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Garibaldi #1
Garibaldi's Defence of the Roman Republic, 1848-9
First published in 1907, this volume details Garibaldi's service and campaigns in the Italian revolutions of 1849-9, from the formation of Garibaldi's legion in the wake of the political unrest that led to the creation of the Roman Republic through his defense of the city of Rome against French troops to Garibaldi's retreat and eventual exile. This rare volume of little-known history will thrill military buffs and students of 19th century Europe alike.
342 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1907
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108 people want to read
About the author
George Macaulay Trevelyan
194 books41 followersGeorge Macaulay Trevelyan, OM, CBE, FRS, FBA, was an English historian. Trevelyan was the third son of Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, and great-nephew of Thomas Babington Macaulay, whose staunch liberal Whig principles he espoused in accessible works of literate narrative avoiding a consciously dispassionate analysis, that became old-fashioned during his long and productive career. Contemporary E. H. Carr considered Trevelyan to be one of the last historians of the Whig tradition.
Many of his writings promoted the Whig Party, an important aspect of British politics from the 1600s to the mid-1800s, and of its successor, the Liberal Party. Whigs and Liberals believed the common people had a more positive effect on history than did royalty and that democratic government would bring about steady social progress.
Trevelyan's history is engaged and partisan. Of his Garibaldi trilogy, "reeking with bias", he remarked in his essay "Bias in History", "Without bias, I should never have written them at all. For I was moved to write them by a poetical sympathy with the passions of the Italian patriots of the period, which I retrospectively shared."
Many of his writings promoted the Whig Party, an important aspect of British politics from the 1600s to the mid-1800s, and of its successor, the Liberal Party. Whigs and Liberals believed the common people had a more positive effect on history than did royalty and that democratic government would bring about steady social progress.
Trevelyan's history is engaged and partisan. Of his Garibaldi trilogy, "reeking with bias", he remarked in his essay "Bias in History", "Without bias, I should never have written them at all. For I was moved to write them by a poetical sympathy with the passions of the Italian patriots of the period, which I retrospectively shared."
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 27, 2007
If you don't know who Giuseppe Garibaldi is, it is time to learn. A founder of modern Italy, Garibaldi led one of the most heroic lives of all time. I don't know how Hollywood has not made a movie of his life. If I ever write a screenplay (ha!), it will be about Garibaldi. William Wallace has nothing on this man.
This book is the first volume of a trilogy about the man's life, so it does not end well. The author tracks Garibaldi's life from boyhood through his years in exile. Banished from the pre-Risorgimento Italian states, Garibaldi spread revolution throughout South America. There, he also met the lovely Anita who would become his wife and co-revolutionary. Their love story is too good for fiction.
The bulk of the book is about Garibaldi's daring defense of the Roman Republic. Hopelessly outnumbered, Garialdi's men are eventually slaughtered and the Republic overrun. But Garibaldi digs in to the bitter end and miraculously escapes after all hope is truly lost.
So the book mostly chronicles Garibaldi's one great failure, but the effort would shape the man who would eventually unite the Italian Peninsula in the face of similarly hopeless odds. A remarkable man. Ours is not the only country established by great men. Americans would do well to learn about this great man of Europe who is tragically left out of our history books. Forget about the cruel communist assassin Che Guevara. Garibaldi is a real hero.
No fifth star, because I'm guessing there is a better one-volume set out there. This one gets a little bogged down in military strategy and tactics too.
I would give five stars to Garibaldi's life and take one off for the book. Still a worthwhile read.
This book is the first volume of a trilogy about the man's life, so it does not end well. The author tracks Garibaldi's life from boyhood through his years in exile. Banished from the pre-Risorgimento Italian states, Garibaldi spread revolution throughout South America. There, he also met the lovely Anita who would become his wife and co-revolutionary. Their love story is too good for fiction.
The bulk of the book is about Garibaldi's daring defense of the Roman Republic. Hopelessly outnumbered, Garialdi's men are eventually slaughtered and the Republic overrun. But Garibaldi digs in to the bitter end and miraculously escapes after all hope is truly lost.
So the book mostly chronicles Garibaldi's one great failure, but the effort would shape the man who would eventually unite the Italian Peninsula in the face of similarly hopeless odds. A remarkable man. Ours is not the only country established by great men. Americans would do well to learn about this great man of Europe who is tragically left out of our history books. Forget about the cruel communist assassin Che Guevara. Garibaldi is a real hero.
No fifth star, because I'm guessing there is a better one-volume set out there. This one gets a little bogged down in military strategy and tactics too.
I would give five stars to Garibaldi's life and take one off for the book. Still a worthwhile read.
October 21, 2015
Garibaldi's Defense of the Roman Republic 1848 to 1849, which is the first of three volumes of George Macaulay Trevelyan's biography of Garibaldi, is an absolute joy to read and a wonderful piece of historical writing. Published in 1907, it is clearly a work that belongs to another age but it has not in any way been superseded and may never be. Trevelyan's great thesis is that Garibaldi transformed the art of revolutionary warfare into poetry. Through the brilliance of his writing, Trevelyan ultimately wins the reader over to this heady thesis.
The beauty of Trevelyan's prose should not obscure the fact, that his biography of Garibaldi is still an outstanding work of scholarship. To write a quality of biography of Garibaldi requires the ability to read handwritten French, Italian and German which few graduate students in Anglo-Saxon countries are able to do. Trevelyan clearly reviewed very carefully all the archival material required by the project. Moreover, he interviewed many of the participants. Another scholar may someday appear who is able to form a different interpretation of Garibaldi's life, but it is unlikely that there will ever be another who will know the facts, the society and the individuals involved as well as Trevelyan.
