was particularly popular in Southern Italy. By 1815, the aims of these secret societies changed in the direction of driving out the Austrians and restoring old Monarchs.
“To what extent was the unification of Italy due to the weakness of Austria?” Throughout Europe between 1815 and 1848 swept feelings of nationalism and a desire for unification, including the states collectively known as Italy. This lack of identity was underlined when Count Metternich said “Italy is just a geographical expression.” Nationalism promoted the belief in one language, one culture and the pride in one’s identity. Before unification, life in Italy was frustrating for those who wanted unification. The North and the South states were economically different; the pope influenced the central states. Nevertheless, the process began from 1861 and by 1871 boundaries had been settled.
After 1815 Italy was once again a mere geographical expression. Austria was to control a large part of Italy directly, that is, Lombardy and Venetia, and indirectly through the restored Bourbon Kings in some minor Italian states. Italian unification was once again frustrated ever the Risorgimento was quickly in advance. The explosion of Austrian power in Italy was the main problem which discouraged an early unification of Italy. Moreover, the general political atmosphere in Europe did not allow new concessions to Italian balance when the powers were concerned with maintaining the balance of power and to prevent the setting of French hegemony in Europe again.
Cavour did many things and has many contributions to Italy. But the main aim was not unified Italy. He hoped that Piedmont would be strong enough to assume the leadership of Italy in the event of another wars with Austria, France and the House of Hapsburg of Austria. Many facts and evidence could see that Cavour did not want a unified Italy. He tried to prevent it and the "unification" was only Piedmontization (tried to extent the influence of Piedmont).
During the twenty-nine year period between 1820 and 1849 there were three widespread attempts for Italian revolutionaries to try and unite the country and to get rid of the foreign influences they had. The three periods were 1820-21, 1831 and 1848; in all three of these uprisings there was a very clear show of Austrian interference to put down and undermine the revolutionists. While there were various other reasons as to why these revolutions failed, such as a lack of national communication and the differences in people wanting different things, we cannot deny that the Austrian interferences was the main reason why all three uprisings failed. The first potential uprising the Italian revolutionists tried was in 1820-21, when the government in Naples collapsed Metternich called a meeting in Troppau, it was called the Congress of Troppau. Metternich aimed to stop the revolution in Naples from spreading to other parts of the country, as it was obvious, as it was the first major uprising that it had the potential to be big enough to damage the Austrian rule in Italy, King Ferdiand had promised a constitution which was not being granted when they wanted and General Pepe was appointed as leader of the revolutionists and he was to be made leader of the new government.
Although, the development of change already faced opposition from right-winged supporters, including rich landowners who feared social changes that the Republic would try to implement. Under Generals Sanjurjo, Franco and Mola, the Spanish Civil War began as a military coup, which was aimed to put an end to the democratic political change that was seen in 1931. As seen in Italy with Mussolini in 1922 and with Hitler in Germany in 1933, one could argue that the rise of fascism subsequently kick started the demand of a takeover in Spain. But, we have to bear in mind the bad timing of 1931 to implement such a change, with the worldwide economic crisis caused by the 1929 Wall Street Crash in America, and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, there was now fear throughout Europe of communism and revolution. Although at the beginning of the rebellion, the three main generals were not actually all in Spain.
Growth of support for facism was a reason for Mussolinis appointment as Prime Minister,however there were many other reasons for Mussolinis appointment as PM, but growth of support was very important for him. The war and the mutilated victory, had an affect on Mussolinis appointment as PM. The main reason wad that the nationalists were bitterly disappointed that italy didn’t make any gains during the war. The nationalists claimed that Italy had been betrayed by the Liberal government, this shows that the nationalists might have wanted to overthrow the Liberal government and therefore supported Mussolini before he was appointed. This links into the title point that Mussolini had a wide support base and that it was growing.
France promote the unification of Italy in a large extent. However there were other countries such as Prussia, Britain, and Austria. Also there were significant figures who promote the unification of Italy such as Garibaldi and Cavour To start with France has not always been positive factor for the unification process. France in 1848 sent an army of about 20.000 men to destroy the roman republic. At Plombieres meeting of 1858 Cavour and Napoleon III agreed to work together which the agreement was Nice and Savoy are going to belong to France(so there would be no complete unification) and fought the war of 1859 against Austria.
How far do you agree that the limited appeal of Mazzini’s ideas was the main reason for the slow progress of national unity in Italy in the years 1815 – 48? National unity is when a nation comes together through sharing the same physical and religious beliefs. During 1815 and 1848 man revolutions took place in Italy, specifically in The Papal states, Piedmont, Sicily, Modena and Parma. The revolutionaries varied from students to soldiers who were all fighting against the Monarchy. The monarchy treated its states people terribly and they were fed up, this is how the revolutionaries came to be, in general the revolutionaries were to an extent successful because they overthrew the monarchies however they were then beaten by the Austrian reinforcements that the monarchy asked help from.
WHY DID THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 -1849 IN ITALY FAIL? The failures of the 1848 - 1849 revolutions in Italy failed to achieve anything because Italy was divided and each of the revolutions had different aims. Italy was separated into separate states and they all wanted different things to happen, most of the states did not want a money to run them instead they wanted a republic. The desertion of the Pope in the revolution had most of the Catholic supporters of the revolution. None of the states in Italy agreed on anything about from one thing - getting Austria out of Lombardy and Venetia.