AD 1800-2000 Modern

The Congress of Vienna (AD 1815) ended Napoleonic rule in Italy, giving Austria control of the peninsula and restoring old regimes. Social and economic depression and a series of revolutions marked the rise of the Risorgimento(‘re-awakening’), the Italian independence movement. In 1859-60, aided by France, the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia led the struggle against Austria. Garibaldi (1807-82) and his ‘redshirts’ conquered Sicily and Naples, and by 1870 Italy was a united monarchy under Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont.

In World War I (1914-18), Italy joined the Allies. Post-war disillusionment with the government and violent labour unrest contributed to the collapse of the liberal state and the rise of Fascism. In October 1922, the Fascist leader, Mussolini (1883-1945), seized power, promising ‘order’. In 1935-6, Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and sided with Nazi Germany in World War II(1939-45). The alliance ended the Italian ‘Empire’ and destroyed the Fascists. Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans in 1945. In 1946, the monarchy was abolished and Italy became a democratic republic.

Conservative Christian Democrats dominated the more than 50 post-war governments, and the most violent opposition emerged in the terrorist Brigate Rosse in the 1970s. Political instability and corruption were widespread. The 1960s and 1980s saw economic booms in the industrialised north though the south continued poor and plagued by the Mafia.