Venice and Rome and the Extent of Unification by 1870 » Obstacles to Unity After 1861 and Piedmontisation
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, Depth study 2, Key topic 5
- How Austria, France and the Pope stood in the way of a fully united Italy
- What 'Piedmontisation' meant for the rest of Italy
- Why it caused so much resentment, especially in the south
- How the south fought back in the Brigands' War
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Unlock This CourseThree obstacles from outside
The Kingdom of Italy of 1861 had two gaps in it: Venetia and Rome. Three powers stood between Italy and those lands. None of them could be pushed aside by Italy alone.
🏰 Austria
Austria ruled Venetia and refused to recognise the new kingdom. Its army sat behind the fortresses of the Quadrilateral. Piedmont had lost to Austria in 1848 and 1849, and had only won in 1859 with a French army beside it. So Italy could not take Venetia unless a great power fought as its ally. Until then, the danger from Austria forced Italy to keep a large and costly army.
💂 France
France was Italy's friend and its obstacle at the same time. French soldiers had guarded the Pope in Rome since 1849. Napoleon III needed the votes of French Catholics, so he could not let Rome fall. Any Italian attack on the city meant war with France, the very power Italy relied on against Austria.
⛪ The Pope
Pius IX had lost most of his lands in 1859-60 and never forgave it. In 1860 he excommunicated everyone who had helped to take them, which included the king and his ministers. He refused to recognise the kingdom or to give up Rome.
The Pope was the most damaging of the three, because he was an obstacle inside Italy as well. Nearly all Italians were Catholics. They were now being asked to be loyal to a state that their own Church condemned. In December 1864 Pius IX published the Syllabus of Errors, a list of 80 modern ideas he said were wrong. The last 'error' was the idea that the Pope should come to terms with 'progress, liberalism and modern civilisation'. To liberals, this looked like a declaration of war on everything the new Italy stood for. In the south, many priests encouraged people to resist the new government.
How Venetia and Rome were finally won is covered in the lessons 'Venetia, 1866: Italy and the Austro-Prussian War' and 'The Roman Question and the Taking of Rome'.
Key terms:
- Excommunicate: to cut a person off from the Catholic Church and its services.
- Piedmontisation: forcing Piedmont's laws, taxes and officials on the rest of Italy.
- Prefect: an official chosen by the central government to run a province.
- Conscription: a law that makes young men serve in the army.
- Brigand: a member of an armed band living outside the law.
An obstacle from inside: Piedmontisation
Remember, the new Italy was set up as a unitary state, run from Turin. The government feared that the kingdom might fall apart, so it did not wait to find out what each region wanted. It simply spread Piedmont's system over the whole country. Italians soon had a name for this: Piedmontisation.
📜 Laws
Piedmont's laws replaced the old laws of each state. Its money, the lira, and its weights and measures became the only ones allowed. Piedmont's conscription was brought in everywhere, even in Sicily, which had never had it under the Bourbons. From 1866 Piedmont's laws closing monasteries were applied to all Italy.
💰 Taxes and trade
Piedmont's wars had left large debts, and now all Italians had to help pay them. Taxes rose well above the low taxes of Bourbon times. Piedmont's low tariffs were also applied to the whole country. Southern workshops, which had been protected by high Bourbon tariffs, could not compete with cheaper goods from the north and from abroad. Many closed.
📋 Officials
Each province was run by a prefect who took his orders from the government. Many prefects, judges, police chiefs and army officers sent south were northerners. They did not know the region or its dialects, and many looked down on the people they governed.
Why was the south so angry?
Resentment was felt in many regions, but it was strongest in the south, for three reasons.
- Broken hopes. In 1860 southern peasants had hoped for land and a better life. They got neither. The landowners kept their estates, and when Church land and common land were sold, it was mostly the rich who could afford to buy.
- New burdens. Higher taxes and conscription hit the poorest families hardest. A son taken for the army was a worker lost from the farm.
- Feeling conquered. To many southerners, unification felt like a takeover by strangers from the north, not a liberation. The closing of monasteries, which had given charity to the poor, added to the anger.
The Brigands' War
From 1861 the mainland south slid into a violent revolt known as the Brigands' War. Poor peasants, former Bourbon soldiers and young men running from conscription formed armed bands in the hills. They attacked landowners, officials and soldiers. The exiled Francis II, living in Rome, sent money and encouragement.
The government treated the revolt as crime, not as protest. At its height about 100,000 soldiers were sent to the south. In August 1863 the Pica Law put the worst-hit provinces under military courts, which could try brigands and anyone who helped them. Villages were burned and suspects were shot. Thousands died on both sides, and many historians think the fighting killed more people than all the wars of unification put together.
By 1865 the main bands were broken, but the anger was not. In September 1866 rebels in Palermo held the city for a week before the army and navy took it back.
This mattered for unity. Italy was now one state on the map, but force, not loyalty, held the south inside it. Money and soldiers that could have been used to win Venetia and Rome were tied down fighting other Italians.
Common mistakes
- Writing as if the brigands were only criminals. Many were peasants and ex-soldiers protesting against taxes, conscription and northern rule.
- Saying France was simply Italy's ally. Over Rome, France was the main obstacle.
- Describing Piedmontisation without saying why it caused resentment. The exam rewards the link between the policy and its results.
Exam-style question
Explain two effects of Piedmontisation on southern Italy in the years 1861-66. [8 marks]
Model answer
One effect of Piedmontisation was that many southerners became poorer. The new kingdom took on Piedmont's war debts, so taxes rose well above the low taxes of Bourbon times. Piedmont's low tariffs were also applied to the whole country. Southern workshops had been protected by high Bourbon tariffs, so they could not compete with cheaper northern and foreign goods, and many closed. Because the south was given a system built for richer, more modern Piedmont, its people paid more while their jobs disappeared.
A second effect was violent resistance to the new state. Conscription was brought in across the south, and northern prefects were sent to enforce it. On the mainland this led young men to flee to the hills and join the brigand bands, alongside peasants and former Bourbon soldiers. The result was the Brigands' War of 1861-65. The government sent about 100,000 soldiers and passed the Pica Law of 1863, which set up military courts. So Piedmontisation meant the south was held in Italy by force.
What lifts it to the top level: it gives two separate effects, backs each with precise facts (tariffs, conscription, the Pica Law), and shows how Piedmontisation led to each one.
Exam tip
One effect alone cannot score more than 4 marks, however well it is explained. Give each effect its own paragraph and use linking phrases such as 'this led to' and 'so' to show how Piedmontisation caused it. For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson 'Paper 1 Question (b): Explain Two Effects'.