Giuseppe Garibaldi
This article is about the Italian patriot. For the aircraft carrier, see Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi.Giuseppe Garibaldi (
July 4,
1807 –
June 2,
1882) was an
Italian patriot and soldier of the
Risorgimento. He personally led many of the military campaigns that brought about the formation of a unified Italy. He was called the "Hero of the Two Worlds", in tribute to his military expeditions in
South America and
Europe.
He was born in
1807 in the former
Italian city of
Nizza, (called
Nice in French), taken under French control in 1792. Garibaldi's family was involved in coastal trade, and he was reared to a life on the sea. He was certified in
1832 as a
merchant marine captain.
A very influential day in Garibaldi's life came during a visit to
Taganrog, Russia, in April
1833, where he moored for ten days with the schooner
Clorinda and a shipment of oranges. In a seaport inn, he met
Giovanni Battista Cuneo from
Oneglia, a political immigrant from Italy and member of the secret movement "
Young Italy" (
La Giovine Italia). Garibaldi joined the society, and took an oath of dedicating his life to struggle for liberation of his homeland from Austrian dominance.
In
Geneva in November
1833, Garibaldi met
Giuseppe Mazzini, an impassioned proponent of
Italian unification as a liberal
republic through political and social reforms. He joined the
Young Italy movement and the
Carbonari revolutionary association . Garibaldi participated in a failed
republican uprising in Piedmont in February 1834. Sentenced to death in
Genoa, he escaped to
France later that year, then later traveled to
Tunisia.
After Tunisia, Garibaldi left for
Brazil and took up the cause of independence of the Republic of
Rio Grande do Sul (the former Brazilian province of São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul), joining the
gaucho rebels known as the
farrapos (tatters) against the newly independent Brazilian nation (see
War of Tatters). During this war he encountered
Anita Ribeiro when the Tatter Army tried to proclaim another Republic in the Brazilian province of
Santa Catarina. In October
1839, Anita left her husband, Manuel Duarte Aguiar, to join Garibaldi on his ship, the
Rio Pardo. A month later, she fought at her lover's side at the battles of
Imbituba and
Laguna.
In
1841, the couple moved to
Montevideo,
Uruguay, where Garibaldi worked as a trader and schoolmaster, and married there the following year. They had four children, Menotti (born 1840), Rosita (born 1843), Teresita (born 1845), and Ricciotti (born 1847). Anita was carrying their fifth child when she died (1849). A skilled horsewoman, she is said to have taught Giuseppe about the
gaucho culture of southern Brazil and Uruguay.
In
1842, Garibaldi took command of the Uruguayan fleet and raised an "Italian Legion" for that country's war (
Guerra Grande) with the Argentine dictator,
Juan Manuel de Rosas. Between 1842 and 1848 Garibaldi defended Montevideo against Argentinian forces led by former Uruguayan dictator
Manuel Oribe.
The election of Pope Pius IX in 1846 had caused a sensation among Italian patriots, both at home and in exile. When news of the pope's initial reforms reached Montevideo, Garibaldi wrote the following letter.
"If these hands, used to fighting, would be acceptable to His Holiness, we most thankfully dedicate them to the service of him who deserves so well of the Church and of the fatherland. Joyful indeed shall we and our companions in whose name we speak be, if we may be allowed to shed our blood in defence of Pio Nono's work of redemption" (October 12, 1847). [A. Werner, Autobiography of Giuseppe Garibaldi, Vol. III, p. 68, Howard Fertig, New York, 1971.]
Garibaldi returned to Italy in the tumult of the
revolutions of 1848, and offered his services to
Charles Albert of Sardinia. The monarch displayed some liberal inclinations, but treated Garibaldi with coolness and distrust. Meanwhile, a
Roman Republic had been proclaimed in the
Papal States, but a
French force sent by Louis Napoleon (the future
Napoleon III) threatened to topple it. At Mazzini's urging, Garibaldi took up the command of the defence of
Rome. His wife, Anita, fought with him. Despite their effort, the city fell on June 30,
1849, and Garibaldi was forced to flee to the north, hunted by
Austrian troops. Anita died near Ravenna during the retreat.
Garibaldi eventually managed to escape abroad. In
1850 he became a resident of
New York, where he met
Antonio Meucci. For some time he worked in a manufactory of
candles on
Staten Island. Afterwards he made several voyages to the
Pacific, during which he visited
Andean revolutionary heroine
Manuela Sáenz in
Peru.
Garibaldi returned to Italy in
1854. In
1859, the
Austro-Sardinian War broke out through the machinations of the Sardinian government. Garibaldi was appointed
major general, and formed a volunteer unit named the
Hunters of the Alps. With his volunteers, he won victories over the Austrians at
Varese,
Como, and other places. One outcome of the war, though, left Garibaldi very displeased. His home city of
Nice was surrendered to the
French, in return for crucial military assistance.
At the beginning of April
1860, uprisings in
Messina and
Palermo in the absolutist
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies provided Garibaldi with an opportunity. He gathered about a thousand volunteers (called
i Mille, or, as popularly known, the "Red Shirts") in two ships, and landed at
Marsala, on the westernmost point of Sicily, on
May 11.
