What Caused Italian Unification?

[@LookBackHistory]

You all asked for it, and here it is! This was a particularly fun one to make, so I really hope you enjoyed. If you did, why not find out why the island of Corsica never ended up a part of Italy? You can do so, here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5_Xm2mQiLZ6prs Also, big shoutout to Thomas Wagner. He knows what he did!

[@cgt3704]

Fun fact: when the italian army put the city of Rome under siege, pope Pius IX threatened to excommunicate the commandr if he tried to besiege the city. How did the king respond to this threat ? Simple, he replaced the former officer with another guy who was a jew. Smart points

[@eagleowl833]

Work smarter not harder. But then again, couldn't the pope excommunicate the king?

[@cave1334]

@@eagleowl833 he did it. After the conquest of Rome was wrote the "Non Expedit" (in latin "it'not appropriate")which was a pope's low where the pope declared Italy an Illegal country and ordered to all Italian good christians to don't partecipate to the Italian political life. That was solved in 1928 with the "Patti Lateranensi" between the pope and Mussolini

[@DanielTaddone]

His name was Giacomo Segre: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_Segre

[@alexzero3736]

It does not matter. The Pope was pretty hated for stalling the Unification.

[@nowhereman6019]

It was also ironic justice considering Pius's oppression of Jews in the Palpal States.

[@Veriox22]

Its interesting how both italy and germany managed to unify their nations, despite them being divided for centuries.

[@darilmarra4383]

At least in the case of Italy, it's because the people shared a common identity and culture for centuries, despite what the video wrongly said

[@mrkipi8074]

And Romania, don't forget it

[@karlfranzemperorofmandefil5547]

@@darilmarra4383 remember that unlike in Italy, there was a temporarily successful Germany wide revolution in 1848, that formed a united German republic by the will of the German people alone. It was soon toppled by the meddling of foreign powers and the suistained power of the nobility, but its still an important sign of German national identity at the time. (And the source of the modern German flag, which was the flag of that movement)

[@Grothgerek]

@@darilmarra4383 Are you sure about this? Thanks to the romans did italy had a united culture for quite some time, but overall most regions have different ancestors. Especially the north is very germanic influenced, thanks to the goths, hre etc. While the southern side had more latin and greek influence. Germany on the other hand was "united" for quite some time under the holy roman empire. They also were mostly germans und just shared dialects of the same language. (With prussia being the biggest exception, because of their slavic influence thanks to the eastern expansion of the teutons).

[@azahel542]

it's even funnier how it was all because of the french

[@HierophanticRose]

"Some built trade empires that extended across the Mediterranean, while others were dominated by foreign powers themselves." Well, both, in the case of Venice

[@LookBackHistory]

Haha, yep. Genoa too, to a lesser degree.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

@@LookBackHistory Not really lesser. They were equals until Venice beat Genoa and gained control of the Mediterranean

[@concept5631]

@@NoName-hg6cc I'm honestly surprised Venice didn't try to pull a Rome and conquer the whole peninsula.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

@@concept5631 It probably couldn't: too many power in the peninsula that, if attacked, would have coalized. This doesn't mean it hasn't been attempted, like the Duke of Milan tried later on, or Cesare Borgia

[@concept5631]

@@NoName-hg6cc Wonder what Europe would've looked like in 2023 without Napoleon.

[@mrclean29]

1:03 although there always was the idea of Italian identity, as various people such as Berengar of Friuli, Dante, Machiavelli, Petrarca, Cola di Rienzo and the Lombard league were all to some extent Italian “patriots” (i know that in the Middle Ages the concept of patriotism wasn’t really present, though). Von Metternich said it because obviously as an Austrian he didn’t want Italy united. His statement has a ground of truth, but overall it IS false. Last time Italy was just a “geographical expression” was before the Social Wars.

[@elisabettamacghille4623]

In any case, being a "geographical expression" can be considered a pretty good starting point for being a nation, just to cite a famous French historian.

[@thomaswagner4457]

Thanks!

[@Historical_events]

Very epic, Thomas, very epic!

[@LookBackHistory]

Wow! I'm so glad you enjoyed, Thomas, I hope my content can continue to engage you well into the future! You also happen to be the first person to utilize the new "thanks" feature on one of my videos, so, seriously, you're the man!

[@LightsCameraandLego]

@@LookBackHistory Found this cause of vidiq. I didn't know super thanks was available for smaller channels.

[@cavestoryfan10]

At 4:12 you say Piedmont was the only State ruled by Italians, which is not true. The Papal States were not formally subject to any foreign power. At 8:27 you say the Austrians invaded first, which is true, but it was basically Cavour provoking them by sending an exaggerate amount of troops to their borders (the alliance with France was a defensive pact).

[@Luca_Schiano]

Ho letto tutto il resoconto dei Patti di Plombieres del 1858: sì, l'alleanza con la Francia era di natura difensiva ma bisognava ad ogni modo provocare l'Austria per dipingerla come stato aggressore; si optò all'inizio di provocare un insurrezione nel ducato di Modena (Massa e Carrara, allora appartenenti al Ducato emiliano) che avrebbe chiesto aiuto all'Austria ma la delegazione filoitaliana lì insediata avrebbe poi chiesto l'intervento del Piemonte, e la Francia alleata sarebbe scesa in campo.

