Similarities Between The Italian Revolution And The American Revolution

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Since the Italian Revolution and the American Revolution took place nearly 70 years and an ocean apart, they differed greatly, yet they were also similar in many ways. The American Revolution lasted from 1775 to 1783, while the Italian Revolution took place from 1848, taking place over the span of three wars of independence, to 1866. The American Revolution possibly inspired the Italian Revolution. Similar motives inspired revolutionaries to rebel against a foreign rule, which was Austria for the Italians and Britain for the Americans. Thus the American and Italian Revolutions shared many similarities while differing in political, economic, and social aspects. The Italian and American Revolutions are comparable in political aspects while differing in other important ways, too. Both the Americans and Italians fought…show more content…
In general, economy was a more significant motive for the American Revolution than it was for the Italian Revolution, even though it played a role in both. Italy and the American colonies had unfavorable taxes imposed by the Austrians and British, respectively. Italians and the Americans opposed these and often took measures to undermine these taxes, but the Americans had much greater opposition towards these taxes than the Italians, who mostly opposed them to prevent Austria from getting money. Italy and the American colonies were also largely on agriculture, especially export of crops. As a result, trade was also important to the economies of both. Britain imposed trade restrictions on its American colonies, which really angered the colonists and motivated them towards revolution. Italy did not have many trade restrictions, though, so such restrictions did not contribute to Italy’s revolution. Overall, economic aspects of the Italian and American Revolutions were similar but, at the same time, very
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