Giuseppe Garibaldi Bust

Giuseppe Garibaldi made volunteer warfare a force in Italian unification. Born in Nice in 1807, he began as a sailor and became involved in republican politics. Exile took him to South America, where campaigns in Brazil and Uruguay gave him military experience and an international reputation.

Back in Italy, he helped defend the Roman Republic in 1849 against French intervention. Its defeat forced another retreat. The Roman connection remained central to his political ambitions long after that republic fell.

In 1860 Garibaldi sailed to Sicily with the expedition known as the Thousand. The initial volunteer force grew as the campaign advanced and local support joined it. The overthrow of Bourbon power in southern Italy depended on those wider forces as well as on Garibaldi's leadership.

He accepted the transfer of the conquered territories to Victor Emmanuel II, despite his republican convictions. Later attempts to reach Rome failed at Aspromonte and Mentana; the Italian army entered the city in 1870 through a different campaign. Garibaldi died on Caprera in 1882. His reputation as a unifier is inseparable from the compromises, allies, and defeats that shaped the result.