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Expedition of the Thousand
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The Expedition of the Thousand (Italian Spedizione
dei Mille) was an event of the Italian
Risorgimento took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by
Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in
Sicily
in order to conquer the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled by the
Bourbons.
The project was an ambitious and risky venture to conquer, with a
thousand men, a kingdom with a larger regular army and a more powerful
navy. The expedition was a success and concluded with a
plebiscite that brought Naples and Sicily into the
Kingdom of Sardinia, the last territorial conquest before the
creation of the
Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861.
The sea venture was the only desired action that was jointly decided
by the "four fathers of the nation" Italian
Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi,
Victor Emmanuel II and
Camillo Cavour, pursuing divergent goals. It is difficult to
determine the true instigator: Mazzini desired to release the
Mezzogiorno and Rome while Garibaldi wants to conquer in the name of
Victor Emmanuel II, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and continue to Rome
to complete the unity of Italy, Cavour that wants to prevent at all
costs to avoid a conflict with his French ally, Napoleon III, which
protects Rome.
The expedition also brings new large collective ambiguity and
misunderstanding: for Garibaldi, it is to achieve a united Italy; to the
Sicilian bourgeoisie, an independent Sicily as part of the kingdom of
Italy, and for the mass farmers, the end of oppression and land
distribution.
Background
The events of the Expedition took place within the overall process of
the
unification of Italy, which was largely orchestrated by
Camillo Cavour, Prime Minister of
Sardinia-Piedmont, as his life's work. After the annexation of the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchies of
Modena and
Parma and the
Romagna
to
Piedmont in March 1860, Italian nationalists set their sights on the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which comprised all of southern mainland
Italy and Sicily, as the next step toward their dream of unification of
all Italian lands.
In 1860 Garibaldi, already the most famous Italian revolutionary
leader, was in
Genoa
planning an expedition against Sicily and Naples, with the covert
support of the
United Kingdom.[2]
Sicilian leaders, among them
Francesco Crispi, were discontented with Neapolitan rule over the
island..[citation
needed] Moreover Britain was worried by the
approaches of the Neapolitans towards the
Russian Empire in the latter's attempt to open its way to the
Mediterranean Sea; the strategic importance of the Sicilian ports
was also to be dramatically increased by the opening of the
Suez Canal.[citation
needed] It has been also suggested (by Lorenzo del
Boca, among the others) that British support for Garibaldi's expedition
was spurred by the necessity to obtain more favourable economic
conditions for Sicilian
sulfur, which was needed in great quantities for the new steamers.[3]
The
search for a casus belli
The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont needed a presentable
casus belli in order to attack the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This
was needed for the House of Savoy, which however never gave any
declaration of war against the Bourbon kingdom, a necessary condition,
since this was among the requirements presented to Cavour. The only
occurrence that would have satisfied this requirement was an uprising
from within. Such an event would have felt the alienation of the people
to the dynasty that ruled in Naples and, particularly, the inability of
Francis of Bourbon, to ensure, in forms acceptable public policy in
their domains. Sicily, as shown by the history of the past decades, was
fertile ground, and the liberal south, especially those returning after
an amnesty granted by the young King, who worked in this direction for
some time.[4][5]
The expedition
Landing in Sicily
Garibaldi departing on the Expedition of the Thousand in
1860
The expedition set sail on the evening of 5 May 1860 from a rock in
Quarto, a district of
Genoa, on
the steamships Il Piemonte and Il Lombardo,[6]
which were acquired from G.B. Fauché, a fellow
freemason of Garibaldi. The corps was formed by some one thousand
volunteers, practically all northern Italians, including a woman (Rose
"Rosalia" Montmasson, wife of
Francesco Crispi).[7]
After a short stop (7 May) at
Talamone, and (9 May) at
Porto Santo Stefano in southern Tuscany, for water, weapons and coal
from Piedmontese troops, the vessels were directed to
Sicily.
The ships landed at
Marsala,
on the westernmost point of Sicily, on 11 May, with the help of British
ships present in the harbour to deter the
Bourbon ships.[8]
The Lombardo was attacked and sunk only after the disembarkation
had been completed, while the Piemonte was captured. The landing
had been preceded by the arrival of
Francesco Crispi and others, who had the task of gaining the support
of the locals for the volunteers.
On 14 May, at
Salemi,
Garibaldi announced that he was assuming dictatorship over Sicily in the
name of King
Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia.
