Italy History

Italy - national flag

Italian flag was officially adopted in 1946. It originated as a freedom flag during Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in northern Italy in 1796, and the model is the French tricolor, whose blue stripe was replaced with a green in Bologna the same year; this color stands as a symbol of freedom and equality. The green-white-red tricolor became the flag of the Cisalpine Republic, in 1848 the flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia with the coat of arms of Savoy in the white stripe and finally in 1861 the flag of the whole of Italy; in 1946 the weapon was removed.

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Italy - prehistory

The topography of Italy has been of great importance for the development of ancient cultures and their interrelationships. Thus, the Apennines have acted as a barrier that has separated east and west, and this means that there are great differences in the archaeological finds in different parts of the country.

Stone Age

The oldest traces of human activity are represented by approximately 700,000 year old primitive stone tools found in Molise. Very few human bones from the Old Stone Age have been found; from the end of the period, three skulls originated from Neanderthal humans. For approximately 40,000 years ago, the first modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) appeared. The stone tools developed gradually, and from the latter part of the older Stone Age, cave paintings are known. Graves decorated with snail shells and the dye ocher show that the deceased was taken care of. In the Mesolithic, Middle Stone Age approximately 10,000-5000 BC, the refinement of the stone tools continued with the use of microliters.

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The transition from wholly or partly nomadic hunter-gatherer culture to mainly settled agricultural culture took place in the Neolithic, Neolithic 6th millennium-approx. 3000 BC The transition is first seen in southeastern Italy, where some researchers believe the development was accelerated by contact with the Balkans. Until the beginning of the 5th millennium BC. it gradually spread over the rest of the country. In northern Puglia, more than 260 villages surrounded by a moat have been identified on a plain. During this millennium, cattle and pigs became livestock. In the 4th millennium BC. began the use of ceramics for the manufacture of figurines and vessels, first with the impression or scratched decoration, later with two- or three-colored paint. Flint was still the main commodity, but trade in the volcanic glass, obsidian, from the Aeolian Islands provided the opportunity for the production of better cutting tools. Two cultures dominate: the Diana culture is found mainly in southern Italy and is almost exclusively defined by its characteristic glossy red ceramics. The Lagozza culture is better illuminated. It is found mainly in northern Italy, where villages built on stilts along the lake shores of Posletten have been found.

Bronze Age

Best known from the early Bronze Age is the Gaudo culture in Campania, approximately 2600-2000 BC, characterized by several burials in chamber tombs, dark and often undecorated pottery with a wide band handle and found by knife blades of copper and arsenic bronze. In the 1980's, especially in northern Italy, many finds of the almost contemporary bell goblet culture have been made, approximately 2200-1800 BC, also known from Western Europe, but the significance of the finds and their relations to other cultures in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age are still unclear.

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In the late Bronze Age, approximately 2000-900 BC, Italy south of the Podalen is characterized by the Apennine culture. The phase is primarily known from settlements and is defined by ceramics with incised decoration. The population lived in huts in villages, but dwellings in caves are also known, and the farming culture was supplemented by semi-nomadic shepherding. The dead were buried individually in simple burial mounds. Stone tools were gradually supplanted by bronze tools.

approximately 1600-1100 BC there are traces of contact with the eastern part of the Mediterranean, primarily in the form of Mycenaean pottery. Via the imported objects from the Greek territory, it is possible to relate the Italian finds from this part of the Bronze Age to the ancient Egyptian chronology and thereby achieve a greater precision than the carbon 14 dating allows.

At the end of the Bronze Age, approximately 1000-900 BC, the Apennine culture in large parts of Italy was replaced by the Protovillanova culture, where the dead were burned and buried in a double-conical urn. This culture is akin to the Central European urn field culture. In this phase, the costume needle, fibula, is seen for the first time, which became an indispensable accessory for the costume throughout the 1st millennium BC.

On the Posletten developed in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. The Terramare culture, which lasted until the beginning of the Iron Age. In the beginning the villages were open and consisted of approximately 5 m × 5 m huts, but later the villages were surrounded by a dike for protection against flooding from Po. Pottery, figurines and utensils point to connections with the Danube area in Central Europe. Graves are known only from the latest part of the culture, where they are reminiscent of the urn fields of Central Europe and Villanova culture.

Iron Age

The beginning of the period is traditionally set at approximately 900 BC From that time, two cultures dominated Italy: the Villanova culture and the waterfall cultures. The former in particular have great differences between them, and the period is characterized by a growing regionalization that only ceased when the Romans had subjugated Italy. In Etruria and Latium, the lower limit of the Iron Age is set approximately 700 BC, while for the rest of Italy it seems more correct to set the lower limit of the Roman conquest.