[@ekesandras1481]

And the royal family of the House of Savoy was of French origin, not Italian.

[@Luca_Schiano]

@@ekesandras1481 Burgundian probably. I'm a Royalist and i Met them many times.😁🟩🇨🇭🟥

[@paolopinko3078]

@@ekesandras1481 no

[@jecko980]

@@ekesandras1481 Burgundian or Occitan seems to be more accurate

[@DucaCremisi]

The only thing I would add, is the fact that, the idea of a United Italy it's very old, from the after the Romans and the Middle Ages. It wasn't too popular yet as an Idea in most part, but it still did exist. For example it's the reason why Dante and Boccaccio(but many more too) are considered founders of the nation, not only for their efforts to unify the language, but for the expressed sentiment of a United Italy. But yes, we need to wait until the age of revolutions, i.e. 1775-1869~, to have somewhat of the first footprints of an actual national.

[@maryking2712]

What a long and complicated path to Italian Unification. Well presented and still with your inimitable wit.

[@bebedor_de_cafe3272]

Fun fact: Garibaldi before this had tried his republican ideals in Brazil, and was an active part in the "Revolução Farroupilha", actually managing to do incredible things there, of course he lost since Brazil was starting its ascension and zenith of its power, which would last until 1889

[@ct1734]

There are some impresigions, but overall the summary is correct. The only thing that is absolutely wrong, is that Italian was only a geography name. Despite the difference and the divisions, the concept of Italians, Italian people, Italian culture has always been present through out history. One example was Foscolo (Italian poet) that blamed Napoleon for the treaty of Villafranca 1798, not unified Italy against his hope and the hopes of many more that finally saw in Napoleon the liberator who would have given Italy is freedom and unity.

[@g4ppy491]

even machiavelli and dante talk of a unified Italy

[@tomassarta]

C'è un errore ,La Corsica è esclusa dalla storia Italiana ma in realtà fa parte degli stati preunitari Italiani ma al momento dell'unità italiana è rimasta sotto dominazione straniera

[@Lovelyyetlonely]

Parla inglese dio po

[@davidfiorini2565]

Verissimo. Letteralmente rubata dalla Francia

[@Lovelyyetlonely]

@@davidfiorini2565 in realtà siamo noi che l'abbiamo venduta, o meglio, i genovesi.

[@antoniousai1989]

La cosa ridicola è che l'Italia si è beccata la Sardegna che storicamente era meno legata alla penisola della Corsica. Avrebbe avuto più senso il contrario.

[@Thunderworks]

At the time, Corsica was already part of France

[@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

This is a really good video (I hope). Subscribed.

[@LookBackHistory]

Ha, I hope so too. Thanks for subscribing!

[@NoName-hg6cc]

The idea of an Italian identity predate Napoleon by centuries

[@esti-od1mz]

Exactly. That was a simplification, I have to say

[@esti-od1mz]

@@vrbe3694 actually, the idea of unifying Italy was there all the time. Frederick II tried to submit the north from the south. Dante hoped an Italy without internal wars (Ahi serva Italia di dolore ostello) and Machiavelli wrote a book aboyt unifying Italy under the Medici Family. That's way before Napoleon. But yes, it took time, and it was not made the "proper" way

[@NoName-hg6cc]

@@vrbe3694 In Renaissance it was

[@SuperGiancarlo96]

@@esti-od1mz Frederick II was already the ruler of the north of Italy since it was part of the empire. Before Macchiavelli those that attempted to unify Italy (but were defied by Florence or the Pope) were Ladislao king of Naples and Gian Galeazzo Visconti lord of Milan.

[@esti-od1mz]

@@SuperGiancarlo96 yes, he was the ruler of the north, so I said "submit" since the North of Italy was de facto a bunch of free cities. Machiavelli suggested an unified Italy, he was an intellectual. I also just mentioned some of them.

[@Gorthan]

9:44 "The loss of Nice which, unlike Savoy, was Italian-speaking" In 1871 a civil unrest broke out in the region calling for a new referendum about the annexation since there were rumors of it being rigged, as The Times of England said already in 1860. France sent 10,000 troops to Savoy to restore order. Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was a huge proponent of the democratic process before the armed one, after aiding the French army in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war and then immediately supporting the birth of the French Third Republic, to point out the italian question to the new National Assembly applied himself as a candidate to the Parliament in the Alpes-Maritimes departement where he won by far. He however attended to only one session before resigning immediately.

[@luizfellipe3291]

​@@Gorthan But wait, how did Nice speak "italian"?? The common folk spoke Niçard Occitan, no? Sure they were culturally closer to Piedmont than France, but to say they "spoke italian" seems like a huge stretch to me.

[@Gorthan]

@@luizfellipe3291 This is a long discussion made since Dante's time, but Niçard has all the features to be an italian language and not an occitan one.

[@smal750]

​​@@Gorthan cope and seethe italian its french territory and will remain french forever

[@mysteriumxarxes3990]

giuseppe garibaldi is very famous in the south of brazil for he came to fight other wars here too, we even have a city with his name

[@abraxas1983]

how we Europeans learn history at school in one word: Wars

[@ChessedGamon]

I know a lot of people have a preference for 20th century history, but jesus so much _stuff_ happened in the 19th century it makes every other century feel like filler

[@LookBackHistory]

Ah, a fellow 1800s fan!

