Hi to all and please forgive me if I made some mistake in posting here as this is my first thread.
I have always been fascinated by the figure of Giuseppe Mazzini, the political father of the italian "Risorgimento" and reunification. He was a fervent republican, as Garibaldi too, however the italian reunification of 1861 brought about a Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoia of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
This Kingdom was in many ways rather backward and its unification of Italy could be described as little better than a mlitary conquest, especially because the new authorities didn't at all respect the local customs and peculiarities, but tried their best to eradicate them and impose uniformity to the new State.
All in all it was a far cry from Mazzini ideals, and he soon was reduced to the fringe of the italian political spectrum, dominated by more pragmatical figures like the piedmontese minister Camillo Benso Count of Cavour.
But...
Could history have swung to the other side? According to your learned opinions could the insurrections of 1848 and 1849 have had a different outcome?
In particular, could the Roman Republic of 1849, headed by Mazzini, Saffi and Armellini and with Garibaldi at the head of its voluntary forces, have lasted more than a few months and consolidated in a republican and democratic nucleus for an earlier italian reunification?
The Roman Republic lasted about five months before against Neapolitan and Austrian forces before falling to the French expeditionary force. Could the French support them in an anti-Austrian function?
I think that the survival of the Roman Republic is not probable, but could there be a POD (not before the Council of Vienna please) that would enable it to resist the crisis and consolidate, one day unifying Italy?