Louis Napoleon and Italy's Issues

Louis Napoleon was Napoleon's nephew. He was elected as France's president in 1848 thanks to his last name and universal male suffrage giving him 3 times as many votes as any other candidate. His presidency started off good. He believed economic progress would  strengthen  the nation and encouraged banks and railroads to be built. However, when the National Assembly would not let him run again, he seized power on his own and like his uncle, asked the people to justify his illegal actions and at first they did. Only a year late, 97% in a plebiscite (pronounced like ple as in plea, bis as in bison, and cite as in cite your sources..ple-bis-cite) still wanted him ruling. Lewis Napolean began to loose support after he went to war with Prussia. Eventually in 1870, Lewis Napolean lost power in favor of a new constitution.

While all that stuff in France was happening, Italy was having its own issues. Since the Middle Ages, Italy had been divided into nation-states but with the rise of nationalism a united Italy seemed more and more appealing to the people living in Italy. The countries besides Italy such as England, France, and Austria actually fear Italy uniting because that would upset the balance of power.

These countries were not the only ones opposed to a unified Italy. One of Italy's biggest issues when trying to unite was a not as our class guessed, pizza or Italy or war. No, the answer was the pope. The pope did not want to unite because he had his own papal states that he wanted to remain in control of. As Kaitlyn put it,  the pope was killing the vibe of nationalism.

Some other people to keep in mind when learning about the rise of nationalism in Italy are...

Vincezo Gioberti

Gioberti was a Catholic priest who called for the unification of Italy under the pope. Obviously, this didn't work out. 

Cavour

Cavour was probably the most important piece in the nationalism puzzle. He united Italiy through a common enemy. Furthermore, he increased nationalism by building railroads and roads to make people feel more Italian and not their individual states.

Giuseppe Garibaldi 

Garibaldi was like an extreme version of Cavour. Cavour agreed on the same mission of uniting Italy as him but they both had different views on the means to get there. In one instant, Cavour actually went along with Garibaldi's plan to liberate the Two Sicileis just to get rid of him. Garibaldi and his guerrilla band of Red Shirts went to attack the pope and rome and Cavour sent forces to stop him. 

Actual picture of the Gorilla band of Red Shirts 

Wait sorry this is the picture not the one above

Cavour may have been in favor of nationalism but Garbidi's was a radical. 

Cavour was defiantly a liberal in the political spectrum and by no means a conservative  but Garibaldi was a flat out radical.

Victor Emmanuel 

Emmauel was the parliamentary monarch the new kingdom of Italy was placed under. He was described as neither radical or democratic.