AHC- Have Garibaldi hold on to the Roman Republic even after the French betray him

Very very very hard, since, after the quasi-protectorate agreement signed by Lesseps and Mazzini had been reneged by N. III, Oudinot had about 30.000 men in his expeditionary force, a thoroughly overwhelming force. Let's also not forget the presence of Neapolitan (as incompetent as they proved to be), Spanish and especially Austrian contingents occupying other parts of the Papal States. The only chance is Napoleon accepting the treaty, leading to a survival of the Republic in Lazio, Umbria and possibly Marche, losing at least the Legazioni of Bologna and Romagna to Austria. But this is in itself an almost impossible outcome, given that Napoleon's Catholic powerbase would never accept France being the steward of a Republic that caused the Pope to flee from Rome to Gaeta.
 
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mad orc

Banned
Yet, an AHC is an AHC, Garibaldi has already done so many seemingly impossible tasks, lets not forget how Bolivar won in SA. There is always a way out for history, please, strain your AHC nerves and find me something people.
 
For any Italian focused 1848 scenarios I would begin with having the Venetian "goverment" (Manin IIRC) reaching out to the fleet,. which I believe had significant numbers of Venetians/Italians in it prior to the revolts. Venice, even with a fleet and artillery, is a tough nut to crack; with at least part of the fleet defecting and keeping the city open Austria probably can't take it, or will take much longer (and even OTL they lasted for more than a year). With a few other changes this could at least drag things out enough to alter the strategic calculus.
Removing Napoleon somehow (an assassin? A longer uprising/disturbance in France?) is probably also essential as he has every reason to support the Pope as an appeasement. That being said if Austria's position is collapsing utterly maybe Napoleon et al decide to compromise with a Roman Republic, but it is a very tall order. Perhaps something with Belgium or the Rhineland to divert French attention?
 
Maybe they could pull something like Greece did and play off their classical lineage? "Roman Republic" evokes the ancient Roman civilization, which might appeal to the philhellenists.
 
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