From this emerged a number of evident figures such as Guiseppe Mazzini who were advocates for Italian Unification. However, the significance of Mazzini has been questioned and it could be argued that the limited appeal of his ideas were the main reason for the slow progress of national unity in Italy. Although, it could also be said that there were additional reasons such as regionalism, restored monarchies and the power of Austria that possessed more prominent effects. Guiseppe Mazzini was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. He strived for the unity of Italy as a whole peninsula that had a republican democracy.
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.
How Far Does the North South Divide in Italy Explain the Weakness of the Liberal State in 1896-1914 (30 marks) Italy was fully unified in 1870 this was just 40 years before the first world war. The Liberal State governing it was weak for a number of reason such as several opposition groups, the North South and problems from the unification. However the most important reason was the political system itself and the actions of the liberals including the foreign policy and corruption. At the time Italy used a proportional representation (PR) voting system. This meant that every vote counted and the parliament was proportional to them.
Metternich aimed to stop the revolution in Naples from spreading to other parts of the country, as it was obvious, as it was the first major uprising that it had the potential to be big enough to damage the Austrian rule in Italy, King Ferdiand had promised a constitution which was not being granted when they wanted and General Pepe was appointed as leader of the revolutionists and he was to be made leader of the new government. At the Congress of Troppau it was decided between some of the biggest countries in Europe that the uprising would be stopped at the King of Naples would be restored, for this to happen there were various steps. The entire operation was master minded by the Austrians. The Austrian troops marched into Naples and suppressed the uprising with the backing of Russia and Prussia, the suppression was very vicious and they restored King Ferdinand’s monarchy, which was very much in favour of Austrian help. During 1821 there was another uprising in Italy in Piedmont, this was the battle between Charles Albert and
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.
The weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914 The creation of liberal Italy in 1870 after the merging of each separate state lead to many political, social and economic issues which lasted and were subsequently added to until the breakdown of liberalism itself. By focusing on issues created by unification itself as well as problems that existed before the creation of the liberal government this essay will outline the main weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914. Firstly, economic problems were one of the main weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914. The state of Italy’s economy pre 1870 was poor; this only proceeded to worsen after unification itself, as the cost of this large scale project brought with it huge debts as well as little or no solutions to pre existing problems. The fact that Italy had a very limited industry and lack of an efficient infrastructure also meant that hardly any money was being created to pump into the economy to keep it running or pay for these debts.
(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.
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.
However, in reality it made it hard for Italy to sell abroad (due to the higher prices), so Italy lost its competitiveness on the world market. In addition, serious deflation took place and by 1936 the government was forced to devalue the Lira. To summarise, the reform was a failure as – although in the short run, Italy seemed powerful, in the long run the economy suffered. The battle for the Lira was a propaganda victory in which Mussolini successfully confirmed the image that the fascists were bringing stability and prosper to Italy, without actually doing so. Mussolini also had two other battles; that for
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).