Giuseppe Garibaldi

Italian Nationalist

July 4, 1807 Nice, France

June 2, 1882 Caprera, Italy

Anita Garibaldi (m. 1842–1849), Francesca Armosino (m. 1880–1882), Giuseppina Raimondi (m. 1860–1860)

Giuseppe Garibaldi was a patriot, military commander and a popular hero of the nineteenth century Italy. He has been hailed as one of the ‘Fathers of the Fatherland’ for his contribution to the Italian Risorgimento, which unified the fractured nation under one rule. His conquest of Sicily and Naples, which had hitherto been held by France, hastened the unification process and made him a national hero. In the beginning, he wanted to set up a free republican government in the unified Italy. Later he gave up this dream and fought only to unify Italy. His struggle was mainly aimed at the Austrian Empire and the House of Habsburg, who held large tracts of land in the north and central part of Italy respectively. He also waged several wars to abolish papacy. To defeat their much larger army, Garibaldi used guerilla warfare techniques, which he had learnt while fighting the imperialistic forces in Brazil and Uruguay. Later on in his life he advocated universal franchise and led a pacifist life in his farm in the island of Caprera.