WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.560 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. You know, there 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.160 is a specific spot in Rome that I always tell 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:08.439 people they have to visit. Not for the beauty 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:10.439 necessarily, but just for the sheer overwhelming 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:12.619 scale of it. You're talking about the Altateo 00:00:12.619 --> 00:00:15.179 del Patria. I am. You stand in the middle of 00:00:15.179 --> 00:00:17.559 Piazza Venezia, you look up, and your vision 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:20.079 is just totally eclipsed by this blindingly white 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:21.960 mountain of marble. They call it the wedding 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:24.579 cake or the typewriter. It has a lot of nicknames 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:28.070 and not all of them are flattering. It's aggressive 00:00:28.070 --> 00:00:30.149 architecture. It is aggressive. It screams at 00:00:30.149 --> 00:00:33.329 you. But the focal point of that massive structure 00:00:33.329 --> 00:00:36.869 is the guy on the horse, Victor Emmanuel II. 00:00:37.609 --> 00:00:39.869 And the inscription right there says, Padre della 00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:43.070 Patria, father of the fatherland. And if you 00:00:43.070 --> 00:00:44.590 just look at the statue, you think, okay, this 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:47.090 is the Italian George Washington. This is the 00:00:47.090 --> 00:00:49.630 stoic hero who stitched a fractured peninsula 00:00:49.630 --> 00:00:51.929 together into a nation for the first time since, 00:00:51.950 --> 00:00:54.159 what, the Roman Empire? That is the billboard 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:56.359 version. It is the billboard version. And it's 00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:57.960 the version that was drilled into generations 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:00.979 of Italian schoolchildren. But then, you know, 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:03.479 you actually dig into the diplomatic cables from 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:06.299 the 1860s. Right. Specifically, the archives 00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:08.579 from the British Foreign Office. And you meet 00:01:08.579 --> 00:01:10.879 a completely different human being. And that's 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:12.480 what really shocked me in the prep for this. 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:15.060 I was reading these reports from Lord Clarendon, 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:17.420 the British foreign secretary. Yes. He visits 00:01:17.420 --> 00:01:21.459 Florence in 1867, meets the political elite and 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:23.959 writes back to London. And he isn't describing 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:27.579 a hero. He's describing a liability. To put it 00:01:27.579 --> 00:01:30.519 mildly. He calls Victor Emmanuel an imbecile, 00:01:30.620 --> 00:01:34.239 a dishonest man who lies to everyone. And this 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:36.799 was the kicker, someone who is universally seen 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:39.680 as likely to ruin the dynasty. It is a massive, 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:41.739 massive disconnect. You have the father of the 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:43.920 nation on one hand. And a dishonest imbecile 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.459 on the other. And honestly, the goal of this 00:01:46.459 --> 00:01:48.359 deep dive isn't to figure out which one is true, 00:01:48.459 --> 00:01:51.200 because, spoiler alert, they both are in a way, 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:54.299 but to understand how a rough, hunting -obsessed, 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:57.739 skirt -chasing king managed to survive long enough 00:01:57.739 --> 00:02:01.319 to become a legend. That is the key word. Survival. 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:04.359 Because looking at a starting point, he shouldn't 00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:06.319 have lasted a week. No, the odds were terrible. 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.139 To understand Victor Emmanuel, you have to understand 00:02:09.139 --> 00:02:12.139 the disaster he inherited. He wasn't born into 00:02:12.139 --> 00:02:14.680 a unified Italy. He was born into the House of 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.740 Savoy, ruling the Kingdom of Sardinia. Right, 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:19.599 which is often called Piedmont Sardinia. Exactly. 00:02:19.819 --> 00:02:23.259 And in 1849, his father, King Charles Albert, 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:26.819 makes a catastrophic mistake. He decides to fight 00:02:26.819 --> 00:02:29.439 the Austrian Empire to liberate northern Italy, 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:32.000 and he gets absolutely crushed at the Battle 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:34.840 of Novara. And this isn't just a lost battle, 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:37.360 right? This is like a regime ending defeat. Oh, 00:02:37.379 --> 00:02:40.360 totally. The humiliation is so absolute that 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:42.900 Charles Albert feels he literally cannot look 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:45.020 his subjects in the eye. He abdicates on the 00:02:45.020 --> 00:02:47.699 spot. Just quits. Quits. He flees to Portugal 00:02:47.699 --> 00:02:50.919 and dies soon after. So Victor Emmanuel inherits 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.199 the crown in a tent on a battlefield with the 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.379 enemy army marching toward his capital. It's 00:02:55.379 --> 00:02:57.280 like about a rough first day at the office. I 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:00.039 mean, the treasury is empty, the army is shattered, 00:03:00.219 --> 00:03:04.159 and the Austrians are dictating terms. He becomes 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:08.199 king on March 23rd, 1849. His very first