Booklet 4, Big Question 1: What were the main problems stopping Italy from being fully united by 1871?

Question 1

When was the convention where Napoleon agreed to evacuate Rome? For what price?

Answer 1

• September 1864

- He agreed to evacuate from Rome if the Italian capital was switched from Turin to Florence

Question 2

Who PM was in charge of the government during the time of the convention? Did they agree or disagree to the conditions?

Answer 2

Minghetti, they agreed

Question 3

Following the convention, there were riots in Turin. How many people died?

Answer 3

23 people died after the Italian government agreed to the conditions of the convention

Question 4

Where did Austria still have a large army?

Answer 4

Venetia

Question 5

What group supported Austria’s position to maintain the balance of power in Europe?

Answer 5

The Great Powers

Question 6

Who tried to start an uprising with Hungarian revolutionary leaders?

Answer 6

Cavour

Question 7

Which nation weakened the power of Austria? What did they do to weaken Austria’s power?

Answer 7

Prussia, they made a Free Trade Treaty with France in 1862 and excluded Austria

Question 8

By what year had France and Austria maintained control over parts of Italy?

Answer 8

1861

Question 9

When did Cavour die of malaria?

Answer 9

June 1861

Question 10

What men filled Cavour’s position as PM in Italian government?

Answer 10

• Ricasoli (1861-1862)
• Rattazzi (March-Dec 1862)
• Farini (1862-1863)
• Minghetti (1863-1864)
• La Marmora (1864-1866)

Question 11

What did Garibaldi set up in 1862?

Answer 11

The Society for the Emancipation of Rome

Question 12

When Garibaldi attempted to attack Rome, which PM stopped him?

Answer 12

Rattazzi was forced to stop Garibaldi with troops as to not upset the French, and was seen as anti-Italian nationalism and was sacked

Question 13

Which PM tried to stab the king and was removed from office?

Answer 13

Farini

Question 14

Who described the new Italy as a ‘sham’?

Answer 14

Mazzini

Question 15

What was the government mainly made up of?

Answer 15

Piedmontese nobility and the educated middle class

Question 16

An all male parliament was elected by a narrow electorate of what % of the population?

Answer 16

2% (literate, male taxpayers from northern Italy)

Question 17

How many members of parliament were there and how many voters were there?

Answer 17

443 members of parliament elected by 150,000 voters

Question 18

What was adopted by all states in 1865?

Answer 18

A single criminal legal code (except for Tuscany) and a civil law code (for the whole of Italy)

Question 19

A unified Italian army was formed and modernised under who’s guidance?

Answer 19

Prussia’s

Question 20

What came under state control as a way to create a unified education system?

Answer 20

Schools and universities

Question 21

In March 1861, what fraction of land had the Pope lost to the new kingdom of Italy?

Answer 21

2/3

Question 22

What was the uneasy relationship between the church and the state called?

Answer 22

Fractious Cohabitation

Question 23

What threatened the Church’s spiritual power?

Answer 23

Science, such as Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) and theologians such as the French Catholic Renan, who said that, in the early 1860s, that the Bible should not be treated as accurate

Question 24

What did the Church’s Syllabus of Errors retain control over?

Answer 24

The education system and all culture and science

Question 25

The Italian government made the church increase taxation and in ____ demanded that the church hand over property

Answer 25

1865

Question 26

In 1869, the Vatican Council met and agreed to what? When was it proclaimed?

Answer 26

• The Dogma of Papal Infallibility - this stated that the Pope’s statement were fact
• It was proclaimed in July 1870 and marked the spiritual supremacy of the Pope

Question 27

When did the Pope declare himself a prisoner of the Vatican?

Answer 27

In 1870 following the annexation of Rome

Question 28

When were the plebiscites?

Answer 28

1860

Question 29

Example of corrupt voting systems?

Answer 29

In Nice, the “no” slips were not even brought to the voting stations and the “yes” voters didn’t really know what they were voting for

Question 30

When was the Casati Law passed? What did it do?

Answer 30

1859, it made primary education compulsory (however, not in the South, due to a majority being illiterate)

Question 31

What Southern areas had a long tradition of regional autonomy?

Answer 31

Sicily and Naples

Question 32

What was the name of the army general that Cavour ordered to crush opposition in the South (following an uprising in October 1860 by Bourbon agents)?

Answer 32

Farina

Question 33

How many decrees did it take to change the legal system of Naples in February 1861 (Piedmontisation)?

Answer 33

53 decrees (this took only 2 days!)

Question 34

Piedmontisation divided the kingdom into how many provinces?

Answer 34

53, with each province being governed by a prefect

Question 35

What were the two major drawbacks of Piedmontisation?

