Talking History: The Italian Unification - 50 - Rome or Death

50 - Rome or Death

12/18/17 • 84 min

Talking History: The Italian Unification

In this penultimate episode we'll cover the period from 1861 to 1871 and reach the end of our story. Italy started as a collection of small states, many of them ancient, and now the entire peninsula, minus a few outlying areas that Italy would gain after WWI, has been unified under a single government based in the ancient city of Rome. This was an amazing, almost unbelievable achievement. The Kingdom of Italy had weathered the death of its leading statesman only a few months after its formation, had survived a brutal civil war in the south, uprisings and revolts, had suffered disastrous war with Austria, and now had ended the thousand-year-old temporal power of the popes. But it had come at a price paid in money, tears, and blood.

Previous Episode

49 - The Harsh Light of Day

We're closing in on the end of the story of the Italian unification. Through both force of arms and cunning, Piedmont has conquered almost all of Italy - from the perspective of grand, heroic history, we've already passed the climax and we’re just tying up loose ends. But that’s not how I feel about it - because we're about to leave the heady days of high hopes and dreams for the future into the murky realm of mistakes, and of what might have been.

Next Episode

51 - The End

We've come to the end of the series - this will be the last episode of our story. I'd like to spend this episode addressing some of the big questions that the series raised:

First, was unification inevitable?

Second, was the incorporation of Southern Italy into the new Italian state a result of conquest or unification?

And third, what was the legacy of the three men we focused on: Cavour, Garibaldi, and Mazzini?

Then I'll wrap up with a few closing remarks and say goodbye.