Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, a single state entity on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula has not existed. The Italian kingdom became one of the most recently united European states. While feudal France was united around a single center as early as the Middle Ages, Italy existed in a fragmented state until the nineteenth century.
Establishment of the Kingdom of Italy
Before the proclamation of the kingdom in 1861, there was no single state on the territory of modern Italy. The northeastern part was under the rule of the Austrian Habsburg Empire, and on all other lands there were various Italian states, the strongest of which was the Kingdom of Sardinia.
It was under the banner of the Kingdom of Sardinia that the wars for the liberation of Italy from foreign invaders and against their own feudal lords started at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
At the beginning of the war against the mighty Austrian Empire wasnot very successful, but they significantly raised the patriotic spirit among the inhabitants of the future Italian kingdom. The first armed conflict that brought significant political changes to the Apennine Peninsula was the Italo-French-Austrian war, during which the hero of this war, Garibaldi, landed in Sicily and captured it. The victory over the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies made it possible to annex not only it, but also Lombardy, Tuscany, Parma, Romagna and Modena.
Risorgimento. Home
In Italian, the word risorgimento means rebirth and renewal. And this term was not chosen by chance to refer to the events that took place in Italy in the nineteenth century.
The prerequisites for the start of the country's renewal movement were so diverse that it is not possible to single out the most important of them. The most important are usually enlightened, liberal, nationalist, anti-church and anti-Austrian.
To deny the expansionist policy of the House of Savoy, which ruled in Sardinia, is also not worth it. The rulers of the future Italian kingdom took to the fight against their competitors quite actively and managed to win over the inhabitants of all Italy.
Apeninsky peninsula on the eve of unification
In the middle of the 19th century, Italy was an economically backward state with a predominantly medieval system of government. It was only in the 1840s that industrial development began in the most developed northern part of the country.revolution, while the rest was fragmented into numerous small states, separated from each other by borders, customs duties and additional duties.
Not the last role in the country's lagging behind other European states was played by the frankly feudal system of government, as well as the existence of the Papal State, which was ruled by church officials. The very existence of a theocracy in nineteenth century Europe did not arouse positive emotions among the Italians, since church officials behaved towards the locals not much better than the Austrians towards the inhabitants of the Italian territories they occupied.
It is also worth remembering that until 1590 Italy belonged to the Spanish Empire, after - to France, and as a result of the War of the Spanish Succession, which ended in 1714, it was under the rule of the Austrian Habsburgs. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled by the Bourbons, was extremely dependent on the Austrian ruling house, since it was precisely his military support that kept it.
Social and economic crisis
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Italian bourgeois entered the period of primitive accumulation of capital, the active decomposition of the feudal economy began, and the political system more and more obviously came into conflict with the new economic conditions. Workers are coming in, more peasants are moving to the city and becoming active participants in urban social life, while moving away from the church.
BIn 1846, with the active participation of Pope Pius IX, a moderate reformation began in the Papal State, a special commission was created to study the political and social problems of the state. It was Pius IX who created the prerequisites for the future unification of Italy, proposing a single customs union for the entire peninsula and putting forward a proposal to build railways in the Papal States.
Such vigorous activity caused concern among the Austrians, who captured Ferrara without much resistance from the local population. In response to these actions, the Pope advanced the Swiss Guards to the borders of his state. The inhabitants of the region greeted this decision with general rejoicing, and it became clear that the Italians were ready for more active actions to liberate their country from foreign occupation.
Revolution of 1848
In 1848, a revolution began in northern Italy, which quickly led to the active retreat of the Austrians from the occupied lands. On March 26, 1848, the Venetian Republic was proclaimed, headed by Daniel Manin, recognized as the hero of the unification of Italy and one of the designers of the political structure of the Italian kingdom.
Shortly after this, an armed uprising began in Parma and Milan, they were supported by the king of Piedmont, who hoped to create a northern Italian kingdom. All these actions led to the beginning of the first Austro-Italian war, which entered the historiography under the name of the War of Independence.
All of Italy was on firerevolutionary movement, barricades were erected in every major city. A revolution in Rome in 1848 led to the flight of the Pope and the proclamation of the Roman Republic. However, with the help of France, it was soon liquidated.
Despite the fact that the revolution failed, it also led to the collapse of traditional regimes on the territory of all the states of the Apennine Peninsula, except for Piedmont, which determined the further course of the country's unification under its banner.
Unification of Italy under the rule of Piedmont
Initially, the ruling elite of the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia did not intend to create a new kingdom on the territory of a united country, but simply sought to expand the power of their own state to the entire peninsula and establish their own rules on it.
However, it quickly became clear that the unification of the state into a single Italian kingdom was impossible on the old grounds. By 1860, the actual consolidation of the lands was completed, it remained to settle the formalities.
On March 17, 1861, an all-Italian parliament was convened in Turin, which proclaimed the formation of the Italian kingdom. The king of Piedmont, Victor Emmanuel II, became the head of the new country. The political structure of the Italian kingdom was framed on the basis of the principles that existed in Piedmont and Sardinia.
Consequences of the merger
Unification of the state led to the growth of not only national identity, but also class solidarity. In the mid-1840s, several workers appeared on the territory of the Sardinian kingdom.organizations that aimed to defend the interests of workers.
In addition, in the 1860s, the newly created state faced a number of problems. A speedy solution was required in the sphere of land relations. The pressure from the peasantry, provoked by representatives of the Bourbons, was so great that on January 1, 1861, a decree was signed on the division of communal lands, which was demanded by the peasants.
The supporters of the former ruling dynasty found the greatest support in the papacy. Pope Pius IX rejected truce proposals one after another and refused to make Rome the capital of a new country.
Capital of the Kingdom of Italy
Despite the fact that the congress of the all-Italian parliament had already been held in Turin, Italy was not yet completely united, since the most important city of the peninsula was still under the control of the Pope.
The ceremonial entry of the King of a united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II, took place on July 2, 1871. Thus, the creation of the Italian kingdom was completed. State symbols were soon approved and relations with neighbors established, but relations with the Popes continued to be tense until Mussolini came to power, who nevertheless signed an agreement with the Pope.
The national flag of the Italian kingdom has become a green-white-red tricolor with the coat of arms of the Piedmontese dynasty in the middle. To avoid the same colors on the flag and coat of arms, the coat of arms was surrounded by a blue border.
The Italian kingdom ceased to exist in1946, when the monarchy was abolished and the representatives of the ruling dynasty expelled from the country.