act 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:10.879 is to sit down with Field Marshal Radetzky, the 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:13.180 Austrian commander. The guy who just destroyed 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:16.219 his father. The very same guy. And he has to 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:18.860 basically beg for an armistice. And he actually 00:03:18.860 --> 00:03:21.819 pulls it off. He does. He negotiates the armistice 00:03:21.819 --> 00:03:24.580 of Vignale. And this is where we see the first 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:28.000 glimpse of his style. He manages to get relatively 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.719 favorable terms. You know, he keeps his territory 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:33.800 intact. Okay, so that's a small win. It is. But 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.659 the catch is he has to go back to Turin and sell 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:38.840 this peace treaty to his own people. And they 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:41.180 are not buying it. Why not? Because the politicians 00:03:41.180 --> 00:03:43.159 in Piedmont wanted to keep fighting. The Chamber 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:46.590 of Deputies, the parliament. refused to ratify 00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:48.169 the treaty. They thought it was dishonorable. 00:03:48.389 --> 00:03:50.189 They were sort of living in this fantasy world 00:03:50.189 --> 00:03:52.430 where they could still beat Austria. OK. Now, 00:03:52.509 --> 00:03:54.990 Victor Emmanuel is a young king. He's a soldier. 00:03:55.069 --> 00:03:56.909 And he looks at this parliamentary deadlock and 00:03:56.909 --> 00:03:58.969 thinks, I don't have time for this. So what does 00:03:58.969 --> 00:04:02.110 he do? Does he try to persuade them? He bulldozes 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:04.930 them. He fires his prime minister and brings 00:04:04.930 --> 00:04:08.439 in a new guy, Massimo de Selio. Then he issues 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:10.740 the proclamation of Montgomery. Which is what? 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:13.500 He dissolves the parliament and forces new elections. 00:04:14.460 --> 00:04:17.079 Effectively, he tells the voters, send me a parliament 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:19.540 that will sign this treaty or I'm going to shut 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:22.360 this whole democratic experiment down. Wow. That 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:24.420 sounds, well, it sounds like a threat. It was 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:26.680 a threat. And it worked. The voters got scared 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:28.699 and elected a more moderate chamber that signed 00:04:28.699 --> 00:04:31.769 the peace. But it shows you right away. He wasn't 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:35.149 a soft touch. He was willing to strong arm the 00:04:35.149 --> 00:04:38.069 democratic institutions when he felt it was necessary 00:04:38.069 --> 00:04:40.689 for survival. And speaking of strong arming, 00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:43.750 we have to talk about Genoa because the outline 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:47.110 mentions a revolt there in 1849 and the king's 00:04:47.110 --> 00:04:51.170 reaction is intense. This is crucial for understanding 00:04:51.170 --> 00:04:53.370 his character. See, Genoa wasn't happy about 00:04:53.370 --> 00:04:54.850 being part of the kingdom of Sardinia in the 00:04:54.850 --> 00:04:56.329 first place. Right, they were historically a 00:04:56.329 --> 00:04:59.500 republic. Exactly. They resented the Savoy monarchy. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:01.899 When they heard about the defeat against Austria, 00:05:02.019 --> 00:05:04.300 they didn't rally around the king. They revolted. 00:05:04.300 --> 00:05:06.600 They kicked out the royal garrison and declared 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.379 a provisional government. So his own subjects 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:12.519 are seizing the moment to break away while he's 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:14.639 dealing with the Austrians. Precisely. And this 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:17.439 is where the father of the fatherland mask slips 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:20.279 completely. He sends the army to Genoa, not to 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:23.040 negotiate, but to crush the city. He orders a 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:25.300 bombardment. A bombardment of his own city. Yes. 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:28.160 And in a private letter from this time, he writes 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.920 a line that historians still wince at. He refers 00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:33.879 to the rebels, his own subjects, as a vile and 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:37.439 infected race of Cannae. Cannae meaning scoundrels. 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:40.790 Scoundrels rabble dogs. It captures his mindset 00:05:40.790 --> 00:05:43.689 perfectly. He wasn't a Democrat. He was an old 00:05:43.689 --> 00:05:46.410 school authoritarian soldier. He viewed disorder 00:05:46.410 --> 00:05:48.910 as a disease that needed to be cauterized. Okay, 00:05:48.970 --> 00:05:51.750 so I'm confused. We have a king who bullies parliament, 00:05:51.970 --> 00:05:54.709 bombs his own citizens, and calls them a vile 00:05:54.709 --> 00:05:57.850 race. How on earth does this guy end up with 00:05:57.850 --> 00:06:00.529 a reputation as a liberal hero? That pivot makes 00:06:00.529 --> 00:06:04.149 no sense. That is the accidental genius of Victor 00:06:04.149 --> 00:06:07.600 Emmanuel II. He hated the disorder, but, and 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.639 this is the big but, he kept the rule book, the 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:13.540 Statuto Albertino, the constitution his father 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:15.959 had granted. He didn't tear it up. He didn't. 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:19.240 And you have to look at the context of 1849 Europe. 