Political Changes in World War I

In 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assinated, posing as the match that finally ignited the fire that was World War I. Tensions with France caused Italy to join Germany and Austria in becoming the Triple Alliance, banded to fight against mainly France and Great Britain. Because of this alliance and because the Italians were promised Austrian territory, Italy joined World War I, along with Bulgaria, affecting their country greatly.

Imperialism (Italian Perspective)

It seems that all of the major powers are scrambling for some peice of land whether it be India or in Africa. It is very similar to the days when the powers scrambled for the Americas. However, then it was mostly Portugal, Spain, France, and Great Britain. Now, Portugal and Spain have fallen and Germany and the Dutch have joined in the partition of Africa. What is Italy to do? It is certainly not strong enough to imperialize others, nor would that be morally sound. The only thing it can possibly do is sit back and watch.

Germany's Role in Italian Unification

Bismarck and his unification of Germany endeavor actually aided Italian unification more than most other Italians really understand. While Garibaldi managed to liberate southern Italy with his Red Shirts, unifying with the papal states and Rome would have simply been impossible had the French not been involved in the Franco-Prussian war, intentionally brought on by Bismarck. Thus, as much as we owe Cavour and Garibaldi for the unification of Italy, we owe Bismarck just the same, for German unification and Italian unification went hand-in-hand.

Social Changes in the Era of Nationalism for Italy

Nationalism broke out throughout Italy due to it's new movement for unification. Before 1850, Italy had not been a very united nation, rather being a land of city-states that competed with each other for power and land. Once Cavour and Garibaldi set the unification in motion, a huge wave of nationalism spread throughout. Everyone was pushing and rooting for Italy to become what Italy is today, "Italy": one unified country. So, socially, everyone's thought changed and the classes banded together to become one.