Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "Giuseppe Garibaldi: One of the Greatest Generals of Modern Times" video.

  1. It's even more amazing if you notice how young he was. He became minister at 39, premier at 41, and died at 50. All he did, he did it in 9 years.
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  2.  @nicholasschoonbeck6866  Hiding pregnacy was a bit far-fetched.
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  3. To understand the popularity of Garibaldi among the lower classes (not that he wasn't popular among the elites) it has to be remembered that, in his age, there had been the transition between the "old way" to make military career (that consisted in buying the ranks. IE The Duke of Wellington was a staunch advocate of that practice) and the "new way" (to be formed in a military academy, that were however rather "new" institutions, whose teachings were often not that useful). Both ways were practically reserved to the upper classes. A sailor that became a certified sea-captain, a teacher (several times, when he didn't fought or sail, he earned a living by teaching math), and a general that could beat the "professionals" was bound to became a popular hero, even more if he was honest and brave too.
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  4. He was influenced by Saint-Simonianism socialism since his youth and was an advocate of the necessity to fight for good causes, that he identified with emancipation (from foreign powers, the church, slavery, patriarchy...) , republicanism, self-determination and internationalism. However, and for that he was despised by Karl Marx, he was not a revolutionary, arguing that the first victims of revolutions were the lower classes and that much more could be obtained with social reformism.
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  5.  @NoName-hg6cc  For the time, he was quite educated. Not in classical studies, but more than the average infantry officer that came out of the military academies of the time (the first ones had just been estabilished), not to say the ones that simply bought their rank (a practice the Duke of Wellington was a big advocate of). He knew at least five languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English. Some source report he knew German too). He had a sea Captain's patent, and, during his years in South America, when he wasn't fighting or trading, he earned his living by teaching maths.
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  6. Garibaldi was a rather intelligent and educated man. Other than sailing, when he didn't fought he gained a living in South America by teaching math, he knew 5 languages, read Byron and Shakespeare and could recite Foscolo by heart. He was acnowledged to be a brilliant military leader by military observers since his years in South America. He easily won vs. Austrians and Prussians in numerical and material inferiority and leading undiciplined volunteers, and was even more famous in the United Kingdom than he was in Italy.
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  7.  @amacrad  The Kingdom of Two Sicilies was a backward underdeveloped country. It's scholarship rates were the lowest among the pre-unitarian states and the industrialization was inexistent. At the moment of unification, Piedmont had 850 km of railroads, Lombardy 607 km, Tuscany 323 km, Papal State 132 km. The entire Neapolitan kingdom had 99km of railroads, as much as the minuscule Duchy of Parma.
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  8. Southern Italy was a shithole country with 75% illiteracy rate and inexistent services, infrastructure and industrialization. Several third-world countries have a balanced budget. It's easy to have a balanced budget when you are piss-poor. It's enough to not spend and let the population starve. Unfortunately modernization needs investments. IE, at the moment of unification, Piedmont had 850 km of railroads, Lombardy 607 km, Tuscany 323 km, Papal State 132 km. The entire Neapolitan kingdom had 99km of railroads, as much as the minuscule Duchy of Parma.
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  9. A lot actually.
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  10. Actually the armies of the western front are a lot more "guilty" than Cadorna. WWI Battles on the Italian front tended to be brief and furious affairs that ended as soon as some gain was achieved, or was clear that no gain could be achieved. They had NEVER been intended to be attrition battles, and Cadorna was, in a certain sense, "justified" in thinking, "if next time I'll manage to use more men and materials, I'll break through". This excuse can't work on the western front, where battles lasted with the same intensity for months, and generals couldn't realistically think , using the same tactics and number of men, day after day, to conquer the same trench, to have different results than the day before. Every week of the battle of the Somme, or Verdoun, count as an entire Battle of the Isonzo. Garibaldi was modern in refusing frontal assault tactics (those that were popular in his time, and will be even more popular in WWI), favouring surprise and flanking.
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  11. The kids had no parents that could object. There were a lot of orphans in public and private institutions then, often not so happy to attend them.
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  12. Maybe an ancestor. He was beaten so bad that he started growing vines.
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  13.  @jooprodederode9329  The wast majority of Garibaldi's army were volunteers form the south, so they "conquested" themself.
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  14. One thing this clip didn't say is that, during the trips between Genoa and Constantinoples in his youth, he had to fight for his life four times, to repel the attacks of Greek pirates. It was a Darwinian fencing school.
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  15. Hiding her pregnacy was a little far fetched.
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  16. Trivia. Garibaldi left many sabres. Much had been gifted to him by governments and private admirers and are richly decorated but, in actual pictures taken during his campaigns, he always wear a "Ussar's sabre of the Dukedom of Piacenza" ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Gustave-Le-Gray_Giuseppe-Garibaldi_Palermo-1860_1-1000x1500.jpg ) https://www.czernys.com/czimages/oggetti/G68209_1a.jpg
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