Agriculture tended to be inefficient and backward, particularly in the South where the ‘latifondi’ dominated. The industrial development that did occur did so exclusively in the North and this reinforced an existing economic divide between North and South, as the North was developing economically and the south remained backward and deprived of industry. Poor economic conditions resulted in large-scale emigration particularly to North America. Therefore, the basis of the division within Italy was economic failure, and as the economics of a country is fundamental to its success, the north-south divide in relation to economics was a significant attribute to the weaknesses of the
With the lack of soldiers, it would be easier to invade Rome, which could’ve led to the decline of the Empire. This proves that internal decay was one of the major causes for the end of Rome. Document 6 shows the invasions of Barbarians in 476 on the Roman Empire. This demonstrates that the government and military were becoming weaker to the point where they weren’t strong enough to protect the empire from invasions. The government could not control all these invasions, so this was another component that helped the fall of the Roman Empire.
Growth of support for facism was a reason for Mussolinis appointment as Prime Minister,however there were many other reasons for Mussolinis appointment as PM, but growth of support was very important for him. The war and the mutilated victory, had an affect on Mussolinis appointment as PM. The main reason wad that the nationalists were bitterly disappointed that italy didn’t make any gains during the war. The nationalists claimed that Italy had been betrayed by the Liberal government, this shows that the nationalists might have wanted to overthrow the Liberal government and therefore supported Mussolini before he was appointed. This links into the title point that Mussolini had a wide support base and that it was growing.
This is where sectionalism came to be a huge role in the cause of the Civil War. The idea of a man against slavery becoming president made the South angry, how could a man who believed the complete opposite be at all fair or do anything they requested to better their economy and conditions? The South did not want Lincoln as a president, so they succeeded from the Union. The South’s whole economy came from plantations farming and slave labor, without slaves the felt that the South could not survive. The South’s population was slow on the ride and the talk of abolitions and the end of slavery was not good news to them.
However, the argument that carries the greatest weight is that the individuals who led these revolts and were at the forefront of the revolutionary movements were not united themselves in how they wanted Italy to unite. Austria clearly had a central role in putting down many of the revolts and so played an important role in both the failure of the 1820-21 revolutions and the ones that took place between 1848-49. Prior to 1820, Italy was unsettled and highly divided with nationalists, liberals and extremists amongst the masses. As the hostility in Italy increased under Austrian rule, secret societies emerged such as ‘The Carbonari’ – which was particularly popular in Southern Italy. By 1815, the aims of these secret societies changed in the direction of driving out the Austrians and restoring old Monarchs.
The failure of foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 can be attributed to many things. The combination of Henry's isolation from European affairs and the fact that his attempts to raise tax were ultimately unpopular failures, meant that he had no way to impose himself upon Europe. Even when he did manage to scrape together the finances needed for a strong foreign policy his reliance on his allies led to disaster. As soon as Henry took the throne in 1509, it was obvious that he was a king that wanted to fight a war. However, wars generally led to very expensive costs to the country.
The extent of unity within Italy varied immensely between 1896 and 1914, for example in the late 1890’s the North-South divide was undeniable and acted as the socio-economic and political split that separated the country entirely and questioned any possible solidarity within Italy. Unfortunately Italy’s government was equally unstable during this time which is evident as she had 20 different Prime Ministers leading the country between 1896 and 1914; this suggested that no successful decisions could be made. Although, in 1903 this changed with the introduction of Giovanni Giolitti who brought in many reforms that made the Liberal institutions far more secure through changes such as the introduction of real wages which in turn boosted the economy. Personally, I feel that despite Italy’s political and economic growth between 1896 and 1914 the extent of the unification remained questionable, therefore in the following essay I will be examining the key features of this time period to come to a reliable conclusion. Italy was not a democracy in 1896 so the right to vote was held only by the rich due to the parliament being dominated by wealthy landowners, businessmen and professional classes; this resulted in the masses having no say in the Italian government and suggested a low level of equality which consequently led to mass levels of unrest.
Hence Italy was economically and politically fragmented. Therefore , in the years 1896-1814, Italy was disunited to a great extent, both economically and politically. Italy was clearly disunited politically in the years 1896-1914, which we see from the various different groups/ parties that were formed during the time to oppose Giolitti’s government. During these years, many different groups spread in Italy like the socialists, anarchists and Marxists. All these groups ultimately meant more hard work for Giolitti, as they all opposed the liberal state and the government of Giolliti and hence wanted reform.
“How far does the North-South divide in Italy explain the weaknesses of the Liberal State in the years 1896-1914?” (30 mark) The North-South divide was a main factor in the years 1896-1914 that weakened the Liberal State however there are also other reasons that should be taken into consideration. For example the growth of hostile groups, Italy’s capitalist development and the strength of nationalist feelings. The identity of Italy was a main reason for why the liberal state was weak. This is due to the fact the North and South had many differences. For example the unification of Italy caused tension as the north and south were two different cultures.
Unnecessary military spending because of overexpansion and inability to expand further because of lack of new land to conquer is another theory. Yet another theory is that the immigration of Gothic Tribes and then mistreatment of the Gothics may have caused the immigrants to revolt. But the one thing that truly brought down Rome, and encompasses many of the other theories in its web of destruction, is the