Italy

 Regional Map

Source: http://users.dickinson.edu/~rhyne/232/Three/Italy_1815.htm

 National status (1815) (Status as a people/region)

Before Italy was considered Unified there was an extreme dependency on foreign powers.  The political power was heading towards the Italians who fought under the banner of House of Savoy.  The state was considered to be more republican which was soon wanted to be avoided during unification.  Many did not even have the right to vote.  This period before unification was called restoration.  Little groups in Italy demanded more restrictive policies and also contemplated that Italy needed help from the Austrian military. By 1848 there was an Italian Revolution which helped restore the Government.    

Sarti, Roland. "politics and government in independent Italy." Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE53&iPin=ITA00011b&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 10, 2008). Sarti, Roland. "Restoration (Italy)." Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE53&iPin=ITA0708&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 10, 2008).  

Ethnic Make-up

 Most Italians were catholics. The catholic church occupied an important place in Italian history. The catholic church  was not only a religion in Italy, it also intertwined culture, politics. There were some other religions in Italy including Islam, Judaism, etc. which take place of 5 percent of the population. Italy is made up of many ethnicities such as Lombards and Goths in the north. There were also Greeks, Spaniards, Saracens in Sicily, Latins in and around Rome, and Etruscans  and other ethnicities in central Italy.  There are less than two percent of Non-Italian minorities whom lived near the boarders of France, Austria, Croatia, and Slovania.  
 

Sources:  Kurian, George Thomas, ed. "Italy." Encyclopedia of the World's Nations and Cultures, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. World Atlas. www.fofweb.com. 

Religious Make-up

 Most Italians were catholics. The catholic church occupied an important place in Italian history. The catholic church  was not only a religion in Italy, it also intertwined culture, politics. There were some other religions in Italy including Islam, Judaism, etc. which take place of 5 percent of the population.

Source: Kurian, George Thomas, ed. "Italy." Encyclopedia of the World's Nations and Cultures, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. World Atlas. www.fofweb.com. 

Stimulants to Unification (Issues prior to/during 1815)

 Before Unification, the rise in population created a high and unexpected supply and demand. Italy's lack of agricultural improvement's and scarce fertile land created famine and hunger for decades. Under Napoleans control, he chose to end the feudal system and opened land property for any willing buyer as a way to attempt to solve the agricultural problems. Instead of improving the agricultural system, he worsened it due to most suffering while few gained. Seeing this occuring and his dream of independance slowley fading away, Italian politian Glusepe Garlbaldi called a land reform to bring the county close to independence and power. As the economy was growing, the diversity was shown from the North and South Parts of Italy. Dreaming about an greater economic success and mainstream trade, the patriotic Risorgimento  movement urged to united the county to make it a national market. The Risogimento movement was a important stimulate to Italy's unification of 1860. This movement gave people a sense of national identity and a need for independance. Even though it cannot be traced back, these ideas were sparked out of some of the first scriptures that expressed the similarities of the nation. Important literal figures like Dante expressed the ideas of Italy's unity and language. This movement provided a stimulate to help speed the process of unity with the county of Italy.

Sources: 

Sarti, Roland. "land reform, Italy." Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=ITA0447&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 10, 2008).

Sarti, Roland. "economy, Italy." Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=ITA0292&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 10, 2008).

Sarti, Roland. "Risorgimento." Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=ITA0714&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 5, 2008).

Obstacles to Unification

 Before unification, Papal States and the Kingdom of Two Sicilies made up most of Italy. One obstacle of Italy's unification was Austria. Many parts of Italy were under Austrian control which wanted to keep as much land as possible. With military dominance and power, Austrian government hindered the process of unification. But the county of Piedmont wanted change. With king Victor Emmanuel and Commander in Chief Count Camilo Di Cavour, they pursued Italy's independence  by figuring out a way to end Austrian rule. With lots of interrogation, France under the rule of Napoleon the third allied with Piedmont to face against the great Austrian military. This war was called the Austro-French war that fought for the unity of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a central Italian Kingdom, the Papal States, and a northern Italian kingdom under Piedmont.

Sources:

 Roman, Eric. "Austro-French War of 1859." Austria-Hungary and the Successor States: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=AH0023&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 10, 2008).

Status of Jews

There were some Jewish communities that had been living in Venice, Florence, and Piedmont even after the Expulsion(1569).  Jews were both accepted and not accepted, yet Jews had a big contribution to helping control the Vatican finances.  Jews lived in ghettos which were not an ideal and happy place of living for them.  They considered the ghettos to be dangerous and degrading because there was poor housing, crammed living space, and bad sanitation.  Jews were also forced out of ideal jobs and instead had to take part in menial occupations.  As the Enlightenment came and Jews had experienced some obstacles in the journey to freedom, they were finally given the same citizen rights as everyone else(1848).

Sources:

Sarti, Roland. "Jews in Italy." Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, European Nations. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=ITA0433&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 10, 2008).

Important Figures/Leaders

 king Victor Emmanuel II:
  Victor Emmanuel II was born in 1820, in Turin and became the king of Sardina in 1849.  Vctor Emanuel strengthened Sardinia's economy through a new system of government finance which include promotion of industry, and a liberal trade policy. He invented a lot of money in the army, and made it stronger and more orgenaized.
In 1859, Victor Emmanuel drove the Austrians out of the province of Lombardy with the help of the french. and In 1860 the duchies of Tuscany, Modena, and Parma and the papal state of Romagna voted for annexation by Sardinia, it happend The same year the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Sicily and southern Italy), freed from Spanish control thanks to Giuseppe Garibaldi, and voted to join Sardinia. In 1861 Sardinia's parliament proclaimed Victor Emmanuel king of Italy.after that in 1866 he gained Venice from Austria. In 1870 Victor Emmanuel quickly annexed the city of rome, ending the pope's secular authority over any significant Italian territory.

Giuseppe Garibaldi:
     Garibaldi was born in France to Italian parents. he joined to the Sardinian navy in 1833 and ove there he learned the ideas of Giuseppe Mazzini, who wanted to free italy from foreign rulers domination and create a united Italian republic. in 1848 Garibaldi returned to italy after a long time in the US and offered to help to the king of Sardinia, who was leading the movement for independence, and raised volunteers for the defense of the short-lived Roman Republic.after garibaldi was Driven from Rome again by the French in 1849 to the United States he returned in 1854.  In 1859 victor emmanuel II began a war to drive the Austrians from Italy. Garibaldi fought for him in the Alpine campaign and then  With 1,000 volunteers, known as the "Red Shirts", he invaded Sicily and Naples, won and drove out the Spanish rulers from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which joined and was called Sardinia. In 1874 Garibaldi was elected  to parliament.
Giuseppe Garibaldi

Sources:

"Garibaldi, Giuseppe." Facts On File, Inc. World Atlas. www.fofweb.com.

"Victor Emmanuel II." Facts On File, Inc. World Atlas. www.fofweb.com.

What institutions governed

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Foreign Policy

Concerns

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What peoples are included?

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What peoples are excluded?

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