Risorgimento question

[Quintus.JC]

Hello everyone, I’m supposed to write this essay regarding to the Italian Unification for my A-Level. The essay should be around a minimum of 4 pages and currently I’m experiencing difficulties on what to write about. Although I do have some ideas about the contents I am finding it hard to expand beyond the basic ideas. Bear in mind that I’ve only just started this course and the question did come up quite prematurely, before I could fully grasp the knowledge of the period properly.

“How far do you agree that the greatest obstacle to the growth of nationalism in Italy before 1849 was the lack of outside support?”

Now we’ve just recently studied the uprising of the Carbonari in 1820-21, the revolutions of Modena and Parma in 1831 and the revolutions of 48 in several different Italian states. So the question could be rephrased as to “How far do you think that a lack of outside support contributed to the failures of the uprisings in Italy before 1849?”
Now the natural idea is that Italian unification could not be achieved without external support i.e. France in 1860, so the basic answer could be that a lack of outside support played a major part… blah, blah. However, there were of course other obstacles, such as a lack of unity and little popular support from the masses. Also there’s that one big implication whether Italy actually wanted any outside help; the view of Mazzini is that Italy wouldn’t need/want any other major powers to intervene since in helping Italy they’ll probably want something in return, so the idea of outside support would’ve probably be rejected by the all of the revolutionaries anyway.

I’m also uncertain about what the conclusion should be like. In hindsight it’s obvious that Italy could never unite herself, the power of Piedmont was simply too weak to do it on her own, so France was needed. But we’re talking pre-1849 here, plus the wording of the question is “obstacle to the growth of nationalism”, personally I don’t think a lack of foreign support hindered the growth of Italian Nationalism much, since the ideas of Risorgimento still spread through Mazzini’s propaganda and all. Somehow I kind of feel a bit confused by the wording of the question, so any help on the issue would be greatly appreciated. I must confess that my knowledge on the Risorgimento is very meagre and although the local libraries did provide a reasonable amount of help, I still don’t feel confident enough to produce a quality essay. Any idea, suggestion or educated guesses are welcome.

Thanks in advance for your help. :bow:

[Prince Cobra]

Deleted (but there is a copy)

Comment: I need to consider a few more details without confusing you. Any progress on your work?

When is the deadline?

Edit: Could you provide us with definition of nationalism? I think you should start with it in the essay and to build on it.

[Quintus.JC]

The Italian Nationalism in this essay we’re dealing with isn’t the same as Mussolini’s nationalism where one nation’s interest is expanded at the expense of others. This is Mazzini’s idea of a free, independent, and republican Italy that is unified into one single nation. After the Congress of Vienna Italy was divided into separate states; all of them are influenced by the Habsburgs, some heavily while others aren’t. The northern states of Lombardy and Venetia are ruled directly from Vienna as provinces. The other central Duchies e.g. Parma & Modena are practically satellites. Meanwhile Piedmont, the most powerful of the states, is ruled in an autocratic and backward fashion. It was during the 1810s that Italian intellectuals first contemplated the idea of an Italian unification, and this ‘resurgence’ later flourished under its most famous advocator, Giuseppe Mazzini. The Nationalism mentioned in this essay has essentially very similar meaning to the word ‘Risorgimento’. So again the question could paraphrased as “To what extend do you agree that the greatest obstacle to the growth of Risorgimento in Italy before 1849 was due to a lack of international allies?”

I’ve made a few headways on the contents. After some research I’ve decided to concentrate my forces on three main topics – ‘Lack of unity and coordination’, ‘lack of popular support from the masses’, and ‘lack of support from other major powers (outside support). I still have not decided which one is the most important factor that was holding back the Risorgimento. Lack of coordination between different revolutionary groups was certainly important; none of them was willing to support one and another and was eventually crushed by Austria one by one. Meanwhile the masses – the Italian peasants, didn’t give a monkey about who ruled them. They were more concerned with the price of corn and flour and surviving daily life, rather than doing anything that probably wouldn’t benefit them anyway. The issue of outside support; the truth was that Italy could never make it by herself, and outside support was essential as none of the Italian states was strong enough to combat the military might of Austria, which had previously crushed all insurrections within the peninsular. France was later required for the unification, but we won’t be talking about it since this essay only goes up to 1849. The revolts of 1820-21, 1830-31, and 1848-49 would be consistently referenced to why they have failed, all the three listed reasons contributed of course.

