The Unification of Italy
Bradley 1
Unification of Italy There were at least two reasons why it was not easy to unify Italy. One of the reasons was internal to Italy while the other was external.
The external reason was that there were foreign countries that had interests in the Italian peninsula. It was not simply a matter of getting various Italian states to agree to unify. Instead, there were the French and the Austrians to contend with. Both of these powers had interests in Italy and had to be dealt with in the course of the move to unify.The internal reason is that there was a strong sense of regionalism in what is now Italy. Even today, there is a great deal of hatred between the northern and the southern parts of Italy. In the 1860s and 1870s there was even more. Many Italians were more used to thinking of themselves as citizens of a given small state, not as ethnic Italians. This made them less likely to be interested in becoming part of a larger Italian state.
The fact that the Pope controlled his own areas within ununified Italy without doubt compounded the process of forming a nation-state; who within Italy would invade the Papal Bradley 2 States and risk noncommunication? However, after France, although Catholic but a foreign power began taking over Italian areas, such uncertainties lessened. Solidifying Italian resolve to throw out the French gave rise to the beginnings of Italian Nationalism, which unified the country, and eventually began Italy 's acquisition of colonies (Roberts, John). Curiously, Germany went through an almost identical process of unification culminating in the 1860 's; their "late" unification and expansion brought them into disagreement with the "early" unifiers (France
Unification of Italy There were at least two reasons why it was not easy to unify Italy. One of the reasons was internal to Italy while the other was external.
The external reason was that there were foreign countries that had interests in the Italian peninsula. It was not simply a matter of getting various Italian states to agree to unify. Instead, there were the French and the Austrians to contend with. Both of these powers had interests in Italy and had to be dealt with in the course of the move to unify.The internal reason is that there was a strong sense of regionalism in what is now Italy. Even today, there is a great deal of hatred between the northern and the southern parts of Italy. In the 1860s and 1870s there was even more. Many Italians were more used to thinking of themselves as citizens of a given small state, not as ethnic Italians. This made them less likely to be interested in becoming part of a larger Italian state.
The fact that the Pope controlled his own areas within ununified Italy without doubt compounded the process of forming a nation-state; who within Italy would invade the Papal Bradley 2 States and risk noncommunication? However, after France, although Catholic but a foreign power began taking over Italian areas, such uncertainties lessened. Solidifying Italian resolve to throw out the French gave rise to the beginnings of Italian Nationalism, which unified the country, and eventually began Italy 's acquisition of colonies (Roberts, John). Curiously, Germany went through an almost identical process of unification culminating in the 1860 's; their "late" unification and expansion brought them into disagreement with the "early" unifiers (France
Cited: 1. Stephanie Muntone,. N.p.. Web. Mar 2014. . (Muntone, Stephanie) 2. Tony Chueng, . N.p.. Web. Mar 2014. . (Chueng, Tony) 3. History.comStaff,”history.com.” .A Enetworks, n.d Web. Mar.2014. http;//www.history.com/topics/cavour . (History.com Staff) 4. Dictionary.com. http;//dictionary.reference.com (Dict.com) 5. John Roberts. “ Italian Unification” Mar. 2014 http;//www.newadvent.org/unify/14648b.htm . (Roberts, John)