Conquest of Sicily
Swelling the ranks of his army with scattered bands of local rebels, Garibaldi defeated a 3,000-strong Bourbon French garrison at
Calatafimi on
May 13. The next day, he declared himself dictator of Sicily in the name of
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. He advanced then to
Palermo, the capital of the island, and launched a
siege on
May 27. He had the support of many of the inhabitants, who rose up against the garrison, but before the city could be taken, reinforcements arrived and bombarded the city nearly to ruins. At this time, a British admiral intervened and facilitated an armistice, by which the
Neapolitan royal troops and warships surrendered the city and departed.
Garibaldi had won a signal victory. He gained worldwide renown and the adulation of Italians. Faith in his prowess was so strong that doubt, confusion, and dismay seized even the Neapolitan court. Six weeks later, he marched against Messina in the east of the island. By the end of July, only the citadel resisted him.
Crossing to the mainland
Having finished the conquest of Sicily, he crossed the
Straits of Messina, under the nose of the Neapolitan fleet, and marched northward. Garibaldi's progress was met with more celebration than resistance, and on
September 7th he entered the capital city of
Naples. However, he had never defeated the
Bourbon king,
Francis II. Most of the Sicilian army remained loyal, and had gathered north of the river
Volturno. Though by then Garibaldi's volunteers numbered some 25,000, they could not oppose the Sicilians. The volunteers had some success on the 1st of October, but Francis II retired only the next day, after the arrival of the Sardinian army under the command of Victor Emmanuel.
Aftermath
Garibaldi deeply disliked the Sardinian Prime Minister,
Camillo di Cavour. To an extent, he simply mistrusted Cavour's pragmatism and
realpolitik, but he also bore a personal grudge for trading away his home city of
Nice to the French the previous year. On the other hand, he felt attracted toward the Sardinian monarch, who in his opinion had been chosen by Providence for the liberation of Italy. In his famous meeting with
Victor Emmanuel II at
Teano on October 26, 1860, Garibaldi greeted him as
King of Italy and shook his hand. He resigned the next day. Garibaldi rode into
Naples at the king's side on November 7, then retired to the rocky island of
Caprera, refusing to accept any reward for his services.
On
October 5 Garibaldi set up the
International Legion bringing together different national divsions of
French,
Poles,
Swiss,
German and other nationalities, with a view not just of finishing the liberation of Italy, but also of their homelands. With the motto "Free from the
Alps to the
Adriatic," the unification movement set its gaze on Rome and Venice. Mazzini was discontented with the perpetuation of monarchial government, and continued to agitate for a republic. Garibaldi, frustrated at inaction by the king, and bristling over perceived snubs, organized a new venture. This time, he intended to take on the
Papal States.
A challenge against the
Pope's temporal domain was viewed with great distrust by Catholics around the world, and the French emperor
Napoleon III had guaranteed the independence of Rome from Italy by stationing a French garrison in Rome. Victor Emmanuel was wary of the international repercussions of attacking the Papal States, and discouraged his subjects from participating in revolutionary ventures with such intentions. Nonetheless, Garibaldi believed he had the secret support of his government.
In June of
1862, he sailed from
Genoa and landed at Palermo, seeking to gather volunteers for the impending campaign under the slogan
Roma o Morte (Rome or Death). An enthusiastic party quickly joined him, and he turned for Messina, hoping to cross to the mainland there. When he arrived, he had a force of some two thousand, but the garrison proved loyal to the king's instructions and barred his passage. They turned south and set sail from
Catania, where Garibaldi declared that he would enter Rome as a victor or perish beneath its walls. He landed at
Melito on August 14, and marched at once into the
Calabrian mountains.
Far from supporting this endeavor, the Italian government was quite disapproving. General Cialdini dispatched a division of the regular army, under Colonel Pallavicino, against the volunteer bands. On
August 28 the two forces met in the rugged
Aspromonte. One of the regulars fired a chance shot, and several volleys followed, killing a few of the volunteers. The fighting ended quickly, as Garibaldi forbade his men to return fire on fellow subjects of the
Kingdom of Italy. Many of the volunteers were taken prisoner, including Garibaldi, who had been wounded.
A government steamer took him to
Varignano, where he was held in a sort of honorable imprisonment, and was compelled to undergo a tedious and painful operation for the healing of his wound. His venture had failed, but he was at least consoled by Europe's sympathy and continued interest. After being restored to health, he was released and allowed to return to Caprera.
At the outbreak of the
American Civil War, Garibaldi volunteered his services to President
Abraham Lincoln and was invited to serve as a major general. Garibaldi declined, stating he would only accept command of the entire Union Army, and only on condition that slavery would definitely be abolished, and the offer was quietly withdrawn.
Garibaldi took up arms again in
1866, this time with the full support of the Italian government. The
Austro-Prussian War had broken out, and Italy had allied with
Prussia against
Austria-Hungary in the hope of taking
Venetia from Austrian rule. Garibaldi gathered again his Hunters of the Alps, now some 40,000 strong, and led them into the
Tyrol. He defeated the Austrians at
Bezzecca and made for
Trento.
