The Roman Republic - 1848

The Presidency of Daniele Manin

The presidency of Manin got started with a personal tragedy for the new President. When he had fled Venice with his family, shortly after the fall of the city, they had hidden themselves away on a ship sailing for France. His wife, her health already shattered during the hardships of the siege, died shortly after the ship reached port in Marseilles. His daughter too remained in ill health for some time, and Manin did not return to Italy till mid 1850. Despite their arrival in the new nation, a revival of the fortunes of Manin, and the best medical care they could find, Daniele Manin’s daughter passed shortly before her father’s inauguration.

Manin’s inauguration was a somber one. Despite having won the election handily, despite the acclaim from the people, Manin felt empty without his family. During his inauguration Manin vowed to continue his predecessor’s work of seeking to maintain good relations with the various states in Europe, reasserting Italian claims to occupied sections of northern Italy, promising to finish the job of uprooting the corrupt bureaucrats that plagued various government ministries, and reiterated the offer of the prior administration to allow the Pope to return to Rome.

The beginning of the new Presidency was absorbed with reshuffling the cabinet, creating new ministries to handle the growing government bureaucracy, and returning Italian troops from the Crimea. Manin also expanded the Italian army, and the legislature passed a law which the President signed mandating at least two years service in the armed forces or, if unfit for duty, in the civil service.

As Manin began his work of reshaping the domestic affairs of the nation, Cavour was busy in the realm of international diplomacy. Italian advisors were hired out to the Ottoman military with the intention of helping the creaky empire to modernize its army. Relations with Russia were improved by the signing of a series of trade deals between the two nations. In seeking further assistance from France and Britain in the quest to unite all the Italian lands, Cavour made no progress. Neither nation had any interest in supporting a war in which they had nothing to gain, but neither would they interfere for either side. In February of 1856 however, the military situation changed dramatically.

Cavour in a meeting with the Prussian ambassador found the conversation turned towards Prussian ambitions in northern Germany. Cavour maintained that Italy had no objections to the unification of the German states under Prussian leadership, in fact he felt it would increase European stability. The ambassador hinted that Prussia, while confident they could defeat Austria, would prefer to have a secure ally in their venture, and would be prepared to sign a secret protocol maintaining an alliance between the two states should one become embroiled in a war with Austria. According to the protocols, there would be no separate peace and peace would only be accepted on the basis of achieving both nations war aims.

Cavour met with Manin, who though was unsure about the treaty, agreed to sign, provided that there were guarantees in place so that Italy would not be tied to overt Prussian aggression and have world opinion turned against her. The Prussian ambassador agreed to the Italian amendments and, in secret, the treaty was signed and ratified by both nations. An alliance had been found, now both nations only waited for the appropriate spark.
 
The Ten Thousand? It's basically that Garibaldi is really given command of the Union Army of the Potomac, which is an offer he refused in OTL, because he wanted to have the power of declare slaves free! In TTL, he sails for Sicily, and he is given the offer, and this time me accepts, because he is convinced that if he accepts he will be able to achive his goals. He fights the Pennisular Campaign and crushes Magruder and takes Richmond

That sounds interesting. I read about that offer, and how Garibaldi turned it down because he would accept no position less than commander of all Union armies. Considering his unorthodox tactics and aggressiveness in battle and how effective it was against regular armies (guerilla tactics vs standard mass infantry lines) it would be interesting to see how much he could have changed the ACW.

Of course we're still more than a handful of years away from the American Civil War.
 
I'm a fan of an Italian federal constitution, but considering what sort of men are in charge in this TL (Mazzini, Crispi and so on), I find quite difficult to believe that federalism will be established since the beginning. They both supported a strong unitary State, while Cavour, tuscan liberals and Manin, along of course with Cattaneo, supported federalism. Possibly, as a starting point, mild regionalism could be established, and later reinforced into semi-federalism after Mazzini's retirement.

You have to remember that Mazzini, though the 'soul' of the revolt was not the sole writer of the final Constitution. Also in order to unify the various regions of Italy, which joined willingly, rather than being annexd forcefully as in OTL, the writers of the ultimate Italian Constitution would have had to compromise in order fuse the various states together. In the end, much as it always goes in politics, there is a compromise and nobody gets everything they want.
 
The Elusive Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi had not been idle since the end of the First War of Italian Unification. It is true that he had in the weeks following the enforcement of peace been forcibly restrained by provisional government of Italy from continuing the war against Austria. The relationship between the soon to be first President, Mazzini, and the victorious General was highly strained, but in the end Garibaldi retired to his home in Nice.

It had only taken a few months of idleness before Garibaldi began retraining a new army in secret. Forming bands of militia he and his men drilled in small groups all around the country, training for the moment the war with Austria would return and the fate of their nation rested in their hands. As the years began to pass and Italy still had not attacked their formidable northern neighbor, Garibaldi began to agitate in letters to the government and in newspapers over the necessity to attack Austria quickly and seize the Italian lands that were held by the cruel monarch to their north. Still, the government waited.

Garibaldi, disgusted, began to travel Europe, hailed as a celebrity in Britain and France, and held in high regard for his generalship in Prussia, Garibaldi pressed in all these nations for support of his homeland against the vile Austrian oppressors. He returned to Italy in 1856 after two years away from his homeland and once more began to agitate for action. Still, nothing concrete was done. Manin however, met with Garibaldi during a private dinner along with Cavour and several other members of the cabinet. There, the General was taken into the confidence of the government, over the objections of Cavour, and their plans laid out. The army was not yet ready, but soon, within the next few years, Italy would find the ideal time to strike. Garibaldi was not as satisfied as hoped for, but his seemingly ceaseless agitation, which so alarmed Austria, lessened.

