Compare and contrast the aims and achievements of Mazzini an

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Compare and contrast the aims and achievements of Mazzini and Garibaldi

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The unification of Italy came about almost by accident. However, the process was reliant upon the actions of several key figures. Mazzini and Garibaldi were two of these key figures. Although the two men played essentially very different roles in the unification of Italy, they had much in common. During the course of this essay, the similarities and differences in the aims and achievements of Mazzini and Garibaldi will be examined.

Mazzini was the first man to give a coherent and politically sound basis for Italian unification. After spending time as a member of the Carbonari, a secret society with little consistency in its aims and objectives, Mazzini founded 'Young Italy' (Giovanni Italia). The essential goal of Young Italy was to achieve Italian unification through violent means. However, Mazzini was also a republican and believed that a united Italy must be "a free and equal community of brothers"; essentially it appears that Mazzini envisaged a socialist democratic republic. Maz

"...without unity there is no true nation, without unity there is no real strength and Italy surrounded as she is by powerful and jealous nations, has need for strength above all things..."

Garibaldi initially took on the same aims as Mazzini to fight for the united republic of Italy. He continued in this objective up until around 1848-9, it remarkable that, upon his return to Italy, Garibaldi did not fight with his Garibaldini for the Mazzinian cause but instead offered his services to Charles Albert, the Piedmontese Monarch. It is at this point that we see the separation of aims between Garibaldi and Mazzini, although both remained intent upon unifying Italy, Garibaldi considered the goal of unification to be paramount to everything else. Mazzini's ideal of a republican state had ceased to hold importance for him. He was a realist and realised that the most realistic chance he had of unifying Italy was by allying himself to the Piedmontese monarch. Although Garibaldi was to fight alongside Mazzini in defence of the Roman republic in February 1849, the agenda had changed and Mazzini and Garibaldi were not to pursue the same objectives from this point on.

Mazzini was extremely dissatisfied with the end results of Garibaldi's efforts and described them in the following terms:

Garibaldi certainly played an essential role in bringing about Italian unification, his actions forced Cavour, the Piedmontese prime minister and another key figure in Italian unification, to act more speedily and decisively than he would otherwise have done. Furthermore, there was little desire in the north for unification with the impoverished south and it was Garibaldi's decisive action that brought the unification about.

It was the romantic ideal of unification that appealed so greatly to Garibaldi. He was inspired by Mazzini's ideas and as Andrina Stiles say

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Approximate Word count = 1263
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics