Political Changes during the Cold War

Italy saw the birth of a new political party, along with France and Germany, known as the Catholic Christian Democrats. Also, the emmergence of communism and socialism from the war became slightly evident, but eventually the democratic republic was reestablished in Italy, and many reforms took place all over the country, including women's rights reforms. This was a time of changing governments all over Europe and Italy was a major nation who jumped into this movement full-force.

Impact of WW1

The impact of WW1 on Italy was extremely important. They were involved in the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Since they were so involved with the war as all the other countries of Europe and the US, they had rewards and consequences. All of Italy's alliances empires were destroyed or communism had taken over. Italy wasn't blamed for the war even though they were allies with Germany. Italy did not have terrible losses as a whole, and the country did not suffer either.

Political Impact of World War II

Italy, along with the Soviet Union and Germany, established a radical totalitarian government. Then, Mussolini came into power by marching into Rome in 1922 and demanding that the king named him head of the government. He did this successfully and established a fascist government, which was halfway between authoritarianism and totalitarianism and consisted of only one party. The fascist leaders manipulated the people into agreeing with their beliefs and killed the previous socialist leader, Matteotti. Much of the old power system remained and Mussolini never really became a totalitarian ruler. Mussolini went on to join Germany in supporting the fascists in Spain, and Italy joined an alliance with Germany and Japan. They eventually surrendered in 1943 but continued to fight with Germany for a little while afterwards.

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.