Unification of Italy
Unification of Italy
Unification of Italy
-SWARGAM ANUSHKA
PREFACE
●From 1100’s to 1800’s central europe was made up of numerous
kingdoms,principalities and free cities.
●Italy as a cohesive political entity did not exist. Inspired by the success of
American Revolution and experience of the napoleonic wars a small group
of dedicated worked to unify individual territories into nations.
●Let us trace the development taken place in 19th century which fostered the
Unification of Italy.
BACKGROUND
1. Italian Peninsula had not been unified since fall of Roman Empire
2. Most spoke same language, but peninsula divided into competing states,
each with own government
3. Napoleon invaded Italy
a. –United many states under one government
b. –Unification did not last
c. –After Napoleon’s defeat, Congress of Vienna split Italian states .
4. Following conquest by the Frankish Empire, the title of King of Italy merged
with the office of Holy Roman Emperor.
5. Spirit of nationalism began to rise through Europe
Background
6. Italy gradually developed into a system of city-states.Southern Italy, however, was
governed by the long-lasting Kingdom of Sicily or Kingdom of Naples,which had
been established by the Normans. Central Italy was governed by the Pope as a
temporal kingdom known as the Papal States.
7.This situation persisted through the Renaissance but began to deteriorate with
the rise of modern nation-states in the early modern period. Italy, including thePapal
States, then became the site of proxy wars between the major powers, notably the
Holy Roman Empire (including Austria), Spain, and France.
IMPACT OF FERNCH REVLUTION
● The Habsburg rule in Italy came to an end with the campaigns of the French
Revolutionaries in 1792–97, when a series of client republics were set up.
● In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last emperor, Francis
II, after its defeat by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz.
● The Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars destroyed the old
structures of feudalism in Italy and introduced modern ideas and efficient
legal authority.
PROMINENT PERSONALITIES