Essential+Questions

1. Why did united Italy make sense to those who favored unification?
It made sense for Italy to be united for the people who favored unification. Those who favored unification wanted Italy to be a single country because each region spoke the same language, had common geography and background and it would make trade much easier. Those are only a few of the reasons those who favored unification wanted Italy to unify.

2. What were the obstacles in the way of Italian unification, and why might these obstacles make unification difficult?
﻿﻿﻿Some obstacles are that the Congress of Vienna ignored the nationalists who wanted to end centuries of foreign rule and become unified. The Prince of Austria thought that the idea of a Unified Italy was laughable and Austria took control of most of northern Italy. The main obstacle for Italian unification was the foreign forces that controlled most of Italy. These obstacles made unification harder because the people who controlled Italy did not believe in unification. This meant that nationalists had to secretly come together and fight against the leaders of Italy.

3. What steps did the Italian leaders take to unify, or ignite nationalist feelings, in the people?
There were many steps taken by Italian leaders to unify or ignite nationalist feelings in the people. First, the nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini created the secret society Young Italy, who's goals were to unite Italy. This put Mazzini's nationalistic ideas in peoples minds. Also after Emmanuel appointed Cavour as prime minister, Cavour successfully ended Austrian power and provoked a war to force out Austrian rule. Later, Giuseppe Garibaldi took a force of 1,000 red shirted volunteers to Sicily to defeat the Neapolitan rule. Lastly, after Cavours death his sucessors negotiated a deal with Bismark after the Austro-Prussian war and aquired Venetia. After the Franco-Prussian war France withdrew its forces from Rome.

4. What military steps were taken in order to free Italian people from oppressive rule?
There were many military steps taken to free Italians from oppresive rule. First in 1855, Sardinia led by Cavour joined Britan and France against Russia in the Crimean War .Cavour also nagotiated a secret deal with Napolean who promised to aid Sardinia in case it faced a war with Austria (that war was later provoked). Also Garibaldi recruited a fource of 1,000 volunteers. They fought for control of Sicily, and won. Those are the military steps that were taken by Italy to free their people from oppresive rule.

5. What nationalist groups were formed and created in order to strengthen the unification movement?
One of the groups that formed to make unification stronger is Young Italy. The goal of this secret group was to establish Italy a, free, independent, republican nation. Another group that formed were called the "Red Shirts". This group was organized by Giuseppe Garibaldi, a nationalist.

6. What challenges did a united Italy face when they finally were brought together as a nation-state?
There were a lot of challenges that a unified Italy faced when it was finally brought together. A big problem was the north and south were extremly divided. Northern Italy had more money, and Southern Italy was not nearly as wealthy. Also hostility broke out between Italy and the Roman Catholic Church. The Popes weren't happy about the seizure of Rome and the Papal States. Finally, there were many problems between liberals, conservatives, radicals, and anarchists. In addition to all of these problems the population was booming at the same time. So many tensions arose with the increase in people that it was important for many Italians to move from Italy to the United States, Canada, and Spain. Those are many of the problems that arose when Italy was finally brought together as a nation-state.

7. What role did Napoleon play in the Unification of Italy?
Napolean played a big role in the unification of Italy. Because he made a secret deal with Sardinia to aid them if they went to war with Austria, when Austria actually went to war with Sardinia Nepoleans secret deal helped them defeat Austria big time. The defeat of Austria is basically what started the unification of Italy. Which means Napolean did play a big part in Italy's unification.

8. Explain the viewpoint of the liberals and the conservatives with regards to Italian Unification?
The viewpoint of liberals and conservatives with regards to italian unification were both for unification. They all had pride for their country, and they all wanted unification regardless of their liberal and conservative ideas. But the liberals were more for change than the conservatives. Even though they went into unification with the same viewpoint, when Italy was actually unified their ideas changed. After Italy's unification it was run by Emmanuel who was a monarchist. Under his rule Italy was a constitutional monarchy. This caused unrest because radicals were unhappy with the fact that their government was conservative. The anarchists turned to sabotoge and violence against the government and the socialists organized strikes.

9. How does Nationalism unify the people of the Italian States?
Nationalism unified the people of the Italian States because nationalism is essentially pride for one's country. If people didn't have pride then there would be no push for unification. The people that had pride for their country are the ones who started the whole unification process. Nationalistic ideas are what kickstarted everything. They brought the people together, and then that caused the unification.