Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand and the Kingdom of Italy

Date

May–September 1860; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 17 March 1861

Category

Politics & governance

Region

Italy (Sicily, Naples, Turin)

Era

Modern

Significance

The Expedition of the Thousand and the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy completed the central act of the Risorgimento. In May 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from near Genoa with about a thousand red-shirted volunteers and landed at Marsala in Sicily on 11 May.

In barely three months his force overthrew the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, conquering Sicily and then crossing to the mainland, where he entered Naples in triumph on 7 September as Bourbon rule collapsed. Rather than march on Rome and risk French intervention, Garibaldi handed his conquests to King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont at their famous meeting near Teano, subordinating his republican sympathies to the cause of a unified monarchy. Plebiscites across the south and centre ratified union with Piedmont. On 17 March 1861 the first national parliament proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy, with Victor Emmanuel II as its first king — the first united Italian state since antiquity. Rome (held by the pope under French protection) and Venetia (held by Austria) remained outside; they would be added in 1866 and 1870. The unification transformed the European balance of power and stands as one of the defining nation-building achievements of the nineteenth century.

Empires active in May–September 1860; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 17 March 1861

• French Colonial Empire (Second)
  1830 CE – 1962 CE
• Russian Empire
  1721 CE – 1917 CE
• British Empire
  1583 CE – 1997 CE
• Qing Dynasty
  1636 CE – 1912 CE
• Spanish Empire
  1492 CE – 1976 CE
• Portuguese Empire
  1415 CE – 1999 CE

Related politics & governance events

• Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the birth of the British Raj
  1857–1858 (rebellion); Government of India Act 2 August 1858
• Commodore Perry forces the opening of Japan
  1853–1854 (Treaty of Kanagawa, 31 March 1854)
• The Meiji Restoration
  1868 (proclamation 3 January 1868)
• The Revolutions of 1848 (the Springtime of Peoples)
  1848–1849
• Berlin Conference and the partition of Africa
  15 November 1884 – 26 February 1885
• The Slavery Abolition Act ends slavery across the British Empire
  28 August 1833 (in force 1 August 1834)

Further reading

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire

The wider story

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire

Roger Crowley

Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.

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