History of Italy
Italic Peoples
The knowledge of the history of Italy before the foundation of Rome (8th century BC) is quite scarce.
The one big exception is the history of the Greek settlements on the southern tip of the Italian peninsula and in Sicily, in an area called Magna Graecia. However, these settlements (most of which grew into important cities, such as Syracuse and Tarentum) were founded in the same epoch as Rome.
Apart from the Greeks, the most important populations were the Etruscans (whose civilization had its centre in present day Tuscany but extended to the neighbouring regions), the Latins and the Sabines (in present day Latium), the Sannites (in the mountainous regions of southern Italy, especially Campania and Molise), the Osci and the Piceni. During the 4th century BC, northern Italy was invaded by Celtic populations (also known as Gauls).
The Republic was ruled by two elected consuls at a time, while the Senate (formed by the most notable Patricians, that is, aristocrats) and a city assembly (largely dominated by the wealthy) formed a sort of Parliament. The struggle between the Patricians and the Plebeians (that is, the non-aristocrats) was a major issue of republican politics, but despite being forced to some concessions, the Senate always kept the situation under control.
After defeating the Greek city of Tarentum (280 BC-272 BC), Rome had unified peninsular Italy, and met its most deadly enemy, the Phoenician city of Carthage (located near present-day Tunis). The clash lasted for most of the 3rd century BC (First Punic War: 264 BC-241 BC. Second Punic War: 218 BC-202 BC) and resulted in a complete Roman victory: Carthage survived (its final destruction happened between 149 BC and 146 BC, Third Punic War) but lost almost all its possessions (Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and large parts of Spain).
At that point Rome controlled most of the Western Mediterranean and its influence was rapidly growing in the East. At the end of 2nd century BC, the Roman state, having defeated the Hellenistic kingdoms of Macedonia and Syria, dominated the whole Mediterranean world with the exception of Egypt.
The establishment of the empire brought substantial benefits to the provinces, which could now appeal to the emperor against rapacious administrators, rather than to the corrupt senatorial class to whom the administrators usually belonged. Furthermore, Roman citizenship was slowly extended to the provinces, and the rule of law became less arbitrary (although largely imperfect).
Despite its military strength, the empire did few efforts to expand its already vast extent; the most notable was probably the conquest of England by emperor Claudius in 47. In the 1st and 2nd century Roman legions were mostly employed in brief civil wars (e.g. in 68, the year of the four emperors) or suppressing insurrections (e.g. the Hebraic insurrection in Judea, ended with the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70, and with the start of the diaspora).
The 2nd century was the best period of the empire, with emperors like Trajan, Adrianus and the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. The historian Gibbon argues that this was probably the most peaceful era of humanity, even if probably the situation was not as good as it appeared.
After the defeat of Adrianople (378), barbarian invasions (Goths, Huns, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians) followed: the East resisted and lasted for another millennium, but the West (including Italy) collapsed: Rome was sacked in 410, but the powerless western empire nominally survived until 476, when Odoacer, chief of the Heruli, deposed emperor Romulus Augustulus.
In the politically unstable situation after the fall of the western empire, the Church often became the only stable institution and the only source of learning. Even the barbarians had to rely on clerics in order to administrate their conquests. Furthermore, the catholic monastic orders, such as the Benedictines had a major role both in the economic life of the time, and in the preservation of the classical culture.
After the Lombard invasion, the popes (i.e. St. Gregory) were nominally subject to the eastern emperor, but often received little help from Constantinoupolis, and had to fill the lack of stately power, protecting Rome from Lombard incursions; in this way, the popes started building an independent state. A similar process (although the church was not so directly involved) was taking place on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, where the city of Venice was founded.
However, after the death of Charlemagne (814) the new empire soon disintegrated under his weak successors, and even the papacy went through an age of decadence, ended only
in 999 when emperor Otto III selected Silvester II as a pope.
