Giuseppe Mazzini, Italy (1805-1872)
Patriot and revolutionary, born in Genoa, Italy. He was an ardent liberal and founded the Young Italy Association (1833). He championed the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. Expelled from France, he travelled Europe advocating republicanism and insurrection. Acclaimed as a great patriot, in 1849 he became one of the triumvirate governing the Roman Republic, and was the head of government.
However, his rule was short-lived, for when the pope appealed to Catholic countries for help, a French army landed in Italy. After heroic resistance, the republic was crushed and Mazzini left Rome. During 1859-60 he and his supporters worked strenuously but vainly to make the new Italy a republic.