Before the year was out, the Pope, still in his self imposed exile in Trieste, excommunicated the government of Mexico and all the backers of the radical liberal government who had begun passing laws curtailing the power of the clergy in that nation. This led directly to a revolt of conservatives and clergy in Pueblo which soon began to spread throughout the nation. Garibaldi, declaring that he would go to “Defend the peoples of Mexico from the tyranny of the papacy” sailed for the Central America with several thousand of his most devoted followers.

Garibaldi arrived too late to prevent the conservative take over of the capital, but he and his followers rallied the liberals near Vera Cruz, Benito Juarez fled from the conservative uprising and established his liberal government-in-exile in the city. As the various states declared for one government or the other it was clear that civil war was unavoidable. Garibaldi, aggressive as ever immediately marched from the port city, eager to find and beat the reactionary army that had tried to topple the legitimate government. Despite the conservatives having the backing of the majority of the Mexican military, Garibaldi’s leadership and the experience of his troops stiffened the resolve of liberal forces, and their leadership proved to be the edge the liberals needed. Conservative forces under General Miguel Miramon were driven back in a series of battles that would later be known as the Zaragosa Campaign, as the two armies ended the month with the liberals in control of the city with the conservative army, having been bloodily beaten during the campaign, digging in between the liberals and the Capital.

In Northern Mexico, the strongest areas of liberal support, a second liberal army besieged Guadalajara, after the conservative army there was weakened to send reinforcements to Miramon in order to stop Garibaldi. A third army, smaller than the other two, seized Oaxaca before the year was out, and after discovering that the conservative forces had been executing officers and captured doctors of the liberal forces, as well as executing civilians whose loyalties were questioned, engaged in a brutal reprisal against conservative and clerical forces in the city and surrounding regions.

By 1858 it was clear that the conservatives were losing ground all over the country. While Garibaldi continually pushed by General Miramon, General Ortega in the north drove the Conservatives under Mejia further south. Realizing they would be besieged in the capital and could not reliably expect any reinforcement or relief from such a situation, Miramon decided to retreat westward, and have Mejia fall back to the southwest, combining their forces. Garibaldi followed the retreating Conservative army closely, engaging in a constant string of bloody skirmishes. After nearly two weeks of constant fighting Garibaldi managed to slip a third of his army around Miramon in a series of forced marches, trapping his opponent’s army in a narrow valley facing a small but heavily fortified position ahead of them and the remaining liberal force behind them. After a day’s long assault on the barricades of Garibaldi’s forward army which more than once threatened to break the liberal lines, the second army caught Miramon’s force between them, falling upon the rear guard with their full weight of numbers, the army simply disintegrated. Miramon and two of his staff were killed trying to escape on horseback while the rest of his staff was captured.

As news of the victory spread throughout Mexico, conservative supporters in areas they still controlled began to flee the country before the advancing liberals could reach them. Mejia’s force, outnumbered and on the run now from an army the pressed on their heels and a second that threatened to trap them as well, surrendered to the liberal forces in exchange for generous terms. Mejia was taken prisoner along with his staff, and was later sent into exile.

The heavy work done, Garibaldi and his remaining men retired to Vera Cruz, leaving the mopping up to the restored liberal government. Garibaldi was given a shower of honors by the Mexican government, newspapers proclaimed him “the Napoleon of his time”, and his name was cursed by supporters of the church and monarchism.

Pope Pius IX faced with another defeat on the world stage issued a decree calling on all true Christians to eliminate the demon in man’s form known as Garibaldi. The man who carried out this order would surely be blessed in heaven for he would do god’s work on earth. Garibaldi, when he learned of the decree, laughed and told his followers that the Pope had finally lost leave of his senses. Unknown to Garibaldi, in Rome, a group of Cardinals, alarmed at what they saw was growing instability in the Pope and a decline of influence of the Catholic Church began to debate on what actions they could or should take.
 
The Mexican adventure is a good yarn, but frankly it's ASB territory.
I might accept Garibaldi sailing for Mexico with a couple of hundred faithfuls, but "a few thousands" is too much to believe.

Such an expedition would require a dozen transport ships, as a minimum (to compare, when Garibaldi landed in Sicily IOTL he had 1,000 followers with him and two ships. Who's going to pay for this adventure (just the ships, victuals, ammunitions would cost a fortune).

Not to mention that it takes at least a couple of weeks from Europe (Italy?) to Vera Cruz, and it is quite unlikely that all the ships would manage to travel in convoy and get to destination at the same time.

When Garibaldi went to Sicily, his landing was protected by British ship, who kept away the Bourbonic warships who were going to attack Garibaldi's ships.
Am I supposed to believe that the British will also support this freeboating adventure? Otherwise a single Mexican gunship would be able to put the word end to Garibaldi and his dreams.

I suggest that you give another look at this nice yarn, and try to make it more credible.

The other thing is Pius IX asking for the head of Garibaldi. Plllleeeease! I can believe an excommunication. I can easily believe ultra-catholics planning an assassination of the general. No more than that, though.
 

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There was basically no Mexican Navy at the time. It had been defeated by the Texan Navy and never built back up, so far as I know.
 
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