Later, as numerous towns in northern Italy (e.g. Milan) started becoming richer, the popes encouraged them to require effective (if not formal) independency from the German emperors, who fought back; after a long struggle, in 1176 the pro-papal coalition of Italian cities, the Lombard League finally defeated emperor Frederick I "Barbarossa; in this way northern Italy became a collection of small but rich independent city states, based on trade, who kept fighting each other until the foreign conquest in the 16th century.
Meanwhile, the South and Sicily were invaded by Normans, who eventually defeated the Byzantines (in the mainland) and the Arabs (who had conquered Sicily in 900), forming a strong unified kingdom. However, because of dynastical struggles and foreign invasions, this kingdom soon passed under the rule of the empire (in particular of Frederick II) and then of the French Angevins and the Spanish Aragon. All these wars and invasions progressively weakened the kingdom, in particular because the barons gained too much power at the expense of the king, maintaining an obsolete feudal government.
At the beginning of the 16th century Italy started to suffer the effects of an economic crisis due to the move of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Most of the small and weak Italian states were defeated by foreign powers (mainly Spain); some of them (e.g. Milan and Naples) were annexed, others (e.g. Venice and Florence) were reduced to a lesser role. The papacy lost much of its importance both because of military defeats and of Protestant Reformation, which deeply weakened the catholic church.
In order to prevent the further expansion of Protestantism, the church endorsed the wars of the emperor Charles V (who was also king of Spain) and his successors, and started the so-called Counter-Reformation, with which it established a strict control over intellectual life in catholic countries. In Italy, this resulted in the condemnations of philosophers Giordano Bruno (who was burned at the stake) and Tommaso Campanella, and of the scientist Galileo Galilei. Such suffocating control, together with the economic crisis, put an end to Italian cultural leadership. As a result, the country steadily declined in the following centuries.
At the end of the 18th century, Italy was almost in the same political conditions as in the 16th century; the main differences were that Austria had replaced Spain as the dominant foreign power, and that the dukes of Savoy (a mountainous region between Italy and France) had become kings of Sardinia by increasing their Italian possessions, which now included Sardinia and the north-western region of Piedmont. This situation was shaken in 1796, when French armies led by Napoleon invaded Italy; even if the states they created (e.g., Cisalpine Republic) were just satellites of France, they sparked a nationalist movement.
The Congress of Vienna (1814) restored a situation close to that of 1795, dividing Italy between Austria (in the north-east and Lombardy), the kingdom of Sardinia, the kingdom of the two Sicilies (in the south and in Sicily), and Tuscany, the Papal States and other minor states in the centre.
After several unsuccessful revolutionary attempts (the most important of which was in 1848, when the revolutionaries joined their forces with those of king Carlo Alberto of Sardinia, but were defeated nonetheless), the situation changed rapidly between 1858 and 1861: in 1858 the prime minister Cavour of Sardinia signed an alliance with emperor Napoleon III of France; in 1859 their armies defeated Austria, and Lombardy and parts of central Italy, (including Tuscany) were annexed to the Sardinian kingdom. In 1860 the revolutionary commander Giuseppe Garibaldi led an expedition in Sicily and southern Italy, defeating and overthrowing the king of the Two Sicilies; then, he offered his conquests to king Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia, who was later (1861) proclaimed king of Italy.
At the beginning the new state did not include Rome (under papal rule until 1870) and the north-eastern provinces around Venice (most of which were annexed in 1866, after a new war with Austria).
From 1861 until 1922, Italy was a constitutional monarchy with a parliament, mostly elected with restricted suffrage (in 1913, the first universal male suffrage election was held). The so called Statuto Albertino, which Carlo Alberto conceded in 1848 remained unchanged, even if the kings usually abstained from abusing their extremely large powers (for example, senators were not elected but chosen by the king).
The new state faced immense problems, both because of the widespread poverty and illiteracy (especially in the south), and the deep cultural differences (for example, there existed no common language) between the various parts of Italy: there were even peasant insurrections asking for the return of former rulers.
