Books
Phase
Italian Unification
1815–1871 CE
After 1815 the Italian peninsula remained divided among kingdoms, duchies, papal territory and regions controlled by the Austrian Empire. Secret societies, liberal revolts and nationalist thinkers argued for constitutional government or national unity, though they disagreed over monarchy, republicanism and the role of the Church.
Piedmont-Sardinia, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s volunteers and changing international alliances brought most of Italy together between 1859 and 1861. Venetia was added in 1866 and Rome in 1870, completing territorial unification while leaving major regional, political and social divisions unresolved.
The Prague Cemetery places its fictional forger within Garibaldi’s campaigns and the covert politics surrounding unification. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard offers another major fictional treatment of the transition. The setting suits spies, revolutionaries, soldiers, clerics and opportunists moving between patriotism and personal advancement.
Related people for Italian Unification
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865 Alexandre Dumas1802–1870 Alfred Dreyfus1859–1935 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington1769–1852 Bernard Montgomery1887–1976 Empress Elisabeth of Austria1837–1898 Erwin Rommel1891–1944 Franz Joseph I of Austria1830–1916 George Washington1732–1799 Giuseppe Garibaldi1807–1882 Horatio Nelson1758–1805 Napoleon1769–1821 Napoleon III1808–1873 Otto von Bismarck1815–1898 Robert Clive1725–1774 Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald1775–1860 Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885 Victor Emmanuel II of Italy1820–1878 Victoria1819–1901
Non-Fiction
2 Best Non-Fiction Books About Italian Unification
Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.
