This title focuses on the "Risorgimento", the movement that led to the unification of Italy as a single kingdom. The Italian Wars of Independence were a sequence of three separate conflicts, taking place in 1848-49, 1859 and 1866. This volume examines the role of the major powers outside Italy in these conflicts, particularly France, Austria, Great Britain and Prussia, and in Italy the Italian states, the Catholic Church and the revolutionaries. It also examines the role of: Cavour's Piedmont, Mazzini's Young Italy and the Party of Action, Garibaldi's Red Shirts and Daniele Manin's National Society. It is based on original research, particularly in the Vatican archives and it should to be an invaluable text for all students of Italian and European History from 6th form to undergraduate level.
Chapter 1. Introduction: Origins of the Italian Wars of Independence
Chapter 2. From Geographical Expression to Political Consciousness: Italy in the Age of Metternich
Chapter 3. The Origins of the First War of Italian Independence
Chapter 4. The Revolutionary Upheaval and War of 1848–49
Chapter 5. The Italian Question during the Second Restoration
Chapter 6. The Origins of the Second War of Italian Independence: 1856–59
Chapter 7. Cavour, Garibaldi and Napoleon III in the Wars for the Formation of Italy
Chapter 8. Origins and Consequences of the Third War of Italian Independence
Chapter 9. Italy, the Powers and the ‘Fourth War of Italian Liberation’: 1866–71