Italian Unification Dbq Essay

There was much concern about the growing cities in the north while the south remained to depend on its agriculture for support. These concern have not yet been resolved to this day. To gain more territories, Italy joined Germany and Austria in the Triple Alliance in 1882 to conquer Ethiopia and Turkey (Defusco). At the outbreak of World War I, Italy remained neutral until 1915, when the Allies promised Italy more territories (Defusco). At the end of the war Italy only received two of the territories it was promised, which created a strong nationalistic view and disappointment amongst its people.

Therefore, they strategically persuaded European powers to fight against Austria…Italy provoked Austria into war Cavour then used Garibaldi’s popular appeal to his benefit. “When Garibaldi and Emmanuel rode through Naples to cheering crowds, they symbolically sealed the union of north and south, of monarch and people.” (McKay, 837) Italy was now unified.

Whoever ignores this love of the individual regions of Italy will always build on sand.” (DOC 2) People believed the diverse social classes and power would not make for a unified country. Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, a politician from Piedmont-Sardinia, said, “Active power resides almost exclusively in the middle class and part of the upper class, both of which have ultraconservative interests to defend.” (DOC 4) Daniele Manin, a politician from Venice, wrote, “Peoples who have different origins and customs should not be forced together, because otherwise civil war will follow the war of independence.” (DOC 6) People against unification felt that bringing the diverse states together would cause more problems and do more harm than good. There were obvious pros and cons to the unification if Italy, but some civilians were on the fence.

Later that year, Sicily and Naples became apart of the newly unified Italy. A year following, Emmanuel II became the king of Italy. “The political framework of the united Italy could not overcome these problems” (693). Although Italy had gained

1815 after the fall of Napoleon, the concert of Concert of Europe and the Congress of Vienna the conservative forces of Europe restored Italy back to its pre-napoleonic ways to make French invasion harder and to stop Italy's liberalist and nationalist movements. Austria was given direct control over Lombardy and Venetia and controlling some northern states indirectly. Many of these restored governments tried to stop the Italian unification. Ferdinand I ruled Naples and Sicily suppressing freedom of speech. In the Papal States used inquisition and torture to stop nationalism and liberalism.In 1820 a revolution in Spain triggered a revolt in Naples. Ferdinand I agreed to grant a series of laws but Metternich worried about the success of the

“The representatives in the Congress of Vienna wanted to prevent France’s aggression by surrounding France with stronger nations, restore balance of power, so no country would be a threat to others and restore Europe’s royal families to the thrones they head held before Napoleon’s coquets” (Beck, 239). In order to make the weak nations around France stronger, the former Austrian Netherlands and Dutch Republic were united to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. “Group of 39 German states were loosely joined as the newly create German confederation, dominate by Austria. Leaders of Europe wanted to weaken France, but also didn’t want to leave it powerless. If they did, the French might rebel to take revenge but if France became weaker and was broken up, another country might become so strong that it would threaten them all. France remained a major but diminished European powers” (Beck, 239). Nevertheless, not all-important decisions were made by the great powers.

Giuseppe Mazzini was instrumental in unifying the Italian nation as his ideals spread throughout Italy’s intellectual community. Although many of his attempts at rallying the common people to a revolution failed, he circulated and popularized the idea of a fully unified Italy for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. In his work “The Duties of Man,” Mazzini establishes that he is largely a romantic nationalist, since he draws heavily on history; however, he utilizes the power of certain liberal nationalist sentiments such as individuals’ rights in his own work.