[@spacecraftcarrier4135]

Seriously, from the very moment of the 7 Years War, the whole of Europe & America went batshit crazy. Examples: - 7 Years War - 1775 American Revolution - 1789 French Revolution & Napoleonic Wars - 1848 Spring of Revolutions - 1848-1870 The Italian Wars of Independence, Prussian-Austrian War, Prussian-French War, etc. - 1914 WW1 - 1939 WW2 So much shit went down in Europe & America over the past 250 years.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

Your mom is filler

[@subhamomm5930]

This video is awesome .Thanks for this knowledge. It is the best video on KZbin and your channel is best channel on KZbin. This video is one of my best life experiences. Please keep it up this type work. Your nice work on videos tempt me to leave a appreciative comment on your comment box . But brother I am waiting for a video on Skanderbeg when it will come?

[@thomassghedoni4557]

Small mistake on the map of Piemont-Savoie : it shows it still possess Bresse and Bugey (western part of the country, west of Savoy) while it was handed over to France in 1601 in exchange of Saluzzo.

[@colindaniels945]

I can imagine the reaction in France to the aftermath of the Seven Weeks War: Random French official - "Sire, did we order a Venice?" Napoleon III - "No,we ordered a Belgium and a Luxembourg,but not a Venice." Random official - "What should we do with it?" Napoleon III - "We don't want it, send it to Italy, it'll help complete the set."

[@semregob3363]

6:28 that probably is the greatest burn in Italian history, savage.

[@romar5409]

amazing video, I used it in my History class. Also thanks to all the people for their corrective comments

[@LukyLucaz]

Great video! To the point, concise and lovely graphics. Any literature to recommend on the Italian unification? What sources did you draw upon for this video?

[@AshleyGravesreal]

2:36 That's The kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia you didn't mentioned Lombardy which is the most important region in Italy

[@bones6448]

Great video!

[@chilloutcentral2097]

4:16 into the video is incorrect. The kingdom of the two Sicilies was also ruled by Italians. Why not?

[@lollo_C]

Italy is still devided

[@gs7828]

Culture-wise: less than Spain, Germany and others. Socio-economic-wise: yes.

[@lollo_C]

@@gs7828 I can’t understand a Sicilian or souther Italian word cause of their thick accent

[@gs7828]

@@lollo_C Does't make the point false. Italy is socio-economically divided, but culture-wise it's more united than many state who just present themselves as being united.

[@lollo_C]

@@gs7828 yes but a economy does shape culture quite a bit

[@gs7828]

@@lollo_C Dialects derived from Latin, not Italian. If you mean the accents, they're quite rich, but just because the Italian narrative is to cherish regional beauty instead of imposing a national view is not negative. Other countries pretend to be less divided just because they've been under a single state for more time.

[@Historical_events]

Facial hair: this video YES

[@LookBackHistory]

Oh indeed, the 19th century was a wild time for facial fashion.

[@moed.740]

I don’t understand the part 1.000 sailors sailed to the island of Sicily and took it without a resistance. Didn’t Kingdom of Two Sicilies had any troops there? Or any garrisones? I very much would like to know that part.

[@thefedezboy]

The arrival of garibaldi caused a massive insurrection against the government, he then organised the insurrectionists into his ranks and defeated those Who didn't defect to him Completely destroying the kingdom of naples/two Sicilies

[@amw62]

The army of the Two Sicilies was very numerous, but its generals were mostly incompetent old men who had made a career at court and not on the battlefield. Furthermore, many units of the army of the Two Sicilies were made up of Swiss and Bavarian mercenaries, well-paid soldiers, but with no desire to fight. Finally, the Sicilians hated the Bourbons

[@Herobrineminecraft-return]

There was resistance and thats when Garibaldi started shooting at civilians

[@emanuelefiorentino8831]

In one word: Ligurians. Those crazy fouls made Risorgimento possible. From Garibaldi to Mazzini, passing through Bixio (Garibaldi's right arm), Mameli (writer of Italian anthem) and Novaro (composing Italian anthem music). Viva l'Italia 🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇹

[@rezzoc91]

The only reason my ancestors wanted unification was to be a republic away from kings, inspired by the Ligurian, former Genoese republic. "Dio e popolo" was inspired by the Genoese concept (pretty more protestant than Catholic btw) that the political power is given to the people without king in between. Che l'inse!

[@valeriozoncheddu1033]

Not only the Italian food they get wrong even the history they got somewhat wrong unbelievably

[@rezzoc91]

@@valeriozoncheddu1033 well it wasn't that wrong after all. But Genoa is Queen

[@valeriozoncheddu1033]

Ok

[@blackp7139]

Instead of speaking about the causes of Italian unification the whole video spoke about the whole thing, without even mentioning the causes!

[@michaelm-bs2er]

True, it should have explored motives. It would have been good to cite Boccaccio and Machiavelli's thoughts on the subject and the growing desire for a united Italy amongst intellectual circles in the 1700s

[@JurcaMartin]

Is there a source for that Radetzky quote about Italian generals?

