Cavour's Triumph: The Liberation of Italy (Documentary)
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- čas přidán 20. 02. 2023
- Between 1852-1859, the Count of Cavour engineered one of the most remarkable geopolitical changes in European history. Controlling only the small Kingdom of Sardinia, he enlisted the aid of Napoleon III and overthrew the might of the Austrian Army, paving the way for Italian Unification.
This video aims to be a short documentary on Italian Unification (Risorgimento), explaining the diplomatic process.
#Italy #AustrianEmpire #History
I hope you enjoy this short documentary on the Count of Cavour's diplomacy. As you'll see, this is not intended to be a full documentary on the Unification of Italy. I think the competition between Cavour and Garibaldi over the South of the country is worthy of a video of its own at some point. Any feedback is welcomed as usual. Thank you for watching.
Garibaldi working successfully to help unite Italy over a period of three decades only for Cavour to trade away his hometown of Nizza - as part of Savoie - to the French in return for support against the Austrians is one of the strangest tragedies in nationalism. He achieved his long sought after political dream, but Garibaldi's own place of birth would not be a part of the new Italy. Nizza is now more well known by its current name Nice.
Fortunately the Austrians learned their lesson, and never sent a rash and ill-considered ultimatum again.
On the first glance, it is almost unbelievable how many parallels there are between Italian and German unification. Two regionally strong kingdoms profiting from the Vienna Congress, with charismatic Prime Ministers in the latter half of the 19th century, making use of nationalist sentiments to gain power for their respective kings. And the two most significant composers of the era, one Italian and one German, writing operas as fitting themes. Heck, Verdi was even a codename within circles of Italian revolutionaries.
These video essays on the diplomats of the 19th century have been wonderful. Often, you hear about the diplomatic and political events just "Italy did this" or "Germany did that", and it's an fun change of pace to instead see the people steering the ships instead.
The little man that could. Garibaldi often gets more press as he was flashy, but Cavour was the mastermind behind everything. A great moment for the Italians.
It’s crazy to think that at one point Austria now a tiny republic in the alps was dominant over Italy one of the great European powers. How times change!
As a German i am sad about Austria. As a German i am Happy about Italy. 😭😁
Imagine how different the 1860s-70s age would have been with both Cavour and Bismarck active in the Concert of Europe
This channel does a terrific job of covering nineteenth European history that is too often neglected!
Minute and a half in, but a peculiarity I’ve noticed is that Cavour was an aristocrat who became an officer of engineers. This is an exception to a norm. Aristocrats usually became officers of the infantry or cavalry, or maybe the navy. Engineer and artillery corps were seen as beneath them as most of those corps’ officers were better educated in things like mathematics and architecture than the often aristocratic cavalry and infantry officers were.
Should mention that although Cavour was born as a minor aristocrat (though his father had been the mayor of Turin, the capital. So not so minor. But still a younger son so he did not inherit his father estates), Cavour did become the richest man in the kingdom and was perhaps the largest landowner.
Here you can witness step by step the process of self-destruction that the Austrians seemed to enjoy so much:
Seriously my favorite channel at the moment, keep up the great work with these mini-documentaries on such under-covered periods of modern history
I hope that one day we will see a series on Napoleon III, whom Bismarck himself called "the greatest monarch of this era [the mid-nineteenth century]", the one who inspired his cynical vision of politics, which he then improved to give birth to realpolitik. The press at the time nicknamed him "the Agamemnon of Europe" for no decision in European affairs could be taken without his opinion or approval, until he mistook a certain Bismarck and fell after the Austro-Prussian war, before falling ill and having to let the court govern in his place. Such a great man who did so much for France, initiating its industrialization and financialization, reforming its bureaucratic system, implementing social reforms and rebuilding its cities. Truly an underrated ruler who is solely responsible for France's return to the international stage after its long slump since 1815.
Once again, great stuff! At least in American schools, our focus is on Bismarck and German Unification. Italian unification is unfortunately an afterthought. It took me about an hour to watch your video because I kept pausing at new information to do some of my own research. The history of Nice in particular is fascinating, being pinned between two cultures like that. Poor Garibaldi lost his hometown in the unification too. That had to be hard. As always, I look forward to your next video!
It amazes me how quickly Austria declined after their ( Steady but quick ) rise in power, very interesting and great video!
Finally, some respect for the Italians on this channel. Cannot wait to watch.
Would love a series on Italy's monarchical period up to 1945. Brilliant video.
More videos on Italian unification and I will never stop watching this channel.