The Villanova culture, which is the earliest Etruscan phase, was developed by the previous Protovillanova culture and is named after the first finds made in 1853 at the village of Villanova near Bologna. Today, the characteristic burial sites with hundreds of urn burials have been found not only elsewhere in the Podalen, but also in most of Etruria, in parts of Umbria and the Marche, and in three centers in Campania. There are several finds of villages with huts built in wicker with thatched roofs. The ashes of the deceased were usually laid for approximately 50 cm high double-conical urns made of coarse, dark ceramic. In the beginning, the graves were uniform with few grave gifts, but major differences developed rapidly, which can be interpreted as differences in social status; at the same time, people gradually switched to using burial mounds. During the 800's and 700's BC.

South of the lower reaches of the Tiber, the culture of Lazio separated itself already around 1000 BC. The settlements were usually high, and the burial grounds around the villages; here, too, cremation was used in the early stages. The development thus largely followed the Villanova culture, but there are clear differences between them in, for example, local ceramics. The most famous find from the period is the remains of a hut, called Romulus' hut, on the Palatinate in Rome, but the most enlightening excavations have taken place outside Rome, such as the Practica di Mare (Lavinium), the large excavation in the Osteria dell'Osa (Gabii) and the Nordic studies at Ficana.

In the southwestern part of Italy along the Tyrrhenian Sea, there are various, related fossil grave cultures, which are characterized by the use of burial mounds (fossa). The settlements appear to have been mostly high (eg Cumae) or slightly off the coast. From around 600 BC. there is a mutual influence between the waterfall cultures and the Etruscan and Greek settlements in the coastal areas of Campania. In the written sources, the various Oski-speaking peoples, such as the Samnites, the Campans and the Lukans, begin to appear in 400 BC, and cities such as Capua and Naples had then mixed populations, respectively. Etruscan-Campanian and Greek-Campanian. At the same time, there is a strong expansion from the Oski-speaking population groups. The campaigners in Capua took power in a coup in 423 BC, and the former Greek colonies suffered the same fate in 421 (Cumae) and the end of the 400-t. (Poseidonia). In 354 BC. mentions an actual state formation in Bruttium (Calabria). From the middle of 300-tfKr. known associations in federations under the leadership of presumably an official, in inscriptions namedmeddix. At the same time, cities were founded, especially in the coastal area, and a large number of settlements and defenses inland were fortified. This must undoubtedly be seen in the context of the series of acts of war in 300 BC, which led to Rome's subjugation of Italy in the early 200 BC.

In Puglia, the early Iron Age cultures, the Japanese culture, are directed to the east. As in the Balkans, burial graves were used, where the dead were placed in the fetal position on the side. Settlements with cottages with a rectangular or oval floor plan lay on flat plains. Alongside the typical dark Iron Age ceramics, light clay pottery with dark paint was used in this area, no doubt a result of Puglia's extensive connections to Mycenaean culture in the late Bronze Age. The Japanese culture was gradually divided into three groups: Messapic, Daunian and Peuketic (from south to north). Also in the Picenum on the Adriatic coast (now Marche and Abruzzo) there were waterfall cultures. The culture in the southernmost part has connections across the Adriatic, while the finds in the northern part of the area show clear contacts to the Villanova culture.

The Iron Age cultures of northern Italy were closely linked to the Central European Hallstatt and La Téne cultures. The Este (near Venice) and Golasecca culture (near Lake Garda) are known for making situals, bucket-like bronze vessels, often with rich relief decoration. Many of the cultures have been tried to be identified with peoples, which are mentioned in written sources. In Greek and Roman historiography, a number of examples of contact between these peoples are known. Famous are Livius' accounts of the Samnite wars, which constitute our main written source for the Italian peoples. There are also etiological myths that tell of a people's immigration to Italy under the leadership of the man who has given name to the people. The myths have been used especially in older research to name archaeological cultures, but many of these attributions are questionable. Also seeItalian peoples, Etruscans, Sardinia (prehistory) and Sicily (prehistory).

Italy - history

The Italian peninsula was for centuries up to the domination of Rome inhabited by a variety of peoples. One of the most significant was the Etruscans, whose urban communities from 700-BC. began to dominate Central Italy. In southern Italy and Sicily, a number of Greek colonies were established at the same time. The Etruscan area was from 400-BC. the pressure of galleys penetrating down over the Podalen, and from 300-tfKr. of Romans. I 200-tfKr. occupied Rome throughout Etruria. For a more detailed treatment of Roman history, see Rome and the Roman Empire.

Rome got from approximately 400-200 BC subjugated all of Italy and Sicily partly by conquest, eg the Samnite wars (approximately 325-290 BC) for control of Campania, partly by giving the Italian cities certain privileges as socii'allies'. The policy yielded results; thus, by Carthage's invasion of Italy during the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), Hannibal failed to get Rome's allies on his side. The political and social ties between the Italian people and the Romans were too strong. Just over a hundred years later, however, there was a serious crisis between Rome and the Allies, culminating in the Allied War 91-89 BC. Thereafter, all allies received Roman citizenship. In the last century BC, up to the fall of the republic and the introduction of the empire in 27 BC, Italy was hit by several uprisings and civil wars, among others. Spartacus' Rebellion 73-71 BC

During the imperial period, there was a strong influx of capital to Italy, which was the core country of the Roman Empire until the founding of Constantinople as the new capital in 330 AD. I 400-t. Italy was repeatedly subjected to invasions by females and Germans; Rome was plundered by the Visigoths in 410, the coasts were vandalized in the mid-400's, and in 476 Rome was conquered by the Germanic army commander Odoaker. In 493, the Ostrogothe Theoderic the Great took power over Italy and made Ravenna the capital. The Germans then soon took over Roman culture and language.

