1.
Italian unification
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The process began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The memory of the Risorgimento is central to both Italian politics and Italian historiography, for short period is one of the most contested. Italian nationalism was based among intellectuals and political activists, often operating from exile, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman province of Italy remained united under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and later disputed between the Kingdom of the Lombards and the Byzantine Empire. Following conquest by the Frankish Empire, the title of King of Italy merged with the office of Holy Roman Emperor. However, the emperor was a foreigner who had little concern for the governance of Italy as a state, as a result. This situation persisted through the Renaissance but began to deteriorate with the rise of modern nation-states in the modern period. Italy, including the Papal States, then became the site of proxy wars between the powers, notably the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and France. Harbingers of national unity appeared in the treaty of the Italic League, in 1454, leading Renaissance Italian writers Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini expressed opposition to foreign domination. Petrarch stated that the ancient valour in Italian hearts is not yet dead in Italia Mia, Niccolò Machiavelli later quoted four verses from Italia Mia in The Prince, which looked forward to a political leader who would unite Italy to free her from the barbarians. I am an Italian, he explained, the French Republic spread republican principles, and the institutions of republican governments promoted citizenship over the rule of the Bourbons and Habsburgs and other dynasties. The reaction against any outside control challenged Napoleons choice of rulers, as Napoleons reign began to fail, the rulers he had installed tried to keep their thrones further feeding nationalistic sentiments. After Napoleon fell, the Congress of Vienna restored the pre-Napoleonic patchwork of independent governments, vincenzo Gioberti, a Piedmontese priest, had suggested a confederation of Italian states under leadership of the Pope in his 1842 book, Of the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians. Pope Pius IX at first appeared interested but he turned reactionary, Giuseppe Mazzini and Carlo Cattaneo wanted the unification of Italy under a federal republic. That proved too extreme for most nationalists, the middle position was proposed by Cesare Balbo as a confederation of separate Italian states led by Piedmont. One of the most influential revolutionary groups was the Carbonari, a political discussion group formed in Southern Italy early in the 19th century. After 1815, Freemasonry in Italy was repressed and discredited due to its French connections, a void was left that the Carbonari filled with a movement that closely resembled Freemasonry but with a commitment to Italian nationalism and no association with Napoleon and his government. The response came from middle class professionals and business men and some intellectuals, the Carbonari disowned Napoleon but nevertheless were inspired by the principles of the French Revolution regarding liberty, equality and fraternity. They developed their own rituals, and were strongly anticlerical, the Carbonari movement spread across Italy
2.
Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
3.
Genoa
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Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trades included skins, wood, and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was also found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
4.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
5.
Southern Italy
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It generally coincides with the administrative regions of Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Molise, Sicily, and Sardinia. Some also include the most southern and eastern parts of Lazio within the Mezzogiorno, Southern Italy carries a unique legacy of culture. It features many major tourist attractions, such as the Palace of Caserta, there are also many ancient Greek cities in Southern Italy, such as Sybaris, which were founded several centuries before the start of the Roman Republic. These same subdivisions are at the bottom of the Italian First level NUTS of the European Union, the term Mezzogiorno first came into use in the 18th century and is an Italian rendition of meridies. The term was popularised by Giuseppe Garibaldi and it eventually came into vogue after the Italian unification. In a similar manner, Southern France is colloquially known as le Midi, Southern Italy forms the lower part of the Italian boot, containing the ankle, the toe, the arch, and the heel, along with the island of Sicily. Separating the heel and the boot is the Gulf of Taranto, named after the city of Taranto and it is an arm of the Ionian Sea. The island of Sardinia, right below the French island of Corsica, on the eastern coast is the Adriatic Sea, leading into the rest of the Mediterranean through the Strait of Otranto. Along the northern coast of the Salernitan Gulf and on the south of the Sorrentine Peninsula runs the Amalfi Coast, off the tip of the peninsula is the isle of Capri. The climate is mainly Mediterranean, except at the highest elevations and the eastern stretches in Apulia, along the Ionian Sea in Calabria. The largest city of Southern Italy is Naples, a name from the Greek that it has maintained for millennia. Bari, Taranto, Reggio Calabria, Foggia, and Salerno are the next largest cities in the area. The region is very active and highly seismic, the 1980 Irpinia earthquake killed 2,914 people, injured more than 10,000. Also during this period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the Black Sea, Eastern Libya and they included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of Italy, Magna Graecia, the ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria—Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions. With this colonisation, Greek culture was exported to Italy, in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites, an original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting with the native Italic and Latin civilisations. Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like Neapolis, Syracuse, Acragas, other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum, Epizephyrian Locri, Rhegium, Croton, Thurii, Elea, Nola, Syessa, Bari, and others. After Pyrrhus of Epirus failed in his attempt to stop the spread of Roman hegemony in 282 BCE, from then to the Norman conquest of the 11th century, the south of the peninsula was constantly plunged into wars between Greece, Lombardy, and the Islamic Caliphate
6.
