United Italy

Southern Italy Series

-----United Italy-----

On December 12th, 1816 King Ferdinand I established his Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Peace was secured by Austrian support: their dynasties and armies now commanded much of the north of Italy including the duchies of Lombardy-Venetia, Parma, Modena, Lucca and Tuscany. But not all of northern Italy was under the Austrian sway; Sardinia-Piedmont still stood beyond their control.

But by 1820 the Kingdom was in crisis. Spurred on by the ideals of the French revolution, an underground revolutionary group, the Carbonari was formed to preserve the rights of the people. The Neapolitans soon lead a constitutional revolt against Ferdinand while the Sicilians attempted to secede. The Sicilian rebellion was swiftly put down, and Ferdinand promised that the Neapolitans would receive a constitution after he spoke with the Austrians at the Congress of Laibach. Soon an Austrian army was marching south to restore order in Naples. The rebels were defeated, the constitution shredded and Ferdinand began a new program of persecution against his people.

In 1825 Ferdinand died and was succeeded by his son Francis I. In 1830 he too died and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies. Though Ferdinand began a campaign to modernize his kingdom, he refused to grant a constitution or legislative body for his people. Sicilian uprisings continued in 1837.

In 1847 failed revolts in Calabria and Messina inspired a separate revolt in Palermo. The revolt sparked similar demonstrations across Europe. But the monarchy proved too entrenched and by 1849 the revolts were put down with extreme prejudice.

This show of force and the subsequent hunting down of conspirators so frightened the British and French that in 1856 they withdrew their ambassadors from the country. Not long after Ferdinand barely survived an assassination attempt before his death in 1859. His son Francis II now commanded the state.

In the north the Sardinia - Piedmont troops had worked in conjunction with the French to defeat the Austrians. Their king had accepted a constitution in 1852 whereas Francis II refused to give up power.

Then on May 5th, 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in Sicily with 1,000 men. After fighting the battle of Calatafimi on May 15th Sicilians flocked to Garibardi’s army. By Milazzo on July 17th his army numbered over 4,000 men. His army soon crossed the straight of Messina, gaining more followers as he went through Calabria. At the battle of Voltutno 24,000 men under Garibaldi defeated the forces of Francis II.

Simultaneously the army of Sardinia - Piedmont marched south, seizing the Papal States territory of the Romagna in the process. Garibaldi handed over his army to King Victor Emmanuelle II of Sardinia.

In the meantime Francis fled to the fortress of Gaeta near the Papal border. Emmanuelle besieged Gaeta until its fall on February 13th 1861. Francis went into exile in Austrian Venice.

On the 17th of March 1861 a parliament elected Victor to be the king of a united Italy. Though Venice and Rome were not yet part of the kingdom, they would be conquered by the end of the decade.

Southern Italy Series

500 BC [link] Origins
264 BC [link] The Punic Wars
115 AD [link] The Roman Empire
405 [link] East and West
526 [link] Collapse of the West
565 [link] Reconquest
572 [link] Lombard Invasion
751 [link] Lombard Italy
814 [link] Charlemagne’s Empire
1000 [link] Italy and the Holy Roman Empire
1095 [link] The Norman Conquest
1154 [link] The Kingdom of Sicily
1250 [link] Hohenstaufen Italy
1280 [link] Anjou Sicily
1300 [link] War of the Vespers
1400 [link] Black Death
1492 [link] Renaissance Italy
1559 [link] Italian Wars
1715 [link] Habsburg Italy
1780 [link] Bourbon Italy
1799 [link] Revolutionary Italy
1812 [link] Napoleonic Italy
1860 United Italy
1943 [link] Divided Italy

2/19/12 EDIT:
map base source [link]
map base created by Citypeek [link]