The Byzantine emperor Justinian I tried in the middle of the 500-t. to gain imperial control of Italy, but it led to severe destruction followed by plague outbreaks. Attempts were made to rebuild a Roman administration, but efforts were interrupted by the invasion of the Lombards.

The era of the Lombards (568-773)

In 568, the Germanic tribe of the Lombards came to northern Italy from the Danube region, where they had established close contact with the Byzantine Empire. Under the leadership of Alboin, the Lombards occupied Milan in 569, and soon thereafter loosely organized gangs continued deep into the country... Read more about the Lombards era.

Franks, Normans and Arabs (773-1138)

In 773, the Catholic Frankish king Charles the Great occupied Pavia. He captured Desiderius and in 774 proclaimed himself king of the Lombards, and after two years of fighting, the country was divided into four parts: the Frankish lands to the north, the Church State in the middle, the independent Duchy of Benevento and the Byzantine territories in the south with the whole island of Sicily... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about Franks, Normans and Arabs.

Guelfer and Ghibellines (1138-1250)

Henrik Løve came from the Welf family, and an Italian papal party got the same name: guelfer, while the emperors were called ghibellines, named after the imperial family's castle Waiblingen in Austria; the party struggles between these two factions took a long time to shape the development ... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about guelphs and ghibellines.

Dominance of the city-states (1250-approx. 1350)

When Frederik II died in 1250, the role of the hohenstaufers was played out. After bloody power struggles in 1265, the Pope gave the Kingdom of Sicily to Charles I of Anjou, who wanted to carry out his policy with a heavy hand, but at the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, the French were expelled from Sicily, and Peter III of Aragon took power. The decline of the imperial and papal powers paved the way for the independence of the northern Italian cities that were in the hands of Guelphs or Ghibellines... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about the dominance of the city-states.

1400-t. From the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance

Economically and socially, the black death and the almost cyclical epidemics meant that the population and economic life of the peninsula plummeted, and earnings among the rich population groups declined. The bad times hit the lower strata of society hard with famine and consequent social unrest... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about Italy in the 1400's.

The Peace of Lodi 1454

The endless wars over supremacy on the peninsula were halted for a long time, and the borders frozen when the five great powers, Milan, Venice, Florence, the Church State and Naples, at the Peace of Lodi in 1454, concluded an agreement on mutual negotiations in case of future conflicts... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about the Peace of Lodi.

The emergence of court culture

In political-cultural life, a bourgeois culture was slowly but surely replaced by a court culture. For example, Mantova and Ferrara fit into the larger system and could, within the framework of the Peace of Lodi, develop a court culture like the larger states... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about the emergence of court culture.

French and Habsburg intervention (1494-1530)

The entire Italian balance of power system from the Peace of Lodi was brought to an end with the military intervention of the French monarchy in the Italian affairs in 1494. A confused time followed, as the Habsburgs later became involved in the conflict, and Italy became the main stronghold for over 50 years. series of wars between France and the Habsburg Empire... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about the French and Habsburg intervention.

Habsburg rule (1530-1700)

Emperor Charles V revived the old dream of the medieval empire in Italy, but now with resources that none of the medieval emperors had had. Only disturbed by the War of the Spanish Succession 1701-13/14, this political system was valid until the 1790's, when a completely new situation arose... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about Habsburg rule.

Stagnation in the 1700's.

In 1700, the Spanish Habsburgs became extinct, and the Spanish Succession War broke out in 1701. In that context, Italy was once again a hotbed of European strife. The Peace of Utrecht in 1713 meant that the Austrian Habsburgs largely took the place of the old Spanish Habsburgs... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about Italy in the 1700's.

Revolution and Restoration (1796-1848)

With the French Revolution and the subsequent Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Italian peninsula was once again involved in the history and politics of Europe. From France came the ideas of the transfer of sovereignty from the autocratic monarch to the people... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about revolution and restoration (1796-1848).

Italian Collection (1848-70)

Unlike the other small Italian states, Piedmont had an economy, a military and a state structure that ensured the country some leeway internally and externally. Thus King Karl Albert introduced a new constitution, laughed Statuto, which made the kingdom a constitutional monarchy based on a parliament... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about the unification of Italy.

Imperialism and industrialism (1870-1914)

In domestic politics, the Historical Right was replaced by the Left of the Depretis, and the change of power in 1876 formed the prelude to the so-called transformism that was to characterize the political system. In foreign policy, Italy joined the Triple Alliance with conservative Germany and Austria in 1882 ... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about imperialism and industrialism in Italy.