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
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The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the largest of the states of Italy before the Italian unification. It was formed as a union of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies lasted from 1815 until 1860, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia to form the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The capitals of the Two Sicilies were in Naples and in Palermo, the kingdom extended over the Mezzogiorno and the island of Sicily. Many went to the United States, Australia and Argentina, the kingdom was heavily agricultural, like the other Italian states, the church owned 50–65% of the land by 1750. The name Two Sicilies originated from the division of the medieval Kingdom of Sicily, until 1285, the island of Sicily and the Mezzogiorno each formed part of the Kingdom of Sicily. As a result of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, the King of Sicily lost the island of Sicily to the Crown of Aragon, but remained ruler over the peninsular part of the realm. Although his territory became known as the Kingdom of Naples, he and his successors never gave up the title of King of Sicily, at the same time, the Aragonese rulers of the island of Sicily called their realm the Kingdom of Sicily as well. Thus, formally, there were two kingdoms calling themselves Sicily, hence, the Two Sicilies, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies resulted from the re-unification of the Kingdom of Sicily with the Kingdom of Naples, by King Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442. The two states had functioned as separate realms since the War of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, in 1501, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, son of John II, conquered Naples and reunified the two kingdoms under the authority of the newly united Spanish throne. The Kings of Spain then bore the title King of Both Sicilies or King of Sicily, at the end of that war, the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 granted Sicily to the Duke of Savoy until the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714 left Naples to the Emperor Charles VI. In 1720 the Emperor and Savoy exchanged Sicily for Sardinia, thus reuniting Naples and Sicily. In 1734, Charles, Duke of Parma, son of Philip V of Spain, took the Sicilian crown from the Austrians and became Charles VII & V, giving Parma to his younger brother, Philip. Apart from an interruption under Napoleon, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies remained under the Bourbon line continually until 1860. In January 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte, in the name of the French Republic, captured Naples and proclaimed the Parthenopaean Republic, King Ferdinand fled from Naples to Sicily until June of that year. In 1806, Napoleon, by then French Emperor, again dethroned King Ferdinand and appointed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, throughout this Napoleonic interruption, King Ferdinand remained in Sicily, with Palermo as his capital. The Congress of Vienna restored King Ferdinand in 1815 and he established a concordat with the Papal States, which previously had a claim to the land. The expedition resulted in a series of defeats for the Sicilian armies facing the growing troops of Garibaldi. After the capture of Palermo and Sicily, Garibaldi disembarked in Calabria and moved towards Naples, the last battles took place at Volturnus in 1860 and at the siege of Gaeta, where King Francis II had sought shelter, hoping for French help, which never came
7.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren
8.
