The year 1860 was the annus mirabilis of the Italian risorgimento. In the space of a few months, Piedmont-Sardinia more than doubled its size, and combined most of central and all of southern Italy. The formerly independent states of Tuscany, Modena and Parma, with the Papal provinces of the Romagna, Umbria and the Marches, and the far larger area covered by the Two Sicilies, all these invoked the sovereignty of the House of Savoy; and early in 1861 the existence of a new kingdom of Italy was officially proclaimed. Few people were more surprised at the success and speed of this achievement than Cavour, its chief architect; and few more disappointed than Mazzini and Garibaldi, the two men who had looked forward to this moment most keenly and who had sacrificed most for its attainment. Here is a paradox which will serve to indicate at the outset that this was a complicated and controversial passage of history.

The complications and controversies are worth examining for their own sake. They are also important for their influence on the type of state Italy became after 1861, and for the fact that they make a small but interesting chapter in the larger history of nationalism. The subject is more accurately studied in particular than in general. In recent years there have been a number of broad surveys written about the national movement in Italy; the need now is not so much for outline histories, as for detailed monographs to test the generally accepted canons of interpretation. There are still too many gaps in our knowledge of what went on underneath the main episodes of this national revolution.