[@drd-hm6fc]

It’s not that the Austrians saw it first: the alliance between Piedmont and France was a defensive one, and Cavour purposely instigated an Austrian attack by mobilizing near the border in order to force France to give military assistance

[@luciferus88rv]

Very important correction. It is totally false that Sardina-Piedmont was the only state ruled by italian king. Bourbons of Two Sicilies (deriving from Spanish Bourbons and not directly from French ones, other unaccuracy of the video) were Italian. First in Line was Carlo III (that after a while became King of Spain), that was spanish. since his son, Ferdinando I of Two Sicilies, that was born and grown in Italy, the dinasty became fully italian and the Kingdom was fully autonomous

[@Herobrineminecraft-return]

@@luciferus88rv savoyards were french they werent italian

[@mr.gamewatch6165]

And during this time, the Pope was “defeated” by a Jewish soldier

[@colindaniels945]

As I recall, France pursued peace with Austria in 1859 because they were afraid of potential Prussian involvement on the side of Austria. So France made peace without telling Piedmont-Sardinia and when Cavour found out,he resigned in rage,but he didn't stay away long

[@davidfiorini2565]

Metternich Palace in Vienna is the Italian Ambassy!

[@blakestump8909]

Please do videos on Sicily! My family came from the aeolian islands on the eastern side of Sicily.. and there is a lot of history there.. Did the aeolian islands have a significant role in Sicily’s history?

[@michaelm-bs2er]

The Aeolian islands themselves don't seem to have had an important role (from what I know), but the revolutions of 1848 started in Sicily and spread to the rest of the peninsula from there. Sicily also revolted earlier in 1812 and forced the king to enact a constitution. One of the first Italian states to do so. That constitution was repealed later (damn Bourbons). But nonetheless Sicily played an important role in Italian unification.

[@TheZioo]

@@michaelm-bs2er "dams Bourbons"🤣true word, bro. true word...😉

[@michaelm-bs2er]

@@TheZioo the Bourbons were a violent, repressive, power hungry family of opportunists. Maybe I could have picked my words better but yes it is true. The last Bourbon king was advised by his prime minister to grant a constitution that would have allowed an elected government. He refused and fired that prime minister. About two months later, Garibaldi landed in Sicily and surged through the island. Within a month of him landing that damned king granted the constitution. It was a blatant façade and last ditch attempt to hold onto power. The Bourbons got what they deserved.

[@AlmostYourFavourite]

The algorithm brought me here.

[@colindaniels945]

Something else you forgot to mention was that Cavour had actually briefly resigned following the 2nd War Of Italian Independence when he found out that France had made peace with Austria without informing Piedmont-Sardinia. By the way, losing this war would have direct domestic consequences for Austria.

[@liveforever9888]

Interesting video, ever thought about making a bit more complex video of how the romans ( in the italian peninsula) gradually evolved into Italians? Ive heard most people say that Italians werent romans and Romans werent Italian and therefore shouldnt claim descent from them.

[@alexzero3736]

There is confusion as Italy was just name of the peninsiluar back in Roman times. True Western Romans were the ones who called themselvs Latins...since 5th century AD ethnicity of peninsliluar changed greatly due to influction of foreign tribes, most notably Germanic ones, Italy was ruled by Lombards , than Franks...Last Romans lived in the city of Rome or escaped to South and Eastern Empire. City of Venice was built by one of groups of surviors...Piedmont, the unifier of Italy, was dominated by France and spoke french for hundreds of years...

[@Luca_Schiano]

I'm from Rome , i'm fully Roman! It's the same to affirm that english people are not of Anglosaxon ancestry!

[@ekesandras1481]

recipe to make Italians: take a good amount of Romans, add some Goths and even more Langobards, mix them well together. Than as a spice add some Normans, Arabs, Greeks and Albanians. Bake this mixture in the oven for 1000 years, ready are your Italians.

[@m.m.1301]

Very simply, they never evolved into Italians, the Romans were always Italian. The Italian nation exists as far back as 90 BC

[@Luca_Schiano]

@@m.m.1301 yes, mainly in the DNA (during the collapse of the Roman Empire anyway barbaric populations of Germany descent invaded the country: Goths, Lombards). The languages evolved into Italian about tenth century e.v. (First documents written in proto-italian).

[@truthteller4442]

The idea of an “unified” Italy is a bit of a falsity, however. There were always original Italic tribes that naturally existed there. Then the Romans took over and everything was unified for almost thousands of year, leaving their huge genetic footprint and unifying completely under this Roman Italic original tribe. After the empire fell, some different leaderships took over and this fractured things for a bit in history, but Italy has mostly always been unified, save for a small blip in history in the overall scheme of things. I hope people can follow what I’m saying.

[@colindaniels945]

The 3rd War For Italian Independence is also known as: The Brothers War The Austro-Prussian War The Seven Weeks War

[@barrankobama4840]

The premise is severely incorrect. Please read Dante or Petrarca.

[@colindaniels945]

It should also be mentioned that Louis Napoleon/Napoleon III was also a member of the Carbonari at one point,so he was somewhat sympathetic to Piedmont-Sardinia.

[@micahistory]

very interesting video, I used to live there

[@LookBackHistory]

Thanks, and cool! I've technically been, but I was too young to remember any of it. :/

[@micahistory]

@@LookBackHistory where did you go?

[@LookBackHistory]

@@micahistory Lake Garda

[@micahistory]

@@LookBackHistory nice, would u like to visit mica history 2

[@nekilik7886]

The similarity between Italian and Yugoslavian unification is quite remarkable. In the failure of Yugoslavia we see what could have happened to Italy had history been different. Greetings from Serbia.

