Success of 1848 Revolution in Italy

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We know that Italy was divided into many small provinces in 1815 as per the decision taken in the Congress of Vienna, and thus, the national unity of this country was undone by the diplomats of the Congress. The provinces of Lombardy and Venetia were annexed to the Austrian Empire to compensate for the loss of Belgium which was given to Holland. The rulers of the province of Parma, Modena, Tuscany were related to the King of Austria. Thus, most of the Italian provinces were brought under the direct influence of Austria. Besides, the kingdom of Naples was established in the south and the independent kingdom of Piedmont including Sardinia lay in the north. In the centre were the dominions of the Pope. The people of the Italian provinces were not satisfied with the above decisions. Consequently, the movement for the establishment of national unity was started 6y the patriots of Italy just after the Congress of Vienna, but they could not achieve any success. As most of the provinces of Italy were under the direct control of Austria, and Chancellor Metternich was a great reactionary of his age, no progress could be made in this field. Revolutions which had erupted as a consequence of the July Revolution of 1830 were also crushed by Metternich. But the national spirit of the patriots could not be suppressed for ever. In 1848, Cardinal Mostai Ferretti occupied the Papal throne of Rome. He was a liberal ruler. He was against the influence of Austria over the Italian provinces. In his dominions, Pope ordered his governors to hold the elections to the legislative councils. On the basis of the lists of the elected persons sent by the governors of the Papal provinces, Pope selected some persons and constituted a council of ministers. He framed a liberal constitution applicable to the whole of his dominion. Restrictions were removed from the press, speech
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