•The Revolutions of 1848 - 49
A series of revolutions broke loose in Italy in early 1848, prompting many states to implement new constitutions, including the constitutional monarchy of Piedmont/Sardinia. As revolution spread across Europe, Piedmont tried to take the nationalist imitative and went to war with Austria over their Italian possessions; Piedmont lost, but the kingdom survived under Victor Emanuel II, and was seen as the natural rallying point for Italian unity. France sent troops to restore the Pope and crush a newly declared Roman Republic partly ruled by Mazzini; a soldier called Garibaldi became famous for Rome’s defence and the revolutionary’s retreat.•Italian Unification 1859 – 70
In 1859 France and Austria went to war, destabilising Italy and allowing many – now Austrian free – states to vote to merge with Piedmont. In 1860 Garibaldi led a force of volunteers, the "red-shirts", in the conquest of Sicily and Naples, which he then gave to Victor Emanuel II of Piedmont who now ruled the majority of Italy. This led to him being crowned King of Italy by a new Italian parliament on March 17 1861. Venice and Venetia were gained from Austria in 1866, and the last surviving Papal States were annexed in 1870; with a few small exceptions, Italy was now a unified state.•Italy in World War 1 1915 - 18
Although Italy was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary, the nature of their entry into the war allowed Italy to remain neutral until worries about missing out on gains, and the secret Treaty of London with Russia, France and Britain, took Italy into the war, opening a new front. The strains and failures of war pushed Italian cohesion to the limit, and socialists were blamed for many problems. When the war was over in 1918 Italy walked out of the peace conference over their treatment by the allies, and there was anger at what was considered a deficient settlement.More »•Mussolini Gains Power 1922
Violent groups of fascists, often ex-soldiers and students, formed in post-war Italy, partly in response to the growing success of socialism and the weak central government. Mussolini, a pre-war firebrand, rose to their head, supported by industrialists and landowners who saw facists as a short term answer to the socialists. In October 1922, after a threatened march on Rome by Mussolini and black shirted fascists, the king gave into pressure and asked Mussolini to form a government. Opposition was crushed in 1923.