[@alexnannetti7095]

Italian unification in more similar to the German Unification and Japan Unification because this three nations have the same culture and religion in all territory unlike Yugoslavia

[@nekilik7886]

@@alexnannetti7095 What do you mean same culture? Italy and Germany were divided in different nations all with their own culture and identities, just like the Yugoslavs. What connects them is language, *similar* culture and origin.

[@arthurmoran4951]

@@nekilik7886 but italy and germany also got diferents languages and they still have it but to a lesser degree. i don't know what happens to yugoslavia would have been pretty cool to stay unified but poor yugoslavia it died u.u

[@fiorino4554]

Well no Yigoslavia had different languages and religions in it Italy doesnt have such division The dialetcs are not anymore the major languages since the 60s 70s Even before the italians condidered themselves italians despite sometimes not understanding each other The only location of italy in which people doesnt speak commonly italian and doesnt consider themselves italians is south tyrol

[@nekilik7886]

@@fiorino4554 All of the Yugoslavs spoke the same language except for Slovenians but ironically they supported Yugoslavia and Croats didnt

[@gilberto4835]

As an Italian studying italian history I can say that this old version is outdated, it was an excuse put toghter from the European powers to justify the colonization of Italy, for example the south was almost always governed by Spain with no buts or ifs, Tuscany passed from Spain, France, Austria and France again, Italy is massive strategic point in the mediterranean and everyone wanted a piece of it for example the Treaty of Aranjuez (1801) was signed on 21 March 1801 between France and Spain. It confirmed a previous secret agreement in which Spain agreed to exchange Louisiana for territories in Tuscany. Those little states wanted to be unified, infact the guelfi and ghibellini wars happened but the puppeteer wouldn't let it happen until the Savoia broke from the hold of France and finally had the guts to stand up so almost every Italian state autonomously annexed himself, in reality Italy's story is tragic but romantic, we have no friends in Europe only predators ever since the fall of the roman empire, i hope you can read this

[@Joker-no1uh]

And the Roman's didn't prey on all of Europe? At least the other Europeans didn't enslave millions of Roman's.. you were on top and then you weren't and had the same done to you that you did to them.. every country/empire has its time

[@mueezadam8438]

@@Joker-no1uhRome is the reason Italy is so devoid of local culture and folklore. We know that the Romans reduced a lot of Europe’s heritage to literal tombstones (Norse epitaphs, mass graves, etc), so it is no surprise to realize the same had been done to the rest of Italy outside the pomerium.

[@leonidas759]

Hace un calor brutal aquí, pero firmes con el ejercicio 🙂

[@CAPNsaveya]

This Chanel should get more views

[@donsena2013]

Machiavelli had early on advocated for a united Italy during the era of the DeMedici of Florence (Firenze). He was known as a “White Guelph,” calling for a united secular state, while the “Black Guelphs” favored a united papal Italy. The Island of Corsica had been under the rulership of the city state of Genoa before France somehow got hold of it.

[@frogman2.087]

a tale from my worldbox worlds. I would like to tell you a tale of a continent far away from here, it had many realms on it and many realms was born though revolts but during my travels one of the realms has my eye called the realm of the Ewi, the realm had many threats near its borders but it overpowered all of them but one problem that could end its rule is revolts but it didn't happen yet. its people were strong and kind hearted but the other realms thought the realm of Ewi was just a warlord nation but the Besym people did not think them that way, they thought the Ewi people has people who could match their strength. that was quite a short tale I have told I hope you liked the tale I told.

[@mueezadam8438]

Interesting!

[@argenz1027]

11:26 Italy performing terribly at war, relying on German help. I'm sure they'll improve after that so that doesn't happen again in the future, right?

[@jmac6055]

Well, considering the Roman Empire absolutely dominated and controlled massive amounts of territory for over 1,000 years while being one of the most impressive military forces the world has ever known…yeah some poorly run battles later in history is might happen from time to time. Lol

[@gabrielemangialavori8732]

Bla bla bla, what you said is ridiculous and superficial.

[@truthteller4442]

Italy was routinely hung out to dry by Hitler….promising reinforcements in many areas that he never delivered on. Also, most Italians citizens and military hated Mussolini and Fascism. They has zero desire to fight in that war, but they fought because they had to. German General Rommel commanded almost exclusively Italian troops in North Africa and he repeatedly said they were some of the best and bravest soldiers on the battlefield. They were just handcuffed by id-iot Mussolini and Hitler, with no reinforcements, low supplies, terrible gear, and also low morale.

[@alexandergangaware429]

Sicily and "Sicily." Well done

[@PtolemyJones]

I wonder how unified Italy feels now. Would the average person associate themselves with the nation, their state, or perhaps even their home city.

[@giulianopisciottano8302]

Mmmh depends on the context I would say, if I were to be in another continent I would say that I am European, Italian. If I were to another country inside Europe I would say that I am Italian, and if I were in another region from Italy I would say I am campanian. It depends on the context

[@anthonygreco5335]

So much say of Italian history and the fate of the peninsula was taken away from half of the damn people who lived there. The South barely played a role in all this and just got swept up in it only to get the short end of the stick and have to have not one but TWO diasporas to escape ever increasing poverty. Such a shame.