Lazio
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Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With almost 5.9 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the second most populated region of Italy and its capital is Rome, capital and largest city of Italy. Lazio comprises an area of 17,236 km2 and it has borders with Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche to the north, Abruzzo and Molise to the east, Campania to the south. The region is flat and hilly, with small mountainous areas in the most eastern and southern districts. The coast of Lazio is mainly composed of beaches, punctuated by the headlands of Circeo. The Pontine Islands, which are part of Lazio, lie opposite the southern coast, behind the coastal strip, to the north, lies the Maremma Laziale, a coastal plain interrupted at Civitavecchia by the Tolfa Mountains. The central section of the region is occupied by the Roman Campagna, the southern districts are characterized by the flatlands of Agro Pontino, a once swampy and malarial area, that was reclaimed over the centuries. To the south of the Tiber, other groups form part of the Preapennines, the Alban Hills, also of volcanic origin. The highest peak is Mount Gorzano on the border with Abruzzo, see also, History of Italy The Italian word Lazio descends from the Latin word Latium. The name of the region also survives in the designation of the ancient population of Latins, Latini in the Latin language spoken by them. Although the demography of ancient Rome was multi-ethnic, including, for example, Etruscans and other Italics besides the Latini, in Roman mythology, the tribe of the Latini took their name from king Latinus. Much of Lazio is in flat or rolling. The lands originally inhabited by the Latini were extended into the territories of the Samnites, the Marsi, the Hernici, the Aequi, the Aurunci and the Volsci, all surrounding Italic tribes. This larger territory was still called Latium, but it was divided into Latium adiectum or Latium Novum, the lands or New Latium, and Latium Vetus, or Old Latium. The northern border of Lazio was the Tiber river, which divided it from Etruria, the emperor Augustus officially united almost all of present-day Italy into a single geo-political entity, Italia, dividing it into eleven regions. However, the wars against the Longobards weakened the region. With the Donation of Sutri in 728, the Bishop of Rome acquired the first territory in the region beyond the Duchy of Rome, the strengthening of the religious and ecclesiastical aristocracy led to continuous power struggles between secular lords and the Pope until the middle of the 16th century. Other popes tried to do the same, during the period when the papacy resided in Avignon, France, the feudal lords power increased due to the absence of the Pope from Rome
9.
Kingdom of Italy
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals
10.
Kingdom of Sardinia
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The Kingdom of Sardinia was a state in Southern Europe which existed from the early 14th until the mid-19th century. It was the state of todays Italy. When it was acquired by the Duke of Savoy in 1720, however, the Savoyards united it with their possessions on the Italian mainland and, by the time of the Crimean War in 1853, had built the resulting kingdom into a strong power. The formal name of the entire Savoyard state was the States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia and its final capital was Turin, the capital of Savoy since the Middle Ages. Beginning in 1324, James and his successors conquered the island of Sardinia, in 1420 the last competing claim to the island was bought out. After the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, Sardinia became a part of the burgeoning Spanish Empire, in 1720 it was ceded by the Habsburg and Bourbon claimants to the Spanish throne to Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. While in theory the traditional capital of the island of Sardinia and seat of its viceroys was Cagliari, the Congress of Vienna, which restructured Europe after Napoleons defeat, returned to Savoy its mainland possessions and augmented them with Liguria, taken from the Republic of Genoa. In 1847–48, in a fusion, the various Savoyard states were unified under one legal system, with the capital in Turin, and granted a constitution. There followed the annexation of Lombardy, the central Italian states and the Two Sicilies, Venetia, in 238 BC Sardinia became, along with Corsica, a province of the Roman Empire. The Romans ruled the island until the middle of the 5th century, when it was occupied by the Vandals, in 534 AD it was reconquered by the Romans, but now from the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium. It remained a Byzantine province until the Arab conquest of Sicily in the 9th century, after that, communications with Constantinople became very difficult, and powerful families of the island assumed control of the land. Starting from 705–706, Saracens from north Africa harassed the population of the coastal cities, information about the Sardinian political situation in the following centuries is scarce. There is a record of another massive Saracen sea attack in 1015–16 from the Balearics, the Saracen attempt to invade the island was stopped by the Judicatus with the support of the fleets of the maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa, free cities of the Holy Roman Empire. Pope Benedict VIII also requested aid from the republics of Pisa. Even the title of Judices was a Byzantine reminder of the Greek church and state, of these sovereigns only two names are known, Turcoturiu and Salusiu, who probably ruled in the 10th century. The Archons still wrote in Greek or Latin, but one of the first documents of the Judex of Cagliari, their successor, was written in romance Sardinian language. The realm was divided into four kingdoms, the Judicati, perfectly organized as was the previous realm, but was now under the influence of the Pope. That was the cause of leading to a long war between the Judices, who regarded themselves as kings fighting against rebellious nobles
11.
