Open Access
A new military history of the Italian Risorgimento and anti-Risorgimento : the case of "transnational soldiers"
License
Access Rights
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
1353-2944; 1469-9877
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
Modern Italy, 2014, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 21-39
Cite
GÖHDE, Ferdinand Nicolas, A new military history of the Italian Risorgimento and anti-Risorgimento : the case of ‘transnational soldiers’, Modern Italy, 2014, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 21-39 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/34200
Abstract
The article discusses new studies of foreign soldiers in the Italian armed groups of the (Anti-)Risorgimento against the background of recent scholarship on ‘transnational soldiers’, which acknowledges the complexities of foreigners' initial motives for enlistment and of the transnational processes inside the single armies. The article suggests that from the mundane structures of military life to the perceptions of the rank-and-file, many aspects of the soldiering experience in the multinational armed groups on all sides of the Risorgimento actually advanced rather than obviated national boundaries. This paper further demonstrates that the military cultures of the nationalists and the anti-unity forces were much more porous and mutually constitutive than is often recognised. The histories of the ‘transnational soldiers’ in the armed groups of the Risorgimento and Anti-Risorgimento are crucial for a possibly new, comparative history of the armed groups of the (Anti-)Risorigmento. This paper explores approaches of the culturally revived ‘new military history’ and suggests that it provides much still unrealised potential for Risorgimento historiography.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
Published online : 21 February 2014