In the 1840s post-Napoleonic Italy was 'a geographical expression'
- not a country but a patchwork of states divided between the Austrian-occupied north & a Spanish-descended Bourbon monarchy who ruled the south from Naples Two decades later it was a nation united under a single king & government thanks largely to the efforts of the Kings of Sardinia & Piedmont & the revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi This book the first of a two-part series on the armies that fought in the Italian Wars of Unification examines the Piedmontese & Neapolitan armies that fought in the north & south of the peninsula Illustrated with prints early photos & detailed commissioned artwork this book explores the history organization & appearance of the armies that fought to unite the Italian peninsula under one flag