A post Middle Age Italy was afflicted by medieval wars and the bubonic plague. A change was needed to restore the vision of what Italy could become. This change was found within one family: the Medici’s, who helped to return the glory and influence to Florence. The Medici’s saw the value in contributing to the advancement of the greatest minds of the period. This was evident in their patronage of leading Artists such as Michelangelo and of renowned Teachers such as Galileo. The sphere of influence the Medici’s enjoyed also extended to the political arena, which happened to be heavily influenced by the Catholic Church at the time. The Medici’s were able to capitalize on the power of the Church and through this influence and the use of

This is where the phrase "Le Congrés ne marche pas; Il danse." (The Congress does not walk, it dances)2 came from. There were, however, many issues addressed during the Congress of Vienna. In the time before the Congress, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars erased the former structure of Europe. The job of the Congress was to restore peace. The principle of legitimacy was often involved, but it really didn't have any power behind it. Its purpose was to achieve a balance of power that directed the Congress' decisions. This led to many alliances, such as the one between Talleyrand, Metternich, and Casltereagh. They wanted to stop Russia and Prussia from gaining more power (Russia was attempting to gain power by annexing Poland and Prussia by gaining Saxony). They all agreed to go to war, if needed, to stop the Russo-Prussian plan. It is interesting to think that the basic idea of the Congress of Vienna was to create peace, but there were three of its delegates, entirely ready and willing to go to war when something wasn't going their way. This was because Metternich, Talleyrand, and Castlereagh, wanted peace, but - as was said earlier - on their own terms. This event brings to light the fact that most of the delegates, while agreeing with the idea of unity and peace for all, were concerned about their own countries welfare first and foremost.

Alternatively, even before France had been defeated,the Quadruple Alliance remained together as one. When the Quadruple alliance defeated France they, “restored the Bourbon monarchy to France in the person of Louis XVIII and agreed to meet at a congress in Vienna in September 1814 to arrange a final peace settlement”. The person who was in charge of the taking of the Congress

When Napoleon was sentenced to exile in Elba, The Congress of Vienna was held. The Congress of Vienna was supposed to sort out all of Europe’s problems in a nonviolent way. Countries from all over Europe sent their delegates to represent them. The big countries were Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Their delegates decided on a new Europe, a Europe that left both Italy and Germany divided into states. In 1861 Italy was unified, as well as Germany in 1871 due to strong nationalist movements. France lost the Alsace-Lorraine to Germany which had a lot of natural resources in the Franco-Prussian war and were now eager to take it back. In Sebria and Austria-Hungary lived large areas of differing nationalist groups, all enthusiastic to become free from the states in which they lived.

The revolutionaries in Italy had longstanding grievances, some were nationalists and some were liberals. Despite all having different ideas and aims they all resoundingly agreed that Italy needed change. The hopes of the various revolutionary groups had been raised by the election of Pope Pius and Charles Albert the King of Piedmont Sardinia. However, their hopes and resulting revolutions were crushed due to many concerning factors.

Italy is a Christian country, 83% of the population belonging to the Roman Catholic church. The relationship between Italians and religion is special. There have been many spiritual people before the Romans came along. Italy is, essentially, a nation embracing, all creeds, and religions, where the relationship between state and the church is regulated and sanctioned by constitutional laws. The question is why is there quite a variety of the number of atheists and agnostic rising? Along with religious minorities, Islam is the largest, followed by Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism. Along with that many do not practice religion around 12% of the population in Italy follows no religion.

Relying on the needs of the society of that time, Machiavelli comes to the conclusion that the most important task is the formation of a single Italian state (Machiavelli 15). Developing his thoughts, the author comes to the following inference: only a prince can become a leader capable of leading people and building a unified state. It is not a concrete historical personality but someone abstract, symbolic, possessing such qualities that in the aggregate are inaccessible to any living ruler. That is why Machiavelli devotes most of his research to the issue of what qualities should the prince possess to fulfill the historical task of developing a new state. The written work is constructed strictly logically and objectively. Even though the image of an ideal prince is abstract, Machiavelli argues that he should be ruthless, deceiving, and selfish.

Obviously, the newly united Italian state was greeted with much celebration. Unfortunately, it was also only a start. In truth, fundamental problems still plagued the country and had to be addressed if complete hegemony was to be achieved: firstly, the new Kingdom of Italy suffered from extreme backwardness and secondly, it was still deeply divided. The new Italy was split between north and south, between cities and countryside, between regions, between cities and localities,