What Were The Most Serious Problems Facing The Newly-Unified Italy In 1870
Henrique Gil
Prof. Tribe
10/19/2014
History P2
What were the most serious problems facing the newly-unified Italy in 1870?
!
Throughout the nineteenth century, several movements of unification broken out in Italy.
However, it was not until the 1860s that Cavour and Garibaldi reached unification. Although unification was achieved tensions still ran high among the Italian people. Even tough unification was a great step to become a successful nation, there were many problems that Italy was never able to overcome successfully. With Cavour’s death, none of the following leaders was able to give continuity to the ideals of Cavour and were forced to deal with very difficult challenges, politically, socially and economically. Instead of a fully unified …show more content…
nation, it was clear that there were several conflicts of interests and ideas between northern Italy and southern Italy as the result of
‘Piedmontization’, the Roman question, the franchise, debt, agrarian and industrial backwardness, as well as a general unrest of the population.
Before the unification of Italy, Cavour’s principal objective was simply to expand Piedmont and not to unify all Italian territories, therefore, even though he changed is plans, ‘piedmontization’ was a problem for central and southern Italy. “The decision, made by Cavour and emphasised by his successors, to ‘piedmontise’ all existing administrative institutions and, thereby, to impose a centralised political structure on the rest of Italy, was unpopular in most of the former states” (Riall
77). Italy’s constitution was only to some extent an adaptation of Piedmonts constitution. The problem with ‘Piedmontisation’ was “the daunting degree of ignorance that existed in all parts of
Italy about the other parts”(Murphy 386). This centralization of the government was not a success
because the rulers were not fully aware of the situation of central and southern Italy this caused the implementation of some policies that could have never been well accepted by the poor parts of Italy, as heavy taxation for example. "Since the bureaucracy of Turin was too remote to understand backward southern provinces that were at an altogether different level of culture and properity, the imposition by Cavour and successive governments of a single unified legeslation (...) would impede the country 's political education.” (Smith 153), so concluded Denis Mack Smith.
Another problem had to do with the Roman question. “In 1870, following the withdrawal of
French troops from Rome, the Italian army occupied the city. Rome finally became the capital of
Italy. The Pope, however, maintained an implacable opposition to the new state, proclaiming himself (and his successors) to be a ‘prisoner of the Vatican’ and ordering Italian Catholics not to participate in politics.” (Riall 15) Rome was the only city that belonged to the pope and it was now the capital of Italy. Clearly it was evident that the relationship between the new state and the Church was extremely problematic and an inconvenience for the Italian nation. The State was not in favor of the Church’s influence in governmental affairs, “(…) a papal encyclical threatened Catholics with excommunication if they participated in Italian politics.” (Riall 76) Another decree of papal infallibility was issued by the Church, even though had Rome, an important symbol of Italian unity and power, it did not had the support of the pope, extremely influential among catholics. This resulted in a reduction of the number of people that could vote and was an influential factor mainly on the unrest of the working class, which the opinion was strongly shaped by the church.
!
The Franchise was very limited in the new Italian Kingdom."The franchise in 1870 was limited, property and educational qualifications were required from voters.” (Chaurasia 129) The ownership of property, educational qualifications in addition with the pay of high taxes was a substantial limitation because it was not affordable by the whole of Italy. This contributed greatly to
the dissatisfaction of the south. “this had not been so great a drawback in Piedmont, where the standard of literacy was relatively high, but when extended to the Papal States and the South less than three per cent of the population had a vote.” (Murphy 386) The Italian citizens felt wronged by the government because they felt they had no power over the state.
One of the most severe problems that Italy had to face was the situation regarding Italian economy and its debts. “A succession of constantly growing deficits had increased the national debt to alarming proportions, and by 1867 it had reached nearly 4,000,000,000 lire.”(McClellan 121)
Cavour’s policies of 1856 and 1859 were a great contribution for this deficit and new state required new infrastructures such as roads, railroads and military equipment. Nevertheless, some investments were unnecessary, for example the construction of a sizable modern navy, considering that Austria,
Italy’s main threat, was mostly a land power. The solution the state found was the establishment of high taxation fees and the negotiation of large foreign loans. “Piedmont (…) had neither the income nor the trained manpower to administer its new territories effectively” (Murphy 386). Evidently the north of Italy was absorbing the debts of the smaller regimes. The south was feeding of
the resources of the north, both financially and in human resources, leading to an aggravation of Italy’s economy. Italy was not an Industrial developed country and agrarian exploration was underdeveloped.
Agriculture, Italy’s main economic activity was “so deeply in debt that an estimated 30% of each year’s product was eaten up by repayments” (Murphy 385). Italy’s main economic activity was in debt mainly due to the use of techniques outdated by centuries. A poorly developed agriculture ruled the lives of the working class and industrial development was very underdeveloped as well, mainly employing women and children that shared their time between this and agriculture. “Conservative attitudes in central and southern Italy included a distrust of paper money and a condemnation of
financial borrowing and lending as immoral.” (Murphy 387) As a result of this reluctance it was impossible to meet Cavour’s principles of financial and industrial modernization.
