Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in 1807 to a Nicoise-Italian family of seagoing merchants. He took up the same career in his youth, sailing from port to port making connections and becoming wise to the world. One of these encounters – with Giuseppe Mazzini in Genoa – would change the trajectory of his life. At the time, Mazzini was the leading proponent of Italian unification, a cause with an increasingly large number of supporters, and one which drew much ire from the ruling authorities. In 1834, Garibaldi was forced to flee Italy to escape a death sentence. Seeking his fortune elsewhere, Garibaldi sailed to Brazil, where he continued his mercantile work but also became involved in numerous revolutionary conflicts there and in nearby regions. An adept soldier and a better leader, he swiftly rose to positions of command wherever he went; by 1842, Garibaldi was in sole command of the Uruguayan navy – but his wife Ana Maria, a capable soldier herself, remained his closest confidante. Despite his success abroad, Garibaldi never forgot his homeland or the cause that he had championed while there. In 1848, he returned to an Italy wracked by civil wars and invasive intervention from other European states, particularly France, Spain, and Austria. After a failed defense of Rome, Garibaldi and his revolutionaries retreated into the nearby mountains, where he suffered yet another tragedy: the death of his wife Ana Maria. Desperate and hunted, he had no choice but to flee again, this time to the United States, where he had several connections in the form of other exiled revolutionaries and fellow Freemasons. Various jobs and expeditions made him even more well-traveled, taking him as far as England, China, and South Africa. Garibaldi’s third stint in Italy began in 1854, when his attempt at farming was interrupted by further revolutionary conflict. This particular war was to reshape his mentality; having followed Mazzini’s republican ideals for so long, Garibaldi now championed the pragmatic conviction that the only route to unification was through a powerful, centralized monarchy. Thus began an uneasy alliance with the Piedmontese, his former rivals, and for the next decade and a half Garibaldi strove to bring the squabbling Italian states under one banner. Ever a man of the world, Garibaldi very nearly crossed the Atlantic to command the Union army in the American Civil War, desiring to end the practice of slavery there. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, forcing the desperate French to withdraw their garrison in Rome. This presented a spectacular opportunity to incorporate the Papal States into the young Italian nation, and they did not let it pass. The unification of Italy was complete. Garibaldi turned his attention to aiding revolutionaries abroad while championing political activism both at home and elsewhere. His crowning political achievement was his election to a seat on the Italian parliament, where he often clashed vehemently with some of his former allies. He died of natural causes in 1882, forever an Italian hero. In Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Giuseppe Garibaldi is the impassioned and daring leader that he was in life. In battle, his stubborn defense against all odds can prove both tenacious and effective, while his subsequent counterattacks will be as swift as they are decisive. Knowing the advantages modern technology can bring, he will invest his nations resources towards a plethora of economic and military upgrades. Garibaldi did not overthrow old tyrants to become a new one, for his people he values wellbeing and liberty above all, free to think, speak, and act as they choose, knowing that in return they will always be on his side. For his allies, he will be a loyal defender of their own freedoms at any cost, but expects the same support in return.

From the game's History encyclopedia, AoE3: DE 100.19.18309.