Mazzini

How far do you agree that the limited appeal of Mazzini’s ideas was the main reason for slow progress of national unity in Italy in the years 1815-1848?

Mazzini was a republican nationalist; his vision was to create a nationalist Italy through his radical yet revolutionary ideas. Metternich the Austrian chancellor saw Mazzini and his ideas as a huge threat towards both him and the Austrian empire, Metternich wished ‘to extinguish the spirit of Italian unity and ideas about constitutions’ he even went as far as to say that Mazzini was ‘the most dangerous man in Europe’.

Mazzini’s ideas focused around the fact that he wanted to create a centralised republic, with a democratically elected government.The Italian citizens were in unison with this idea yet Mazzini’s popularity was surprisingly low. Mazzini himself was a well-educated man; he spread his messages through newspapers and well-articulated speeches, subsequently most Italians couldn’t understand as the majority were illiterate peasants. The limited appeal of Mazzini was a huge factor for why the unification of Italy only made slow progress because unfortunately he couldn’t deliver his proposition to a wider audience and in fact was merely restricting himself to a small proportion of the Italian nation.

During Mazzini’s appeal he made it clear that foreign support wasn’t needed in order to unite Italy and in fact they could drive out the Austria’s lone. Austria was in control of a large proportion of Italy including Venetia and Lombardy; an Austrian Vice-Roy was even in control at one point. Austria had a large army and unless it was weakened considerably the hope of removing foreign control was abolished. Austrian influence was a significant factor surrounding why slow progress was made in uniting Italy. Mazzini was deluded in thinking that foreign help wasn’t needed when in fact this should have been one of the first strategies devised. Mazzini’s limited appeal was one of the main reasons for...