[@michaelm-bs2er]

The revolts of 1848 started in Sicily and swept throughout the South. Sicily and Naples were amongst the first regions to force the king to enact a constitution but they kept repealing it and suppressing the southerners with aid of Austrian troops.

[@Forconia]

The worst thing for Italian unification were the Papal States. People still felt “Italian” even tho they were separated

[@tedbeale4738]

@@LuisAldamiz you have a massive blind spot, probably because you're a bigot. the savoy and the north were bankrupt and were funded by "foreign invaders". they stole the richest treasuries from the south that existed for thousands of years.

[@JaydenNunez_2025]

3:03

[@Dave102693]

What caused the peninsula to split into smaller kingdoms for over 1000 years?

[@giulianopisciottano8302]

Fall of Rome and barbaric invasions.

[@radec5166]

A series of events, but the main one? the existence of the Papal State, which was ready at any cost to prevent the country from unifying, requesting help from foreign countries to avoid the process (Franks, Spaniards, Germans). Italy could have become unity during the Kingdom of the Lombards or during the Renaissance(The Sforza, the Medici or the Doge of Venice would have played the role of rule Italy).

[@beastdeas7250]

It was you!

[@jakegarvin7634]

They aren't done yet, you forgot about Austria and a bit more then half of Switzerland

[@danieledemidio6222]

At 10:14 there is a serious inaccuracy. The peasants of the Two Sicilies never rose up against the Bourbons of Naples. They were catholics and monarchists. Counterwise, they took up arms to defend their homeland, the guerrilla warfare in the mountains lasted almost a decade after the annexation. The population of the south suffered tremendous violence from the Savoyard army. History needs to be deepened, don't stop at the surface.

[@michaelm-bs2er]

I'm sorry you're wrong. There were several uprisings against the Bourbons, throughout the 1800s. In 1812 in Sicily, in 1820 in Sicily and Campania, the Bourbons had to call troops from the Austrians to suppress it. There were several more uprisings in between those years in Calabria and Puglia and other parts as well. The uprisings intensified in the lead up to the war of 1848 (which started in Sicily). For example in Calabria there was a large uprising in 1847 and similar uprising in Salerno and Naples in 1848. There was also an uprising in Cilento in 1828.

[@antoniousai1989]

That's the usual neo-borbonic bullshit. Garibaldi had an army of 50 thousand people at the end of the invasion, all of them (apart from the initial 1000s) collected during the route. Most of the southern bourgeoisie was also in favor of Italian unification due to the insane retrograde policies of the King in Naples. We are talking about the most reactionary government in Europe, second only to Tzarist Russia.

[@michaelm-bs2er]

@@antoniousai1989 let's not forget the looting and bombing of Messina in 1848

[@Herobrineminecraft-return]

​@antoniousai1989 that aint bullshit that happends sicily rebbeled against bourbons because they remobed the crown of sicily deleting the kingdom of sicily and turning them into a colony then when garibaldi came first he was seen good then when we relized he had be lying we rebbeled agaisnt him but we ended up gettting civilians shot and heads taked as trophies in museo lombroso in turin and litteraly firat we were a colony of the bourbons and now a colony of the italians since us sicilians are not italian

[@Thomas_Name]

This is good at including Thom information.

[@barrankobama4840]

Italians have been calling themselves "Italian" since the X century, well before the concept of "piedmontese", really wrong example.

[@OldHickoryReincarnate]

How were all wars paid for? They were all paid for by one bank. How can one bank rule the world? Unification

[@jakegarvin7634]

3:56 - Wait a second! Why the fuck did the British empire name Guelph, Ontario after the pope's side? It should be Ghibelline, Ontario

[@flaviobenevento882]

An undeclared conquist's war

[@colindaniels945]

To point out: The Pope wasn't happy with being under the control of the Italian government following the capture of Rome in 1870, in fact the Papacy chafed at being under the control of the Italian government and didn't recognize their control over him. The Pope was openly critical of the Italian government until 1929 when Mussolini cut him a deal. To paraphrase History Matters,the deal went like this: Mussolini to the Pope: " If you stop being critical of Fascism, we'll give you boatloads of money and complete independence." Thus,the world's smallest independent country, Vatican City,was born.

[@BackroomsBoi]

IMO I think due to Southern Italian friendliness to the Russian Empire it's independence had to go. As stated on Wikipedia the British funded alot of money for it due to it's stragetic location close to the Suez canal an not wanting the Russian Empire to have any part in the Medditeranean. I can only imagine some British and/or Northern Italian's bottom-line being negatively effected, resulting in such a "unification". Just follow the money.

[@timeovah9190]

what are you spouting lol

[@BackroomsBoi]

@@timeovah9190 Southern Italy was forced into a union with Northern Italy.

[@HellSound94]

True. Garibaldi's expedition would have neve succeeded without the complacency of the British.

[@Hikaeme-od3zq]

Also Cavour had debts with the British Crown because of the Crimean wars of 1853, you can only wonder how he paid it off....

[@tedbeale4738]

yes. savoy were bankrupt and invaded the south with english/french/you know who help, and stole the largest treasury in the world in napoli. then walked away and kept the south "poor".

[@geppettomurasaki]

Short answer: UK

[@___E]

No, not at all.

[@geppettomurasaki]

@@___E Yes. Deal with it 👍

[@radec5166]

​@@geppettomurasakiuk?