Calatafimi and
Palermo
The thousand cross the bridge Admiral in Palermo
The Mille won a first battle at
Calatafimi against around 2,000 Neapolitan troops on 15 May. The
battle was inconclusive, but boosted the morale of the Mille and,
at the same time, depressed the Neapolitans, who were poorly led by
their often corrupted higher officers, and started to feel themselves
abandoned. In the meantime the ranks of the Mille enlarged to
1,200 with local men joining. On 27 May, with the help of a popular
insurrection, the Mille laid siege to
Palermo,
the island's capital. The city was defended by some 16,000 men, but
these were under the confused and timid direction of general
Ferdinando Lanza, aged 75 (probably one of the Neapolitan officers
bribed with English money[citation
needed], see
Evaluation section).
While two columns of Garibaldines attacked the perimeter, part of the
population, strengthened by 2,000 prisoners liberated from the local
jails, rose against the garrison. When his troops were driven back from
most of their positions, Lanza ordered them to bombard the city for
three days, causing the deaths of 600 civilians. By 28 May Garibaldi
controlled much of the city and declared the Bourbon authority deposed.
The following day a desperate Neapolitan counteroffensive was driven
back, and Lanza asked for a truce. However, when a reinforcement party
of well equipped and well trained troops arrived in the city, the
situation became very serious for Garibaldi, who was saved only by
Lanza's decision to surrender. Through the mediation of a British
admiral, an armistice was signed and the Neapolitan fleet abandoned the
port.
Neapolitan retreat and Battle of Milazzo
The Bourbon troops were ordered to push eastwards and evacuate the
island. An insurrection that had broken out in
Catania
on 31 May, led by
Nicola Fabrizi, was crushed by the local garrison, but the order to
leave for
Messina meant that this Neapolitan tactical success would have no
practical results.
At the time only
Syracuse,
Augusta,
Milazzo
and
Messina remained in royal hands in Sicily. In the meantime the
dictator Garibaldi issued his first law. A levy failed to muster more
than 20,000 troops, while the peasants, who hoped to an immediate relief
from the grievous conditions to which they were forced by the
landowners, revolted in several localities. At
Bronte, on 4 August 1860, Garibaldi's friend
Nino Bixio bloodily repressed one of these revolts with two
battalions of Redshirts.
The pace of Garibaldi's victories had worried Cavour, who in early
July sent him a proposal of immediate annexation of Sicily to Piedmont.
Garibaldi, however, refused vehemently to allow such a move until the
end of the war. Cavour's envoy, La Farina, was arrested and expelled
from the island. He was replaced by the more malleable
Agostino Depretis, who gained Garibaldi's trust and was appointed as
pro-dictator.
On 25 June 1860, King
Francis II of the Two Sicilies had issued a constitution. However,
this late attempt to conciliate his moderate subjects failed to rouse
them to defend the regime, while liberals and revolutionaries were eager
to welcome Garibaldi.
At the time, Garibaldi had created the Esercito Meridionale
("Southern Army"), reinforced by other volunteers from Italy and some
regular Piedmontese soldiers disguised as "deserters". The Neapolitans
had mustered some 24,000 men for the defence of Messina and the other
fortresses.
On 20 July Garibaldi attacked Milazzo with 5,000 men. The Neapolitan
defence was gallant, but again the absence of coordination and the
refusal of Marshal Clary, commander-in-chief of the army in the island,
to send reinforcements from Messina granted the Mille another victory.
Six days later Clary surrendered the city of Messina to Garibaldi,
leaving only 4,000 in the citadel and other forts. The other strongholds
surrendered by the end of September.
Landing and conquest in Calabria
On 19 August Garibaldi's men disembarked in
Calabria, a move opposed by Cavour, who had written the Dictator a
letter urging him to not cross the
strait. Garibaldi, however, disobeyed, an act which had the silent
approval of King Victor Emmanuel.
The Bourbons had some 20,000 men in Calabria, but, apart from some
episodes like that of
Reggio Calabria, which was conquered at high cost by Bixio on 21
August, they offered insignificant resistance, as numerous units of the
Bourbon army disbanded spontaneously or even joined Garibaldi's ranks.
On 30 August a conspicuous Sicilian army, led by general Ghio, was
officially disbanded at
Soveria Mannelli, while only minor and dispersed units continued the
fight. The Neapolitan fleet behaved in a similar way.
