The political history of Italy is quite extensive. The Greeks were the first to settle in Italy and established colonies in the southern part of the country and in Sicily. There was not a sense of political reality as much as there was a civilization (Windows on Italy- History). While the Greeks controlled the south the Gauls, or Celtic people, ruled the north and the Po Valley. But the most important group to settle in Italy was the Etruscans. Because of their advanced civilization, the Etruscans were the only ones to establish political and cultural ideas before the Roman Empire (Windows on Italy- History). At the end of the Etruscans rule, Rome began a unification of Italy and established Latin to be the general language (Defusco).
By 6th century BC, the city of Rome came into power. During this growing power, Rome began fighting other civilizations to expand its territory. Amongst these populations was Rome’s long time friend Carthage. Rome soon became greedy and made war on Carthage in the Second Punic War (Defusco). The Punic Wars lead Rome to gain territories along the Mediterranean basin. At the end of the Third Punic War, Rome defeated Carthage and became the major Mediterranean military power (Windows on Italy- History).
In all of Rome’s defeats, Greece was the most significant. The Romans adopted Greek customs and ideas as their own. This changed the society of Rome by developing a new culture and way of thinking. The Roman Empire was soon developed by the ideas of Augustus, leading to a more democratic way of governing. The Empire created an expansion of Roman civilization by its leaders conquering other civilizations. The Empire ruled for many years under many different Emperors. During this time there was a mixture of rule between a hereditary Emperor and a Senate.
With the fall of the Empire after the death of Theodosius, Italy was then attack from neighboring civilizations in the north and west. These invasions soon lead to the rising of power in individual city-states (Defusco). The citizens of the cities abolished the ideas of feudalism and searched for their own identity. Their searching lead to violent acts amongst themselves in determining who should govern, but despite the fighting, each city contributed greatly to the economy and helped to raise the cultural energy of Rome (Defusco).
By the year 1861, a unified Italy was...
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...e the beginning of its unification, Italy has battled with the differences of the north and south. It will take a long time to achieve economic stability in the south, but one that must be reached in order to increase the economic growth for the whole country. With its strong nationalistic views, Italy is well on its way to achieving its goals.
Works Cited
CIA-World Factbook-Italy. 2001. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/it.html (26 Nov. 2001).
Defusco. Italy-Culture and History. 2001. http://www.defusco.ch/en2_italy.html (26 Nov. 2001).
Electric Library. Columbia University Press: 2001. http://www.encyclopedia.com/articlesnews/06518.html (26 Nov. 2001).
Embassy of Italy in the United States. Washington D.C.: 2001. http://www.italyemb.org (26 Nov. 2001).
U.S. Department of State. 2001. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/bgn/index.cfm?docid=4033 (26 Nov. 2001).
Windows on Italy-the Constitution. Italian National Research Council: 2001. http://www.mi.cnr.it/WOI/deagosti/constitu/const1.html (26 Nov. 2001).
Windows on Italy-the History. Italian National Research Council: 2001. http://www.mi.cnr.it/WOI/deagosti/history/tribes.html (26 Nov. 2001).
The Second Punic war, beginning in 218 BC, was the second major war between the Roman Empire and the Carthage. Around the same time, the Roman Empire deployed troops to the Northeastern peninsula of Spain to keep reinforcements, from the Carthaginian South, from getting to Hannibal’s armies in Italy to assist them. In A Histor...
Ginsborg P (1990). ‘A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics: 1943-1980’ Published by Penguin; Reprint edition (27 Sep 1990).
The Extent to Which the Lack of Popular Support was the Main Reason for the Weakness of Italian Nationalism in the Period 1815-1848
At the end of World War One, the Central Powers (which included Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary) were forced to submit to the Treaty of Versailles, which left the Central Powers with citizens who had a mounting disdain for government and organized power. In this chaos, Italy struggled to find a definitive government. As a result, from the end of WWI in 1919 to 1922 Italy, struggling in the ruins of WWI, found itself under the rule of five different governments. Following the infamous ‘March on Rome’, Benito Mussolini was chosen to be Italy’s head of government; however, Mussolini’s nascent fascist party (which was officially founded in 1919) toiled to rally around a set ideology. Though Mussolini had founded the Fascist party in 1919, the party had no set platform or ideology to organize itself around. James Whisker, a professor of Political Science at West Virginia University states, “Italian fascism had at least four principal phases.” Through these phases Italian fascism would come to fruition. The first...
To begin with, this is determined by Italy's weak and foreign expansion policy. In 1871, the long-torn apartness of Italy achieved unity, providing favorable conditions for the development of capitalism. But the reunification is completed from top to bottom, retaining a large number of feudal remnants, which seriously hindered the further development of the Italian economy, resulting in the backwardness of Italy, mainly in three aspects: First, backward agriculture, food production is extremely
During the First Punic War Rome, Rome successfully defeated the Carthage. The conflict was chiefly due to who would control the important trade waterways of the Mediterranean Sea.
The development of Nationalism from 1830 to 1848 can be considered as the period where the core ideas of the Unification of Italy truly sprang. Driven by the ambition of Mazzini, to the influences of writers and philosophers, further to the application through media, economy, and religion, all led to the strengthening of nationalism throughout many areas in Italy. Even though their first official attempt to suppress the Austrians and establish a unification had failed in the Revolutions of 1848, it had delivered an even stronger desire for a unified Italy and had proved that unity among the states was possible.
