Ships, Guns and Money: The Logistics of Revolution and Garibaldi’s Campaign of 1860

Abstract

When Giuseppe Garibaldi set sail for Sicily on the campaign that led to the unification of Italy in 1860, he gave a group of exiled political radicals living in the port city of Genoa the task of procuring weapons, equipment and reinforcements for his expedition. These exiled veterans of the 1848 revolutions quickly developed a fluid yet highly integrated fundraising and procurement organization that provided Garibaldi with the means for success. To do this, they leveraged decades of experience as clandestine transnational organizers, but also relied on the business and professional expertise and contacts they had accrued during a commercial and industrial boom in Genoa in the 1850s. Crucially, they took advantage of logistical innovations like steam travel to concentrate people and equipment where and when they needed them and guarantee a positive outcome for their revolution. They also successfully negotiated with trans-imperial power brokers and navigated jurisdictional gaps in the waters of the Mediterranean. These former 48ers used their experiences as exiles and businessmen to challenge the conservative status quo of the 1850s and force the creation of a united Italy. A focus on the material underpinning of their success restores their role in transforming nineteenth-century Europe.