World War I and Fascism (1914-25)

An increasingly strong nationalist opinion meant that Giolitti could not keep Italy out of World War I, forcing him to resign. Antonio Salandra's government then embarked on a more targeted interventionist line, supporting by the excluded socialist Benito Mussolini, and from 1915 Italy participated on the French and British side against the former allies Germany and Austria... Read more about World War I and fascism in Italy.

Regime and Resistance (1925-45)

The regime promoted some of the modernization features that also characterized other of the interwar mass societies, namely welfare initiatives, technological advances, and increasing government intervention in the economy. But with his repressive line, Mussolini basically accommodated the forces of Italian society that, since the unification of Italy, had relied on a model of development that was based on imperialist, anti-democratic and populist methods both to the outside world and to the Italian people... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about the years 1925-45 in Italy.

Republicanism (1945-50)

After the end of World War II, Italy could not only return to the pre-fascist regime whose institutions and constitution had failed to prevent fascism, but Italy had also gained another international position with the United States' entry into the war and the subsequent economic aid... AAAAAAAAAAAAA on republicanism in Italy.

Economic Miracle and Opening to the Left (1950-63)

It was within the framework of this imperfect democracy that Italy carried out its economic recovery. The strong growth was promoted by a favorable cost level, and the economy became internationalized and export-oriented... Read more about the years 1950-63 in Italy.

The Strategy of Tension (1963-79)

The reform policy of the early 1960's did not have the intended stabilizing effect. The economy slowed down and reforms had to be halted. Throughout the decade, a small but militant opposition grew to the left of the traditional left, culminating in the student uprising in 1968, followed by the so-called hot autumn, l'autunno caldo, in connection with the labor negotiations the following year... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about the years 1963-79 in Italy.

Partitocracy (1979-91)

At the beginning of the 1980's, the Italian economy was facing a recovery. The progress was based on a technological renewal of the production apparatus, on a discipline of the workforce and on a change in the professional composition of the same workforce... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about 1980's Italy.

Italy, Europe and Berlusconi

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the political and ideological fronts that had helped to lock in Italian democracy disappeared... AAAAAAAAAAAAA about Italy's recent history.

Italy - History (1796-1991)

Italy - History (1796-1991), Revolution and Restoration (1796-1848)

With the French Revolution and the subsequent Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Italian peninsula was once again involved in the history and politics of Europe. From France came the ideas of the transfer of sovereignty from the autocratic monarch to the people and of the nation as an administratively legal and militarily secure entity. The French Jacobins inspired a democratic wave in the Italian lands, while the young Napoleon in the wake of his Italian campaign in 1796 set the stage for a number of smaller state formations based on the French model (eg the Italian Republic with Milan as its capital).

The restoration after Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 led to a division of Italy according to an old pattern: the Kingdom of Sardinia, which consisted of Sardinia and Piedmont under the returned royal house of Savoy, the Kingdom of Lombardy and Veneto now under Austro-Hungarian sovereignty, the Church State and the Kingdom of Begilia. in addition to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and some smaller duchies such as Parma and Piacenza, Modena and Lucca.

However, the idea of ​​a united Italian nation lived on. There were the secret revolutionary societies such as Carboneria with offshoots of Giuseppe Mazzini's Giovine Italia, and in many places there were popular uprisings, for example in Palermo and Naples in 1820. Broader democratic movements followed in the revolution year 1848 (see February and March Revolution1848) with uprisings in Venice and Milan against the Austrians; the following year, Rome was proclaimed a republic under the leadership of Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. In Piedmont, a more moderate-liberal, nationalist elite developed around figures such as Màssimo d'Azeglio and the later statesman Camillo di Cavour, who was a large landowner; he edited the program magazine Il Risorgimento (1847), the aim of which was the national rebuilding of Italy.

Italian Collection (1848-70)

Unlike the other small Italian states, Piedmont had an economy, a military and a state structure that ensured the country some leeway internally and externally. Thus King Karl Albert introduced a new constitution, laughed Statuto, which made the kingdom a constitutional monarchy based on a parliament. This courtesy to, above all, the moderate-liberal circles caused the creation of a relatively homogeneous political-intellectual class around the royal house, which soon made the country the outgoing force in the implementation of Italy's unification, il Risorgimento.

The first of three wars of independence against Austria-Hungary began in 1848, starting in Piedmont. However, it ended in a defeat, because no great power support had been obtained. The support came, from France, up to the next war in 1859. After Piedmont had provided military support for the Franco-British operation against Russia in Crimea 1854-55, Napoleon III signed with the signing of a secret agreement in Plombières, which committed France to fight on the Piedmontese side, against the Piedmontese renouncing Nice and the Savoy. After the Battle of Solferino in 1859, Lombardy fell to the Kingdom of Sardinia, now under Vittorio Emanuele 2.

