Armies of the Italian Risorgimento

The Italian Risorgimento was the political process that led to the unification of the Italian peninsula into a single kingdom after three bloody wars fought between Piedmont and Austria. It lasted for more than two decades (1848-1870) and was one of the key moments in the history of Europe. In this book, all the Italian military contingents taking part to the campaigns of 1848-1870 will be taken into consideration and thus the armies of the following states will be covered: Piedmont, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Papal States, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Duchy of Modena, and Duchy of Parma. The analysis will not focus only on the regular troops, but also on the armies of the short-lived “Revolutionary States” and on the many volunteer corps that came from abroad in order to fight for the Italian cause. The whole book will be illustrated with a large amount of color plates, showing the uniforms of iconic military units like Piedmontese Bersaglieri and Papal Zouaves.