!
Newly-unified Italy had to deal with complicated social problems as well.“During the
1870s, parts of Central and Southern Italy became major strongholds of anarchist activity” (Riall
76) In the poorest parts of Italy bandits took advantage of the confusion of the popular revolts to start a wave of crime, taking control of entire towns until the Italian army intervened. There was an attempt to introduce a jury system in the south “despite the protests of local authorities that Mafia activity would make the corruption and intimidation of the juries a simple matter”(Murphy 387)
Corruption and Mafia were an influential factor in the general mistrust towards the government, also, criminal activities are a factor for citizens agitation. Another social factor that Italy had to over come was the language barrier. Before unification each city-state spoke their own unique language.
Since each city-state spoke its own unique language, Italian unification was harder to come by. An attempt to work on this aspect was compulsory education, nonetheless it was very difficult to the southern population considering that “90% of the population was illiterate”.(Murphy 386). The economical disparity between the north and the south of Italy were as well a great contribution to the revolt of the southern Europe.
Italy had a great amount of obstacles to surpass, either political, economic or social. It seemed as if Italy, even though theoretically unified, was far from being a real nation due to problems such as a broad financial inconsistency between the north and the south of Italy, the different dialects spoken throughout Italy and the number of illiterates in both sides; The relation between the papal states and the state it self, the Church was a great drawback in achieving a
‘complete unification’ through all Italy. Some of the most serious problems facing newly-unified
Italy were for example, ‘Piedmontization’, the Roman question, the franchise, debt, agrarian and
industrial backwardness, as well as a general unrest of the population. These altogether presented some of the adversities Italy had to lead with in 1870.
!
Works Cited
Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam. History of Europe. N.p.: Atlantic Publishers & Dist, 2002. Print.
Killinger, Charles L. The History of Italy. Greenport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. QUESTIA. Web.
19 Oct. 2014. <http://www.questiaschool.com/read/101544720/the-history-of-italy>.
McClellan, George B. Modern Italy: A Short History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1933. Questia.
Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.questiaschool.com/read/17680757/modern-italy-a-shorthistory>.
Morris, Terry, Richard Staton, and Sally Waller. Europe 1760-1871. Ed. Derrick Murphy. N.p.:
Collins, n.d. Print.
Riall, Lucy. The Italian Risorgimento: State, Society, and National Unification. London: Routledge,
1994. QUESTIA. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://www.questiaschool.com/read/103783175/theitalian-risorgimento-state-society-and-national>.
Smith, Denis Mack. Mazzini. N.p.: YU Press, 1996. Print.
Prof. Tribe
10/19/2014
History P2
What were the most serious problems facing the newly-unified Italy in 1870?
!
Throughout the nineteenth century, several movements of unification broken out in Italy.
However, it was not until the 1860s that Cavour and Garibaldi reached unification. Although unification was achieved tensions still ran high among the Italian people. Even tough unification was a great step to become a successful nation, there were many problems that Italy was never able to overcome successfully. With Cavour’s death, none of the following leaders was able to give continuity to the ideals of Cavour and were forced to deal with very difficult challenges, politically, socially and economically. Instead of a fully unified …show more content…
nation, it was clear that there were several conflicts of interests and ideas between northern Italy and southern Italy as the result of
‘Piedmontization’, the Roman question, the franchise, debt, agrarian and industrial backwardness, as well as a general unrest of the population.
Before the unification of Italy, Cavour’s principal objective was simply to expand Piedmont and not to unify all Italian territories, therefore, even though he changed is plans, ‘piedmontization’ was a problem for central and southern Italy. “The decision, made by Cavour and emphasised by his successors, to ‘piedmontise’ all existing administrative institutions and, thereby, to impose a centralised political structure on the rest of Italy, was unpopular in most of the former states” (Riall
77). Italy’s constitution was only to some extent an adaptation of Piedmonts constitution. The problem with ‘Piedmontisation’ was “the daunting degree of ignorance that existed in all parts of
Italy about the other parts”(Murphy 386). This centralization of the government was not a success
because the rulers were not fully aware of the situation of central and southern Italy this caused the implementation of some policies that could have never been well accepted by the poor parts of Italy, as heavy taxation for example. "Since the bureaucracy of Turin was too remote to understand backward southern provinces that were at an altogether different level of culture and properity, the imposition by Cavour and successive governments of a single unified legeslation (...) would impede the country 's political education.” (Smith 153), so concluded Denis Mack Smith.
Another problem had to do with the Roman question. “In 1870, following the withdrawal of
French troops from Rome, the Italian army occupied the city. Rome finally became the capital of
Italy. The Pope, however, maintained an implacable opposition to the new state, proclaiming himself (and his successors) to be a ‘prisoner of the Vatican’ and ordering Italian Catholics not to participate in politics.” (Riall 15) Rome was the only city that belonged to the pope and it was now the capital of Italy. Clearly it was evident that the relationship between the new state and the Church was extremely problematic and an inconvenience for the Italian nation. The State was not in favor of the Church’s influence in governmental affairs, “(…) a papal encyclical threatened Catholics with excommunication if they participated in Italian politics.” (Riall 76) Another decree of papal infallibility was issued by the Church, even though had Rome, an important symbol of Italian unity and power, it did not had the support of the pope, extremely influential among catholics. This resulted in a reduction of the number of people that could vote and was an influential factor mainly on the unrest of the working class, which the opinion was strongly shaped by the church.