However, this diplomatic-military expansion of the kingdom was broken when Garibaldi landed in Marsala on the west coast of Sicily in 1860 with his thousand men, in Mille, without the full backing of Cavour, and without the intervention of British ships in the area. A few months later, Francis II's Kingdom of Both Sicilies collapsed, and in October of that year, at the historic meeting in Teano north of Naples, Garibaldi was able to hand over southern Italy to Vittorio Emanuele II, who was proclaimed King of Italy in 1861 after a series of referendums. With the Third War of Independence in 1866, Veneto was also incorporated. It was not until 1870 that the last remnants of the Church State fell, and then Rome became the capital of the new kingdom of Italy.

With the external borders in place, the nation of Italy was a fact. All that remained were the unresolved issues of South Tyrol and the area around Trieste. In fact, the collection was an extension of the Kingdom of Sardinia and not a union of equal small states. That fact was underlined by the fact that the Piedmontese royal house, as well as the prefect system and the constitution, also formed the basis of the new Italy. Of the two main currents of the Risorgimento movement: the democratic one, represented by Mazzini, and the moderate-liberal one, represented by Cavour and Marco Minghetti, became the last decisive factor, which was also evident from the fact that the collection was conducted from above, with only approximately 2% of the population had the right to vote.

The gathering created a nation, but far from the unity that the new leadership (the Historical Right) pretended. From being a European problem, Italy became the Italians' own. The southern Italian underdevelopment problem, which also provided fertile ground for the mafia, soon became a reality. The church turned against the new unitary state and refused to sign the law that should have formalized the relationship with the state.

Imperialism and industrialism (1870-1914)

Domestically, the Historical Right was replaced by the Left's Left Party, and the change of power in 1876 provided a prelude to the so-called transformism that would shape the political system with its tendency to absorb any opposition in parliament's changing majority coalitions, and in not so few cases to crack down hard on social unrest. In foreign policy, Italy joined the Triple Alliance with conservative Germany and Austria in 1882. In the same year, a colonial policy was launched in East Africa (Eritrea and Somalia), which was strengthened under the governments of Francesco Crispi. The result, however, was that Italy suffered a defeat at Adwa in 1896 in a futile attempt to conquer Abyssinia. Crispi then had to resign.

Internally, Crispi had taken a hard line against any move to social unrest, thus against the Sicilian people's movement, in fasci siciliani, in 1894. The repression continued when Antonio Di Rudinì's government in May 1898 ordered the army to fight a revolt in Milan.

At the time of the unification, Italy was an agrarian society, but the more favorable international economic conditions of the 1890's promoted the first real industrial revolution in the country. It was supported by a pro-reform bourgeoisie and a socialist workers' movement, which organized itself professionally and in 1892 got its first party with the formation of the Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI) under the leadership of the reform socialist Filippo Turatis.

It was at the turn of the 1900's that the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle became the driving force of the Italian economy with the Turin Fiat factory in a prominent position. Italy got a new banking system to suit the growing financing needs of companies, and the first elements of a labor market bargaining system saw the light of day with the 1906 Confederazione Generale del Lavoro Confederation (CGL) followed by the Confindustria 1910 employers' association.

Politically, the more far-sighted bourgeoisie was represented by the liberal Giovanni Giolitti, several times head of government 1903-14. The Giolitic era, especially in the early years, was characterized by a social pact between the Liberals and the Reform Socialists, which rested on a recognition of the labor movement as an indispensable party in the country's development. Giolitti extended the right to vote to approximately 24% of the population in 1912 (women still did not have the right to vote) and on that basis a new pact was established with the Catholic Electoral Union.

World War I and Fascism (1914-25)

An increasingly strong nationalist opinion meant that Giolitti could not keep Italy out of World War I, forcing him to resign. Antonio Salandra's government then embarked on a more targeted interventionist line, supporting by the excluded socialist Benito Mussolini, and from 1915 Italy participated on the French and British side against the former allies Germany and Austria.

Although Italy came to stand on the side of the victors, the country suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Caporetto in 1917, and the political class that had engaged the country in World War I was greatly weakened by the war. New mass parties emerged, such as Luigi Sturzo's Catholic People's Party, Partito Popolare Italiano (PPI). In Italy, the Russian Revolution of 1917 led to a left-wing radicalization of the PSI. After major strikes and factory occupations 1919-20 in the so-called two red years, il biennio rosso, the Socialist Party was split with the formation of the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) in 1921.

It was, however, Mussolini's fascist movement (see fascism) which, after the culmination of the revolutionary wave, understood to strike political currency partly because of the middle class' fear of the economic crisis and the well - organized actions of the proletariat, partly because of widespread dissatisfaction with Italy not knowing The Treaty of Versailles had been adequately met in its territorial claims.

By launching gangs of violence, squadre d'azione, against political opponents and by being supported by large sections of the Italian establishment led by the monarchy, in October 1922 Mussolini was appointed leader of a coalition government a few days after the March against Rome. of the fascist gangs. Externally, Italy remained a parliamentary democracy. But the assassination of the opposition leader, the socialist Giacomo Matteotti, in the summer of 1924 changed this situation. After Mussolini had appeared in Parliament on 3 January 1925 and had assumed the moral, political and historical responsibility for what had happened, but without resigning, the authoritarian regime was a fact. The anti-fascist parties were then banned, leaving only the Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF).