Giuseppe Garibaldi
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Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian general, politician and nationalist who played a large role in the history of Italy. He is considered, with Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Giuseppe Mazzini, Garibaldi personally commanded and fought in many military campaigns that led eventually to the Italian unification. He has been called the Hero of Two Worlds because of his enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay. These earned him a reputation in Italy and abroad, aided by exceptional international media coverage at the time. Many of the greatest intellectuals of his time, such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, the United Kingdom and the United States helped him a great deal, offering him financial and military support in difficult circumstances. In the popular telling of his story, he is associated with the red worn by his volunteers in lieu of a uniform. In 1814, the Congress of Vienna returned Nice to Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia, Garibaldis familys involvement in coastal trade drew him to a life at sea. He participated actively in the Niçois community and was certified in 1832 as a merchant navy captain, in April 1833 he travelled to Taganrog, Russia, in the schooner Clorinda with a shipment of oranges. During ten days in port he met Giovanni Battista Cuneo from Oneglia, Mazzini was an impassioned proponent of Italian unification as a liberal republic through political and social reform. Garibaldi joined the society and took an oath dedicating himself to the struggle to liberate, in Geneva during November 1833, Garibaldi met Mazzini, starting a long relationship that later became troublesome. He joined the Carbonari revolutionary association, and in February 1834 participated in a failed Mazzinian insurrection in Piedmont, a Genoese court sentenced him to death in absentia, and he fled across the border to Marseille. Garibaldi first sailed to Tunisia before eventually finding his way to the Empire of Brazil, once there he took up the cause of Republic of Rio Grande do Sul in its attempt to separate from Brazil, joining the rebels known as the Ragamuffins in the Ragamuffin War. During this war he met Ana Ribeiro da Silva, commonly known as Anita, in 1841, Garibaldi and Anita moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, where Garibaldi worked as a trader and schoolmaster. The couple married in Montevideo the following year and they had four children – Menotti, Rosita, Teresita, and Ricciotti. A skilled horsewoman, Anita is said to have taught Giuseppe about the culture of southern Brazil. Around this time, he adopted his trademark clothing, which consisted of the red shirt, poncho, and sombrero commonly worn by the gauchos. In 1842 Garibaldi took command of the Uruguayan fleet and raised an Italian Legion, of known as Redshirts. He aligned his forces with a composed of the Uruguayan Colorados led by Fructuoso Rivera
12.
Expedition of the Thousand
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The Expedition of the Thousand was an event of the Italian Risorgimento that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in Sicily in order to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the project was an ambitious and risky venture aiming to conquer, with a thousand men, a kingdom with a larger regular army and a more powerful navy. However, the Expedition was instigated by Francesco Crispi, who utilized his political influence to bolster the Italian unification project. In 1860 Garibaldi, already the most famous Italian revolutionary leader, was in Genoa planning an expedition against Sicily and Naples, Sicilian leaders, among them Francesco Crispi, were discontented with Neapolitan rule over the island. The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont needed a presentable casus belli in order to attack the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This was needed for the House of Savoy, which never gave any declaration of war against the Bourbon kingdom. The only occurrence that would have satisfied this requirement was an uprising from within, in March 1860, exile Rosolino Pilo exhorted Giuseppe Garibaldi to take charge of an expedition to liberate Southern Italy from Bourbon rule. At first, Garibaldi was against it, but eventually agreed, by May 1860, Garibaldi had collected 1,089 volunteers for his expedition to Sicily. The largest number of volunteers came from Lombardy, other significant numbers of volunteers came from occupied Venetia Genoa and Tuscany. There were about 45 Sicilian volunteers and 46 Neapolitan volunteers - but only 11 from Rome, thirty three foreigners joined the expedition, amongst them István Türr and three other Hungarians and fourteen Italians from the Trentino of the Austrian Empire. The majority of the volunteers were students and artisans from the lower classes, the 1,089 volunteers were poorly armed with dated muskets and were dressed in a minimalist uniform - consisting of a red shirt