Garibaldi vs Taranto

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Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( GARR-ib-AWL-dee, Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe ɡariˈbaldi] (listen); 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patriot and republican. He contributed to the Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He is considered to be one of the greatest generals of modern times and one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland", along with Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Giuseppe Mazzini. Garibaldi is also known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe.Garibaldi was a follower of the Italian nationalist Mazzini and embraced the republican nationalism of the Young Italy movement. He became a supporter of Italian unification under a democratic republican government. After participating in an uprising in Piedmont, he was sentenced to death, but he escaped by sailing to South America and spent 14 years in exile, taking part in several wars and learning the art of guerrilla warfare. In 1835, he took up the cause of the Brazilian Riograndense Republic in its attempt to proclaim another republic within Santa Catarina, joining the rebels known as the Farrapos. Garibaldi also became involved in the Uruguayan Civil War, raising an Italian force known as Redshirts and is still celebrated as an important contributor to Uruguay´s reconstitution. In 1848, Garibaldi returned to Italy and commanded and fought in military campaigns that eventually led to Italian unification.

The provisional government of Milan made him a general and the Minister of War promoted him to General of the Roman Republic in 1849. When the war of independence broke out in April 1859, he led his Hunters of the Alps in the capture of Varese and Como and reached the frontier of South Tyrol, although the war ended with the acquisition of Lombardy. The following year, he led the Expedition of the Thousand on behalf of and with the consent of Victor Emmanuel II. The expedition was a success and concluded with the annexation of Sicily, Southern Italy, Marche and Umbria to the Kingdom of Sardinia before the creation of a unified Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861. His last military campaign took place during the Franco-Prussian War as commander of the Army of the Vosges. Garibaldi became an international figurehead for national independence and republican ideals. He was showered with admiration and praises by many intellectuals and political figures, including Abraham Lincoln, William Brown, Francesco de Sanctis, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, George Sand, Charles Dickens, Friedrich Engels and Che Guevara. Historian A. J. P. Taylor called him "the only wholly admirable figure in modern history". In the popular telling of his story, he is associated with the red shirts that his volunteers, the Garibaldini, wore in lieu of a uniform.

Source: Wikipedia

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Taranto (, also US: , Italian: [ˈtaːranto] (listen); Tarantino: Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; early Italian: Tarento;; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base.Taranto was founded by the Spartans in the 8th century BC. During the period of Greek colonization on the coasts of Southern Italy, the city was among the most important in Magna Graecia and it became a cultural, economic and military power, which gave birth to philosophers, strategists, writers and athletes, such as Archytas, Aristoxenus, Livius Andronicus, Heracleides, Iccus, Cleinias, Leonidas, Lysis, and Sosibius. The seven-year rule of Archytas marked the apex of Taranto's development and the recognition of its hegemony over the other Greek colonies of southern Italy.

During the Norman period, it became the capital of the Principality of Taranto, which covered almost all of the heel of Apulia. From the name of the city derives that of the species Lycosa tarantula, which originated the terms tarantella, tarantism and tarantula. Taranto is also known for the large population of dolphins and other cetaceans that historically live near the Cheradi Islands, located in front of the city. It is the third-largest continental city in southern Italy and an important commercial and naval port with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards, and food-processing factories. Around 500 BC the city was one of the largest in the world with population estimates up to 300,000 people.

Source: Wikipedia