Inspirational Quotes by Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italian Revolutionary)

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–82) was an Italian patriot and military leader of the Risorgimento and one of the great masters of guerrilla warfare. With his volunteer force of ‘Red Shirts,’ he captured Sicily and southern Italy from the Bourbons in 1860–61, thereby playing a pivotal role in establishing the united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Garibaldi’s popularity, skill at rousing the people, and military exploits are all credited with making the unification of Italy possible.

Born in Nice, French Empire (now in France,) Garibaldi was a member of Young Italy and participated in an abortive insurrection in Genoa led by Italian nationalist Mazzini in 1834. Garibaldi decamped to South America, supporting the Riograndense Republic against the Brazilian Empire and in Uruguay against the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.

Garibaldi returned to Italy (1848) and offered his services to King Charles Albert (1798–1849) against the Austrians. Rebuffed, he instead took part in the Roman Republic government and defense before attempting to relieve the Venetian Republic of Daniele Manin. After the revolutions of 1848–49, he visited America before settling on the island of Caprera.

In 1856, Garibaldi 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 Sicily’s anti-Bourbon rebellion. He grabbed control of Sicily and crossed over to the mainland of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He overran much of the Mezzogiorno province before handing it over to Victor Emmanuel II.

In 1862, Garibaldi strived to march on Rome but was stopped by Piedmontese troops at Aspromonte. French forces obstructed a comparable attempt to seize the papal capital at Mentana in 1867. Garibaldi fought with limited success against the Austrians in 1866. 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.

Garibaldi’s memoirs are Autobiography of Giuseppe Garibaldi, (3 vol., 1888; translated 1889, reprinted 1971.) Famous biographies include Denis Mack Smith’s Garibaldi: A Great Life in Brief (1956,) Jasper Ridley’s Garibaldi (1974,) John Parris, The Lion of Caprera (1962,) Benedict S. LiPira’s Giuseppe Garibaldi: A Biography of the Father of Modern Italy (1998.)

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