Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This Course'Development of a Nation: Unification of Italy, 1848-70' is one of the eight Paper 1 depth studies. You study only two of them, so work through these lessons only if this is one of your chosen options.
In 1848 there was no country called Italy. The peninsula was split into separate states, each with its own ruler, laws, army and customs posts. Most people spoke a local dialect and felt loyal to their own town or region. The Austrian minister Metternich called Italy merely 'a geographical expression': a shape on the map, not a nation.
Austria's power reached far beyond Lombardy and Venetia. The rulers of Tuscany and Modena belonged to the Austrian royal family, and Austria kept soldiers in the fortress at Ferrara in the Papal States. When revolts broke out in 1820-21 and 1831, Austrian troops marched in and crushed them. Nothing could change in Italy unless Austria was beaten or distracted.
Key terms:
Most supporters of these ideas were educated middle-class people: lawyers, doctors, students and merchants. Most peasants, the great majority of Italians, took little interest.
Nationalists wanted the Austrians driven out, but they disagreed about what should come next. Giuseppe Mazzini founded Young Italy in 1831. He wanted the people to rise up and create one united, democratic republic. The priest Vincenzo Gioberti argued in a book of 1843 for a federation of the Italian states led by the Pope. Others hoped that the King of Piedmont would lead.
Liberals cared most about how each state was run. Before 1848 Italy's rulers were absolute: they made the laws alone, censored newspapers and used police spies. Liberals wanted a constitution, a parliament and a free press in their own state. Many were moderates who feared Mazzini's revolution and preferred reform from above.
These ideas were a long-term cause. They spread through books, newspapers and scientific meetings, so by the 1840s many educated Italians agreed that the old system had to change.
Ideas alone did not put crowds on the streets. Hunger did. The harvests of 1846 and 1847 were poor across Europe. Food prices shot up, and families who spent most of their income on food had little left for anything else. Trade slumped and many town workers lost their jobs. Peasants and workers blamed their rulers, so the middle-class liberals suddenly had angry crowds behind them.
In Austrian-ruled Lombardy, high taxes were a special grievance, because the money went to Vienna. In January 1848 the people of Milan stopped smoking, because only the Austrian government was allowed to sell tobacco and it made a lot of money from it. Austrian soldiers smoked in the streets to mock them, fights broke out and several people were killed. Hatred of Austrian rule grew sharper.
In June 1846 a new Pope was elected: Pius IX, known in Italian as 'Pio Nono'. Earlier Popes had opposed all change, but Pius began with reforms in the Papal States:
The effect was huge. Crowds cheered 'Viva Pio Nono!' and Gioberti's dream of a Pope leading Italy seemed to be coming true. Rulers in Tuscany and Piedmont came under pressure to match his reforms, and they too relaxed censorship in 1847. In fact Pius was a cautious reformer who never planned to lead a national movement, but the hopes he raised mattered more than his intentions.
The new constitutions were both a result and a cause. Frightened rulers granted them to stay in power, but each one showed that rulers would give way, and that encouraged people elsewhere to demand more.
Extract A (a practice extract written for this lesson, in the style of a modern history book)
From a modern history textbook.
The election of Pius IX in June 1846 sent a thrill of joy through Italy. Within a month the new Pope had thrown open the prison doors and welcomed exiles home. Night after night, cheering crowds filled the streets of Rome to bless his name. He loosened the grip of the censors and invited men who were not priests to advise his government. When he boldly defied Austria over Ferrara, Italians everywhere hailed him as the leader their nation had been waiting for.
What impression does the author give about Pope Pius IX? You must use Extract A to explain your answer. [6 marks]
The author gives the impression that Pius IX was a bold, much-loved reformer who seemed ready to lead Italy. This comes across in the author's language. The Pope's election sent 'a thrill of joy' through Italy and crowds came 'night after night' to 'bless his name', which suggests he was adored. Saying he 'boldly defied Austria' and was 'the leader their nation had been waiting for' makes him sound like a brave national hero. The author has also chosen to include only his popular actions, such as the amnesty, looser censorship and the protest over Ferrara. The extract leaves out that his reforms were limited and that he never planned to lead a national movement, so the impression is entirely positive.
What lifts it to the top level: it names one clear impression, proves it with short quotations and what they suggest, and explains what the author chose to stress and to leave out.
Do not retell the extract. Pick out loaded phrases such as 'thrill of joy' and 'boldly defied', say what each one suggests about Pius IX, then add one sentence on what the author has left out. For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson 'Paper 1 Question (a): What Impression Does the Author Give?'.