!
The Franchise was very limited in the new Italian Kingdom."The franchise in 1870 was limited, property and educational qualifications were required from voters.” (Chaurasia 129) The ownership of property, educational qualifications in addition with the pay of high taxes was a substantial limitation because it was not affordable by the whole of Italy. This contributed greatly to
the dissatisfaction of the south. “this had not been so great a drawback in Piedmont, where the standard of literacy was relatively high, but when extended to the Papal States and the South less than three per cent of the population had a vote.” (Murphy 386) The Italian citizens felt wronged by the government because they felt they had no power over the state.
One of the most severe problems that Italy had to face was the situation regarding Italian economy and its debts. “A succession of constantly growing deficits had increased the national debt to alarming proportions, and by 1867 it had reached nearly 4,000,000,000 lire.”(McClellan 121)
Cavour’s policies of 1856 and 1859 were a great contribution for this deficit and new state required new infrastructures such as roads, railroads and military equipment. Nevertheless, some investments were unnecessary, for example the construction of a sizable modern navy, considering that Austria,
Italy’s main threat, was mostly a land power. The solution the state found was the establishment of high taxation fees and the negotiation of large foreign loans. “Piedmont (…) had neither the income nor the trained manpower to administer its new territories effectively” (Murphy 386). Evidently the north of Italy was absorbing the debts of the smaller regimes. The south was feeding of
the resources of the north, both financially and in human resources, leading to an aggravation of Italy’s economy. Italy was not an Industrial developed country and agrarian exploration was underdeveloped.
Agriculture, Italy’s main economic activity was “so deeply in debt that an estimated 30% of each year’s product was eaten up by repayments” (Murphy 385). Italy’s main economic activity was in debt mainly due to the use of techniques outdated by centuries. A poorly developed agriculture ruled the lives of the working class and industrial development was very underdeveloped as well, mainly employing women and children that shared their time between this and agriculture. “Conservative attitudes in central and southern Italy included a distrust of paper money and a condemnation of
financial borrowing and lending as immoral.” (Murphy 387) As a result of this reluctance it was impossible to meet Cavour’s principles of financial and industrial modernization.
!
Newly-unified Italy had to deal with complicated social problems as well.“During the
1870s, parts of Central and Southern Italy became major strongholds of anarchist activity” (Riall
76) In the poorest parts of Italy bandits took advantage of the confusion of the popular revolts to start a wave of crime, taking control of entire towns until the Italian army intervened. There was an attempt to introduce a jury system in the south “despite the protests of local authorities that Mafia activity would make the corruption and intimidation of the juries a simple matter”(Murphy 387)
Corruption and Mafia were an influential factor in the general mistrust towards the government, also, criminal activities are a factor for citizens agitation. Another social factor that Italy had to over come was the language barrier. Before unification each city-state spoke their own unique language.
Since each city-state spoke its own unique language, Italian unification was harder to come by. An attempt to work on this aspect was compulsory education, nonetheless it was very difficult to the southern population considering that “90% of the population was illiterate”.(Murphy 386). The economical disparity between the north and the south of Italy were as well a great contribution to the revolt of the southern Europe.
Italy had a great amount of obstacles to surpass, either political, economic or social. It seemed as if Italy, even though theoretically unified, was far from being a real nation due to problems such as a broad financial inconsistency between the north and the south of Italy, the different dialects spoken throughout Italy and the number of illiterates in both sides; The relation between the papal states and the state it self, the Church was a great drawback in achieving a
‘complete unification’ through all Italy. Some of the most serious problems facing newly-unified
Italy were for example, ‘Piedmontization’, the Roman question, the franchise, debt, agrarian and
industrial backwardness, as well as a general unrest of the population. These altogether presented some of the adversities Italy had to lead with in 1870.
!
Works Cited
Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam. History of Europe. N.p.: Atlantic Publishers & Dist, 2002. Print.
Killinger, Charles L. The History of Italy. Greenport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. QUESTIA. Web.
19 Oct. 2014. <http://www.questiaschool.com/read/101544720/the-history-of-italy>.
McClellan, George B. Modern Italy: A Short History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1933. Questia.
Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.questiaschool.com/read/17680757/modern-italy-a-shorthistory>.
Morris, Terry, Richard Staton, and Sally Waller. Europe 1760-1871. Ed. Derrick Murphy. N.p.:
Collins, n.d. Print.
Riall, Lucy. The Italian Risorgimento: State, Society, and National Unification. London: Routledge,
1994. QUESTIA. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://www.questiaschool.com/read/103783175/theitalian-risorgimento-state-society-and-national>.
Smith, Denis Mack. Mazzini. N.p.: YU Press, 1996. Print.