Regime and Resistance (1925-45)

The regime promoted some of the modernization features that also characterized other of the interwar mass societies, namely welfare initiatives, technological advances, and increasing government intervention in the economy. But with his repressive line, Mussolini fundamentally accommodated the forces of Italian society that, since the unification of Italy, had relied on a model of development based on imperialist, anti-democratic and populist methods, both vis-à-vis the outside world and the Italian people. Mussolini also managed to get the church's support for his regime, when the Italian state and the Vatican finally finally in 1929 formalized their relations in the so-called Lateran settlement. See also Church State.

With the 1935-36 campaign against Ethiopia (the Italian-Abyssinian War), which had humiliated Italy 40 years earlier, the regime achieved its greatest popular consensus to date. After the conquest of the African state, an Italian empire was proclaimed in 1936, which was increased with the annexation of Albania in 1939. The engagement with Germany in the Spanish Civil War on the part of rebel General Franco continued the expansionist policy. the following year, Italy entered World War II as Germany's ally. With the declaration of war against France in June 1940, Italy became an active participant in the war.

With Mussolini at the helm, Italy lived out the 1800's nation model in its extreme catastrophic consequence. When the fortunes of war turned and the Allies landed in Sicily in July 1943, it was not long before the regime had to part with its leader; On July 25, Mussolini was deposed by Vittorio Emanuele III, who imprisoned him. Thereafter, the new head of government, former chief of staff Badoglio, began ceasefire negotiations with the Allies, and on 8 September, the ceasefire was declared. From then on, Italy fought against Germany. In northern Italy, however, the Germans succeeded in having the meanwhile liberated Mussolini deployed in the puppet state of La Repubblica Sociale Italiana, headquartered in Salò (Republic of Salò).

The country was now divided into two. The war took on the character of both liberation wars, civil wars and class wars in 1943-45, as the resistance movement took shape around especially anti-fascist parties such as the Communist PCI and the Partito d'Azione, named after Mazzini's and Garibaldi's old party. On April 25, 1945, Northern Italy was liberated.

Republicanism (1945-50)

After the end of World War II, Italy could not only return to the pre-fascist regime, whose institutions and constitution had failed to prevent fascism, but Italy had also gained another international position with the United States' entry into the war and subsequent economic aid (see Marshall Plan). who developed an American hegemony, soon also power-political and cultural. Although Italy had fought on the side of the Allies for the last two years of the war, the country was treated with the 1947 Peace Treaty as a former enemy; thus Italy had to renounce the eastern parts of the region of Venezia Giulia and Istria, which belonged to Yugoslavia, while the former colonies of Libya, Albania and Ethiopia were declared independent.

It was under this new auspices that the Italian people (women included) went to the polls on 2 June 1946 to decide whether Italy should be a republic or continue as a monarchy. A narrow majority preferred a republic. On the same day, votes were cast in a Constituent Assembly with representatives of the parties that would shape the political system: Pietro Nennis PSI, Palmiro Togliatti's PCI and Alcide De Gasperis Democrazia Cristiana (DC). On 1 January 1948, Italy received its first democratic constitution, which laid the foundations for the development of an Italian welfare state.

However, the unity between the political wings behind the 1944-47 coalition governments and the Constitution itself did not stand up to the fronts of the Cold War. PCI and PSI had to leave the government in May 1947. In the election in April 1948, DC won an overwhelming victory, and the party was, among other things. via Italy's membership of NATO from 1949 the guarantor of a certain stability in the country, which in addition to being an important piece in Western Mediterranean policy was also home to a communist party to be taken care of. In the same election, former fascists ran under the name Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI).

DC's power base was consolidated with a series of land reforms and from 1950 with the Investment Fund for Southern Italy (la Cassa per il Mezzogiorno), which was followed by an expansion of the state-controlled companies that had survived the crisis policy of fascism. Thus, there was a tendency for DC and its shifting allies of Social Democrats, Liberals, and Republicans to occupy the state apparatus with full control over its resources. The result was that the political system was blocked and that the opposition party, PCI, never became an alternative.

Economic Miracle and Opening to the Left (1950-63)

It was within the framework of this imperfect democracy that Italy carried out its economic recovery. The strong growth was promoted by a favorable cost level, and the economy became internationalized and export-oriented. In 1951, the country co - signed the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, which entered into force in 1952, and in 1955 Italy hosted the Messina Conference, which in 1957 culminated in the signing of the Treaties of Rome, see EU (1.1. Historical background). The progress culminated around 1960; the Italian had now, following the American example, become a consumer of cars, refrigerators, televisions, etc.

However, it was first and foremost the industrial triangle Milan-Turin-Genoa that benefited from the economic miracle. This geographically one-sided development helped to deepen some pre-existing disparities, for example between northern Italy and southern Italy, which resulted in waves of emigrants to the industrial centers to the north.

