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How Significant Was The Role Of Modern Italy During The Period C1800-1900?

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How significant was the role of individuals in the making of modern Italy in the period c1800-1900?
The making of modern Italy undoubtedly did not come easily, since the Italian peninsula was so diverse politically and culturally into many individual and independent states; which were dominated by foreign powers. Unification did not happen due to a single factor, but it took over half a century for several factors to finally unite Italy, even if it was for name sake only. It is fairly accurate to say that foreign power is a dominating factor which had pushed for changes for the making of modern Italy, and that some factors held a greater significance than others and therefore leaving a bigger impact. However if it weren’t the contributions of all these factors, then the struggle of achieving unification would seem far off.
Ed Beavington believed that the importance of nationalism in the unification of Italy in his article states that “in terms of effective role in the creation of the kingdom of Italy, it was overshadowed by the role of foreign intervention.” Furthermore, he comes to conclude that the succession of unification in Italy was united from above (North Italy), not below. This supports the argument that foreign power is a dominating factor and its importance can be seen throughout this entire process up to post 1870. Alternatively, Ed Beavington had also argued that “Italian national consciousness was almost non-existent before Napoleons Bonaparte invasion of the

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