What Caused Italian Unification?

What caused the states of Italy to unite? For centuries, the Italian peninsula was divided into dozens of rival localities, but in the mid-19th century, as radical new ideas ran wild all across Europe, Italy came together under the leadership of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and the House of Savoy. But that wasn't the only way that things could've gone, and modern Italy may have turned out quite differently had an assortment of characters—from the republicans Mazzini and Garibaldi, to the Austrian Emperor, or to the Pope himself—had their way. Suffice to say, those who were trying to bring about Italian Unification had to face more than their fair share of opponents, and setbacks.

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[LookBackHistory]

Also, big shoutout to Thomas Wagner. He knows what he did!

[cgt]

Fun fact: when the italian army put the city of Rome under siege, pope Pius IX threatened to excommunicate the commandr if he tried to besiege the city.
How did the king respond to this threat ? Simple, he replaced the former officer with another guy who was a jew.
Smart points

[Veriox]

Its interesting how both italy and germany managed to unify their nations, despite them being divided for centuries.

[HierophanticRose]

"Some built trade empires that extended across the Mediterranean, while others were dominated by foreign powers themselves."

Well, both, in the case of Venice

[DucaCremisi]

The only thing I would add, is the fact that, the idea of a United Italy it's very old, from the after the Romans and the Middle Ages.
It wasn't too popular yet as an Idea in most part, but it still did exist.

For example it's the reason why Dante and Boccaccio(but many more too) are considered founders of the nation, not only for their efforts to unify the language, but for the expressed sentiment of a United Italy.
But yes, we need to wait until the age of revolutions, i.e. 1775-1869~, to have somewhat of the first footprints of an actual national.

[mrclean]

1:03 although there always was the idea of Italian identity, as various people such as Berengar of Friuli, Dante, Machiavelli, Petrarca, Cola di Rienzo and the Lombard league were all to some extent Italian “patriots” (i know that in the Middle Ages the concept of patriotism wasn’t really present, though).
Von Metternich said it because obviously as an Austrian he didn’t want Italy united. His statement has a ground of truth, but overall it IS false.
Last time Italy was just a “geographical expression” was before the Social Wars.

[ct]

There are some impresigions, but overall the summary is correct. The only thing that is absolutely wrong, is that Italian was only a geography name. Despite the difference and the divisions, the concept of Italians, Italian people, Italian culture has always been present through out history. One example was Foscolo (Italian poet) that blamed Napoleon for the treaty of Villafranca 1798, not unified Italy against his hope and the hopes of many more that finally saw in Napoleon the liberator who would have given Italy is freedom and unity.

[bebedor_de_cafe]

Fun fact: Garibaldi before this had tried his republican ideals in Brazil, and was an active part in the "Revolução Farroupilha", actually managing to do incredible things there, of course he lost since Brazil was starting its ascension and zenith of its power, which would last until 1889

[tomassarta]

C'è un errore, La Corsica è esclusa dalla storia Italiana ma in realtà fa parte degli stati preunitari Italiani ma al momento dell'unità italiana è rimasta sotto dominazione straniera

[maryking]

What a long and complicated path to Italian Unification. Well presented and still with your inimitable wit.

[cavestoryfan]

At 4:12 you say Piedmont was the only State ruled by Italians, which is not true. The Papal States were not formally subject to any foreign power.
At 8:27 you say the Austrians invaded first, which is true, but it was basically Cavour provoking them by sending an exaggerate amount of troops to their borders (the alliance with France was a defensive pact).

[Gorthan]

9:44 "The loss of Nice which, unlike Savoy, was Italian-speaking" In 1871 a civil unrest broke out in the region calling for a new referendum about the annexation since there were rumors of it being rigged, as The Times of England said already in 1860. France sent 10, 000 troops to Savoy to restore order. Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was a huge proponent of the democratic process before the armed one, after aiding the French army in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war and then immediately supporting the birth of the French Third Republic, to point out the italian question to the new National Assembly applied himself as a candidate to the Parliament in the Alpes-Maritimes departement where he won by far. He however attended to only one session before resigning immediately.

[mysteriumxarxes]

giuseppe garibaldi is very famous in the south of brazil for he came to fight other wars here too, we even have a city with his name

[NoName-hgcc]

The idea of an Italian identity predate Napoleon by centuries

[Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

This is a really good video (I hope). Subscribed.

[thomassghedoni]

Small mistake on the map of Piemont-Savoie : it shows it still possess Bresse and Bugey (western part of the country, west of Savoy) while it was handed over to France in 1601 in exchange of Saluzzo.

[emanuelefiorentino]

In one word: Ligurians. Those crazy fouls made Risorgimento possible. From Garibaldi to Mazzini, passing through Bixio (Garibaldi's right arm), Mameli (writer of Italian anthem) and Novaro (composing Italian anthem music). Viva l'Italia 🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇹

[luciferusrv]

Very important correction. It is totally false that Sardina-Piedmont was the only state ruled by italian king. Bourbons of Two Sicilies (deriving from Spanish Bourbons and not directly from French ones, other unaccuracy of the video) were Italian. First in Line was Carlo III (that after a while became King of Spain), that was spanish. since his son, Ferdinando I of Two Sicilies, that was born and grown in Italy, the dinasty became fully italian and the Kingdom was fully autonomous

[subhamomm]

This video is awesome .Thanks for this knowledge. It is the best video on YouTube and your channel is best channel on YouTube. This video is one of my best life experiences. Please keep it up this type work. Your nice work on videos tempt me to leave a appreciative comment on your comment box . But brother I am waiting for a video on Skanderbeg when it will come?

[romar]

amazing video, I used it in my History class. Also thanks to all the people for their corrective comments