ISSN 2039-9340 Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 3 (11) November 2012 397 Volunteers’ Employment and Counterinsurgency in Italy: The Case the Hungarian Legion (1861-1862) Andrea Carteny, Ph.D. Assistant professor, Sapienza University of Rome Doi: 10.5901/mjss.2012.v3n11p397 Abstract In South-Italy the brigandage is a complex phenomenon, deeply popular and culturally reactionary: a “great brigandage” emerged in dangerous and structural forms after the fall of the last Bourbon king and the Italian unification under the Savoy dynasty, in 1861. From the “Mille” expedition and the conquest of redshirts leaded by Garibaldi, the Southern Army and the Italian Army fought against the brigandage as a real insurgency movement supported by Bourbons’ loyalists and Catholic environments. In the campaign of banditism’s repression a particular case was the employment of volunteers, as the former Garibaldi’s Hungarian Legion. From the General Staff Army’s Historical Archive the documents show both Command’s strategy and local tactics in the Hungarian practices. The concentration of the legionaries in Nocera (March 1861) and the growing number of effectives in few months (less than 1 thousand) gave the opportunity of their employment for more than 1 year in a large area of Southern regions. The Hungarian legionaries’ mutiny, in July 1862, rised at the same time of the Garibaldi’s expedition from South to Rome, blocked in August at the Aspromonte. After the disarm of the soldiers, the calling back to Torino meant the risk of his dissolution. Only a complete reorganization, in 1863, allowed to employ back a new Legion until 1867. Keywords: Risorgimento, Brigandage, Hungarian Legion, 1. Introduction Through the 19 th century, the historical synthony and synchrony of national struggle for independence and freedom (in Italian Risorgimento, in Hungarian Szabadságharc) in Italy and Hungary means to build a common culture of both nations. It happens a consolidation not only of a kind of “hagiographical” history but also of historiographical branchs, interesting for the bilateral and international relations, for the history of politics and culture, for the national (mainly Italian and Hungarian) and European independence movements, with original ideas and perspectives developed within the concept of political freedoms and modern nation. From the late 19 th century, memoirs and essays are edited by actors and scholars. Through the 20 th century historiographical schools are only partly ideological or cultural oriented, or characterized by the review of the national achieved goals. 1 Concerning the Italian Risorgimento and Hungarian Szabadságharc, within a wide historiography it must to be mentioned some branchs and research fields: about general studies on the history of Hungary and on the Hungarian revolution and his actors; 2 1 See the recent volume, about the historiography on Eastern Europe, of Giovanna Motta (ed.): Studi sull’Europa orientale, Passigli, Firenze 2012, and, about Hungary inside this volume, A. Carteny: “L’Ungheria tra età di mezzo e Ottocentro. Un Risorgimento mancato”, pages 125-131. 2 See the writings of: Antonello Biagini (Storia dell’Ungheria contemporanea, Bompiani, Milano 2006), Péter Hanák (Egy ezredév: Magyarország rövid története, Gondolat, Budapest 1986, in Italian Storia dell'Ungheria, Franco Angeli, Milano 1996), István Deák (The lawful revolution: Louis Kossuth and the Hungarians, 1848-1849, Columbia University Press, New York 1979, later Phoenix, London 2001, in Hungarian A törvényes forradalom: Kossuth Lajos és a magyarok 1848-49-ben, Gondolat, Budapest 1994), Róbert Hermann (Negyvennyolcas történetünk mai állása, Fokusz Egyesület, Budapest 2011; Az 1848-1849-es szabadságharc nagy csatái, Zrínyi, Budapest 2004; Kossuth Lajos élete és kora, Pannonica, Budapest 2002; Az 1848-1849-es magyar szabadságharc története, 2 cd, Arcanum, Budapest 2002; 1848–1849. A szabadságharc hadtörténete, Korona Kiadó, Budapest 2001; Kossuth Lajos és Görgei Artúr levelezése, 1848-1849, Osiris, Budapest 2001), Gábor Pajkossy ("Nemzeti újjászületés": válogatás Kossuth Lajos írásaiból és EHV]pGHLEĘO ﾒM 0DQGiWXP %XGDSHVW  .RVVXWK /DMRV ﾒM 0DQGiWXP %XGDSHVW  *\|UJ\ 6]DEDG .RVVXWK LUiQ\DGiVD Válasz, Budapest 2002; Kossuth Lajos üzenetei, Ikva, Budapest 1994; Kossuth politikai pályája: Ismert és ismeretlen megnyilatkozásai tükrében, Kossuth, Budapest 1977; Forradalom és kiegyezés válaszútján: 1860-61, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1967, in English Hungarian political trends between the revolution and the compromise: 1849-1867, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1977). about researches on the Hungarian emigration after the 1848-49 and on the Italian-