Although there was no real political party, politics was dominated by liberals, divided into two factions, Destra (right) and Sinistra (left). In 1882 Italy signed the defensive Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Germany, and some years later it started colonial expansion in the African territories of Eritrea and Somalia, but the attempt to conquer neighbouring Ethiopia failed miserably in 1896 (First Italo-Abyssinian War). This, together with social unrest in 1898 and the assassination of king Umberto I in 1900 almost led to an authoritarian regime. Instead, the figure of Giolitti emerged. Despite widespread corruption, his governments accelerated the modernization of the country (for example, they introduced universal male suffrage). However in 1911 Giolitti bowed to nationalist pressure and started a successful war with the Ottoman empire, conquering Libya and some islands in the Aegean Sea.
At the beginning of World War I Italy remained neutral, since the Triple Alliance had only defensive purposes, and the war was started by Austria. However, both the central empires and the Entente tried to attract Italy on their side, and in April 1915 the Italian government agreed to declare war on Austria in exchange for several territories (Trento, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia). The parliament initially opposed the war, but after king Victor Emmanuel III threatened abdication it authorized a declaration of war on Austria-Hungary (May 23, 1915).
Despite the numerical superiority, the poorly equipped Italian army was unable to achieve significant progress on the mountainous north-eastern border, and the military situation rapidly reached a stalemate, with trench warfare on the whole front. In October 1917 the Austrians, having received German reinforcements, broke the Italian lines at Caporetto, but the Italian (helped by their allies) stopped their advance on the river Piave, not far from Venice. After another year of trench warfare, and a successful Italian offensive in autumn 1918, the exhausted Austria surrendered to the allies on November 4 1918, soon followed by Germany.
Under the postwar settlement, Italy received most of the territories promised in the 1915 agreement, except for Dalmatia, which was mostly given to the newly formed Yugoslavia. This was enough to generate a lot of discontent between nationalists, who talked about "crippled victory". Furthermore, the parliament elected in 1919 had strong socialist and catholic parties, which effectively prevented the formation of a stable government, and the years 1919-1920 are called "il Biennio rosso" - the two red years - because some Italian workers, inspired by the Russian revolution began taking over their factories, mills, farms and workplaces. The liberal establishment, fearing a revolution, started to endorse the small Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini (a former socialist turned nationalist), whose violent reaction to the strikes (by means of the "Black shirts" party militia) was often compared to the relatively moderate reactions of the government. After several years of struggle, in October 1922 the fascists attempted a coup (the "Marcia su Roma", i.e. March upon Rome); the fascist forces were largely inferior, but the king ordered the army not to intervene, formed an alliance with Mussolini, and convinced the liberal party to endorse a fascist-led government. Over the next few years, Mussolini (who became known as "Duce", leader) eliminated all political parties (including the liberals) and curtailed personal liberties with the pretext of preventing revolution. Political opponents were assassinated (Matteotti, Gobetti), incarcerated (Gramsci) or exiled (don Luigi Sturzo), even if a few of them (e.g., liberal philosopher Benedetto Croce) were allowed to live in Italy. The fascists installed an authoritarian regime termed the Corporate State. The king Victor Emmanuel III endorsed the change and remained titular head of state.
In 1929 Mussolini signed the Lateran Pacts with the Catholic Church (with whom Italy was in conflict since the annexation of Rome in 1870), leading to the formation of the tiny independent state of Vatican City. He was initially in friendly terms with France and Britain, but the situation changed in 1935-36, when Italy invaded Ethiopia despite their opposition (Second Italo-Abyssinian War); because of this and of the ideological affinities with the Nazi party led by Hitler, Italy strengthened its ties with Germany. Such ties soon transformed into a military alliance, first with the independent intervention of both powers in the Spanish Civil War, then with the signature (together with Japan) of the Anti Comintern Pact against international communism, and then (1938-39) with the mutual endorsement of the annexations of Austria and large parts of Czechoslovakia (by Germany) and of Albania (by Italy).
