FRQ

2. Contrast Mazzini and Garibaldi's revolutionary views with those of revolutionaries in France.


French - people were very poor. revolting for change in way government was being run.  revolted against the wealthy and the clergy.

Italy - Mazzini and Garibaldi's followers were in southern Italy.  This area was also very poor.  People wanted equality.



The French Revolution was an uprising of the impoverished people against the wealthy upper class and clergy in France, who ran the government.  Mazzini and Garibaldi's revolution was for a democratic government, where all people were represented equally and there was universal male suffrage.  Both groups were made up of poor, lower-class people and both wanted universal male suffrage; however, Mazzini and Garibaldi were uprising against a people from a geographic area for unification, rather than going against one specific person for a new government.

In France, the people were unified under one king.  The French Revolution took place because the people were tired of being oppressed by their government.  The people were led by a monarch,who did his best to make life prosperous for the wealthy, but did nothing for the poor. The French became violent and angry, rallying outside the gates of castles and seizing buildings where weapons and ammunition were stored. They wanted their voices to be heard in government, so that a new democratic government could be created.  

Oppositely, the Italian revolutionaries of the south, were not unified with Northern Italy.  Mazzini and Garibaldi represented these people of Southern Italy.  Southern Italy was agricultural and the people who lived there were often poor farmers.  Northern Italy, however, was very wealthy because there were many natural resources in the north that could be used to make goods.  The followers of Mazzini and Garibaldi wanted to become unified with the North, but only if there could be universal male suffrage and if they could also receive some of the wealth that Northern Italy had.

The revolutionaries in French succeeded in their aspirations to get rid of their monarch and create a more democratic government, while Mazzini and Garibaldi did not.  Mazzini and Garibaldi's revolutions failed because they did not have much power against the North who was allied with France and could easily overcome them.  Their plans of becoming unified with Northern Italy did eventually occur, but their living situation and representation did not improve much.  To this day, Southern Italy is still poor in comparison to the North.  Universal male suffrage was accomplished, but the people of the north, being wealthier and well-educated, still held most of the power.

In conclusion, both the French revolutionaries and Mazzini and Garibaldi believed in universal suffrage for the people, but Mazzini and Garibaldi wanted unification between Northern and Southern Italy, unlike France who wanted to rid France of it's monarch.  France did not need to be unified because it already was, rather it needed to remove itself from it's government.