The end
King Francis II was thus forced to abandon
Naples
and entrench himself in the formidable fortress of
Gaeta,
while a last stand was set up on the
Volturno river, north of Naples. On 7 September Garibaldi took
possession of Naples with little harm (he entered the city by train),
hailed as a liberator by the population.
Grand entry of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi into Naples
In the decisive
Battle of the Volturnus (1 and 2 October[9]),
Garibaldi, with a force of 24,000 men, was not able to conclusively
defeat the Neapolitan Army (about 25,000 men). Only the arrival of the
Piedmontese army which had crossed through the Papal territories of the
Marche
and Umbria,
obliged the last organized Bourbon force to entrench in Gaeta.
A few days later (21 October) a
plebiscite confirmed the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies to the Kingdom of Sardinia by an overwhelming majority (for
today's standards the plebiscite would be of limited significance, as
the vote was not secret, and even Piedmontese soldiers voted).
meeting between Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II on
the bridge of Teano on October 26, 1860.
The end of the expedition is traditionally set with the famous
meeting in
Teano[10]
(northern
Campania) between Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi (26 October 1860).
Others assign instead the end of the campaign to the King's entrance
into Naples on 7 November.
Garibaldi asked the King to remain in the former Two Sicilies for a
year as dictator. He also asked that his officers be integrated in the
new Italian Army. When Victor Emmanuel refused to accept his requests,
he returned to
Caprera.
However, the military campaign was not yet fully completed, as
Francis II held out in Gaeta until February of the next year, when he
finally surrendered and left for exile in Austria. Shortly thereafter,
in March 1861, the new
Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia) was formally established.
Evaluation
Carte De Visite of a Garibaldino and member of the Thousand
Red Shirts, Giuseppe Barboglio. He wears the rare 'Medal of
the Thousand' or 'Marsala Medal', issued by the city of
Palermo in 1865.
The Expedition of the Thousand has traditionally been one of the most
celebrated events of the
Italian Risorgimento, the process of the unification of Italy.
However, recent studies[citation
needed] have pointed out that later descriptions of
the whole event were somewhat
hagiographic, and that its effective relevance, in particular the
extent of the military campaign, was overesteemed by traditional
historiography.
In the following years, the rise of local resistance (the so-called
brigantaggio or brigandage), required at one point the presence
of some 140,000 Piedmontese troops to maintain control of the former
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Traditionally, the handling of the
brigantaggio has received a negative judgement by Italian
historians, in strict contrast with the heroism attributed to Garibaldi
and his followers; the English historian
Denis Mack Smith,[11]
for example, points out the deficiencies and reticence of the sources
available for the period.
The expedition, moreover, obtained the support of the powerful great
landowners of southern Italy in exchange for the promise that their
properties be left intact in the upcoming political settlement. Numerous
Sicilian peasants, however, had joined the Mille hoping instead for a
redistribution of the land to the people working it. The consequences of
this misunderstanding became evident at Bronte.
See also
Notes
-
^ Magyarország
hadtörténete 1. (Military history of Hungary), Zrínyi
Katonai Kiadó 1984.
ISBN 963-326-320-4
-
^ Del Boca,
Maledetti Savoia
-
^ Lorenzo Del Boca,
Maledetti Savoia, see chapter Il copyright inglese
-
^
Gigi Di Fiore, I vinti del Risorgimento, Utet,
Torino, 2004, p. 99.
-
^
Giacinto De Sivo, Storia delle Due Sicilie 1847–1861,
Edizioni Trabant, 2009, p. 331.
-
^ The ships were the
property of
Raffaele Rubattino, of whose company Fauché was
administrator, and had been paid with a guaranty from King
Victor Emmanuel and Prime Minister
Cavour themselves. After the conclusion of the expedition
the debt was extinguished by handing over to Rubattino the
entire Florio fleet, captured in Sicily.
-
^ According to some
sources, the exact number was 1,089. Most were from the former
Lombardy-Venetia. There were some foreigners, often not
cited in Italian history books, including Englishmen and
Hungarian officers.
-
^ These were:
Stromboli (steam corvette), Valoroso (brigandine),
Partenope (sail frigate) and the armed steamer Capri.
The British had the two gunboats Argus and Intrepid.
-
^ Effective date of
the end of the fightings is debated.
-
^ Other sources
(including Del Boca) set the location of the meeting at
Taverna della Catena, in territory of the modern
comune of
Vairano Patenora.
-
^ Denis Mack Smith,
Italy and Its Monarchy.