At the beginning of World War II Italy remained neutral (with the consent of Hitler), but it declared war on France and Britain on June 10, 1940, when the French defeat was apparent. Mussolini believed that Britain would beg for peace, and wanted "some casualties in order to get a seat at the peace table", but that proved a huge miscalculation. With the exception of the navy, the Italian armed forces were a major disappointment for Mussolini and Hitler, and German help was constantly needed in Greece and North Africa.
After the invasion of Soviet Union failed (1941-42), and the United States entered the war (December 1941), the situation for the Axis started to deteriorate. In May 1943 the Anglo-Americans completely defeated the Italians and the Germans in North Africa, and in July they landed in Sicily. King Victor Emmanuel III reacted by arresting Mussolini and appointing the army chief of staff, Marshal Badoglio, as Prime Minister.
The new government officially continued the war against the Allies, but started secret negotiations with them. Hitler did not trust Badoglio, and moved a large German force into Italy, on the pretext of fighting the Allied invasion. On September 8, 1943 the Badoglio government announced an armistice with the Allies, but did not declare war on Germany, leaving the army without instructions. Badoglio and the royal family fled to the Allied-controlled regions. In the ensuing confusion, most of the Italian army literally melted away (with some notable exception around Rome and in places such as the Greek island of Cefalonia), and the Germans quickly occupied all of central and northern Italy (the south was already controlled by the Allies). The Germans also liberated Mussolini, who then formed the fascist Italian Social Republic, in the German-controlled areas. While the Allied troops slowly pushed the German resistance to the north (Rome was liberated in June 1944, Milan in April 1945) the monarchic government finally declared war on Germany, and an anti-fascist popular resistance movement grew, harassing German forces before the Anglo-American forces drove them out in April 1945.
In the final phases of the war, the discredited king Victor Emmanuel III tried to raise the prestige of the monarchy by nominating his son and heir Umberto II "general lieutenant of the kingdom", and promising that after the end of the war the Italian people could choose its form of government through a referendum. This referendum was held on June 2, 1946, and it was the first Italian election in which women were allowed to vote. Despite the abdication of Victor Emmanuel III one month before (Umberto II was thought to have much better chances), the monarchy lost, and the royal family went in exile. A new constitution was written for the new republic, taking effect on January 1, 1948.
The referendum at the origin of the Italian Republic was however object of deep discussion, mainly because of some contested results.
Under the 1947 peace treaty, minor adjustments were made in Italy's frontier with France, the eastern border area was transferred to Yugoslavia, and the area around the city of Trieste was designated a free territory. In 1954, the free territory, which had remained under the administration of U.S.-U.K. forces (Zone A, including the city of Trieste) and Yugoslav forces (Zone B), was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia, principally along the zonal boundary. This arrangement was made permanent by the Italian-Yugoslav Treaty of Osimo, ratified in 1977 (currently being discussed by Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia). Italy also had to relinquish its overseas territories (Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia and Libya) and certain eastern Mediterranean islands.
After the war, Italian politics was dominated by the Democrazia Cristiana (DC), and his leader De Gasperi, who won the decisive 1948 elections against a leftist front composed of the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI, led by Togliatti) and the Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI, led by Nenni). However, the DC soon needed help from other parties, and starting in the fifties it found several allies: the liberals, the republicans, the social democrats and, most important of all, the socialists of the PSI, which abandoned their alliance with the communists. With their help, the DC held the government for about 45 years, despite the perennial internal struggles after the death of De Gasperi (1954). The main opposition party was the PCI; it was probably the largest communist party in western Europe but it was never able to break the DC hegemony. Another relevant opposition party (although much smaller than the PCI) was the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), which was mainly composed of ex-fascists.
In the fifties Italy became a member of the NATO alliance and an ally of the United States, who helped to revive the Italian economy through the Marshall Plan. In the same years, Italy also became a member of the European Economical Community (EEC), which later transformed into the European Union (EU). Despite problems such as criminal organizations (e.g. the mafia) and the deep corruption of the Italian political system, the country benefited from rapid economic growth and reached levels comparable with those of other advanced economies.
