Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea (Dec 2013)
I re soldati e la Nazione. L’esercito come strumento di legittimazione della monarchia sabauda 1848-1900
Abstract
Armed Forces, especially conscription army, have been a powerful tool for the nationalization of the masses. In Italy, the House of Savoy quickly understood that it had to change its orientation from dynastic to national, in order to keep its hegemony over the unification process and defeat the democratic option, represented by Garibaldi and his volunteers. In addition to that, the officers of the Piedmontese army needed a reference for their self-justifying ideology during the hard times of mutation from the Armata Sarda to the Italian Army. This resulted in a mutual legitimacy relation between the king and the army, in order to build a national and unitary Italian identity.