The deadline is 2nd November. Quite a long way to go I know, but it never hurts finishing these sorts of troublesome stuff early on. When I was given this assignment I was quite worried initially, my knowledge about Italian history is quite mediocre. Aside from obvious interest in Roman history, the other periods generated little interest from me. Now after some work on this topic it is becoming quite interesting, this period certainly doesn't appear to attract much attention from the other org. residents though.

[Prince Cobra]

The Italian Nationalism in this essay we’re dealing with isn’t the same as Mussolini’s nationalism where one nation’s interest is expanded at the expense of others. This is Mazzini’s idea of a free, independent, and republican Italy that is unified into one single nation. After the Congress of Vienna Italy was divided into separate states; all of them are influenced by the Habsburgs, some heavily while others aren’t. The northern states of Lombardy and Venetia are ruled directly from Vienna as provinces. The other central Duchies e.g. Parma & Modena are practically satellites. Meanwhile Piedmont, the most powerful of the states, is ruled in an autocratic and backward fashion. It was during the 1810s that Italian intellectuals first contemplated the idea of an Italian unification, and this ‘resurgence’ later flourished under its most famous advocator, Giuseppe Mazzini. The Nationalism mentioned in this essay has essentially very similar meaning to the word ‘Risorgimento’. So again the question could paraphrased as “To what extend do you agree that the greatest obstacle to the growth of Risorgimento in Italy before 1849 was due to a lack of international allies?”

I’ve made a few headways on the contents. After some research I’ve decided to concentrate my forces on three main topics – ‘Lack of unity and coordination’, ‘lack of popular support from the masses’, and ‘lack of support from other major powers (outside support). I still have not decided which one is the most important factor that was holding back the Risorgimento. Lack of coordination between different revolutionary groups was certainly important; none of them was willing to support one and another and was eventually crushed by Austria one by one. Meanwhile the masses – the Italian peasants, didn’t give a monkey about who ruled them. They were more concerned with the price of corn and flour and surviving daily life, rather than doing anything that probably wouldn’t benefit them anyway. The issue of outside support; the truth was that Italy could never make it by herself, and outside support was essential as none of the Italian states was strong enough to combat the military might of Austria, which had previously crushed all insurrections within the peninsular. France was later required for the unification, but we won’t be talking about it since this essay only goes up to 1849. The revolts of 1820-21, 1830-31, and 1848-49 would be consistently referenced to why they have failed, all the three listed reasons contributed of course.

The deadline is 2nd November. Quite a long way to go I know, but it never hurts finishing these sorts of troublesome stuff early on. When I was given this assignment I was quite worried initially, my knowledge about Italian history is quite mediocre. Aside from obvious interest in Roman history, the other periods generated little interest from me. Now after some work on this topic it is becoming quite interesting, this period certainly doesn't appear to attract much attention from the other org. residents though.


He-he, perhaps you already has the answer. You have just proved that the lack of foreign support is not the sole reason for the unsuccessful development of the Risorgimento. There are at least two other factors to put into consideration. I have left with the impression that history avoids the term " the most important", "the greatest" and etc. Perhaps you have just proved that.

I really do not know what else to add.

[Quintus.JC]

He-he, perhaps you already has the answer. You have just proved that the lack of foreign support is not the sole reason for the unsuccessful development of the Risorgimento. There are at least two other factors to put into consideration. I have left with the impression that history avoids the term " the most important", "the greatest" and etc. Perhaps you have just proved that.

I really do not know what else to add.

True that, but the most of time they do expect an opinion from you. In my conclusions I still plan to say that one of the factors was the most important, whether it is due to the lack of outside support or not.