ITALY DS4: Consolidating the Kingdom of Italy

Electoral malpractice

Assembly of 443 representatives voted for by just 150,000 voters

Plebiscites were misleading - 90-95% mandate in all states

Doctrine of Papal Infallibility 1871

1871: Pope declares Papal Infallibility

1864: Syllabus of Errors - rejected progressive movements such as liberalism, nationalism

Deficit

Bloated by a deficit of 2450 million Lira due to inheriting the debts of smaller monarchs

The South

30% of each year’s production spend on debt repayments

Outdated agricultural methods led to inadequate harvests

1861-1865 Brigands War

1861: 25,000 men take to the hills to avoid conscription

Took 4 years and 10,000 Piedmontese to suppress the disorder

1863 Pica Law: over 100,000 troops deployed in the South

Obstacles to Unity after 1861

French Influence

• Louis Napoleon refused to remove troops until Papal Power had been assured

• 1860 L.N proposes that if Marches and Umbria and the Abruzzi were given back, French troops would leave

Austrian Influence

• Austria’s position supported by the British

• 1859: Franco-Austrian War

• - Cavour had contacted Hungarian revolutionaries to attempt an uprising

Papacy and Papal powers

• Catholic Church had lost 2/3 of its land

• 1864 Syllabus of Errors

• 1866 Law demanding that religious orders should hand all property to the state

• The First Vatican Council 1869

• July 1870 Papal Infallibility proclaimed

The Venetian Question

1865: Napoleon meets Bismarck and offers Italy’s services

1866: Napoleon meets Austria - promises neutrality in exchange for Venetia

Battle of Custoza: Italians crushed despite the 40,000 Piedmontese outnumbering Austrians

Battle of Sadowa ( July 1866 ): Prussia x Piedmont win

Venetian Plebiscites: 642,000 in favour of annexation, 69 against

The Roman Question

1862: Garibaldi & 4000 attempt to siege Rome

1864: September Convention

• Napoleon promises to leave in 2 years as long as the Pope has a guard of 10,000

1866: French troops Leave

1867: Garibaldi invades attempting to capture Rome

• November 1867: Battle of Mentana, Garibaldi cooked

1870: Franco-Prussian War

20th September 1870: Rome Taken

Plebiscites held - 130,000 for, 1500 against

Piedmontisation

Italians felt betrayed by the imposition of a centralised state

• Statuto only enfranchised 2.2%

In 1861, Public debt was 2450 million Lira

• by 1866, the deficit took up 60% of state expenditure

• Jan 1869: ‘Macinato’ tax reintroduced

• ‘Grist Tax’ a main cause of the Brigands war

• Tax protests - 250 killed, 1000 wounded

Removal of Tariffs

• previously 80% tariff on northern goods eradicated

Only 2.5% of Italians spoke standard Italian fluently

Church Land

• In 1866/67 Act was passed to sell Church Land

• ½ million acres sold in the next 9 years

The Brigands War ( 1861-65 )

Brigands

• Initially 25,000 men who took to hills to avoid conscription

• By 1862, 82,000 Brigands in Neapolitan provinces

1860 Gov. Decree for conscription

• many farmers fled due to the ‘Grist’ tax

10-20,000 deaths in Brigands

• 120,000 Piedmontese troops deployed

• Over 100,000 by 1864

1861: Pontelandolfo - 400 civilians killed

• 1863 Legge Pica enacted - allowed families of Brigands to be executed