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.680 The revolutions had failed. Every other monarch, 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:25.220 the pope, the king of Naples, the grand duke 00:06:25.220 --> 00:06:27.899 of Tuscany, they were all tearing up their constitutions, 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.100 arresting liberals and going back to absolute 00:06:31.100 --> 00:06:33.240 rule. So he was the only one who didn't. He was 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:35.439 the last man standing, maybe out of honor to 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:37.579 his father, maybe because he realized it was 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:40.100 a useful pressure valve. But by simply not tearing 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:43.100 it up, he unintentionally turned Piedmont into 00:06:43.100 --> 00:06:46.149 a sanctuary. It became the only safe space in 00:06:46.149 --> 00:06:48.829 Italy. I see. So if you were a poet, a journalist, 00:06:48.949 --> 00:06:51.430 or a radical thinker fling from Naples or Rome, 00:06:51.550 --> 00:06:54.389 you went to Turin. Exactly. You went to Piedmont 00:06:54.389 --> 00:06:55.949 because it was the only place you wouldn't be 00:06:55.949 --> 00:06:58.490 thrown in a dungeon for speaking your mind. So 00:06:58.490 --> 00:07:00.790 even though the king personally was a rough authoritarian, 00:07:01.250 --> 00:07:04.910 structurally, his kingdom became the beacon of 00:07:04.910 --> 00:07:07.329 liberty. And he attracted the best and brightest 00:07:07.329 --> 00:07:10.610 minds of the generation. He did. Which brings 00:07:10.610 --> 00:07:12.850 us to the most important partnership of his life. 00:07:13.339 --> 00:07:16.139 The man who would become the brain to Victor 00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:19.920 Emmanuel's brawn. Enter Count Cavour. Camillo 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.759 Benso. Indeed. The outline describes them as 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:25.079 partners, but everything I read suggests they 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:26.819 couldn't stand being in the same room. Partners 00:07:26.819 --> 00:07:29.759 is a very polite diplomatic term. They were oil 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:32.579 and fire. You have to visualize Cavour. He's 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:35.259 this short, bespectacled, pot -bellied intellectual. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:38.120 He speaks French better than Italian. He loves 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:41.000 banking. He loves railroads. He reads The Economist. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.779 He's a modern European technocrat. Okay, I have 00:07:43.779 --> 00:07:46.680 that picture. And the king. The king is distinct. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.800 He's huge with this massive handlebar mustache 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:52.480 that he waxed upward. He eats like a peasant, 00:07:52.579 --> 00:07:55.540 literally mountains of pasta and beans. He speaks 00:07:55.540 --> 00:07:58.279 in a coarse Piedmontese dialect and he hates, 00:07:58.420 --> 00:08:00.939 absolutely hates being indoors. So not a fan 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:03.040 of long meetings. If he wasn't shooting a wild 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:05.500 boar or chasing a mistress, he was bored out 00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:08.300 of his mind. So Cavour is trying to explain complex 00:08:08.300 --> 00:08:11.699 macroeconomic reforms or diplomatic nuance. And 00:08:11.699 --> 00:08:13.639 the king is just checking his watch to go hunting. 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.050 It was worse than that. Cavour would treat the 00:08:16.050 --> 00:08:18.670 king like a junior employee. There's a famous 00:08:18.670 --> 00:08:21.370 anecdote where Cavour was droning on about policy 00:08:21.370 --> 00:08:23.389 and the king trying to interject with an opinion. 00:08:24.110 --> 00:08:27.230 Cavour just glared at him and said, sir, I am 00:08:27.230 --> 00:08:29.009 the one who knows about these things. He said 00:08:29.009 --> 00:08:31.009 that to the king. I'm surprised the king didn't 00:08:31.009 --> 00:08:34.009 have him arrested. Oh, he wanted to. He called 00:08:34.009 --> 00:08:37.269 Cavour a tyrant in private. He complained that 00:08:37.269 --> 00:08:39.250 Cavour made him feel like a prisoner in his own 00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:41.629 palace. So why keep him around? Because here 00:08:41.629 --> 00:08:45.179 is the insight. The king tolerated it. He recognized 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:47.200 that Cavour was the smartest man in the room. 00:08:47.340 --> 00:08:49.879 That is a rare quality in a monarch, putting 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:51.899 your ego aside because you know you need the 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:53.980 other guy's brain to survive. And together they 00:08:53.980 --> 00:08:56.019 hatched one of the wildest schemes in diplomatic 00:08:56.019 --> 00:08:59.679 history, the Crimean War. This is Networking 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:03.559 101, but with artillery. It's 1855. Britain and 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:05.980 France are fighting Russia in the Crimea, modern 00:09:05.980 --> 00:09:08.340 -day Ukraine. I looked at the map, but I'm still 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:11.639 confused. Piedmont is a small state near France. 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:15.480 They have zero beef with Russia. Why on earth 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:18.019 do they send 15 ,000 men to die in the mud in 00:09:18.019 --> 00:09:21.120 Sevastopol? It's a great question. And Cavour 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:23.559 was actually reluctant. He knew it was expensive 00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:27.399 and dangerous. Why poke the Russian bear? But 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:30.000 the king... He was for it. The king was all in. