Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) - Italian military leader, revolutionary, politician and writer. National Hero of Italy.

There are many interesting facts in Garibaldi's biography, which we will talk about in this article.

So, before you is a short biography of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Biography of Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was born on July 4, 1807 in the French city of Nice. He was brought up in the family of the captain of a small ship Domenico Garibaldi and his wife Maria Rosa Nicoletta Raimondi, who was a devout Catholic.

Childhood and youth

As a child, Giuseppe learned to read and write with 2 clergymen, as his mother dreamed that in the future her son would become a student at the seminary. However, the child had no desire to associate his life with religion.

Instead, Garibaldi dreamed of becoming a traveler. When he went to school, he did not enjoy his studies. And yet, since he was an inquisitive child, he was fond of the works of various writers, including Dante, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Walter Scott, Byron, Homer and other classics.

In addition, Giuseppe showed a great interest in military history. He loved learning about famous generals and their achievements. He spoke Italian, French, English and Spanish. He also tried to compose his first poems.

As a teenager, Garibaldi served as a cabin boy on merchant ships. Over time, he rose to the rank of captain of the merchant marine. The guy loved the sea and never regretted that he connected his life with the sea element.

Military career and politics

In 1833 Giuseppe joined the Young Italy society. He called on the people to revolt in Genoa, which angered the government. He had to leave the country and hide under an assumed name in Tunisia and then in Marseille.

After 2 years, Garibaldi went by ship to Brazil. During the height of the war in the Republic of Rio Grande, he repeatedly boarded warships. The captain commanded the flotilla of President Bento Gonsalvis and gained immense popularity in the vastness of South America.

In 1842, Giuseppe, along with like-minded people, became a legionnaire of Uruguay, taking an active part in the defense of the state. After the reforms of Pope Pius IX, the commander decided to sail to Rome, believing that Italy needed his support.

In the period 1848-1849. the Italian Revolution raged, followed by the Austro-Italian War. Garibaldi quickly assembled a corps of patriots with whom he intended to march against the Austrians.

The actions of the Catholic clergy forced Giuseppe to reconsider his political views. This led to the fact that he organized a coup in Rome, proclaiming a republican system. He soon became a national hero for Italians.

Finally, in mid-1848, the Pope took power into his own hands, as a result of which Garibaldi had to flee to the North. However, the revolutionary did not abandon the idea of continuing the resistance.

A decade later, the war for the unification of Italy broke out, in which Giuseppe fought with the rank of major general in the troops of the Sardinian islands. Hundreds of invaders were killed under his command. As a result, Milan and Lombardy became part of the Sardinian Kingdom, and Garibaldi was later elected to parliament.

In 1860, at a meeting of parliament, a man refused the post of deputy and the rank of general, explaining that Cavour had made him a foreigner for Rome. Soon he became the dictator of Sicily, which did not want to be part of the country.

An interesting fact is that after being wounded in the battle at Aspromot, Russian surgeon Nikolai Pirogov saved Giuseppe's life. Garibaldi's troops repeatedly tried to occupy Rome, but all these attempts were unsuccessful.

Ultimately, the general was arrested and exiled to the island of Caprera. During his exile, he wrote letters to his associates, and also wrote several works on the theme of the war of liberation. The most popular was the novel Clelia, or the Government of the Priests.

In the process of a military confrontation between the German state and France, Giuseppe was released into the wild, after which he joined the ranks of the army of Napoleon III. Contemporaries argued that Garibaldi fought bravely against the Germans, which became known to high-ranking officials.

An interesting fact is that not only compatriots, but also opponents spoke of Giuseppe with respect. At a meeting of the National Assembly, the French writer Victor Hugo said the following: "... of all the generals who fought on the side of France, he is the only one who has not been defeated."

Garibaldi resigned from the post of deputy, as well as from order to lead the army. Later, he was again offered the deputy chair, but the commander once again refused this offer. In particular, he said that he would look like an "exotic plant" in parliament.

When Giuseppe was given a substantial pension, he refused it too, but later changed his mind, because he was experiencing serious financial difficulties. At the same time, he donated large sums to charity.

Personal life

The first wife of the revolutionary was Anna Maria di Jesús Ribeira, whom he met in Brazil. In this marriage, 2 girls were born - Teresa and Rosa, and 2 boys - Menotti and Riccioti. Anna also took part in the wars against Rome, later dying of malaria.

After that, Garibaldi married Giuseppina Raimondi, but this union was invalidated 19 years later. Having got rid of his wife, he went to Francesca Armosino, adopting a boy and girls born before the wedding.

Giuseppe had an illegitimate daughter, Anna Maria, by Battistina Ravello. She died at the age of 16 from advanced meningitis. Garibaldi's biographers claim that he was in a relationship with the aristocrats Paolina Pepoli and Emma Roberts, as well as the revolutionary Jesse White.

It is curious that the writer Ellis Melena often provided material assistance to the commander, as evidenced by the surviving memoirs. It is reliably known that Giuseppe was a member of the Masonic lodge, where he was a master of the "Great East of Italy".

Death

Shortly before his death, the seriously ill Garibaldi made a triumphant trip to Sicily, which once again proved his fantastic popularity among ordinary Italians.

Giuseppe Garibaldi died on June 2, 1882 at the age of 74. His widow and younger children were given an annual allowance of 10,000 lire by the government.