Answer 35

1. It showed the ignorance of regional affairs in Italy, in particular the ignorance of the north to conditions in Naples and Sicily. Cavour had never travelled further south than Tuscany. Education had to be paid for by attacking the church. This led to the dissolution of 2382 monasteries and convents which then deprived areas of charitable institutions, which the state didn’t replace and upset religious feelings. The jury system was introduced in the south, but the mafia was able to corrupt and intimidate jurors
2. The second drawback was a lack of resources, both financial and human. The south became a drain on the north and Piedmont had neither the resources or manpower to administer the region well. It was not realistic to expect such deep-rooted difficulties and feelings would be solved within a decade. Lombardy had been promised its own constitution and it had its own legal system, education system and local government, but they were swept aside by Piedmontisation. It was introduced by La Mamora with an emergency decree and no debate. In August 1860, Modena, controlled by Farini, voted for annexation by Piedmont. Th only exception was Tuscany where the powerful Baron Ricasoli was able to retain Tuscan customs and legal systems, at least in the short term

Question 36

The new government of Italy had increased taxes to pay for the debt caused by the war. How much was this debt?

Answer 36

2.5 billion lire

Question 37

How many young men took to the hills in 1861 when conscription was introduced? Who also fled to the mountains?

Answer 37

• 25,000
• Many Bourbon soldiers also fled to the mountains after the Piedmontese General, Cialdini, ordered them to be shot if found with weapons

Question 38

Who were the Brigands?

Answer 38

• Made up by the unemployed, the disillusioned and 10,000 convicts who escaped during Garibaldi’s campaign, they were poorly organised and managed
• Took part in the Brigands war, a civil war which claimed more Italian lives than all the wars of unification
• They robbed, murdered and assassinated
• By 1862, there were an estimated 82,000 Brigands

Question 39

During the Brigands war, how many troops were deployed by the Piedmontese to stop the Brigands?

Answer 39

120,000

Question 40

What years did the Brigands’ war take place?

Answer 40

1861-1865

Question 41

In 1863, Brigands’ war, how many troops were engaged in peace-keeping?

Answer 41

90,000, which was far more than used against Austria

Question 42

Name a Brigands’ leader

Answer 42

Crocco

Question 43

What happened during the week-long rebellion in Palermo, Sicily, 1866, after the Brigands’ war?

Answer 43

The murder of government officials and 3 days of bitter street fighting

Question 44

Cavour’s main policies had left Italy a deficit of how much lire by 1861? How much did this increase by after Piedmont took on all the smaller debts of other states following unification (4 years later)?

Answer 44

2,450 million lire deficit, it doubled

Question 45

Due to the need to modernise, what tax was introduced?

Answer 45

Flour tax, 1865

Question 46

By the mid 1860s, what fraction of Italian bonds were in foreign hands?

Answer 46

1/3, and most railways shares were owned by foreigners

Question 47

By 1866, the deficit took up what percentage of state expenditure? With reluctance, what was reintroduced as a result of this?

Answer 47

• 60%
• The unpopular Grist Tax was reintroduced in 1868
• This led to 250 deaths and 100 wounded in riots

Question 48

Land sales

Answer 48

• The state also tried to raise taxes through the sale of land, especially from the church
• This began with an Act in 1867 and in the next 9 years, nearly 9 million acres of church land was sold
• In the north, peasant farmers bought the land, but in the south, it was the middle classes
• Peasants often found that they had no capital to improve land and were forced to sell it
• Unification did not lead to significant land reform, but this is unsurprising as the Piedmontese elite did not want social change
• Also, in the south, the great Latifundia owners enclosed more land and removed common land, which led to more agrarian problems

Question 49

What percentage of each year’s produce was used for debt repayment?

Answer 49

30%

Question 50

By unification, how many km of railways, with lines built for separate states, were there?

Answer 50

2773km

Question 51

In 1857, which railway systems were linked together?

Answer 51

The Lombard and Venetian railway systems

Question 52

In which areas were there no railways at all?

Answer 52

In Sardinia and Sicily - this hindered the growth of industrial development, such as the olive oil industry in Apulia

Question 53

When was the Mount Cenis tunnel completed, linking Italy with France?

Answer 53

• 1871

- This helped create trade, but only in the north, so a dual economy was created rather than a unified one

Question 54

Conclusions

Answer 54

• By 1870, some but not all issues facing Italy had been resolved
  • The division between north and south remained and were, in fact, worsened by the Brigands’ war
  • While the new state had been created, it was entirely based on the culture and systems of Piedmont which cause resentment
  • Central government was non-representative and weak
  • There was little economic integration between north and south
  • The divisions between church and state were at their worst - “Fractious Cohabitation”
  • The difficulty for the new state was to introduce completely alien ideas into areas with completely different traditions and cultures
  • Historian Martin Clark uses the term “legal Italy” for those who were part of the state, and “real Italy” for those who felt isolated and betrayed by Piedmontisation - “Legal Italy would absorb those who wished to be part of the new Italy and repress those who didn’t”