Venice and Rome and the Extent of Unification by 1870 » How United Was Italy in 1870?
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, Depth study 2, Key topic 5
- The factors that were pulling Italy together by 1870
- The regional, economic and religious divisions that still pulled it apart
- How to judge how united Italy really was
- How to answer a 16-mark 'How far do you agree?' question on unity
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Unlock This CourseUnited on the map
In 1848 Italy was a patchwork of states, with Austria as the strongest power in the peninsula. By the end of 1870 it was one kingdom that stretched from the Alps to Sicily. That is a huge change in just over twenty years. But a country is more than a shape on a map. The exam asks you to weigh up two things: what held the new Italy together, and what still divided it.
A famous saying, usually credited to Massimo d'Azeglio, sums up the problem: 'We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.'
Key terms:
- Dialect: the form of a language spoken in one region, which people from other regions may not understand.
- Illiterate: unable to read or write.
- 'Legal Italy' and 'real Italy': historians' names for the small group who ran the state (legal Italy) and the mass of ordinary people who had no say in it (real Italy).
Factors promoting unity
👑 One state
Italy had one king, one parliament, one constitution (the Statuto) and one set of laws. With Venetia and Rome added, almost all Italians now lived in the same country, and Rome became its capital in 1871. Men from every region served side by side in one army.
🚂 One market
The customs barriers between the old states had gone, so goods could move freely. Everyone used the lira. The length of railway track more than doubled in the 1860s, and lines now reached the far south. Travel, trade and news moved faster than ever before.
🌍 No foreign rulers
For the first time in centuries, no foreign army stood on Italian soil. The Austrians had left Venetia and the French had left Rome. The great powers accepted the kingdom. Italians also shared a proud story of the Risorgimento, with heroes such as Garibaldi.
The government also tried to build unity for the future. Piedmont's school law was applied to all Italy. It said that every child should have at least two years of primary school, taught in Italian.
Factors working against unity
🗣️ Regional divisions
Most people felt loyal to their village or region, not to 'Italy'. Historians estimate that fewer than one in ten spoke Italian in daily life. The rest spoke dialects. Even the king spoke mostly Piedmontese dialect and French. Piedmontisation had made many regions, above all the south, feel conquered and not freed.
💰 Economic divisions
The north had most of the industry, banks and railways. The south was poor, with few roads or schools. Around 1870 about seven in ten Italians were illiterate, and the figure was higher in the south. Heavy taxes hit the poor everywhere. In 1869 a new tax on the milling of grain led to riots in which over 200 people were killed, mostly in the north.
⛪ Religious divisions
Nearly all Italians were Catholics, yet the Pope was the enemy of the state. Pius IX refused to recognise the kingdom and called himself a 'prisoner' in the Vatican. Loyal Catholics felt torn between their Church and their country.
There was a political division too. Only about 2 per cent of the people could vote, so 'legal Italy' was tiny. For 'real Italy', the millions of peasants, the new state mostly meant taxes and conscription. And unity was still not quite complete on the map: the Trentino and Trieste stayed under Austria.
Drawing the depth study together
Why was Italy so divided in 1870? Look back at how it was made.
- It was made from above. The risings of 1848-49 failed. Unification was then led by Piedmont's king, ministers and army, not by a mass movement. Most peasants took little part.
- It was made with foreign help. Lombardy came from a French victory in 1859, Venetia from a Prussian victory in 1866 and Rome from a French defeat in 1870. Italians had less to be proud of together than they wished.
- It was made fast. Most of the kingdom was put together in two years, 1859-61, and then given Piedmont's system with little thought for local differences.
So in 1870 Italy was united as a state, but not yet as a nation.
Common mistakes
- Treating 1870 as a happy ending. Examiners want both sides: what united Italy and what divided it.
- Writing only about the south. The Pope's opposition and the tiny electorate affected the whole country, and the tax riots of 1869 were mostly in the north.
- Telling the story of Venetia and Rome again. Use those events as evidence, in one line each.
Exam-style question
'The main reason Italy was not fully united in 1870 was the opposition of the Pope.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
- the opposition of Pius IX
- Piedmontisation
You must also use information of your own.
Model answer
The Pope's opposition was a serious cause of disunity in 1870, but I think the divisions between the regions, made worse by Piedmontisation, mattered more.
The Pope divided Italians because nearly all of them were Catholics. Pius IX excommunicated the men who took his lands in 1860, and his Syllabus of Errors of 1864 condemned 'progress, liberalism and modern civilisation', the ideas the new state was built on. When Italian soldiers took Rome in September 1870, he refused to recognise the kingdom and called himself a 'prisoner' in the Vatican. This meant loyal Catholics were asked to choose between their Church and their country, so the state lost the support of many people who might have backed it.
However, Piedmontisation did deeper damage. Piedmont's laws, taxes, conscription and low tariffs were forced on every region, and northern prefects were sent to run the south. Southern workshops closed and peasants gained no land. The result was the Brigands' War of 1861-65, when about 100,000 soldiers were needed to hold the south, and the Palermo revolt of 1866. This shows that many southerners saw unification as a conquest.
A third reason was the economic gap between north and south. The north had most of the railways, banks and industry, while the south was poor, with few roads or schools. About seven in ten Italians were illiterate, most spoke only a dialect, and only about 2 per cent of the people could vote. So for most Italians the new state meant only taxes and conscription. The riots of 1869 over the tax on milling grain, in which over 200 people died, show that this anger was not limited to the south.
Overall, I only partly agree. The best test is how many Italians each factor touched in their daily lives. The Pope's opposition was loud, but it mainly troubled educated Catholics who might have voted or served the state. Poverty, taxes, conscription and rule by strangers touched millions of families and had already caused a war inside Italy. The Pope made the divisions harder to heal, but he did not create them. The main reason was that a state made from above by Piedmont had not yet won the loyalty of its regions.
What lifts it to the top level: it covers three reasons, one of them not in the bullets, backs each with exact facts, and reaches a judgement using a clear test (how many people each factor affected).
Exam tip
An answer that uses only the two bullets cannot reach the top level, so plan a third reason of your own before you write, such as the north-south gap here. In your conclusion, name the test you are judging by. For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson 'Paper 1 Question (c): The 16-Mark How Far Do You Agree Essay'.