“To what extent was the unification of Italy due to the weakness of Austria?” Throughout Europe between 1815 and 1848 swept feelings of nationalism and a desire for unification, including the states collectively known as Italy. This lack of identity was underlined when Count Metternich said “Italy is just a geographical expression.” Nationalism promoted the belief in one language, one culture and the pride in one’s identity. Before unification, life in Italy was frustrating for those who wanted unification. The North and the South states were economically different; the pope influenced the central states. Nevertheless, the process began from 1861 and by 1871 boundaries had been settled.
Cavour did many things and has many contributions to Italy. But the main aim was not unified Italy. He hoped that Piedmont would be strong enough to assume the leadership of Italy in the event of another wars with Austria, France and the House of Hapsburg of Austria. Many facts and evidence could see that Cavour did not want a unified Italy. He tried to prevent it and the "unification" was only Piedmontization (tried to extent the influence of Piedmont).
The years of 1896 – 1914 are those of Liberal Italy, the country of ‘Italy’ as we know it today had come about roughly between the years of 1870 to 1871, the significance of this is that by 1896 the newly formed country had not been unified by any means for a great amount of time, meaning unification was likely to be strained because bringing large regions together takes time, as we see in the years prior. A great significance that did not support United Italy was language. 2% of the population at the time spoke ‘Mainstream’ Italian, which would lead to massive hold ups in any coalition. This is broken down into two problems, direct communication and problems with allegiance. Spoken communication was a small factor, as only a certain population had a large reason to speak it in the first place; lowly or poor people had little say in political matter making their language less relevant.
In July 1947, Austria took Ferrara, a town in the Papal States. Austria later backed out of this due to the protests of the Pope. The Italians wanted Austrian rule to be removed from the north east of Lombardy and Venetia. The Austrian armies had more superior military skills than the Italians did. They also had more troops than the Italians had 75,000 troops to Italy’s 30,000 troops.
All of which the north fared in much better than the south. Secondly other issues faced by the liberal regime in Italy from 1870 to 1914 were social ones. The actual creation of Italy itself caused huge problems as the masses had hardly been involved in the fight for unification also each individual state had their own identity and culture so were not happy about losing that to be part of a country they didn’t necessarily want to be in. As well as
The Unifications of Germany and Italy In the late 19th century, Germany and Italy had quickly gained power with their almost instantaneous unification. Germans had been governed by France, the Holy Roman Empire and Austrian Empire; the country divided into dozens of states sought power and saw unification as the means. Italy also separated into many duchies, kingdoms and principalities; lead by many greater countries also sought some independence and power. Both counties were lead into nationalistic views to fight for what they wanted, However, not everybody can get what they want, the unification of the countries had changed the stances of most other power countries, who wanted to remain in power. They saw the quickly growing countries as a threat, this all lead to the First and Second World War.
Germany was actually more divided than Italy. She had more than three hundred petty independent states, and they had no form of common government. Nonetheless, “ the Germans had a common language and shared some memories of unity in medieval times. Secondly,both the French Revolution and Napoleon affected the two countries. Italy was particularly influenced by the career of Napoleon who first rose to fame with his Italian campaign (1796).
Who is anybody, with the exception of Italian Americans themselves, to say that this culture must be preserved? If there are not enough people willing or able to be part in a culture then perhaps it should not exist. Cultures have come and gone throughout history. Cultures and societies much vaster and long lasting than the culture of Italian-Americans have vanished due to a plethora of reasons. It is really impossible to keep a culture like that of the Italian Americans going strong, and to avoid the inevitable assimilation of its people without practicing absolute endogamy.
Previously Italy had been divided into three states under Napoleonic rule; however the addition of two more caused division between the people. The Vienna Settlement created five main groups of states, this meant that Italy had a different structure and put up even more divided than previously. The Kingdom of the two Sicilies, the most southerly kingdom, was ruled by Ferdinand I, and remained the same geographically. The Papal States, ruled by Pope Puis VII and the Central Duchies of Tuscany, Modena and Parma, controlled by Duke Ferdinand III and Duke Francis IV, also remained as they had done previously geographically. The Emperor of Austria, Francis I, ruled the Austrian Empire in Lombardy and Venetia.
(Robson, 1992)” However, reviewing the economical, social and political issues this was not to be. After the Unification of Italy in 1870, despite some modernisation occurring, the country still fell behind the other major powers of Europe. The state of the Italian economy was a major problem facing the new Kingdom. It was in huge debt that it had inherited from the states that had been unified to make Italy. The Liberal’s did nothing to make it look like they would attempt to transform the economy, which remained backward and unprepared for World War 1.