and grey trousers. During the night of 5 May, a group led by Nino Bixio seized two steamships in Genoa from the Rubattino shipping company in order to transport the volunteers to Sicily. They took the two ships, which they had renamed Il Piemonte and Il Lombardo, to the rocks at Quarto dei Mille, Genoa. The ships landed at Marsala, on the westernmost point of Sicily, on 11 May, the Lombardo was attacked and sunk only after the disembarkation had been completed, while the Piemonte was captured. The landing had been preceded by the arrival of Francesco Crispi and others, on 14 May, at Salemi, Garibaldi announced that he was assuming dictatorship over Sicily in the name of King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. The Mille won a first battle at Calatafimi against around 2,000 Neapolitan troops on 15 May. The battle boosted the morale of the Mille and, at the time, depressed the Neapolitans, who were poorly led by their often corrupted higher officers. Having promised land to every male who volunteered to fight against the Bourbons the ranks of the Mille enlarged to 1,200 with local men, on 27 May, with the help of a popular insurrection, the Mille laid siege to Palermo, the islands capital
13.
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
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The Italians gave him the epithet Father of the Fatherland. Victor Emmanuel was born the eldest son of Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano and his father succeeded a distant cousin as King of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1831. He lived for years of his youth in Florence and showed an early interest in politics, the military. In 1842, he married his cousin Adelaide of Austria and he was styled as the Duke of Savoy prior to becoming King of Sardinia-Piedmont. He took part in the First Italian War of Independence under his father King Charles Albert, fighting in the front line at the battles of Pastrengo, Santa Lucia, Goito and Custoza. He became King of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1849 when his father abdicated the throne after a military defeat by the Austrians at the Battle of Novara. Victor Emmanuel was immediately able to obtain a rather favorable armistice at Vignale by the Austrian imperial army commander Radetzky, after new elections, the peace with Austria was accepted by the new Chamber of Deputies. In 1849 Victor Emmanuel also fiercely suppressed a revolt in Genoa, defining the rebels as a vile, in 1852, he appointed Count Camillo Benso of Cavour as Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia. This turned out to be a choice, since Cavour was a political mastermind. Victor Emmanuel II soon became the symbol of the Risorgimento, the Italian unification movement of the 1850s and he was especially popular in the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont because of his respect for the new constitution and his liberal reforms. Following Victor Emmanuels advice, Cavour joined Britain and France in the Crimean War against Russia, Cavour was reluctant to go to war due to the power of Russia at the time and the expense of doing so. Victor Emmanuel, however, was convinced of the rewards to be gained from the alliance created with Britain and, more importantly, the Italo-French campaign against Austria in 1859 started successfully. After several quarrels about the outcome of the war, Cavour resigned, later that same year, Victor Emmanuel II sent his forces to fight the papal army at Castelfidardo and drove the Pope into Vatican City. His success at these goals led him to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church, then, Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered Sicily and Naples, and Sardinia-Piedmont grew even larger. On 17 March 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was officially established, Victor Emmanuel supported Giuseppe Garibaldis Expedition of the Thousand, which resulted in the rapid fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in southern Italy. However, the king halted Garibaldi when he appeared ready to attack Rome, still under the Papal States, in 1860, through local plebiscites, Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna decided to side with Sardinia-Piedmont. Victor Emmanuel then marched victoriously in the Marche and Umbria after the battle of Castelfidardo over the Papal forces. The king subsequently met with Garibaldi at Teano, receiving from him the control of southern Italy, another series of plebiscites in the occupied lands resulted in the proclamation of Victor Emmanuel as the first King of Italy by the new Parliament of unified Italy, on 17 March 1861
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Enrico Cialdini