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:32.700 He wanted glory. He wanted to prove that the 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:35.179 Italian army wasn't a joke after the defeat in 00:09:35.179 --> 00:09:37.980 1849. But surely there was a strategy beyond 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:40.639 just glory. Yes, and this is where the genius 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:43.370 comes in. Cavour eventually realized that if 00:09:43.370 --> 00:09:45.870 they sent troops, they were buying an admission 00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:48.429 ticket. An admission ticket to what? To the big 00:09:48.429 --> 00:09:51.129 kids table. If you shed blood alongside Britain 00:09:51.129 --> 00:09:54.090 and France, they owe you. Or at least they have 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:57.080 to let you speak. After the war at the Paris 00:09:57.080 --> 00:10:00.360 Peace Conference in 1856, little Piedmont gets 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:02.919 a seat right next to the great powers. And Cavour 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:05.559 uses that moment to complain about Austria. Precisely. 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:07.820 He doesn't ask for land immediately. He plays 00:10:07.820 --> 00:10:09.740 the victim. He tells the British and French, 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.320 look, Italy is a powder keg because of Austrian 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:14.340 oppression. If you don't help us fix it, you're 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:16.059 going to have revolutions that will destabilize 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:18.320 all of Europe. He scares them into listening. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:20.840 Which sets the stage for the real game. Because 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:23.679 you can't kick Austria out of Italy alone. You 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:26.100 need a big friend. And thanks to Crimea, they 00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:29.720 had one. Napoleon III of France. This leads to 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:32.740 the secret meeting at Plombieres in 1858. And 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:35.299 this part reads like a spy thriller. It really 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:37.899 does. Cavour and the French emperor, Napoleon 00:10:37.899 --> 00:10:42.039 III, meet secretly at a spa town. No aides, no 00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:44.440 minutes, just two men carving out the map of 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:46.580 Europe. What's the deal they cut? It's a transaction. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:50.779 Pure real politic. Napoleon VIII agrees to bring 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:53.440 the massive French army to help fight Austria 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:56.440 and free northern Italy. In exchange. There's 00:10:56.440 --> 00:10:59.220 always an in exchange. Always. In exchange, Piedmont 00:10:59.220 --> 00:11:02.049 has to give France two territories. Nice and 00:11:02.049 --> 00:11:04.649 Savoy. Savoy. But that's the ancestral home of 00:11:04.649 --> 00:11:06.570 the House of Savoy. That's like, I don't know, 00:11:06.590 --> 00:11:08.710 Scottish king giving away Edinburgh to get London. 00:11:08.990 --> 00:11:10.870 It was an amputation. You have to understand, 00:11:10.929 --> 00:11:13.210 the dynasty had ruled Savoy for 800 years. It 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:15.649 was their cradle. Did the king hesitate? He was 00:11:15.649 --> 00:11:18.409 heartbroken. He reportedly walked around the 00:11:18.409 --> 00:11:20.610 palace in a daze when he heard the terms. But 00:11:20.610 --> 00:11:22.889 he signed. And that tells you everything about 00:11:22.889 --> 00:11:25.110 his ambition. That he was willing to trade the 00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:28.500 past for the future. Exactly. He valued the future 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:30.919 kingdom of Italy more than the past kingdom of 00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:32.919 Savoy. That is the moment, I think, where he 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:34.940 truly stops being a Savoyard duke and starts 00:11:34.940 --> 00:11:36.919 being an Italian king. So the deal is signed. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.899 The Second War of Independence kicks off in 1859. 00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:44.080 And initially, it goes well. It goes great. The 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:46.480 French and Piedmontese armies are smashing the 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.700 Austrians. They take Milan. They are pushing 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:50.960 east. It looks like they are going to liberate 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.809 Venice. The dream is happening. But then... The 00:11:53.809 --> 00:11:56.509 betrayal. Napoleon III gets cold feet. The casualties 00:11:56.509 --> 00:11:59.309 are higher than he expected. The Battle of Solferino 00:11:59.309 --> 00:12:02.149 was a bloodbath, shocking even by 19th century 00:12:02.149 --> 00:12:05.049 standards. Okay. And he sees Prussia mobilizing 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:07.850 on the German border. He gets nervous. So without 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:10.009 telling Cavour, without telling the king, he 00:12:10.009 --> 00:12:12.429 meets with the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph 00:12:12.429 --> 00:12:15.629 at Villafranca and signs a separate peace. Just 00:12:15.629 --> 00:12:17.909 cuts the legs out from under his allies. Completely. 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:21.830 The deal is, Piedmont gets Lombardy, Milan, but 00:12:21.830 --> 00:12:24.909 Austria keeps Venice. The war stops halfway through. 00:12:25.029 --> 00:12:27.509 The war must have been furious. Furious doesn't 00:12:27.509 --> 00:12:31.029 cover it. He went into a rage. He stormed into 00:12:31.029 --> 00:12:34.450 the king's quarters, disheveled, screaming, disrespecting 00:12:34.450 --> 00:12:37.070 the monarch. He demanded the king continue the 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:39.809 war alone. Which would have been suicide. Absolute 00:12:39.809 --> 00:12:42.750 suicide. The Piedmontese army couldn't beat Austria 00:12:42.750 --> 00:12:45.490 without France. And this is the moment where 00:12:45.490 --> 00:12:49.100 Victor Emmanuel earns his keep. Cavour is hysterical, 00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:51.879 acting on principle. The king is pragmatic. He 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.240 sees the reality of the situation. He realizes 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.059 he has been screwed, but he also realizes that 00:12:57.059 --> 00:12:59.740 half a loaf is better than no bread. So he accepts 00:12:59.740 --> 00:13:01.820 the treaty. He accepts it. He swallows the bitter 00:13:01.820 --> 00:13:05.759 pill. Cavour resigns in protest, literally quits 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:08.559 the government. But the king stays in the saddle. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:11.779 He secures Milan. He banks the win. It's that 00:13:11.779 --> 00:13:14.279 survival instinct again. But even though the 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:17.000 war stopped... The momentum didn't. This is the 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.120 domino effect mentioned in the outline. Right. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:21.960 Cavour was out, but the fire he lit was still 00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:24.860 burning. The central Italian states, Tuscany, 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:27.620 Modena, Parma, they saw the Austrians getting 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:30.899 beaten, and they decided to jump ship. They held 00:13:30.899 --> 00:13:33.019 plebiscites. Popular vote. And voted to join 00:13:33.019 --> 00:13:35.259 Piedmont. So the kingdom doubles in size almost 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.299 overnight. But we are still missing the bottom 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.740 half of the boot, the south. And this brings 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:44.360 us to the wild card, the man in the red shirt. 00:13:45.059 --> 00:13:47.799 Giuseppe Garibaldi. The Garibaldi problem. This 00:13:47.799 --> 00:13:49.539 is where the story shifts from a diplomatic chess 00:13:49.539 --> 00:13:52.220 game to a full -blown action movie. Victor Emmanuel 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:54.860 is in a weird spot here, isn't he? Garibaldi 00:13:54.860 --> 00:13:57.779 wants to take a volunteer army, the famous Thousand, 00:13:57.860 --> 00:14:01.240 and conquer the South. Officially, the king can't 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:04.860 support this. It's illegal. It's piracy. Unofficially, 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:07.120 it's don't ask, don't tell. The king publicly 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.340 writes letters saying, don't do it, Giuseppe, 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:12.039 while privately sending signals saying, good 00:14:12.039 --> 00:14:14.820 luck, let me know when you win. A plausible deniability 00:14:14.820 --> 00:14:17.879 thing. Totally. And Garibaldi, well, he does 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:20.419 the impossible. It is militarily absurd. He lands 00:14:20.419 --> 00:14:22.480 in Sicily with a thousand guys in red shirts 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:25.500 and bad muskets, and he conquers the entire island 00:14:25.500 --> 00:14:28.259 against a professional army of 25 ,000. Wow. 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:30.659 Then he crosses to the mainland and takes Naples. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.210 The Bourbon kingdom just... collapses like a 00:14:33.210 --> 00:14:36.009 house of cards. So Garibaldi is essentially handing 00:14:36.009 --> 00:14:38.450 the South to Victor Emmanuel on a silver platter. 00:14:38.549 --> 00:14:40.950 What's the problem? The problem is that Garibaldi 00:14:40.950 --> 00:14:43.070 doesn't know when to stop. He's a revolutionary. 00:14:43.389 --> 00:14:46.970 He hates the Pope. After taking Naples, he announces 00:14:46.970 --> 00:14:49.029 he's going to march on Rome. And that's a red 00:14:49.029 --> 00:14:51.549 line. It's a nuclear red line. Rome is protected 00:14:51.549 --> 00:14:54.769 by a French garrison. Napoleon III is the protector 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:58.230 of the church. If Garibaldi attacks Rome, France 00:14:58.230 --> 00:15:01.049 declares war on Italy. Everything they've built, 00:15:01.110 --> 00:15:03.950 Milan, Florence, the whole new kingdom, could 00:15:03.950 --> 00:15:06.149 be destroyed in a week. So the king has to become 00:15:06.149 --> 00:15:08.549 the police officer. Exactly. Victor Emmanuel 00:15:08.549 --> 00:15:11.309 has to physically march his royal army south 00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:14.009 to intercept Garibaldi before he gets to Rome. 00:15:14.090 --> 00:15:15.970 It's a race. And on the way down, he actually 00:15:15.970 --> 00:15:18.649 has to fight the pope's army. He does. The Battle 00:15:18.649 --> 00:15:21.009 of Castelfidardo. He has to invade the papal 00:15:21.009 --> 00:15:23.750 states to get to Garibaldi. He crushes the pope's 00:15:23.750 --> 00:15:26.190 army, takes the regions of Marche and Umbria, 00:15:26.330 --> 00:15:30.120 but leaves Rome itself alone. very careful about 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:32.200 that. Which leads to one of the most famous scenes 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.200 in Italian history, the meeting at Tiano. It's 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:38.299 the climax of the unification. Picture a dusty 00:15:38.299 --> 00:15:41.220 road in the countryside. You have the king riding 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:43.980 south on his horse, surrounded by his generals 00:15:43.980 --> 00:15:47.059 in gold braid. You have Garibaldi riding north 00:15:47.059 --> 00:15:49.659 with his ragtag volunteers. The tension must 00:15:49.659 --> 00:15:51.779 have been incredible. I mean, Garibaldi is a 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:53.899 Republican at heart. He could have declared a 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:56.320 republic in the south. He could have said, I 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.419 conquered this. It's mine. He could have. It 00:15:58.419 --> 00:16:00.639 could have been a civil war. But Garibaldi rode 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.399 up, took off his hat, and hailed Victor Emmanuel 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:06.419 as King of Italy. Just like that. Just like that. 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:09.539 He handed over his conquests. It was the ultimate 00:16:09.539 --> 00:16:11.799 act of self -sacrifice for the sake of unity. 