After the student agitations at the end of the sixties which involved major industrial action (the so called Hot Autumn), in the seventies Italy faced a severe internal terrorism campaign. This came mostly from the extreme left-wing movement of the Red Brigades (whose most famous act was the assassination of the former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978), but also from extreme right-wing movements allied with uncontrolled parts of the secret services (which are believed to be responsible for several bombings, such as the one at Bologna station in 1980, which killed about 80 people). The terrorist wave was stopped in the eighties, even if a few scattered assassinations have taken place even as recently as 2002.
In the eighties, for the first time, two governments were led by a republican and a socialist (Bettino Craxi) rather than by a member of DC (which anyway remained the main force behind the government). The Craxi government was particularly notable for the 1984 revision of the Lateran Pacts with the Vatican, which included the end of Roman Catholicism as Italy's formal state religion.
At the beginning of the 90s the Italian political world was deeply shaken by a series of corruption scandals (collectively known as Mani Pulite, "Clean Hands") involving all the major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: between 1992 and 1994 the DC underwent a severe crisis and split up into several pieces, while the PSI (and the other governing minor parties) completely dissolved. The PCI no longer existed, having split into the Partito Democratico della Sinistra (Left Democratic Party; PDS), which was moving towards a more centrist attitude, and the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation Party; PRC), which vowed to remain communist. The void on the center-right side was filled by the MSI, which moderated its positions and changed its name into Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance; AN) and by two new parties, the Lega Nord (Northern League), which ran on a semi-racist platform (sometimes advocating the formation of a separate northern Italian state), and, most importantly, by Forza Italia ("Go Italy!"; FI), the populist party formed by the media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, who became a polarizing figure in Italian politics.
This "revolution" of the Italian political landscape, happened at a time when some minor institutional reforms (e.g. changes in the electoral laws intended to diminish the power of political parties) were taking place. For this reason, Italian political commentators indicate the post-1992 period as "Second Republic", despite the absence of any major constitutional change.
In 1994 Berlusconi (allied with the Lega Nord, AN and some former Christian Democrats) won the elections, but his government lasted less than one year because of the defection of Lega Nord, which subsequently endorsed a new "technical" government together with large parts of Berlusconi's opponents.
Elections were held in 1996, and the winner was a loose center-left coalition formed by PDS, Partito Popolare Italiano (Italian Popular Party; PPI, the largest surviving piece of the former DC), and other small parties, with "external endorsement" from the communists. Despite the good economical results which allowed Italy to take part in the formation of the common European currency (the Euro), Prime Minister Romano Prodi (from PPI) had to resign in 1999 because of quarrels inside his coalition; he was succeeded by Massimo D'Alema (leader of PDS) and Giuliano Amato (a former socialist who survived the corruption scandals).
Thanks to the rivalries inside the center-left coalition, and to a renewed alliance with the Lega Nord, the coalition led by Berlusconi (Forza Italia, AN, Lega Nord, "pieces" of the former DC) easily won the 2001 elections, and Berlusconi is the current Italian Prime Minister (March 2004).
The Romans (8th century BC - 5th century AD)
The origins of Rome (8th-6th centuries BC)
According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, and was then governed by seven Kings of Rome. In 509 BC the last of them, Tarquinius Superbus was overthrown, and the Roman Republic was formed.Territorial expansion (5th-2nd centuries BC)
In the following centuries, Rome started expanding its territory, defeating its neighbours (Veium, the other Latins, the Sannites) one after the other.
After each war, the Romans usually did not try to completely submit the defeated populations, but just forced them to become junior allies of Rome. This wise policy was probably one of the reasons of the strength of Rome. For example, several weak Etruscan or Greek cities in Tuscany and Campania actually asked for Roman protection, rather than confronting with Rome in a war.Civil Wars (1st century BC)
The institutions of the Roman republic, born for governing a city-state, were unfit to rule over such a large empire. Furthermore, there was discontent both inside Rome and between Rome and its Italic allies, and the tension favored military commanders, who started taking dictatorial powers. The first of these was Sulla, who prevented an overthrow of the republic by Marius but became a sort of "lord protector" of the Senate until his death (78 BC). After him came Julius Caesar, who after conquering the Gaul (present day France) won a civil war against Pompey but was assassinated by senators fearing he would start a monarchy, in 44 BC.
