Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian general and nationalist. A republican, he contributed to the Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He is considered one of the greatest generals of modern times and one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland" along with Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Giuseppe Mazzini.
Garibaldi is also known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe. He commanded and fought in many military campaigns that led eventually to the Italian unification. In 1848, the provisional government of Milan made Garibaldi a general, and in 1849, the Minister of War promoted him to General of the Roman Republic to lead the Expedition of the Thousand on behalf and with the consent of Victor Emmanuel II. His last military campaign took place during the Franco-Prussian War, as commander of the Army of the Vosges.
Garibaldi was very popular in Italy and abroad, aided by exceptional international media coverage at the time. Many great intellectuals of the time, such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and George Sand, showered him with admiration. The United Kingdom and the United States helped him a great deal, offering him financial and military support in difficult circumstances. In the popular telling of his story, he is associated with the red shirts that his volunteers, the Garibaldini, wore in lieu of a uniform.
“Here we either make Italy, or we die.”
Qui si fa l'Italia o si muore.
To his lieutenant Nino Bixio at the Battle of Calatafimi, 15 May 1860. Quoted in Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Storia dei Mille, ch. Dopo la vittoria.
Il giorno in cui i contadini saranno educati nel vero, i tiranni e gli schiavi saranno impossibili sulla terra.
Alla Società del Tiro in Ganzo, Caprera, 29 August 1864, in Scritti politici e militari, ricordi e pensieri inediti, p. 356.
