Describe the stages of Italian Unification.

Like Germany too, Italy had a pretty long history of political fragmentation. Before unification, Italy was divided into seven states out of which only the Sardinia - Piedmont province was under the Italian princely house. The rest ie, the Northern states, Central states and Southern states were under the Austrian Habsburg Empire, Pope and Spanish Bourbon family of kings respectively. The complete process of Italian unification began right in the 1830s when Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian Revolutionary, built a coherent programme visualizing his dream of the Unified Italian Republic. However, failed revolutions in 1831 and 1848 now meant that the mantle of Italian unification now fell upon the crown of King Victor Emanual II, the ruler of Sardinia Piedmont province. Then, the prosperous middle class elite in the province believed that Unification would help establish political dominance and possible economic development. Thus, Count Camillo de' Cavour was declared the leader of the unification movement who was just like any other prosperous member of middle class elite yet, a tactful diplomatic politician. Using a tactful diplomatic alliance with France engineered by Cavour, they defeated the Austrian forces in 1859. Just a few months later, Giuseppe Garibaldi and his popular "Red Shirts" (Expendition of 300, 000) joined the fray. They marched to Southern Italy and successfully mobilised popular support among peasants to drive off the Spanish forces in 1860. Finally, in 1861, King Victor Emanuel II was declared king of United Italy and Rome, its capital.