Expedition of the Thousand — historical event in 1860, part of the Italian unification (Risorgimento)
Garibaldi's conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with roughly 1,000 volunteers enabled the final unification of Italy into a single state by 1861.
Key Facts
- Initial volunteer force
- ~1,000 men
- Departure point
- Quarto al Mare, near Genoa
- Landing site
- Marsala, Sicily
- Target kingdom
- Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
- Outcome plebiscite
- Naples and Sicily joined Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia
- Kingdom of Italy proclaimed
- 17 March 1861
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled by the Bourbon-Two Sicilies dynasty, remained outside the emerging unified Italian state. Italian nationalist leaders — Mazzini, Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel II, and Cavour — each sought, for differing reasons, to bring southern Italy into a unified nation, while Francesco Crispi used political influence to instigate the expedition.
In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi led approximately 1,000 volunteers sailing from Quarto al Mare near Genoa to land at Marsala, Sicily. The force grew through southern Italian recruits to form the Southern Army, which defeated the Bourbon military in a campaign of several months and conquered the entire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Following the conquest, plebiscites brought Naples and Sicily into the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. This territorial acquisition was the final major step before the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861, completing the core of Italian unification.
Work
Expedition of the Thousand
The expedition became a defining episode of the Risorgimento, inspiring nationalist movements across Europe and cementing Garibaldi's status as a symbol of popular revolutionary struggle for national self-determination.