Giuseppe Garibaldi and Count Camillo Benso di Cavour worked together to unify Italy in 1859 and 1860, but this does not mean the two men were inspired by the same ideas or by the same vision of a united Italy. Cavour’s political agenda was shaped by liberal economic theory, itself an offshoot of Enlightenment rationalism. He did not seek to create a new state that would serve as the vehicle for the achievement of a transcendent Italian destiny, but rather to enhance the economic and political power of the existing state of Piedmont. Nor was he an advocate of democratic republicanism. In his Italy, the power of the monarch would be constrained by a liberal constitution, but the social and political conservatism implied by the institution of monarchy would be left unchallenged. In sharp contrast, Garibaldi found his greatest source of inspiration in the universalist, romantic nationalism of Giuseppe Mazzini. For Garibaldi and Mazzini, the political unification of Italy was a means to a moral end. Both believed that an Italian state would contribute immeasurably to the ability of individual Italians to improve the lives not only of their fellow Italians, but of all people, everywhere.

In the end, Cavour’s vision won out. The new Italy was founded as a constitutional monarchy in which only a small minority of wealthy men had full political rights. The evidence included in this activity comes from the period following unification. It offers an opportunity to explore the reactions of romantic Italian nationalists to the state that Cavour created. As you examine the evidence, think about what it suggests about the development of European nationalism over the course of the nineteenth century. Should we see the achievement of a unified Italian state as a victory or a defeat for Mazzini and Garibaldi?