[@geppettomurasaki]

@@radec5166 united kingdom

[@Caisar.94]

The unifications are the best thing that has happened to the peoples that have done them, history shows it, the balkanizations, on the contrary, are the worst thing that can happen to a country.

[@Herobrineminecraft-return]

Italy was better devided since now its much more devided than before

[@mpalfadel2008]

Interesting I’ve always been curious why my family packed everyone up in the 1850s (rough estimation) from the lake Como area n moved to the United States. I still wonder why What was going on in northern Italy at the time to drive them to sell their holding n move everyone…

[@tedbeale4738]

the north was bankrupt. savoy was bankrupt. they were spent. they then hatched this plan with british/french/you know who help to invade the south for all it's wealth. they stole the treasury in napoli. then they beat their chests like champions and kept the south "poor".

[@colindaniels945]

I love what History Matters called Neo Guelphism: A discount Holy Roman Empire

[@nogulum4530]

Horrible video, in the first minute of which you have already made 2 outrageously ignorant claims about pre unification Italy which prove your complete misunderstanding of anything related to Italy and its history. For one that Italy was never a unified country before 1871 which is utterly false. Italy was first obviously united by the Roman Republic and later Empire but even after that there were many Germanic Kingdoms which controlled over half of the peninsula which claimed the name of "Kingdom of Italy" and even still after this during the Napoleonic Wars Italy had been reorganized once more into a "Kingdom of Italy" so to say Italy had "never been united" is a falsehood. Secondly you say that Italians had never had a sense of unity that for all of history Italians viewed themselves not as one people but multiple and this is completely false. Amongst the greatest Italian writers, and philosophers there is a shared idea of Italians being one people which must unite against the foreign hordes, Dante Alighieri referred to all Italians as Latini (Latins) sharing the same identity, Niccolò Machiavelli said that Italy must "free herself from barbarians" and hoped that Cesare Borgia would take power and unite Italy, Petrarch Said "ancient valour in Italian hearts is not yet dead" in Italia Mia, the first duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Visconti aimed to unite Italy in the middle ages before ultimately being poisoned, the Italic Leage which gained defacto independence for Italy from the HRE after defeating Barbarossa in the battle of Legnano, and finally in the 1700s Gian Rinaldo Carli wrote "Della Patria degli Italiani" in which a stranger entered a café in Milan and puzzled its occupants by saying that he was neither a foreigner nor a Milanese. "'Then what are you?' they asked. 'I am an Italian,' he explained." which reflects the feeling of national unity in Italy.

[@gigikontra7023]

Same story with Romanains. Recently, the misinformation spread by Orban Khan postulates that Romanains are a "new people", that they are a "modern invention", that they spoke Slavic languages in the middle ages (!?), that they never called themselves Romanians and that they didn't view themselves as one people. This is all false. Romanains from the three principalities (Moldova, Transylvania and Wallachia - locally known as Țara Românească, i.e. then "Romanian Country") always called themselves Romanians and their language Romanian. They knew they were descendents of Roman colonists from Sicily, mainly (and indeed the Romanian language has many words in common to the Sicilian dialect). No, they didn't come from Albania to invade "ancestral Hungarian land". Romanians had always been there. I think that ideas such as those you mentioned are spread by new imperialist powers that want to destroy us. That's why we should stick together.!

[@gearysmart2954]

I understand this is a little late as a response, but in the video at the start he didn't say that Italy was never unified before 1871, he said that for "almost all of history it was not a country." Which is kind of true to a point, but not for almost all of history because I'd say it was a single country longer than one, if you count the Romans, the Lombard's and the Frankish kingdom if Italy. But if you only look at the last 2 thousand years where people where people were "Italians" and not romans than no. He also did mention the Napoleonic Italy, but even that only counted for part of northern Italy as it was split in 3 states as shown in the video. Secondly when it comes to nationalism, like what you mention in the second part, there is a big difference between educated and non-educated people and how they feel about a unified country. Nationalism was a relatively new thing, that got kickstarted because of the unified states by Napoleon, especially in the less educated people. People tried to unify Germany and Italy throughout all of history but it almost always failed because the people just didn't care. From Otto The Great and the many alliances that came out of Italy. I'm not really sure where you talk about when he says that Italian never had a sense of Italy, from what I am aware he says that there wasn't a real call for forming one nation. Ultimately, what he says is yes oversimplified and could be more in-depth from what he said. He could have worded it better also. Nonetheless, from what I noticed in the video he never outright said either of those two claims, but he also didn't really say the truth either.

[@sirelo7745]

Skill issue

[@michaelm-bs2er]

Volevo scrivere una cosa di simile ma l'hai espresso perfettamente. Grazie tante. Sebbene lo stato nostro sia nuovo, siamo un popolo antico. Non c'è quasi niente più ignorante e più seccante sentire "L'Italia non c'era prima del 1861" o "Gl'italiani non esistevano prima del 1861".

[@photographychannel3875]

All successfully and permanently united their nations...meanwhile Yugoslavia did its best to break appart. Just stupid.

[@MartimCorreia10]

Can u do a video about how the Iberian peninsula isn't 1 country like Italy, I think it's amazing how we Portugal didn'tget assimilated by the castillians

[@LookBackHistory]

Possibly! I actually had that idea a while ago as part of a mini-series on Iberia, but those videos didn't do super well and it got shelved. Could still happen though.