The social unrest that followed in the wake of the country's new, unequally distributed wealth forced DC leaders Amintore Fanfani and Aldo Moro to expand the governing coalition 1962-63 with the Socialist Party. After a short period of reform, however, the PSI ended up being more concerned with the short-term retention of power than with the long-term solutions. The center-left coalition between DC and PSI created a power-sharing policy that became the predominant model for the development of the political system until the early 1990's.

The Strategy of Tension (1963-79)

The reform policy of the early 1960's did not have the intended stabilizing effect. The economy slowed down and reforms had to be halted. Throughout the decade, a small but militant opposition grew to the left of the traditional left, culminating in the student uprising of 1968, followed by the so-called hot autumn, l'autunno caldo, in the context of labor negotiations the following year.

DC was losing control, and with a supposed neo-fascist bombing in Milan in December 1969 that killed 17 people, what was called a "strategy of tension", la strategia della tensione, was launched, the goal of which was to promote destabilization. a law and order policy. In 1970, a coup was attempted; one had already been attempted in 1964. In 1974 a new bomb exploded in Brescia, and in 1980 it hit Bologna railway station with 85 killed and 200 wounded.

It was PCI that immediately understood how to take political advantage of the long crisis of the 1970's, which was further exacerbated by the sharply rising oil prices. In the local elections in 1975, the party received a number of mayoral posts, for example in Turin and Rome, ie. outside the central Italian regions such as Emilia-Romagna (Bologna), where the Communists had dominated since the war. The following year, in 1976, the PCI achieved its best parliamentary election to date. The party had understood to appeal to the middle classes after the leader, Enrico Berlinguer, launched his proposal for a "historic compromise" with DC. Among Catholic politicians, it was first and foremost Aldo Moro who was responsive to this proposal.

The mutual rapprochement led to PCI supporting two DC governments 1976-79 with the driven Giulio Andreotti as leader. The consequence, however, was that the extra-parliamentary new left was given more leeway. Against the background of the many militant small groups, a real terrorism developed. The most far-reaching operation was carried out by the Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse), which in 1978 abducted and later assassinated DC President Aldo Moro.

This changed the preconditions for the collaboration between DC and PCI. The reforms did not materialize, and the trade union movement did not respond to the restraint policy it had pursued to contribute to the reduction of rising cost and inflation levels. PCI had to find itself trapped in the transformism that PSI had previously ended up in, but unlike PSI, PCI became increasingly isolated after support for Andreotti's government was withdrawn.

Partitocracy (1979-91)

At the beginning of the 1980's, the Italian economy was facing a recovery. The progress was based on a technological renewal of the production apparatus, on a discipline of the workforce and on a change in the professional composition of the same workforce. Business, which had been under strong pressure during the 1970's conflicts in the labor market, now emerged with strengthened companies and a new enterprise.

PCI's marginalization promoted a showdown over the party's identity; it ended with the then leader Achille Occhetto (b. 1936) having the PCI transformed into the Partito Democratico di Sinistra (PDS), while a smaller breakaway group continued under the party designation Rifondazione Comunista. After the negative government experiences with PCI in the latter half of the 1970's, DC returned in the 1980's to the old, tried-and-true center-left model with leaders like Ciriaco De Mita (b. 1928), Arnaldo Forlani and Giulio Andreotti. PSI now, under the leadership of Bettino Craxi, breathed a new future. The goal was both to isolate PCI and to appear as an alternative to DC.

Parts of this strategy were realized. Craxi thus formed two governments in 1983-87, thus breaking DC's monopoly on the government leadership post. However, it was also the period when the political system emerged as a real party power, partitocrazia. Politics was reduced to friendship services and corruption, revealing a deep-rooted clientelistic practice that had eliminated all forms of opposition and democratic control and provided organized crime and other shady business with the best conditions. Thus, around 1980, the Sicilian mafia launched an unprecedented series of assassinations of judges, politicians and other government officials, such as in 1982 the prefect of Palermo, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa. In 1981, the authorities discovered the existence of the secret Masonic lodge P2, which was declared a threat to democracy by a parliamentary commission. In 1990, the public became aware of the equally secret NATO structure Gladio, which was linked to the strategy of tension.

Italy - History (1991-)

Italy - History (1991-), Italy, Europe and Berlusconi (1991-)

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the political and ideological fronts that had helped to lock in Italian democracy disappeared. However, Umberto Bossi's Northern Italian League (Lega Nord) had already challenged the political system with a program that highlighted enterprising northern Italy over corrupt and wasteful Rome and advocated a less centralist state structure, not without separatist undertones. In 1992, the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office launched the operation against prominent representatives of the political class and of the private business community, which was quickly dubbed Rene Hænder (Mani Pulite).

The PSI was then dissolved while the DC was split into a series of smaller batches. The PDS was the only major party to survive in a now more polarized political system that split into a center-right wing and a center-left wing, not to be confused with the 1960's experiment of the same name.. However, the left parties did not initially succeed in striking the political coin of the fall of the old political class. In the March 1994 election, media king and right-wing populist Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia party became the major victor, along with the Lega Nord and Gianfranco Finis' Alleanza Nazionale, which engulfed the former neo-fascist party MSI.

