Diplomatic History of Europe 1500 - 2000 | Italian Unification (Lecture 19)

Lecture 19: When the unification of Italy as a nation-state was achieved from 1858 to 1861, it was the fulfillment of long-standing patriotic wishes dating back to a time when Italy had been dismissed as a “mere geographic expression.” The achievement of nationhood, however, also relied on changes in the international scene and assistance from a Great Power—Napoleon III’s France—skillfully engineered by Count Camillo di Cavour, the Prime Minister of Piedmont. The bloody modern battles of the war waged against Austrian forces in Italy also prompted another important event: the founding of the Red Cross to aid the wounded under a neutral international flag.

Essential Reading:
A. J. P. Taylor, The Struggle for the Mastery of Europe, 1848–1918, pp. 99–125.

Supplementary Reading:
Denis Mack Smith, Cavour: A Biography.