Italian Kingdoms

The Italian kingdoms are the names for the four major independent kingdoms in the Italian peninsula from 1816 to Italian unification in 1868. They are the kingdoms of Sardinia and Piedmont, the Papal States,the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Politics to 1848

In this period there was two main political issues one was the Austrian occupation of Venice, Lombardy and Parma. This caused friction among the northern kingdoms of Piedmont, and the Papal States who were pursuing expansionist policies directed at Austria at the time, and Austria and its only ally in Italy, Tuscany who the expansionist policies were mainly directed at. The other main issue at the time was that of Italian Unification. The dream of many Italian peasants for decades, this issue was fueled by the fact that out of the four Italian kingdoms, half were ruled by the same family of the French or Austrian Royal Family. Almost all of the supporters of unification were republican, this was because none of the kingdoms allowed the peasants, (who were the main supporters of unification) any rights. This caused many revolutions but none were widely successful until 1848.

1848

In 1848 revolutions swept across Europe and the Italian Kingdoms. In the Two Sicilies an uprising centered in Palermo in Sicily defeated the army of the Bourbon King of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand, and forced him to create a separate Kingdom of Sicily with a Westminster style of government. The kingdom lasted 16 months before being defeated by the main land army of King Ferdinand. In the Papal States a revolution led by the leading unificationist Mazzini captured the capital Rome and created the Roman Republic. This republic was short lived (it only lasted 2 months before the Pope recaptured it) but it was important because it created the idea that a unified Italy's capital would be Rome. Tuscany was largely untouched by revolutions and was able to acquire the Duchy of Modena from the Bourbon king Ferdinand. In Piedmont and Sardinia uprisings by the gentry in favour of the Westminster system of rule for the kingdom forced the king of Piedmont, V.E. the second, to grant limited democracy for the kingdom.

1849-1860

After the mostly abortive revolutions of 1848, many unificationists turned to Piedmont as the best hope for the unification of Italy. This was because, unlike the other kingdoms, it was a democracy, so the republicans would accept it. It also had king for a head of state so the Gentry were also likely to accept it. On the back of this popularity, Piedmont (with the help of an expansionist Imperial France, who received Savoy from Piedmont in return) went into a series of wars against the unpopular Austrians who ruled most of northern Italy. By 1858 Piedmont had control of all Austrian territory in Italy. In 1859 a popular uprising in Tuscany, with the support Piedmont forced the Grand Duke of Tuscany to abdicate and Tuscany was merged into the kingdom of Piedmont. Elsewhere the Pope, felling increasingly insecure called a 'new crusade' of European troops to protect the Papal states rather than relying on a pragmatic and expansionist France for protection. In the Two Sicilies the weak Francis became king and, worried about a revolution, he ordered Draconian rules to keep the population in control.

1860

After the Piedmontese victory in Tuscany, many unificationists started to launch expeditions into the other kingdoms. The most notable of these was the army of some one thousand men led by a leading unificationist figure Garibaldi to attack the Two Sicilies. Within a month he had defeated the Bourbon army of 200,000 and had conquered Sicily. Within another month he had conquered the whole of the Two Sicilies and had handed it to Piedmont. In the Papal States the eastern states rose in revolt and with the help of the Piedmontese they achieved unity with Piedmont which was re named Italy. The Pope was left with a small strip of land around Rome. The capital of the newly formed Italy was made Florence the former capital of Tuscany.

1860-1869

Now that all of the Italian Peninsula eccept Rome was under the control of Piedmont many attempts were made to capture Rome and unite Italy. Although at least nine attempts were made to capture it, Rome stubbornly resisted until finally an attempt in 1869 met with success and Rome was captured. The capital of Italy was transferred to Rome finally realising the dreams of 1848.

ources

Encyclopedia Britannica (online edition)

The Concise Oxford History of Italy

Oxford Great Lives