TR was a great man. He was referred to as a 'steam roller in trousers', and he is one of my favorite Presidents.
Italian history is interesting too. About the time we were having our civil war, Giuseppe Garibald, Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo di Cavour were at work trying to unify Italy.
The geography of Italy is such that each region, even each little town to a large degree is separated by difficult terrain. There were many different dialects among the separated regions and I'm not sure there ever was or even is to this day a sense of nationhood as we understand it.
Garibaldi was a combination of Techumsa Sherman and Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was responsible for winning most of the military victories during the period known as the Risorgimento (resurrection). He spent quite a few years in Latin America where he learned how to fight guerilla style very well. He was a good sailor and quite an iconoclast. Was ahead of his time concerning religious thought and the rights of women. And really wasn't much of a power monger. Though he was an avowed socialist and supporter of a dictatorship he did not seek power for himself, as far as I know.
He was born on the 4th of July in 1807. I think that's a interesting birth date. :)
I think he was a little like Nathan Bedford Forrest because he was topographically very astute, like Forrest was, except that Forrest was really a genius in this regard. Sherman said that if it took 10,000 men and if he had to bankrupt the treasury it would be worth the price of capturing Forrest.
Anyway check out these two pictures of Sherman and Garibaldi. Just look at Sherman's eyes. He was an amazing man.
