How significant was Foreign Influence in shaping Italian Politics and Society c.1800-c.1900?

How significant was Foreign Influence in shaping Italian Politics and Society c.1800-c.1900? There were many factors throughout this period that helped shape and guide both Italian Politics and Society which helped eventually lead to unification, such as the rise of nationalistic and liberalistic sentiment which created a wave of enthusiastic, Italian patriots which helped shape the future of Politics and Society. Secondly, the significance of Piedmont cannot be overlooked as it both served as an example and later became the centre of Italian Politics and Society. However, it appears that Foreign Influence had the greatest impact on Politics and Society as it had a constant presence both positive and negative throughout the period, Duggan asserts that ‘Italy was unlikely ever to ‘make itself’1. The rise of nationalism and liberalism had a profound influence on Italy and was initially first brought to Italy by the French after their Invasion of 1796. Neapolitan rule led to the introduction of Liberal ideas and a Nationalistic sentiment, which was inspired by the ‘Code Napoleon’. Beales explains how ‘The French even gave some encouragement towards nationalism.2’ However Stiles points out that this can ‘mislead us into thinking that this preoccupied most Italians3’, which was clearly not the case for the majority as peasants had little interest in politics. The impact this ideology had on Politics and Society can be seen through the creation of secret societies such as the ‘Carbonari’ and ‘young Italy’ who sparked revolutions in 1920 and 30 which although had limited success were important first steps, Beales states ‘Many persons who first acquired experience of politics and administration under French occupation were prominent after 1815 in reformist, liberal and nationalist agitation’4. Martin Collier states the reason for the limited success was they ‘failed to attract foreign support to counteract the impact of Austria.5’ This supports the argument that