Italy was divided in terms of wealth; the south was poor and the north wealthy. Both the North and South seemed to live different existences, although there were many northern Italians who still remained poor. The new liberal government rightly saw a struggle to create a united Italy with such a dominant history of division. Moreover in order to make such drastic new policies to the country it was vital the new government was
Some countries were reactionary, Piedmont, Modena, The Papal States and Naples, trying to erase all memory of Napoleonic rule and changing everything back to the way it had been before, even though it could be argued that Napoleonic rule improved conditions for the majority of people in Italy, the lower classes especially. Other rulers reacted Progressively, Tuscany and Parma, taking what Napoleon had done and building upon it or working with it to create a better state of living for everyone. Trying to unify Italy would mean either following one of these ideals or the other, so not everyone would be pleased with which ever choice the unified Italy’s government made. One country in Europe was
Mazzini gave tremendous support to Italian Nationalism and he spent most of his time convincing Italians to support the creation of a democratic, self-governing state of Italy. His complex ideas such as ‘The Brotherhood of people’ meant that he had limited appeal to upper classes, and his radical views also did not appeal to the middle classes and liberals who opposed violence. The revolutions in support for national unity in the years 1848-9 meant that for 18 months the Italian peninsula was in turmoil until the gains won by liberals were reversed and the revolutions that had taken place were suppressed. To a large extent I agree that Mazzini’s limited appeal contributed to slow progress, however I think that there are other over-riding factors such as the influence of the Church and lack of foreign support that would have also contributed. It could be argued that Mazzini’s ideas were the main reason for the slow progress of national unity in Italy in the years 1815-48.
However there was a call for unification guided by liberal constitution although it was a slow progress through many years. It could be argued that Mazzini’s ideas were the main reason for the slow progress of national unity in Italy in the years 1815-48. By 1848 Italy was still not unified although many had tried to achieve this such as Mazzini, a dedicated revolutionary. He wanted a strong central government and believed this could be achieved through a series of revolutions. Although he wanted a democratic unified government, many of his ideas were very radical and idealistic.
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.
‘To what extent do you agree that the nationalist movement was the greatest threat facing the liberal government by 1914?’ By 1914, there were a number of threats to the liberal government. Examples of these are from the PSI (the socialist party), nationalists and the Catholic Church. The reasons why these groups were a threat to the liberal government was in part because of the weaknesses of the liberal government itself, and the poor state of the economy under the liberals. The economy especially led to a lack of Italian identity, with very high levels of emigration (mainly to the USA). These factors led to a fragile liberal government, with the main threat in my opinion being posed not by the nationalists but the socialists.
To what extent was Mussolini’s rise to power in 1922 due to his own talents and abilities? By 1900 Italy’s process of unification had been largely completed. However, this completion did not spread beyond territory, and in all other respects, Italy was still very much segregated. As a result of this, the nation was weak which created an inferiority complex within Italy in comparison to the rest of Europe amongst the educated classes, whilst the vast majority of the population still felt no real connection to the nation of Italy. This led to the formation of numerous political parties, spanning to political spectrum, but no clear majority of support for any.
However as the war progressed and more issues became apparent, the divide between the rich and the poor and the left and the right wing became vaster. Before the war had commenced liberals and socialists were aggravated with German democracy. Germany portrayed itself as a democratic state, however all the power belonged to the elite. Kaiser Wilhelm II even boasted that he had never read the constitution. Therefore Liberals wanted constitutional reform and more power to be given to the Reichstag.
Why was so little progress made towards the unification of Italy between 1815-1848? There are many different contributing factors as to why so little progress was made towards the unification of Italy in 1815-1848. For example the Restored monarchs and the revolutions of 1815-49 all hindered the progress of unification because they were all un-progressive and the revolutions even lead to a step back. Pre- Napoleonic Italy was not as we know it to day; it was merely a geographical expression, as the Austrian Chancellor, Prince Metternich, once said. It was a disjointed country, which had many different states, until Napoleon invaded.
To what extent was Austria responsible for the failure of Italian revolutionaries in the years of 1820-1849? It can be argued that Austria was largely responsible for Italian revolutions failing between the years of 1820-1849. They were a dominant force within Italy and would not allow themselves to be overthrown. However it is clear that other factors also had a significant impact over the failure of Italian revolutionaries, such as the fragmentation within Italy at the time, the misguidance of the revolts, the Pope was withdrawing his support of the revolts and their figurehead Mazzini being in exile. Revolutions between 1820-1821, 1831-1832 and 1948-1949 were all ultimately overthrown to some extent by Austrian force.