00:16:12.139 --> 00:16:15.480 And so on March 17th, 1861, the Kingdom of Italy 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.240 is officially proclaimed. Victor Emmanuel is 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.679 the first King of Italy. But, and here is where 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:23.620 we really need to pause. He makes a massive unforced 00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:25.759 error right at the start. An error that I think 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.600 confirms Lord Clarendon's imbecile comment. The 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:30.980 name thing. The name thing. He is crowned the 00:16:30.980 --> 00:16:34.080 first king of a brand new country. Logic dictates, 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.500 and many advisors suggested, that he should become 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:39.600 Victor Emmanuel I of Italy. A fresh start. A 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:42.259 new era. A clean slate. But he doesn't do it. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:45.700 No. He insists on remaining Victor Emmanuel II. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:48.940 He keeps the numbering from the kingdom of Sardinia. 00:16:49.139 --> 00:16:53.429 Why? Was it just ego? It was dynastic pride. 00:16:53.649 --> 00:16:56.490 He viewed the unification not as a new birth, 00:16:56.590 --> 00:16:58.950 but as an expansion of his house. He was saying 00:16:58.950 --> 00:17:01.269 the house of Savoy has simply gotten bigger. 00:17:01.470 --> 00:17:04.150 But think about the message that sends. If you're 00:17:04.150 --> 00:17:07.269 a person in Naples or Sicily or Florence, you've 00:17:07.269 --> 00:17:09.670 just joined this new nation and the king is saying, 00:17:09.710 --> 00:17:13.029 I haven't changed. I have simply absorbed you. 00:17:13.150 --> 00:17:15.750 It was a disaster. It signaled that this wasn't 00:17:15.750 --> 00:17:17.829 a marriage of equals. It was a hostile takeover. 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:20.480 This is what historians call Piedmontization. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:24.160 They took the Piedmontese constitution, the Piedmontese 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:27.059 tax system, the Piedmontese bureaucracy, and 00:17:27.059 --> 00:17:29.460 just copy -pasted it onto the South. So instead 00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:31.619 of feeling liberated, the South felt occupied. 00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:34.720 Exactly. That, too, on the end of his name, was 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:36.819 a daily reminder that they were second -class 00:17:36.819 --> 00:17:39.880 citizens in a Savoyard empire. It fueled the 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:42.059 Southern question, the brigandage, the resentment 00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:44.630 that frankly still exists in Italy today. It 00:17:44.630 --> 00:17:46.750 was a failure of imagination. He couldn't imagine 00:17:46.750 --> 00:17:48.450 being anything other than a Piedmontese king. 00:17:48.650 --> 00:17:51.190 It's a fascinating blunder. He gets the land, 00:17:51.329 --> 00:17:54.390 but he loses the hearts. Precisely. And in many 00:17:54.390 --> 00:17:56.250 ways, that's a story that's still playing out. 00:17:56.390 --> 00:17:58.990 So we have a kingdom of Italy, but it's missing 00:17:58.990 --> 00:18:01.910 some key pieces, specifically Venice and Rome. 00:18:02.170 --> 00:18:04.210 How does he complete the puzzle? Well, he goes 00:18:04.210 --> 00:18:07.059 back to the old playbook. Wait for the big powers 00:18:07.059 --> 00:18:09.700 to fight each other and then pick a side. Opportunism 00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:13.119 at its finest. In 1866, we get the Third War 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:16.099 of Independence. This time, Italy allies with 00:18:16.099 --> 00:18:18.819 Prussia against Austria. And how does the Italian 00:18:18.819 --> 00:18:22.440 army do? Terrible. They lose the battles on land 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:24.539 and at sea. It's actually quite embarrassing. 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:27.859 But Prussia, Prussia is a machine. They smash 00:18:27.859 --> 00:18:30.660 Austria at the Battle of Sadoa. So Italy loses 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:32.859 the battle but wins the war. Basically, yeah. 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:35.180 At the peace table, because Italy was on the 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:37.160 winning team, they get Veneto -Venice anyway. 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:39.299 Victory through association. I'm with the winner. 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:43.319 Exactly. And then the big one, Rome, 1870, the 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:45.380 final peace. This would be the Franco -Prussian 00:18:45.380 --> 00:18:48.380 War. Right. Prussia attacks France. Napoleon 00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:51.059 III is getting hammered. He has to pull his French 00:18:51.059 --> 00:18:54.240 garrison out of Rome to defend Paris. And suddenly, 00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:57.059 the Pope is unprotected. And Victor Emmanuel 00:18:57.059 --> 00:18:59.400 doesn't hesitate this time. He sends the army 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:03.240 in. September 20, 1870, the breach of Portopia. 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:06.380 Italian troops blast a hole in the ancient walls 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:09.269 and march into Rome. The pope declares himself 00:19:09.269 --> 00:19:11.849 a prisoner in the Vatican, but the unification 00:19:11.849 --> 00:19:14.789 is effectively complete. Rome becomes the capital 00:19:14.789 --> 00:19:17.410 in 1871. And the king moves into the criminal 00:19:17.410 --> 00:19:19.470 palace. Which used to be the pope's summer home. 00:19:19.609 --> 00:19:21.549 Talk about a power move. He literally moves into 00:19:21.549 --> 00:19:23.990 the pope's bedroom. I want to pivot now to the 00:19:23.990 --> 00:19:26.470 man himself. Because we have talked about the 00:19:26.470 --> 00:19:28.829 wars and the treaties, but the outline mentions 00:19:28.829 --> 00:19:31.789 his colorful personal life. And frankly, colorful 00:19:31.789 --> 00:19:33.910 seems like a polite British understatement. It 00:19:33.910 --> 00:19:36.029 is very polite. Victor Emmanuel II was a man 00:19:36.029 --> 00:19:39.009 of robust appetite. While Cavour was trying to 00:19:39.009 --> 00:19:41.349 project this image of a civilized, modern European 00:19:41.349 --> 00:19:43.710 state to the world, the king was essentially 00:19:43.710 --> 00:19:46.190 running a frat house. Let's start with his relationship 00:19:46.190 --> 00:19:47.869 with the church, because that connects to his 00:19:47.869 --> 00:19:50.410 personal life. He wasn't exactly in the pope's 00:19:50.410 --> 00:19:53.390 good graces, was he? Putting it mildly, when 00:19:53.390 --> 00:19:56.210 he invaded the papal states, the church fought 00:19:56.210 --> 00:19:59.410 back with the ultimate weapon, excommunication. 