He was avenged by his nephew Octavianus who first defeated the senatorial party with the help of Mark Anthony, and later (31 BC) Anthony himself (who was allied to the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra).The Roman Empire (1st-2nd centuries AD)
Octavianus was awarded the titles of Augustus and Princeps by what remained of the Senate, and was proclaimed Imperator (which at the time only meant "supreme commander") by his Legions. Even if he was careful to abide the rules of the old republic, Octavianus actually ruled as an Emperor, and the Roman Empire was born. This became apparent in 14, when he died and was succeeded by his adoptive son Tiberius.Decline and Fall (3rd-5th centuries)
In fact, the internal situation was slowly deteriorating, and exploded in the crisis of the Third Century, when economic problems, barbarian incursions and civil wars led to an almost complete disintegration of the empire.
It was saved by Diocletian (284-305) and Constantine (306-337), who split the empire into a Western and an Eastern part, with Rome and Constantinoupolis (founded by Constantine himself) as capitals. Constantine also stopped opposing the diffusion of the Christian religion (313, Edict of Milan), actually allying with the Christian church. Christianity became the only official religion of the empire in 380 under emperor Theodosius.The Middle Ages and the Renaissance (6th-15th centuries)
Goths, Byzantines, Lombards (6th-8th centuries)
In 493 Odoacer was defeated, and Italy was conquered by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Less than 40 years later, in 535, the eastern emperor Justinian initiated the "liberation" of Italy from the barbarians: after 20 years of ruinous war, he succeeded. But the eastern rule would not last long, too: in 568 another barbarian population, the Lombards, conquered most of Italy: the Byzantines kept only some coastal fortress, Rome, Ravenna and the islands. Italian political unity would be lost until 1870. After the Lombards' conquest, a relative peace would ensue for the next two centuries, but it was scarcely beneficial to the ravaged and impoverished land.Rise of the Catholic Church (4th century-8th century)
The Church (and especially the bishop of Rome, the pope) had played an important political role since the times of Constantine, who tried to include it in the imperial administration. The Holy Roman Empire (9th-10th centuries)
At the end of the 8th century the popes definitely aspired to independence, and found a way to achieve it by allying with the Carolingian dynasty of the Franks: the Carolingians needed someone who could give legitimacy to a coup against the powerless Merovingian kings, while the popes needed military protection against the Lombards. As a result, in 774 the Franks invaded and defeated the Lombards, and their leader Charlemagne was proclaimed legitimate king of the Franks by the pope. Later, in 800, Charlemagne was also crowned emperor of the Holy Roman empire by the pope; the new emperor (who was never recognized as such by the Byzantines) immediately conceded direct rule over central Italy to the pope, creating the Papal States.The end of the middle ages (11th-14th centuries)
The 11th century signed the end of the darkest period in the middle ages. Trade slowly picked up, especially on the seas, where the four Italian cities of Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa and Venice became major powers. The papacy regained its authority, and started a long struggle with the empire, about both ecclesiastical and secular matter. The first episode was the Investiture controversy.The Renaissance (15th century)
Despite the everlasting struggles with foreign powers and within themselves, the northern cities' wealth continued to grow, until at least the 15th century, leading to great intellectual and artistical achievements such as those Dante, Giotto and of the Italian Renaissance masters (such as Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raffaello). This golden age ended in the 16th century, when the Italian city-states became prey of larger national states such as France and Spain.Foreign domination (16th-18th centuries)
Italian unification (1796-1861)
The Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)
From unification to world war (1861-1914)
The First World War (1915-1918)
The Fascist Regime (1919-1939)
The Second World War (1940-1945)
The Italian Republic (1946-present)
Birth of the Italian Republic (1946)
The "Democrazia Cristiana" (1947-1992)
The "Second Republic" (1992-present)
References