Many feared that Italy was facing a new regime, but in December 1994 the Berlusconi government had to resign when it lost Lega Nord's support, leaving room for a Ministry of Commerce under the leadership of former National Bank Governor Lamberto Dini (b. 1931), who after the April 1996 election, government power handed over to economics professor Romano Prodiat the head of a broad center-left coalition around the PDS. The Berlusconi government left a number of issues still unresolved, including concerning the Italian economy. Nevertheless, Silvio Berlusconi again won strong voter turnout in the 2001 election, with Forza Italia becoming the largest party after promises of streamlining public administration, simplifying laws, tax cuts and rebuilding southern Italy. Mr Berlusconi has been widely criticized at home and abroad for corruption allegations by Italian and Spanish courts, his contempt for state institutions and the conflict caused by Berlusconi's simultaneous resignation as Prime Minister. business and controls a significant part of the media. The center-left, which held government power from 1996 to 2001,

Italy played an active role in the Balkans, in connection with riots in Albania, where 12,000 French, Spanish and Italian soldiers under Italian command were deployed in April 1997 in connection with riots in the southern provinces of the country. The commitment in the Balkans must include seen in the light of the widespread influx of illegal refugees into Italy.

The center-left government failed to balance Berlusconi's control of up to half of the nationwide television channels, and despite the fact that the Prodi government until 1998 and the subsequent government led by ex-communist Massimo d'Alema showed good results - eg Italy's return to European monetary union that paved the way for the country's joining the euro - did not prevent Berlusconi from taking power again in 2001 after promises of tax cuts and economic progress. However, Berlusconi's second term was marked by stagnation with growth rates below the European average. Financial scandal followed financial scandal, such as the bankruptcy of the dairy group Parmalat and the departure of Governor Fazio prematurely. In the media field, Berlusconi gained greater control over state television, RAI, and thus effectively curtailed freedom of the press in Italy. Several critical journalists had to leave their jobs. In foreign policy, Berlusconi downplayed Europe, oriented more towards the United States, and supported US engagement in Iraq. In the April 2006 election, the center-left coalition led by Prodi narrowly won; the new government faces major challenges. Respect for the Constitution has been sought to be restored by appointingGiorgio Napolitano, former reform communist and with roots in the post-war anti-fascist tradition, as the new president after the very well-liked Ciampi. The new government faced major challenges, but its majority in parliament was too small and the center-left coalition's internal disagreement too great for it to implement the reforms of labor and pension legislation and the liberalization of business that were otherwise on Prodi's agenda. Issues such as family policy (registered partnerships), artificial insemination and stem cell research also gave rise to divisions in the governing coalition, where center-left Catholics were sharply opposed to the left-wing parties, the Greens and the socialist-radical party Rosa nel Pugno. Italy's military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and the government's approval of a significant expansion of the large US military base in Vicenza also gave rise to disagreement in the governing coalition. In January 2008, Justice Minister Clemente Mastella of the small southern Italian party Popolari-UDEUR resigned after his wife, Neapolitan local politician Sandra Lonardo, was placed under house arrest on corruption charges. Mastella first stated that his party's three senators would continue to support the government, but a few days later Mastella withdrew his party's support, citing that the major governing parties had shown no solidarity with him and his wife. The government won a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies on 23 January 2008, but lost in the Senate the following day by 156 votes to 161.

At the election on 13-14. April Silvio Berlusconi's newly formed party Popolo della Liberta in coalition with the right - wing northern Italian autonomous party Lega Nord won a comfortable majority in both chambers of parliament, and on 8 May Berlusconi rejoined the post of Prime Minister.

Among the problems Italy faced in 2008 were a declining purchasing power of the population, very poor economic growth and a large public debt. In addition, there was widespread illegal immigration, which, on the one hand, provided Italy with the necessary labor, but on the other hand created widespread insecurity among the population because the illegal immigrants were largely linked to crime (particularly Roma and immigrants, both legal and illegal, from Romania). Organized crime in southern Italy, despite a continuing series of significant successes for the police, remained a major problem. Naples' huge renovation problems were due to a combination of poor administration and corruption at municipal and regional level, lack of investment in incinerators in the Campania region as well as the interests of local mafia groups in the illegal disposal of environmentally hazardous waste. When Berlusconi took office as prime minister, he declared that he would hold a government meeting a week in Naples until the problem was resolved.

In November 2011, Berlusconi, who had lost the majority in the Chamber of Deputies, was forced to submit his resignation; confidence that he could solve Italy's serious economic problems had disappeared. He was replaced on the post by Mario Monti. The new government's task was to implement comprehensive austerity measures, and the first austerity package was adopted as early as December 2011. As early as 2012, Monti filed his resignation when he had lost his parliamentary basis. After the parliamentary elections in February 2013, a political crisis arose in the country, and only after two months was a new government formed, this time under the leadership of Enrico Letta. After fierce internal strife, Letta resigned as prime minister in February 2014 and was replaced byMatteo Renzi, who took office as the youngest Prime Minister in the history of Italy.