Margaret Fuller: Transatlantic Crossings in a Revolutionary Age

Biographies

Biographies Major Italian and Foreign Political Figures at the Time of the Roman Republic Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (Turin 1810–Turin 1861), statesman . He opposed both King Charles Albert’s bigotry and Mazzini’s revolutionary program. A profoundly lay and rational man (he always believed in the separation between State and Church), before entering the parliament of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (comprised of Piedmont , Liguria, Savoy, and Sardinia), he had traveled to Switzerland, France, England, and Belgium to study the effects of the industrial revolution ; he visited hospitals, prisons, and schools and inspected railway systems. He was in favor of fiscal reforms to update Piedmont (and the rest of the kingdom) and turn it into a modern state. In 1850 he became minister of agriculture and finance. A conservative liberal, he joined Urbano Rattazzi’s central left party in 1852 and became prime minister. He was capable of matching a realistic sense of limits with audacious initiatives . In 1855, to overcome Piedmont’s international isolation, he entered the Crimean War. At the Congress of Paris (1856) following the war, he succeeded in bringing the Italian situation to the immediate attention of the major European powers, above all, to that of Napoleon III, who in 1858 signed a military alliance with the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia against Austria, its historical enemy and the major obstacle to the unification of Italy. After Naploeon III signed with Austria the armistice at Villafranca (1859), however, only Lombardy (and not also Veneto) was annexed. Cavour resigned in protest. He resumed power at the beginning of 1860, when, by surrendering Savoy and Nice to France, he annexed Tuscany. Meanwhile Emilia, Romagna, Umbria, and the Marches also freed themselves from papal authority with the 251 help of Piedmontese troops. In the same year, thanks to Garibaldi’s campaign with his thousand men, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies became part of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. On March 14, 1861, in Turin the first Italian parliament proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy; only Veneto, Trentino, Latium, and Rome were still missing to complete the mosaic. At his death Cavour saw almost the whole of his program of a united Italy under the Savoy crown realized. Carlo Cattaneo (Milan 1801–Lugano 1869), a historian and political figure. He sponsored democratic ideals and federalism for Italy. He believed that such a state system had to be achieved through pacific means. He extolled science and technology as a means to secure development , progress, and social renewal. He believed in the social importance of the middle class. As a republican, he opposed monarchy and the House of Savoy to the point that, elected to the parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, he rarely participated in its sessions. Ferdinand II of Bourbon (Palermo 1810–Caserta 1859), king of the Two Sicilies. In 1830 he granted some extension of liberties but retracted a few months later. In January 1848 he granted a constitution and autonomy to Sicily and allowed some of his troops to fight against Austria. In May, however, he carried out a coup with the help of Swiss mercenaries, dissolved the parliament, bombed Messina, recalled his troops from Northern Italy, and reestablished absolute monarchy. He prided himself on his kingdom’s strong steel industry, mercantile fleet, and the first railway system in the country. He was succeeded by his son, Francis II, called Franceschiello, because he was young and insecure (1836–94). In 1860, when Garibaldi and his men entered his kingdom, Francis II withdrew to Gaeta, then to Rome, and finally to Paris (1870). Giuseppe Garibaldi (Nice 1807–Caprera 1882), military leader and political figure. In his youth he joined “Giovine Italia,” Mazzini’s revolutionary and republican movement. In 1835 he went into exile in Latin America, where he fought for the liberty of Brazil and Uruguay and against the Argentine dictatorship. He returned to Italy in 1848 and fought against the Austrian troops. In 1849 he was elected deputy of the Roman Republic parliament. He defended the city strenuously but, after its fall and the ensuing collapse of the Roman Republic, he went to Morocco, the United States, and Peru. In 1854 he returned to Italy and 252 Biographies established himself on the island of Caprera, off the coast of Sardinia. Having abandoned Mazzini’s republican program, he adhered to the monarchy of Victor Emmanuel II. In 1860 he protested in vain for the cession of...