[@blushdog]

I dont know why they dont try to restart the roman empire again, just try to reincorporate gaul, hispania, greece, dalmatia and then some of north africa for grain shipments. Later they can get syria and egypt

[@wertyuiopasd6281]

One word: France.

[@kekero540]

because people realized being a bunch of weak tiny states was dumb

[@somtimesieat2411]

Corsica is not yet liberated to this day

[@wankawanka3053]

wow you sound very ungrateful to france by saying that

[@smal750]

Give aosta valle first lmao

[@Giuseppe_1994]

South of Rome still not yt, northern Italy knows. Hence “Terrone”.

[@emperoraugustus4047]

wait ...HOLD UP. you telling me...they breathly restored the roman republic??!?!?

[@atwcat9370]

Not technically. It was not a successor to the actual roman republic, it was just a republic, who's capital was rome. And so it was the roman republic.

[@fiorino4554]

Also it was called the second roman republic and no, not because they were reffering to ancient rome but to the roman republic established by napoleon during the napoleonic wars

[@supermerd89]

Giuseppi Gariboldi... lol

[@o-pitamask4698]

That map design. That number design. No I don't get it...

[@hirohitoedits8620]

Idk

[@koltrainz]

I want to see an alt history video about the poor uniting Italy but it just seems to far from reality ig

[@LCCWPresents]

Modern Italians still identify with there local region and also as Italians.

[@mk9650]

Italy is essentially: What would happen if someone put Germans and Greeks in a single country

[@LookBackHistory]

Hmm, there are certainly some interesting comparisons to be made between the three.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

Germans and Greeks???? We are Latins, descendants of Romans. We do have ties to both though

[@esti-od1mz]

Nope. Influence from both, we influenced them too, a lot.

[@Luca_Schiano]

You're not completely wrong since in the middle age the Lombards (a german population) conquered about 70% of Italy (the rest ruled by Constantinople) and the South had a strong greek DNA due to the settlments before the Roman conquest.

[@paolobera]

@@Luca_Schiano the longobard were less than 200000, not enough to impact the local population, the nord remain latin/celtic not german. In the south the greek dna is concentrated only in some zone of sicily, campania and puglia.

[@fabriziopastorino3792]

italia nasce nel 1861 e non esiste regno piemonte sardegna, ma solo regno di sardegna

[@Nissardpertugiu]

Nizza era ché ? Savoya e Piemonte sardegna , 1388-1860.

[@fabriziopastorino3792]

@@Nissardpertugiu non mi è chiaro quello che dici

[@leonardocontin937]

Sì il titolo di Re viene dalla possessione del Regno di Sardegna, tuttavia tutto il potere era in Piemonte.

[@fabriziopastorino3792]

@@leonardocontin937 io sto parlando di statualità

[@LCCWPresents]

12:00 “great” I mean the greatest power in the boot since the Byzantines lost it.

[@TheBlackzman]

so papal states is the real rome right 😂

[@TheBlackzman]

btw the old red italian flag is cooler

[@giulianopisciottano8302]

San Marino would actually be the real Rome, as they declared independence in the 300's

[@Pmp174]

I’m surprised Spain, Portugal, and Italy never united. They are very similar cultures. Obviously variations exist among different communities but overall very similar.

[@Andre28k]

Wtf... you're completely wrong

[@Andre28k]

Of course I love my neo-latin brothers, but I would never unify with them, we have different cultural identities!

[@SamAllar]

They were under the romans, although Hispania was a colony and not the homeland of romans initially.

[@zorradone]

They were united once in the South of Italy.....

[@Pmp174]

@@Andre28k I am not saying they should unite. I'm saying they could have easily done it. The identities of these countries are not that different.

[@giovannifavullo7065]

Since when the savoy are considered Italians? They were as Italians as the Bourbons or the Asburgo-Este

[@michaelm-bs2er]

Do most Italians typically think of them as being Italian or French or Burgundian?

[@giovannifavullo7065]

@@michaelm-bs2er they don't that's my point, it's not true that the savoy were the only Italian monarchs

[@michaelm-bs2er]

@@giovannifavullo7065 Fair enough. Thank you.

[@smal750]

​@@michaelm-bs2er they were french.

[@michaelm-bs2er]

@@smal750 thank you. I thought the same

[@dusanpejcic7581]

What cause Italian unification? Answer: Italians 🍕🍜🍦

[@paper-lord]

it’s james bisonettes fault

[@Augustus_Imperator]

one word to describe it, messy

[@bdkim79]

Badly researched video. Probably taken from a short textbook on the subject, or even worse. Well, I guess it can't be helped. After all, just youtube

[@Tommi414]

There’s many inaccuracies and honestly dumb pointless simplifications. The notion of Italians goes back to Dante, who mentions Italians in his poems…

[@antoniousai1989]

It referred to the people of northern and central Italy, mostly. Southern Italy, Sardinia, and places like Trentino and Friuli would not be considered Italian by a person of Dante's period. Dante was referring of the people living in the Communal Italy of the north

[@michaelm-bs2er]

@@antoniousai1989 Dante starts his summary of Italian dialects "De Vulgari Eloquentia" with Sicily and praises the Sicilians for pioneering Italian poetry

[@simonedelgrosso4519]

1861