Redshirts (Italy)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Redshirt (disambiguation) and Redcoats (disambiguation).
Redshirts
Camicie Rosse
Giubbe Rosse
Flag of the Italian Legion
Active1843-1913
CountryKingdom of Sardinia Kingdom of Italy
Allegiance Kingdom of Sardinia
Colorado Party

 Piratini Republic

Polish National Government
 French Third Republic
Kingdom of Greece Kingdom of Greece
TypeInfantry
Nickname(s)Garibaldini
EngagementsUruguayan Civil War
Wars of Italian Unification

January Uprising
Franco-Prussian War

Greco-Turkish War (1897)

Balkan Wars

Commanders
Notable
commanders		Giuseppe Garibaldi
Menotti Garibaldi
Ricciotti Garibaldi
Redshirts at the Battle of Domokos

The Redshirts (Italian: Camicie rosse or Giubbe rosse), also called the Red coats, are volunteers who followed the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi during his campaigns. The name derived from the colour of their shirts or loose-fitting blouses that the volunteers, usually called Garibaldini, wore in lieu of a uniform.

The force originated as the Italian Legion supporting the

Kingdom of Two Sicilies and the Papal States. Most notably, Garibaldi led his Redshirts in the Expedition of the Thousand of 1860, which concluded with the annexation of Sicily, Southern Italy, Marche and Umbria to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which led to the creation of the newly-unified Kingdom of Italy. His military enterprises in South America and Europe made Garibaldi become known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds".[1]

The term Redshirts and Garibaldino were also used to describe Italian volunteers in subsequent international conflicts, including the

Garibaldi Guard and its Confederate counterpart, the Garibaldi Legion
, wore red shirts as a part of their uniforms.

The Garibaldi shirt also became a popular type of clothing. According to A Cultural History of the Modern Age: The Crisis of the European Soul, "For a considerable time Garibaldi was the most famous man in Europe, and the red shirt, la camicia rossa, became the fashion for ladies, even outside Italy".[2]

Background

The red shirts were started by

Emperor of Brazil and to Argentine
territorial ambitions (perceived by liberals as also imperialist), and his victories in the Battles of Cerro and Sant'Antonio in 1846 assured the independence of Uruguay and made Garibaldi and his followers heroes in Italy and Europe. Garibaldi was later hailed as the "Gran Chico Fornido" on the basis of these exploits.

In Uruguay, he called on the Italians of

Italian Legion in 1843. In later years, it was claimed that in Uruguay the legion first sported the red shirts associated with Garibaldi's "Thousand", which were said to have been obtained from a factory in Montevideo that had intended to export them to the slaughterhouses of Argentina. Red shirts sported by Argentinian butchers in the 1840s are not otherwise documented, however, and the famous camicie rosse did not appear during Garibaldi's efforts in Rome
in 1849–1850.

Giuseppe Barboglio a Red Shirt volunteer of the Thousand wearing the Marsala Medal

Later, after the failure of the campaign for Rome, Garibaldi spent around 1850– to 1853 with the Italian patriot and inventor,

Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
is on Staten Island.

In New York City, before the American Civil War, rival companies of volunteer firemen were the great working-class heroes. Their courage, civic spirit, and lively comradeship inspired fanatical followers throughout New York, the original "fire buffs".

Volunteer fire companies varied in the completeness and details of their uniforms, but all of them wore the red flannel shirt. When Garibaldi returned to Italy after his New York stay, the red shirts made their first appearance among his followers.

New York Tribune
sized them up:

The officers of the Guard are men who have held important commands in the

German revolutionary armies. Many of them were in the Sardinian and French armies in the Crimea and in Algeria
.

A woman's fashion, the Garibaldi shirt, was begun in 1860 by Empress Eugénie in France, and the blousy style remained popular for some years and eventually turned into the Victorian shirt waist and modern woman's blouse.[4]

Garibaldi's son, Ricciotti Garibaldi, later led Redshirt volunteer troops that fought with the Hellenic Army in the Greco-Turkish War in 1897 and the First Balkan War in 1912–13.

Legacy

The Redshirts gave inspiration to

proto-fascist but radical liberals of the era, supporting independentists in the Americas and Europe.[citation needed
]

Nottingham Forest have worn red shirts since the club's formation in 1865, as tribute to the Garibaldi Redshirts, and their leader.

Gallery

  • Garibaldian volunteers of the British Legion
    Garibaldian volunteers of the British Legion
  • One of Garibaldi's lancers carrying a dispatch
    One of Garibaldi's lancers carrying a dispatch
  • Truppa di Garibaldi
    Truppa di Garibaldi
  • Uniforms of the garibaldines at the Museum of the Risorgimento, Milan
    Uniforms of the garibaldines at the Museum of the Risorgimento, Milan
  • Red uniform of the Italian politician, Antonio Fratti, killed in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897
    Red uniform of the Italian politician,
    Greco-Turkish War of 1897

References

  1. ^ "Unità d'Italia: Giuseppe Garibaldi, l'eroe dei due mondi". Sapere.it (in Italian). 7 March 2011.
  2. ISBN 9781412843799
    . Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  3. ISBN 9788842493570
    .
  4. ^ Young, Julia Ditto, "The Rise of the Shirt Waist", Good Housekeeping, May 1902, pp. 354-357
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