Italian Unification Dbq

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There were a number of reasons as to the fact that Italian unification seemed so far away in the early 1850s, and reasons why nobody felt that Italy as one state would ever be possible. There had been a number of attempted uprisings, however all of which proved unsuccessful. The area of Italy that exists now was still in separate parts. At the beginning of the year 1859, Italy was divided politically into seven main parts; the country had never been united politically since the sixth century. Yet in less than two years, between April 1859 and November 1860, almost the whole of Italy was brought under one ruler, King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. Around ninety percent of the population were uneducated and could not even understand the term…show more content…
Racial differences, economic and social inequalities became apparent in the newly organised kingdom. Northern Italy was North European, prosperous, and economically advanced, highly industrialised with a small amount of illiteracy; southern Italy was racially Mediterranean, and backward peasant-farming and fishing communities of whose population only ten percent could read and write. The monarchy and government sought to improve conditions in the south, but that meant greatly increased tax burdens on the industrialised north. The south complained that it had practically no voice in the administration of the new state, which was largely true. Bitter sectional rivalry, threatening separation at times, characterised the real history of Italy until after the start of the twentieth…show more content…
The unification of Italy in 1861 brought with it a belief that Italy deserved its own overseas empire, alongside those of the other powers of Europe. However, Italy had arrived late to the colonial race, and its relative weakness in international affairs meant that it was dependent on other great powers for its empire expansion. Italy made attempts to seize many countries in Africa but were frequently ‘bullied’ off them by superior powers such as France and Germany. Italy under Francesco Crispi, a promoter of Italian colonialism in Africa began searching for colonies before reaching an agreement with the British to crumble the Egyptian empire. This new gain in land denied the Ethiopian empire an outlet to sea, with some of the land around Ethiopia surrounded; the Italian Prime minister Agostino Depretis ordered an invasion. This invasion was halted after the loss of five hundred Italian troops at the Battle of Dogali. Italy was once again humiliated and another financial challenge faced the monarchy of
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