Central Europe Yearbook

"The Most Dangerous Man in Europe"

How Giuseppe Mazzini's Nationalism Shaped the Italian Unification Period

Rachel Anderson

Eastern Connecticut State University

Keywords: Italian Unification, nationalism, identity, Giuseppe Mazzini, Italy

Abstract

The Italian unification period of the nineteenth century finally saw the fragmented states of Italy become one nation as it stands today. This article explores how Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini influenced Italy's unification. By using a combination of Mazzini's essays and autobiographical notes along with secondary sources on Mazzini and nineteenth century Italy, this article demonstrates that his writings allowed for the dissemination of nationalist thought throughout Italy and Europe more broadly. Mazzini was often discredited by his contemporaries and early historians as a failure due to his unsuccessful military revolutions, but only looking at his revolutionary actions fails to take into account the fact that Mazzini's life's work was educating the Italian people on the importance of national unity.