Italy
History
1828, Charles, Duke of Parma and Lucca, was selected by the Argentine people for king. He arrived in the country while still holding onto the Duchy.
1830, Charles of Argentina was overthrown in Parma. Francis IV, Duke of Modena, and Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, were forced to flee their holdings. Republics were formed in their place.
1831, Francis IV and Leopold II were returned to their holdings in Modena and Tuscany respectively. Charles of Argentina attempted to gather support for reasserting control in his Duchy, but was opposed in the Argentine Congress. Parma and Lucca were thus annexed by Modena.
1848, Piedmont-Sardinia went to war against Austria in the 1st War of Italian Independence, but was defeated. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Duchy of Modena overthrew their respective monarchs briefly. Prince Charles di Borbone of Argentina was driven from the country due to his authoritarian ideas and calling for the dissolution of the parliament. Prince Charles returned to the former Duchy of Parma while King Charles was forced to return to Buenos Aires to govern.
1849, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini overthrew Pope Pius IX from the Papal States and formed the Roman Republic. Pope Pius IX fled to Gaeta. Austria invaded the Duchies to reinstate their dukes.
1850, Piedmont-Sardinia aided Corsica during the French Civil War to be an independent Italian republic. The Two Sicilies joined with the Pope to wage war on the Roman Republic. Spain invaded Rome with 4,000 troops, but were defeated and forced to withdraw.
1852, the liberal constitutions of the Duchies were revoked. Piedmont-Sardinia and Rome asked for foreign support against Austria. Holland promised financial support, while Prince Charles Bonaparte raised a company of volunteers to aid in unification.
1853, crippled by war against the Two Sicilies, Giuseppe Mazzini agreed to hand over control of the Roman Republic to Piedmont-Sardinia.
1854, Prince Charles of Argentina was assassinated in Parma. Argentina was outraged, and Charles I went into depression. Charles sent forces to reassert his control of the Duchy, angering Argentine and American politicians.
1855, Austrian troops left Tuscany. The popularity of the Grand Duke suffered.
1856, Piedmont-Sardinia invaded Tuscany, annexing the region.
1859, Sicily revolts against the king in Naples.
1860, Corsica, burdened by economic problems, joined the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.
1864, Charles abdicated due to popular opinion in favor of his grandson, Robert I. Giuseppe Garibaldi was invited to Argentina during the Paraguayan War. Robert recalled Argentine forces in Parma. Parma was officially incorporated into Italy.
1866, Prussia and Austria went to war. Piedmont-Sardinia sided with Prussia, and invaded the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Duchy of Modena and Reggio. Republicans rose up in support, and the Austrian nobility was ousted. Though they performed poorly, the now Kingdom of Italy gained Lombardy.
1869, Argentina granted asylum to Italian nobles, granting land and titles. Sicilian became the lingua franca of the Argentine nobility. King Robert I of Argentina married Maria Pia, sister of Francis II of Sicily.
During the Berlin Conference in 1884 and 1885, Italy gained the territory of Eritrea and Somalia as protectorates.
In 1911, Italy and the Ottoman Empire went to war over Tripolitania. Italy won the war in 1912, annexing the territory into the united Libya.
During the Great War, Italy sided with Germany and Russia against Austria and Ukraine. Though Italy was on the winning side, Italy failed to gain the land it wanted in Dalmatia, which went to the later formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Furthermore, as it had also failed to gain control over Malta, Italy's desires to gain the island fortress largely failed as well. Instead, they were granted the region of Venice that they had long coveted.
Founding Date
1869
Alternative Names
Kingdom of Italy
Demonym
Italian
Neighboring Nations
Comments