Garibaldi's Defense of the Roman Republic 1848 to 1849 covers the life of Garibaldi up until the fall of the Roman Republic in 1849. Trevelyan covers not only Garibaldi's youth but his extraordinary career as a revolutionary in South America. It is Trevelyan's view that it was Garibaldi's South America experience which defined the man. Garibaldi was an extraordinary revolutionary warrior but never a man of government or administration.
The literary high-point of the volume comes in the closing chapters which recount the death of Garibaldi's wife Anita Garibaldi (also described in Elisabeth Barrett Browning's Casa Guidi Windows) as she accompanies him on his flight from Rome following the recapture of the city by the armies of the Pope's allies at the end of the first war of Italian Independence.
Garibaldi's Defense of the Roman Republic 1848 to 1849 is then a tale about a failure and enormous personal loss from which Garibaldi would re-emerge 10 years later as an even greater leader. Garibaldi learned from every error he made during his defence of the short-lived Roman Republic. When the Second Italian War of Independence broke out ten years later, Garibaldi was ability to outwit and out manoeuvre his foes at almost every turn. No one will be able to resist the temptation to read the second volume of the trilogy, Garibaldi and the Thousand, after having finished this admirable first volume, Garibaldi's Defense of the Roman Republic 1848 to 1849.
The beauty of Trevelyan's prose should not obscure the fact, that his biography of Garibaldi is still an outstanding work of scholarship. To write a quality of biography of Garibaldi requires the ability to read handwritten French, Italian and German which few graduate students in Anglo-Saxon countries are able to do. Trevelyan clearly reviewed very carefully all the archival material required by the project. Moreover, he interviewed many of the participants. Another scholar may someday appear who is able to form a different interpretation of Garibaldi's life, but it is unlikely that there will ever be another who will know the facts, the society and the individuals involved as well as Trevelyan.
Garibaldi's Defense of the Roman Republic 1848 to 1849 covers the life of Garibaldi up until the fall of the Roman Republic in 1849. Trevelyan covers not only Garibaldi's youth but his extraordinary career as a revolutionary in South America. It is Trevelyan's view that it was Garibaldi's South America experience which defined the man. Garibaldi was an extraordinary revolutionary warrior but never a man of government or administration.
The literary high-point of the volume comes in the closing chapters which recount the death of Garibaldi's wife Anita Garibaldi (also described in Elisabeth Barrett Browning's Casa Guidi Windows) as she accompanies him on his flight from Rome following the recapture of the city by the armies of the Pope's allies at the end of the first war of Italian Independence.
Garibaldi's Defense of the Roman Republic 1848 to 1849 is then a tale about a failure and enormous personal loss from which Garibaldi would re-emerge 10 years later as an even greater leader. Garibaldi learned from every error he made during his defence of the short-lived Roman Republic. When the Second Italian War of Independence broke out ten years later, Garibaldi was ability to outwit and out manoeuvre his foes at almost every turn. No one will be able to resist the temptation to read the second volume of the trilogy, Garibaldi and the Thousand, after having finished this admirable first volume, Garibaldi's Defense of the Roman Republic 1848 to 1849.
November 4, 2022
Very good for getting the broad outlines of historical events I was previously unfamiliar with, however one is left wanting to know much, much more about the man who was so charismatic and inspiring that, ten years following his brief visit to a tiny village in the Italian countryside, the people of that village would remember him and eagerly take up arms for him in his cause, with them only being few of the many who did so.
June 20, 2009
Trevelyan was notoriously biased in his writing style and Garibaldi is proof of that. A fine author, but not one to quote in a university dissertation - unless, of course, you are discussing historiography.
This trilogy was written at the watershed of the great narrative histories of Macauly, Froude, Lecky and Seeley. Trevelyan also belongs to the 'gentlemen scholar' era of historians. In that sense it is fascinating. But is it really a fine example of history writing? Its more like the pop history books of our day.
Despite this, the flaws add to the book so long as you don't consider it to be written with proper academic standards. Trevelyan wrote the trilogy for the average intelligent layman, and by doing this provides an exciting and lucid account of one of histories greatest heroes.
This trilogy was written at the watershed of the great narrative histories of Macauly, Froude, Lecky and Seeley. Trevelyan also belongs to the 'gentlemen scholar' era of historians. In that sense it is fascinating. But is it really a fine example of history writing? Its more like the pop history books of our day.
Despite this, the flaws add to the book so long as you don't consider it to be written with proper academic standards. Trevelyan wrote the trilogy for the average intelligent layman, and by doing this provides an exciting and lucid account of one of histories greatest heroes.
December 11, 2008
First volume of a biography of Garibaldi. I didn't find this dated at all -- actually really well written and engaging, without a the usual modern, academic jargon to wade through. And stirring stuff, really. A good little section on a speech of Garibaldi's that Churchill later appropriated.
June 30, 2019
Geweldig gedatailleerd met een rijke beschrijving van alle figuren rond Garibaldi.
Vooral de beschrijvingen van de strijd in Rome geven het gevoel erbij te zijn.
Het benadrukt de hopeloosheid van de situatie en tegelijkertijd onderbouwt het waarom ze toch door bleven gaan.
Viva l'Italia!
Vooral de beschrijvingen van de strijd in Rome geven het gevoel erbij te zijn.
Het benadrukt de hopeloosheid van de situatie en tegelijkertijd onderbouwt het waarom ze toch door bleven gaan.
Viva l'Italia!
March 21, 2022
Historian of the old school. Never knew the details of this battle.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews