Explain the process of Unification of Italy. OR What was the role of Giuseppe Mazzini in the Unification of Italy?

1. During the middle of the 19th century, Italy was divided into seven states:
   • Sardinia-Piedmont, ruled by an Italian princely house.
   • The North was under Austrian Habsburgs.
   • The centre was ruled by the Pope.
   • The Southern regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain.
     
2. During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a step for a united Italian Republic. He formed a secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.
   
3. The Chief Minister, Count Cavour, who led the movement to unify the regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat. Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France engineered by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859, resulted in the merger of the North with the Italian princely states.
   
4. A large number of armed volunteers under Giuseppe Garibaldi joined this movement. In 1860 they marched into South Italy, and with the support of the local peasants, drove out the Spanish rulers.
   
5. In 1961, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed the king of United Italy.