Garibaldi and the Risorgimento

In Our Time: History

12/01/16

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49m

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Italian Risorgimento. According to the historian AJP Taylor, Garibaldi was the only wholly admirable figure in modern history. Born in Nice in 1807, one of Garibaldi's aims in life was the unification of Italy and, in large part thanks to him, Italy was indeed united substantially in 1861 and entirely in 1870. With his distinctive red shirt and poncho, he was a hero of Romantic revolutionaries around the world. His fame was secured when, with a thousand soldiers, he invaded Sicily and toppled the monarchy in the Italian south. The Risorgimento was soon almost complete.

This topic is the one chosen from over 750 different ideas suggested by listeners in October, for our yearly Listener Week.

With

Lucy Riall Professor of Comparative History of Europe at the European University Institute and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London

Eugenio Biagini Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Cambridge

and

David Laven Associate Professor of History at the University of Nottingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Previous Episode

Baltic Crusades

November 24, 2016

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46m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Baltic Crusades, the name given to a series of overlapping attempts to convert the pagans of North East Europe to Christianity at the point of the sword. From the 12th Century, Papal Bulls endorsed those who fought on the side of the Church, the best known now being the Teutonic Order which, thwarted in Jerusalem, founded a state on the edge of the Baltic, in Prussia. Some of the peoples in the region disappeared, either killed or assimilated, and the consequences for European history were profound.

With

Aleks Pluskowski Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading

Nora Berend Fellow of St Catharine's College and Reader in European History at the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge

and

Martin Palmer Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Next Episode

Harriet Martineau

December 8, 2016

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51m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Harriet Martineau who, from a non-conformist background in Norwich, became one of the best known writers in the C19th. She had a wide range of interests and used a new, sociological method to observe the world around her, from religion in Egypt to slavery in America and the rights of women everywhere. She popularised writing about economics for those outside the elite and, for her own popularity, was invited to the coronation of Queen Victoria, one of her readers.

With

Valerie Sanders Professor of English at the University of Hull

Karen O'Brien Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford

And

Ella Dzelzainis Lecturer in 19th Century Literature at Newcastle University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.