The Italian regular forces, on the other hand, suffered defeat by land and sea. Austria did cede Venetia to Italy, but it was compelled to do so not by Italy's poor showing, but by Prussia's successes on the northern front. Garibaldi's advance through
Trentino was for nought and he was ordered to stop his advance to Trento. He answered with a short telegram "Obbedisco" (I obey).
After the war, Garibaldi led a
political party that agitated for the capture of Rome, the peninsula's ancient capital. In
1867, he again marched on the city, but the Papal army, supported by a French auxiliary force, proved a match for his badly-armed volunteers. He was taken prisoner, held captive for a time, and then again returned to Caprera.
When the
Franco-Prussian War broke out in July
1870, Italian public opinion heavily favored the Germans, and many Italians attempted to sign up as volunteers at the Prussian embassy in Florence. After the French garrison was recalled from Rome, the Italian Army captured the Papal States without Garibaldi's assistance. Following the wartime collapse of the
Second French Empire at the battle of Sedan, Garibaldi, undaunted by the recent hostility shown to him by the men of
Napoleon III, switched his support to the newly-declared
French Third Republic.:"On 7 September [1870], within three days of the revolution of 4 September in Paris, he wrote to the
Movimento of Genoa: 'Yesterday I said to you: war to the death to Bonaparte. Today I say to you: rescue the French Republic by every means.'" [Jasper Ridley, Garibaldi, Viking Press, New York (1976) p 602].Subsequently, Garibaldi went to France and assumed command of the Army of the Vosges, an army of volunteers that was never defeated by the Germans.
On his deathbed, Garibaldi asked that his bed be moved to where he could gaze at the emerald and sapphire sea. His wishes for a simple funeral and cremation were not respected [Jasper Ridley,
Garibaldi, p. 633].
Garibaldi's popularity, his skill at rousing the masses, and his military exploits are all credited with making the unification of Italy possible. He also served as a global exemplar of mid-19th century revolutionary
nationalism and
liberalism. But following the liberation of southern Italy from the Neapolitan monarchy, Garibaldi chose to sacrifice his liberal
republican principles for the sake of unification.
Garibaldi subscribed to the
anti-clericalism common among Latin liberals and did much to circumscribe the temporal power of the
Papacy. His personal convictions bordered on
atheism; he wrote in 1882, "Man created God, not God Man." An active
freemason, Garibaldi had little use for rituals, but thought of masonry as a network to unite
progressive men as brothers both within nations and as members of a global community.
Giuseppe Garibaldi died on the
Italian island of
Caprera in
1882, where he was interred. Five ships of the
Italian Navy have been named after him, among which a World War II
cruiser and the current
flagship, the
aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Statues of his likeness, as well as the handshake of
Teano, stand in many Italian squares, and in other countries around the world. On the top of the
Janiculum hill in
Rome, there is a statue of Garibaldi on horse-back with his face turned in the direction of the
Vatican, an allusion to his ambition to conquer the Papal States. In Brazil, the city of
Garibaldi is named after him. Garibaldi, Oregon in the USA was also named for the Italian patriot in 1867.
Mt. Garibaldi, one the tallest and most impressive peaks part of the
Garibaldi Belt of volcanic mountains located north of
Vancouver, Canada, is also named after him, and there is a school in
Maple Ridge,
British Columbia,
Canada named Garibaldi Secondary School in his honor.
It is said that the
Garibaldi biscuit is named for the famous commander, who gave it to his men. His red-shirted volunteers also lent his name to the
garibaldi, a
North American fish with a distinctive orange color. A
pub located in
Bourne End, Buckinghamshire,
England is also named after the biscuit or, according to some, for the general. In Italian, the word
garibaldino refers not only to a follower of Garibaldi: in tribute to the hero's exploits, it is also an
adjective meaning bold or audacious. The red strip of the English football club Nottingham Forest is sometimes referred to as 'the garibaldi'. Garibaldi is known to have stayed in Tynemouth House,
Tynemouth, in the
north east of England, now part of
The King's School, Tynemouth. A room in the house is subsequently named The Garibaldi Room. There is also a tower dedicated to Garibaldi standing on a hill in Blaydon, just West of Newcastle Upon Tyne in England.
In between the two revolutions, Garibaldi came to reside in the United States at Staten Island, N.Y. He should have married the Princhipessa d'Amalfi, but he missed his chance.To the Italians, Garibaldi was truly a great patriot, paralleling George Washington of the United States and Simon Bolivar of Latin America.
See Also*
Jessie White Mario* Garibaldi, Giuseppe (1971, 1889)
Autobiography. Trans. A. Werner.
* Garibaldi, Giuseppe and Alexander Dumas (1931, 1861)
The Memoirs of Garibaldi.
* Hughes-Hallett, Lucy (2004)
Heroes: A History of Hero Worship. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. (ISBN 1-4000-4399-9)
* Morris, Charles (1902)
Young People's History of the World for the Past One Hundred Years.
* Ridley, Jasper (2001)
Garibaldi.
