Germany's Role in Italian Unification

Bismarck and his unification of Germany endeavor actually aided Italian unification more than most other Italians really understand. While Garibaldi managed to liberate southern Italy with his Red Shirts, unifying with the papal states and Rome would have simply been impossible had the French not been involved in the Franco-Prussian war, intentionally brought on by Bismarck. Thus, as much as we owe Cavour and Garibaldi for the unification of Italy, we owe Bismarck just the same, for German unification and Italian unification went hand-in-hand.