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Unlock This CourseBy the end of July 1860 Garibaldi held almost all of Sicily. His next target was the mainland half of the kingdom, ruled from Naples. After that he meant to march on Rome.
On the night of 18-19 August he slipped across the Strait of Messina, the narrow strip of sea between Sicily and the mainland, and landed in Calabria. Within days he had taken the town of Reggio. The Bourbon army in the far south then fell apart, and Garibaldi raced north.
Francis II did not want his capital to be shelled as Palermo had been. On 6 September he left Naples with his loyal troops for the fortress of Gaeta, further north. The next day Garibaldi arrived by train, far ahead of his army and with only a handful of companions. Huge crowds cheered him. He now ruled Naples as dictator, and at once handed the Bourbon fleet to Piedmont as a sign of loyalty to the king.
Francis II still had a large army behind the River Volturno, north of Naples. On 1 October it attacked. This was the biggest battle Garibaldi ever fought. His volunteers drove the Bourbons back, so Naples was safe. But he was not strong enough to break through the Bourbon lines. The road to Rome was blocked.
Key terms:
Garibaldi's success alarmed Cavour. He had two great fears.
At first Cavour tried to hold Garibaldi back. In July the king wrote to Garibaldi, officially asking him not to cross to the mainland. Garibaldi politely refused. In August Cavour's agents tried to start a rising in Naples in favour of Piedmont, so that the city would fall before Garibaldi got there. It failed.
Cavour now decided to send Piedmont's own army south through the Papal States, to put the king's soldiers between Garibaldi and Rome.
First he made sure of France. On 28 August two of his men met Napoleon III at Chambéry. The emperor agreed not to stand in the way, as long as Rome itself was left alone.
Cavour also needed an excuse. Supporters of the National Society started small risings in Umbria and the Marches. Cavour then demanded that the Pope disband his army of foreign Catholic volunteers. The Pope's government refused. On 11 September 1860, four days after Garibaldi entered Naples, the Piedmontese army crossed the border.
On 18 September it defeated the Pope's army, led by the French general Lamoricière, at Castelfidardo. The port of Ancona surrendered on 29 September. Piedmont now held Umbria and the Marches. Rome and the land around it stayed with the Pope, guarded by the French. In October Victor Emmanuel II himself led the army on into the Kingdom of Naples.
In July Napoleon III had suggested that French and British warships should blockade the Strait of Messina to stop Garibaldi crossing. In secret he then accepted Cavour's invasion. But French Catholics were furious at the attack on the Pope, so he protested in public, called his ambassador home from Turin and sent more soldiers to Rome.
Britain was the friendliest power, and Garibaldi was a hero to its public. The government refused to join a blockade, which left the Strait open. On 27 October the Foreign Secretary, Lord John Russell, wrote that the people of southern Italy had good reason to throw off their rulers, and that Britain would not blame Victor Emmanuel II for helping them.
These three powers hated revolution. They protested, and Russia called its ambassador home from Turin. Their rulers met at Warsaw in October 1860 but could not agree to act. Austria had been weakened by its defeat in 1859, was short of money and had no ally willing to fight. So they did nothing.
So no great power stepped in. British goodwill, French acceptance and Austrian weakness gave Cavour and Garibaldi a free hand.
Garibaldi was stuck at the Volturno, and the king's army was marching towards him. To carry on to Rome he would have to fight fellow Italians and defy the king he had sworn to serve. He would not start a civil war. He agreed that the people of Naples and Sicily should vote on joining Victor Emmanuel's kingdom, and on 21 October they did so. You will study these votes in the lesson 'The Kingdom of Italy, 1861'.
On 26 October 1860 the two men met on horseback near Teano, north of Naples. Garibaldi greeted Victor Emmanuel II as 'King of Italy'. On 7 November they entered Naples together in the same carriage. The next day Garibaldi gave up his powers as dictator. He asked to govern the south for a year as the king's viceroy, meaning a ruler in the king's name. The king said no. Garibaldi refused the rewards he was offered, which included a title and a castle. On 9 November he sailed home to his farm on the small island of Caprera.
Extract A (a practice extract written for this lesson, in the style of a modern history book)
From a modern history textbook.
'In the autumn of 1860 Garibaldi was master of half of Italy. He could have kept it. Instead, at Teano, he greeted Victor Emmanuel II as King of Italy and simply gave away everything he had won. He took no reward for himself. He turned down a title and a castle, and sailed home to his tiny island farm with little more than a sack of seed. Few conquerors in history have behaved so nobly.'
What impression does the author give about Garibaldi's handing over of his conquests in 1860? You must use Extract A to explain your answer. [6 marks]
The author gives the impression that Garibaldi's handover was a noble and completely unselfish act. This is shown by the language. The author says Garibaldi 'simply gave away everything he had won' and 'took no reward for himself', which makes the handover sound like a free gift. The final sentence, 'Few conquerors in history have behaved so nobly', is open praise. The author also chooses details that stress how little Garibaldi took: he 'turned down a title and a castle' and left with 'little more than a sack of seed' for a 'tiny island farm'. The phrase 'He could have kept it' suggests he had a free choice. The author leaves out anything that might have pushed Garibaldi into handing over, so the reader sees only a selfless hero.
What lifts it to the top level: it names one clear impression, then explains how the author creates it through word choice, the details selected and what is left out, instead of just repeating what the extract says.
Underline the praising or blaming words in the extract before you write. Here they are 'simply gave away', 'no reward' and 'so nobly'. Then ask what the author has left out. For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson 'Paper 1 Question (a): What Impression Does the Author Give?'.