00:19:59.789 --> 00:20:02.769 So the king of Italy, a Catholic country, was 00:20:02.769 --> 00:20:05.759 kicked out of the church. Yep. For years, he 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.680 was spiritually cut off. This was a huge deal 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:11.640 for a 19th century monarch. He was genuinely 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:14.119 afraid of hell. He was very superstitious. But 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:17.200 he wanted Rome more. It created a massive crisis 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:19.940 of conscience for millions of Italians. Could 00:20:19.940 --> 00:20:22.079 you be a good Catholic and a good Italian at 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:23.980 the same time? But clearly, the fear of hell 00:20:23.980 --> 00:20:26.180 didn't stop him from enjoying his earthly life. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.539 Let's talk about the women. He was married, right? 00:20:28.779 --> 00:20:31.680 He was married in 1842 to his cousin, Adelaide 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:34.180 of Austria. By all accounts, she was a pious, 00:20:34.220 --> 00:20:36.640 quiet woman who suffered in silence. She gave 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.500 him eight children and died young in 1855. And 00:20:39.500 --> 00:20:41.779 after that, he was a free agent. Well, even during 00:20:41.779 --> 00:20:43.859 the marriage, he was notoriously unfaithful. 00:20:44.019 --> 00:20:46.220 But the love of his life wasn't a princess or 00:20:46.220 --> 00:20:49.119 a duchess. It was Rosa Versalana. Everyone called 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:51.700 her Bella Rosen, Beautiful Rose. Who is she? 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:54.099 She was a commoner, the daughter of a drum major 00:20:54.099 --> 00:20:56.519 in the army. He met her when she was 14 and he 00:20:56.519 --> 00:21:00.410 was 27, which is... Problematic by modern standards, 00:21:00.589 --> 00:21:02.769 obviously. But they were together for the rest 00:21:02.769 --> 00:21:04.789 of his life. And he didn't hide her. Not at all. 00:21:04.849 --> 00:21:07.109 He sent her up in palaces. He gave her titles. 00:21:07.450 --> 00:21:10.970 He made her Countess of Mirafiori. The aristocracy 00:21:10.970 --> 00:21:13.410 in Turin was horrified. They called her the drum 00:21:13.410 --> 00:21:15.809 major's daughter. They refused to curtsy to her. 00:21:15.910 --> 00:21:19.750 But the king didn't care. Why her? With all the 00:21:19.750 --> 00:21:22.839 royal options in Europe, why Bella Rosin? Because 00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:25.559 she was real. She was illiterate. She spoke only 00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:28.259 the Piedmontese dialect and she cooked him hearty 00:21:28.259 --> 00:21:31.240 peasant food. She created a home where he didn't 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:33.140 have to be your majesty. He could just be the 00:21:33.140 --> 00:21:35.980 rough hunting squire that he truly was at heart. 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:38.319 And the public. Did they hate her like the nobles 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:40.440 did? No. And this is the twist. The regular people 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:42.980 loved it. Think about the previous rulers of 00:21:42.980 --> 00:21:46.319 Italy, these stiff, distant Habsburgs in powdered 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:48.720 wigs who looked down on everyone. Right. Here 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:51.039 was a king who smelled like tobacco and horses, 00:21:51.180 --> 00:21:53.519 who shacked up with a drummer's daughter and 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:56.319 who preferred a plate of agnolotti pasta to a 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:59.420 fancy French banquet. He felt authentic. He was 00:21:59.420 --> 00:22:01.960 a populist before populism was a thing. In a 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:06.089 way, yes. His flaws made him human. And in a 00:22:06.089 --> 00:22:08.710 time of revolution, being human was a safer bet 00:22:08.710 --> 00:22:10.910 than being divine. He eventually married her. 00:22:11.009 --> 00:22:13.369 Right. He did in 1869 when he thought he was 00:22:13.369 --> 00:22:16.049 dying of an illness, but it was a morganatic 00:22:16.049 --> 00:22:19.650 marriage. What does that mean? Morganatic? It 00:22:19.650 --> 00:22:21.670 means it's a valid marriage in the eyes of the 00:22:21.670 --> 00:22:24.690 church, but she does not become queen, she doesn't 00:22:24.690 --> 00:22:27.130 get the royal title, and any children they have 00:22:27.130 --> 00:22:29.650 cannot inherit the throne. It was his way of 00:22:29.650 --> 00:22:32.369 protecting the dynasty while satisfying his conscience. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:35.059 So let's look at his final years. Rome is the 00:22:35.059 --> 00:22:37.480 capital. The country is united. What does he 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:39.599 do with his time? He actually fades into the 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.119 background. His role in day -to -day governing 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:44.799 dwindles. And paradoxically, this is one of his 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:47.400 greatest contributions. How so? Because he wasn't 00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:49.579 interested in micromanaging, he preferred hunting 00:22:49.579 --> 00:22:52.460 at his lodge in the Alps. The power shifted from 00:22:52.460 --> 00:22:54.380 the crown to the parliament. The constitution 00:22:54.380 --> 00:22:56.539 technically said ministers answered to the king. 00:22:56.920 --> 00:22:59.500 But because Victor Emmanuel let them be, they 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:01.730 started answering the parliament. He allowed 00:23:01.730 --> 00:23:04.009 the seeds of parliamentary democracy to grow, 00:23:04.190 --> 00:23:07.289 largely because he had other hobbies. That is 00:23:07.289 --> 00:23:10.650 hilarious. His laziness saved democracy. Laziness, 00:23:10.650 --> 00:23:12.869 or perhaps just a clear understanding of his 00:23:12.869 --> 00:23:15.589 own limitations. He knew he wasn't a policy wonk, 00:23:15.630 --> 00:23:17.849 so he let the wonks run the country. He dies 00:23:17.849 --> 00:23:21.910 in 1878. In Rome. And there is a final dramatic 00:23:21.910 --> 00:23:25.529 scene with the church. As he is dying, Pope Pius 00:23:25.529 --> 00:23:27.890 X, who had been his enemy for decades, who had 00:23:27.890 --> 00:23:31.779 excommunicated him, sends envoys. The excommunication 00:23:31.779 --> 00:23:34.380 is reversed. Really? After all that? Yes. The 00:23:34.380 --> 00:23:36.579 Pope allowed him to receive last rites. It was 00:23:36.579 --> 00:23:39.059 a moment of reconciliation at the very end. The 00:23:39.059 --> 00:23:40.839 Pope reportedly said something along the lines 00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:43.180 of, he died as a Christian and a king. And the 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:46.460 burial. This was a major symbolic decision. The 00:23:46.460 --> 00:23:48.759 Savoy kings were traditionally buried in the 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:51.599 Superga Basilica in Turin. It's this beautiful 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.680 church on a hill. His family was there. But the 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:56.839 government decided to bury Victor Emmanuel II 00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:59.960 in the Pantheon in Rome. In the ancient Roman 00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:02.599 temple. Exactly. It was the final claim on Rome. 00:24:03.099 --> 00:24:05.819 Here lies the father of the fatherland in the 00:24:05.819 --> 00:24:08.440 heart of the ancient empire. It was a message 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:11.720 to the pope and to the world. We are here and 00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:14.019 we aren't leaving. So let's circle back to our 00:24:14.019 --> 00:24:16.059 mission statement. We started with two versions 00:24:16.059 --> 00:24:19.160 of the man. The dishonest imbecile described 00:24:19.160 --> 00:24:21.559 by the British and the father of the fatherland 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:24.299 on the monument. After all this, where do you 00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:26.799 land? I think he was both. Look, he wasn't an 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:29.200 intellectual giant. He certainly wasn't a saint. 00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:31.359 He was rough. He was cunning. And yes, he was 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:33.740 opportunistic. He told lies when it suited him. 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:35.779 If you were looking for a philosopher king, he 00:24:35.779 --> 00:24:38.680 wasn't it. But he had the one quality that matters 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:41.460 most in a crisis. He didn't quit. Think about 00:24:41.460 --> 00:24:44.019 1849. Anyone else would have crumbled. Think 00:24:44.019 --> 00:24:46.779 about 1859 after the betrayal at Villafranca. 00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:49.140 He swallowed his pride and kept it going. He 00:24:49.140 --> 00:24:50.880 was the anchor. That's the perfect metaphor. 00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:54.119 Cavour was the sail. He provided the movement, 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:57.160 the direction. Garibaldi was the wind -wild, 00:24:57.160 --> 00:25:00.279 unpredictable force. But Victor Emmanuel was 00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:03.200 the heavy anchor. Without his legitimacy, without 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.799 the royal army, Garibaldi's revolution might 00:25:05.799 --> 00:25:08.759 have turned into anarchy or a civil war. Cavour's 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.890 diplomacy might have had no teeth. Victor Emmanuel 00:25:11.890 --> 00:25:14.369 provided the stability that allowed the Risorgimento 00:25:14.369 --> 00:25:18.160 to solidify into a state. That is a really nuanced 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.279 way to look at it. He didn't have to be a genius. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:21.960 He just had to be the king who stayed in the 00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:24.480 saddle. Exactly. And sometimes showing up is 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:27.059 90 % of the job. So next time you see that giant 00:25:27.059 --> 00:25:29.579 aggressive white monument in Rome, don't just 00:25:29.579 --> 00:25:32.200 see a marble hero. See a guy who is stressed 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:34.740 out, fighting with his prime minister, juggling 00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:37.660 mistresses, dodging excommunication, and somehow 00:25:37.660 --> 00:25:39.980 managing to ride the wave of history to create 00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:42.319 a nation. A flawed father, but a father nonetheless. 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:45.940 And here is a thought to leave you with. That 00:25:45.940 --> 00:25:49.299 monument, the Altar della Patria, is often criticized 00:25:49.299 --> 00:25:53.140 for being too big, too white, too pompous. It 00:25:53.140 --> 00:25:55.579 stands out awkwardly against the ancient weathered 00:25:55.579 --> 00:25:58.960 stones of Rome. But maybe that's perfect. Maybe 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:01.400 the monument matches the man, a bit loud, a bit 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:03.599 out of place, maybe trying a little too hard 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:06.380 to prove he belongs, but undeniably permanently 00:26:06.380 --> 00:26:08.779 there. I love that image. It fits him perfectly. 00:26:09.059 --> 00:26:10.960 Thanks for diving deep with us today. We will 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:11.799 catch you on the next one.