ABSTRACT
The apparent failures of the unified state of Italy, following upon the struggle for independence, aroused regretful or bitter comment among contemporaries and ever since have formed a recurrent motif among historians. The achievement of national self-determination by Italy, and particularly the romantic figure of Garibaldi, had captured the imagination of liberal and democratic circles in Europe. Italians, as always too prone to self-criticism, voiced their disillusionment even more than usually sympathetic foreigners. The creation of Italy had not been a mere accident, the fortunate consequence of international diplomatic support, as the moderates tended to stress. The high property requirement for voting rights reduced the social base of the moderates as it excluded many middling groups with appropriate educational qualifications.