During the late 1800's Italy became one of the most overcrowded countries in Europe. Many Italians began to consider the possibility of leaving Italy to escape the new low wages and high taxes. For centuries the entire Italian peninsula was divided into quarreling states, with foreign powers often controlling several states. In this chaotic situation, the feudal system ruled above the economic system, leaving money only in the hands of a select few (Wikepedia.com, 2007).
Since the beginning of time, man has waged war on his neighbors, his friends and his enemies. In many cases these wars were caused by power-hungry nations that were in the process of expanding their empire and ended up stepping on the toes of another superpower or ally of a superpower. In the case of the first Punic War between Rome and Carthage, Carthage was extending its empire and they stepped on Rome’s toes. During the course of this war the winner was unclear but at times victory seemed eminent for both sides until Rome finally won. The Romans had control in the first part of the war but this would not last. After the Romans first win they decided that they needed a victory over the city of Carthage but this would turn the tides in favor of the Carthaginians. For some 15 years after this defeat of Rome the tides went back and forth between the two but would eventually lead to the Romans victory. After the victory, Rome made some very harsh demands and Carthage filled those demands even though some of them were very extreme.
As the story goes, Rome was founding in 753 B.C. by two brothers Remus and Romulus who were raised by wolves. The two brothers started fighting over the leadership of the land. Eventually Romulus killed Remus and took control own his own. The city was only a small settlement at that time. As the civilization grew, the Etruscans took over. The Romans drove out the Etruscans in 509 B.C. By this time Rome had become a city. As the empire came to its peak it included lands throughout the Mediterranean world. Rome had first expanded into other parts of Italy and neighboring places during the Roman Republic, but made wider conquests and made a strong political power for these lands. In 44 BC Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman leader who ruled the Roman Republic as a dictator was assassinated. Rome descended into more than ten years of civil war. After years of civil war, Caesar's heir Gaius Octavius (also known as Octavian) defeated his last rivals. In 27 B.C. the Senate gave him the name Augustus, meaning the exalted or holy one. In this way Augustus established the monarchy that became known as the Roman Empire. The Roman Republic, which lasted nearly 500 years, did not exist anymore. The emperor Augustus reigned from 27 BC to AD 14 and ruled with great power. He had reestabl...
The first Punic war was fought to settle control over the critical islands of Sicily and Corsica. In 264 BCE, the Carthaginians interfered in a feud between Messana and Syracuse, the two main cities on Sicilian west coast, and settled a companionship on the island. Acknowledging this challenge, Rome, invaded Messana and made the Carthaginian depart. In 260 BCE, a fleet of the Romans declined to achieve complete control of Sicily, but opened the way to Corsica, the Carthaginians were evacuated. In 256 BCE, the second Roman fleet came in and settled a beachhead in the African continent. Carthage were ready to give up, but the terms provided by Rome were too serious, and 255 BCE, Carthage attacked with a new army made around elephants and cavalry
Rome at its peak was one of the greatest empires in the history of the world. Rome had modest beginnings, in the 10th century BC. (Knight, H) Soon, however Rome was to become one of the largest empires of its time. However, when Rome hit its peak everything started to go wrong. Rome started to suffer both economically and socially. The economic crisis during the later parts of Rome’s existence was a major contributor to the decline of Rome. Socially, Rome started to fail socially with huge inequality and the increased use of slaves putting many out of work. (Knight, H) As well, there was sparks of conflict internally leading to countless civil wars between different political groups. (Knight, H) The political aspect of society was also a massive downfall for the romans. The emperors were chosen by violence, or by birth, so they weren’t always capable leaders. They started to get lazy and not work hard to solve the issues for the lower class. (Knight, H)
After his downfall, Octavian took power and through strategy and small trickery he rose to the top and added important features to Rome that would stick with many civilizations for years to come. Christian: OK. My turn. From 264 B.C. to 202 B.C., Rome fought against Carthage in the three Punic Wars.
The Roman Empire was very significant throughout the Third and Fourth century because that when the fall of Rome happen. Its important factors occurred during those times. A article best describes how the Roman Empire due to its economic issues. “The decline of the Roman Empire was due to economic causes, the diffusion of industry and the absence of a technological basis sufficient to support an empire of this size-in the last resort it was a product of the basic technological weakness in ancient civilization resulting from the institution of slavery.” Rome was not equipped with the technological ideas to support the empire. After the occurring death of Marcus Aurelius, who ought to be the last five good emperors, marked the end of the success of the second century. Most importantly after his death, the Roman Empire started to fall. It seems Marcus was maintaining the empire. Some people may ask why such great empire finally collapsed.
Legend has it that Rome was founded Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. Left to drown in a basket on the Tiber River and rescued by a she-wolf. They found their own city on the river’s banks in 753 B.C. Romulus killed his brother and then became the first king of Rome, which is named for him. (History.com). Early Rome was governed by kings, but only after seven kings, the Romans took power of their city and ruled themselves. They created a council known as the senate which ruled over them, the Roman Republic. Roman-Empire.net states that “The word 'Republic' itself comes from the Latin (the language of the Romans) words 'res publica' which mean 'public matters' or 'matters of state'” (http://www.roman-empire.net/children/history.html) The senate would appoint a consul who ruled over Rome like a king, but for only a year. These consuls would always rule carefully and not as tyrants because they knew that once they served their year, they could be punished by the next consul. Rome had four social classes as stated by Roman-Empire.net that were called “Slaves, Plebeians, Equestrians and Patricia...