Nationalism and the creation of Italy

 is an idea of social movement that focuses on the nation. Italy like before  After the Congress 

of Vienna in 1815, Austria ruled the 

Italian provinces of Venetia and 

Lombardy in the north, and several 

small states. In the south, the Spanish 

Bourbon family ruled the Kingdom of 

the Two Sicilies.

between 1815 and 

1848, increasing numbers of Italians 

were no longer content to live under 

foreign rulers.

In 1832, an Italian named Giuseppe Mazzini 

organized a nationalist group 

called Young Italy.Mazzini briefly headed a republican government at Rome. He believed that 

nation-states were the best hope for social justice, democracy, and peace in Europe. rebellions 1848 in Italy as they did elsewhere in Europe. The former rulers of the Italian states drove Mazzini and other nationalist leaders into exile.

In 1852, Sardinia’s King Victor Emmanuel II named Count Camillo di Cavour as his prime minister. Cavour’s major goal was to get control of northern Italy for Sardinia. He 

carefully went about achieving this territorial goal through diplomacy and cunning. Cavour realized that the greatest roadblock to annexing northern Italy was Austria. To 

help him expel the Austrians from the north, Cavour found an ally in France. In 1858,the French emperor Napoleon III agreed to help drive Austria out of the northern provinces of Lombardy and Venetia. Cavour soon after provoked a war with Austria. A combined French-Sardinian army won two quick victories against Austria. Sardinia succeeded in taking over all of northern Italy, except Venetia.