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Political Thinkers
Giuseppe Mazzini
(1805-1872)
One of the three most important
proponents for the unification of
Italy,
Mazzini – along with Giuseppe Garibaldi and Camillo Benso di Cavour – spent much
of his adult life working towards freeing
Italy
from foreign rule. Born in
Genoa to an accomplished
family, Mazzini showed an early penchant for literature and entered college at
15, first studying medicine (his father was a doctor and college professor),
then studying law, with a leaning towards politics. At 16, he was influenced by
a group of revolutionaries who were unsuccessful in an uprising against Austrian
rule.
In 1826, Mazzini graduated college with
a law degree, and by 1828 he had joined the
Carbonari,
a secret society created to establish unification and liberation. Mazzini
planned uprisings and recruited followers, and his actions led him to flee to
France
in 1830. There, he established
Giovine Italia (Young
Italy), an organization for Italian national unity, which grew to around 60,000
members. In 1833, Mazzini fled to
Switzerland,
and in 1837, to
England,
attracting followers for a united
Italy
through his published letters and articles.
His open letter in 1847 to the newly
elected Pope Pius IX – who was thought to have more liberal views on unification
– was not answered; and the following year, a series of revolutions throughout
Europe
gave more support to his cause. During one brief time of a short-lived
independent government, Mazzini was part of a Triumverate of the newly formed
Roman
Republic;
but within a few months, the Papacy was restored, and Mazzini left soon after
for France.
He continued to write about Italian unification and plan uprisings, while Cavour
and Garibaldi were involved in different unification activities eventually
leading to the Kingdom
of Italy
in 1861, and a united
Italy
with Rome
as the Capitol in 1871. Mazzini died one year later.
LINKS:
The
Italian Unification
Instructions for Members of Young
Italy
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Written by
Janice Mancuso
Biographies
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