Garibaldi, Giuseppe 1807-82
Italian Revolutionary, soldier and politician

He was born in Nice, French Empire (now in France), the son of a sailor. The greatest figure of the Risorgimento, he was a member of Young Italy and took part in an abortive Mazzinian insurrection in Genoa in 1834. He subsequently fled to South America, where he fought in defence of the Rio Grande do Sul Republic against the Brazilian Empire and in Uruguay against the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas. He returned to Italy (1848) and offered his services to King Charles Albert (1798-1849) against the Austrians. Rejected, he instead took part in the government and defence of the Roman Republic, before attempting to relieve the Venetian republic of Daniele Manin. After the Revolutions of 1848-49 he visited the USA before settling on the island of Caprera. In 1856 he backed the Italian National Society and played a minor but brilliant part in the 1859 campaign against the Austrians. In 1860 he set sail from Genoa with 1,000 volunteers ('Red Shirts') to assist the anti-Bourbon rebellion which had broken out in Sicily. Having seized control of the island, he crossed to the mainland of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and overran much of the Mezzogiorno before handing it over to Victor Emmanuel II. In 1862 he attempted to march on Rome but was stopped by Piedmontese troops at Aspromonte. A similar attempt to seize the papal capital was blocked by French forces at Mentana in 1867. He fought with limited success against the Austrians in 1866 and in 1870 he offered his services to the French after the Battle of Sedan. In 1870 he was elected a Deputy at the Bordeaux Assembly. He spent his last years as a farmer on Caprera.

Bibliography: Jasper Ridley, Garibaldi (1974)