Compare and contrast the aims and achievements of Mazzini and Garibaldi
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             The unification of Italy came about almost by accident. However, the process was reliant upon the actions of several key figures. Mazzini and Garibaldi were two of these key figures. Although the two men played essentially very different roles in the unification of Italy, they had much in common. During the course of this essay, the similarities and differences in the aims and achievements of Mazzini and Garibaldi will be examined.
             Mazzini was the first man to give a coherent and politically sound basis for Italian unification. After spending time as a member of the Carbonari, a secret society with little consistency in its aims and objectives, Mazzini founded 'Young Italy' (Giovanni Italia). The essential goal of Young Italy was to achieve Italian unification through violent means. However, Mazzini was also a republican and believed that a united Italy must be "a free and equal community of brothers"; essentially it appears that Mazzini envisaged a socialist democratic republic. Mazzini's aims were inexorably linked in his own mind; he believed that Italy should not be unified under a constitutional Monarchy and that a constitutional Monarchy must only be a transitional phase. He believed that, through a process of revolution and education, Italy could be turned into a democratic socialist republic:
             "Education must ever be directed to teach...the necessity of revolution. Revolution...must be so conducted as to render it a means of national education. The character of the revolution must be national...the flag raised, and the aim proposed will be national"
             Although Mazzini's aims of violent revolution to create a unified republic of Italy were made clear to all 60,000 member...