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Giuseppe Garibaldi (World Leaders Past & Present)
Giuseppe Garibaldi - World Leaders Past & Present Author:Herman J. Viola, Susan P. Viola More than any other leader of the 19th-century struggle for Italian independence and unity, Giuseppe Garibaldi stands out as the movement's legendary hero. A charismatic soldier and patriot, renowned for his feats of military daring, Garibaldi tirelessly pursued political justice and freedom both in Italy and as a professional revolutionary ... more »in South America.
Garibaldi was born in the Piedmontese port city of Nice in 1807. While working as a sailor, the 26-year-old Garibaldi was influenced by the period's radical political doctrines and was recruited by the nationalist "Young Italy" movement in 1833. Under penalty of death, he was forced to flee the kingdom of Sardinia in 1834 for trying to organize a mutiny against the Piedmontese navy. In South America Garibaldi fought in a uprising against the Brazilian Empire. Beginning in 1842 he led Italian legionnaires in the Uruguayan civil war, in which he perfected his unorthodox fighting tactics and his flamboyant style of leadership.
The revolutionary wave that struck Europe in 1848 brought Garibaldi back to Italy's shores. He led a life alternating between that of a fierce general under fire and a fugitive on the run. He battled the Austrians to defend a republic based in Milan and fought the French on behalf of a republic in Rome. Although his motto was obbedisco ("I obey"), he was often deeply at odds with other fellow Italian nationalists. In 1859, backed by the Piedmontese prime minister and the French, his red-shirted volunteers captured the territory of Lombardy. After establishing his own government in Sicily, the impetuous soldier clashed with the Neapolitans -- his own countrymen. But by 1870 an independent and unified Italy had emerged.
Garibaldi died in 1882. Although he had admitted being unable to grasp political subtleties, his tenacious dedication to Italy's liberation had made him one of the world's best known freedom fighters.« less