7 Giuseppe Garibaldi 7with 60 members of his Italian Legion to fight for the
Risorgimento, or resurrection, of Italy in the war of inde-
pendence against the Austrians. He was given command
of the forces of the short-lived Roman Republic, which
Mazzini had set up. After a desperate defense, he was
forced to flee with his followers across the peninsula.
Garibaldi was in exile again.
When Pius IX, threatened by liberal forces within the
Papal States, fled from Rome toward the end of 1848,
Garibaldi led a group of volunteers to that city. In 1849
they defended Rome from the French, who were attempt-
ing to reinstate papal rule, but Garibaldi’s men were
ultimately forced to retreat.
The retreat through central Italy, coming after the
defense of Rome, made Garibaldi a well-known figure.
Soon he was in exile again, first in Tangier, then on Staten
Island, and finally in Peru. Only in 1854 was he allowed to
return to Italy. The Conte di Cavour, the prime minister of
Piedmont, believed that by permitting Garibaldi’s repa-
triation, he could pry him away from the republican
Mazzini. In the following year, Garibaldi bought part of
the island of Caprera off the Sardinian coast, which
remained his home for the rest of his life. In 1858 he
received an invitation from Cavour to help prepare for
another war against Austria, and he was given the rank of
major general in the Piedmontese army. When war broke
out in April 1859, he led his Cacciatori delle Alpi (Alpine
Huntsmen) in the capture of Varese and Como and reached
the frontier of the south Tirol. This war ended with the
acquisition of Lombardy by Piedmont.
In May 1860 Garibaldi set out on the greatest venture
of his life, the conquest of Sicily and Naples. This time
he had no government backing, but Cavour and King
Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia did not dare
to stop him, for he had become a popular hero. They