How Widespread Was Nationalism in Italy Between 1815 and 1847?

Nationalism is a belief that nation states should be formed by people with a shared identity and culture. In Italy in 1815, there were few nationalists; however the amount of nationalists grew throughout the 19th century. Nationalism spread across Italy due to influential people like Gioberti, Mazzini and Balbo, other factors such as a new pope and Verdi also contributed to the spread of nationalist ideas.

Young Italy was founded in 1831 by Giuseppe Mazzini, a nationalist who believed in the equality of humans. The organisation was accompanied by a journal called 'Young Italy'. This journal was important in spreading nationalism, as many of Mazzini's ideas were explained and encouraged. These ideas included Mazzini's republican views; he wanted a united Italian republic with Charles Albert, the king of Piedmont, at the head of the movement. Mazzini differed to other patriots because he envisaged a union of all Italian-speaking provinces, including the south (Sicily and Sardinia). The ideas of Young Italy were to spread from Marseilles in France, which was Mazzini's base, to Piedmont, the Papal States and Tuscany. In Piedmont the journal, 'Young Italy' was widely read and many readers supported the idea of a national revolution, however, the attempts at revolutions failed. Although Young Italy failed in some aspects, nationalist feelings had spread across Italy, therefore encouraging other nationalists to stand up.

Young Italy was a failure, as all the national revolutions which were supposed to unify Italy never happened. In 1833 the proposed army coup was detected before it began, however Charles Albert was enraged by the intended revolution, and 12 members of Young Italy were executed, and 67 members were arrested. A year later two uprisings ended before they began in Genoa and Piedmont. Such failures occurred because the organisation was poorly organised and because Mazzini spent long periods of time away from Italy, consequently losing support and control over his disciples.

The middle classes were very involved in the secret societies, as they had the education to understand the complicated ideas of Mazzini, Gioberti and Balbo. The majority of the secret societies' members were patriotic idealists. Many journals were brought out in Italy between 1815 and 1847, in Tuscany the ideas of national identity were spread in the pages of the journal 'Antologia' in 1821. 'Biblioteca Italiana' was founded in Milan in 1816, it was an Italian language journal which also promoted national consciousness, 'Il Politecnico' was also produced in Milan between 1839 and 1845. The journals were a way for patriots to express their views on both political and social matters, and to try and spread the feeling of nationalism.

On the other hand, the journals could only really be understood by the middle class, as the views expressed were usually complex, this meant that the peasants would not have the ability to read the journals. Only 10% of Italians were from the middle classes, for that reason, the ideas explored in the journals were not very widespread because they were too difficult for the lower classes to comprehend.

Before 1839 Italy had seen the introduction of organisations such as the Carbonari, however these were regional organisations, which meant that their ideas were not widespread. In 1839 an organisation called the Congresso degli Scienziata, meaning the Congress of Science was founded. The Congresso was a national organisation which held meetings in different parts of Italy for 8 years; these meetings were attended by delegates from many regions. The most important parts of the meetings were that only Italian was spoken at the meetings, and there was a political side to these meetings. At a Congresso meeting in Genoa in 1846, the victory of Italian arms over the Austrians in 1746 was celebrated, thus encouraging the anti-Austrian feeling. National organisations like the Congresso allowed patriots from across Italy to join together and discuss their ideas; this shows that nationalism was widespread across Italy.

Vincenzo Gioberti was a nationalist who agreed with Mazzini that Italy should be rid of foreign influence, both French and Austrian, however, he was not as radical as Mazzini, and he outlined a more moderate approach in his journal, 'Primato Morale e Civile degli Italiani' ('On the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians'). Gioberti argued that the Italian states should be united under a federation with the Pope at the head; he believed the papacy in Rome gave Italians an advantage over other European countries, this became known as neo-guelphism. Neo-guelphism appealed to those who objected to a republican state (like the one Mazzini suggested) Gioberti's ideas also appealed to Italian Catholics. The publication of Primato inspired other patriots such as Cesare Balbo, who also published a journal, 'Le Speranze

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