Garibaldi Leaves Rome

The setting

In the revolutions of 1848–49 the pope fled Rome and a republic was proclaimed in the city. A French army sent to restore papal rule besieged it for a month, and as the defences failed Giuseppe Garibaldi gathered his volunteers in St Peter's Square and invited those willing to fight on to follow him out of the city.

Key passage

I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor food; I offer only hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart, and not merely with his lips, follow me.

As reported by his early biographers; the wording varies from one account to another.

What followed

Some four thousand men left with him, but they were hunted by French and Austrian troops, and his wife Anita died during the retreat. Garibaldi went into exile, returning to lead the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, which won Sicily and Naples for the Kingdom of Italy proclaimed the following year.

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