The son of a fisherman of Nice, Garibaldi ran away from home and joined the Young Italy movement. This organization, under the leadership of Giuseppe Mazzini, aimed at the creation of an Italian state with a republican form of government. Garibaldi was implicated in a revolt staged by the patriots in Genoa, but he escaped to South America with a girl he later married. In exile he gathered around him a number of Italian refugees and formed the Italian Legion, or Red Shirts. In 1848, the year revolution swept Europe, Garibaldi returned to Italy to fight the Austrians. His men were defeated, however, and once again he had to escape, this time to Switzerland. Soon after, he was in Rome with Mazzini, who tried to set up a republic there. But the Italian patriots were driven out by a French army, This time Garibaldi fled to New York. But his adventurous and patriotic spirit remained unbroken.
In 1859 when France and Sardinia defeated the Austrians and unified most of Italy, Garibaldi was there to help. He set out with an army of only 1,000 men and conquered Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples.
Crowned with fame, Garibaldi retired to his farm and devoted the rest of his life to writing and helping patriots in other parts of Europe. He was elected a member of the Italian Parliament when he was 70 years old. Five years later he died.