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Enrico Cialdini, Duca di Gaeta was an Italian soldier, politician and diplomat. He was born in Castelvetro, in the province of Modena, in 1831 he took part in the insurrection at Modena, fleeing afterwards to Paris, whence he proceeded to Spain to fight against the Carlists. Returning to Italy in 1848, he commanded a regiment at the battle of Novara, for these services he was created Duke of Gaeta by the king, and was assigned a pension of 20,000 lire by the Italian Parliament. In 1861 his intervention envenomed the Cavour-Garibaldi dispute, royal mediation alone preventing a duel between him and Garibaldi, placed in command of the troops sent to oppose the Garibaldian expedition of 1862, he defeated Garibaldi in the controversial battle of Aspromonte. Between 1862 and 1866 he held the position of lieutenant-royal at Naples where he fought against the Brigandage in the Two Sicilies, after the war he refused the command of the General Staff, which he wished to render independent of the war office. He died at Livorno in 1892, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Cialdini, Enrico
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Francis II of the Two Sicilies
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Francis II was King of the Two Sicilies from 1859 to 1861. He was the last King of the Two Sicilies, as invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia ultimately brought an end to his rule. After he was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Sardinia were merged into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy. The only son and heir of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies by his first wife, Maria Christina of Savoy, Francis II was the last of the Bourbon kings of Naples, where he was born in 1836. On 3 February 1859 in Bari, Francis married princess Duchess Maria Sophie in Bavaria, Maria Sophie, along with Elisabeth, was a great beauty. Their only daughter, Maria Cristina was born ten years after her parents married, Francis II ascended the throne on the death of his father. The incident resulted in the disbanding of the whole Swiss Guard, Cavour again proposed an alliance to divide the Papal States between Piedmont and Naples but Francis rejected an idea which to him seemed like heresy. Filangieri strongly advocated a Constitution as the measure which might save the dynasty. Meanwhile, the parties were conspiring for the overthrow of the Bourbons in Calabria and Sicily. A conspiracy in Sicily was discovered and the plotters punished with brutal severity, but Rosalino Pilo and Francesco Crispi, when Garibaldi landed at Marsala with his Expedition of the Thousand, he conquered the island with astonishing ease. The disintegration of the army and navy proceeded apace, and Cavour sent a Piedmontese squadron carrying troops on board to watch over these events, Garibaldi, who had crossed the strait of Messina, was advancing northwards and was everywhere received by the people as a liberator. The next day Garibaldi entered Naples, was welcomed. King Victor Emmanuel II had decided on the invasion of the Papal States, and after occupying Umbria, garibaldi’s troops defeated the Neapolitan royalists at the Battle of Volturno, while the Piedmontese captured Capua. By late 1860, only Gaeta, Messina, and Civitella del Tronto still held out, the Siege of Gaeta by the Piedmontese began on 6 November 1860. Both Francis II and his wife behaved with great coolness and courage, even when the French fleet, whose presence had hitherto prevented an attack by sea, was withdrawn, they still resisted. It was not until 13 February 1861 that the fortress capitulated, thus the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist and its territory was incorporated into that of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and Francis II was deposed. Francis and Maria Sophia first lived in Rome as guests of the Pope, after the Prussian victory against Austria in 1866 and subsequent expansion of Italian territory, they disbanded this government and left Rome before it was occupied by the Italians in 1870. They led a life from then on, living in Austria, France
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Pope Pius IX
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Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, reigned as Pope from 16 June 1846 to his death in 1878. He was the elected pope in the history of the Catholic Church. During his pontificate Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council, which decreed papal infallibility and he was also the last pope to rule as the Sovereign of the Papal States, which fell completely to the Italian Army in 1870 and were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. After this, he was referred to—chiefly by himself—as the Prisoner of the Vatican, after his death in 1878, his canonization process was opened on 11 February 1907 by Pope Pius X and it drew considerable controversy over the years. It was closed on several occasions during the pontificates of Pope Benedict XV, Pope Pius XII re-opened the cause on 7 December 1954, and Pope John Paul II proclaimed him Venerable on 6 July 1985. Together with Pope John XXIII, he was beatified on 3 September 2000 after the recognition of a miracle, Pius IX was assigned the liturgical feast day of February 7, the date of his death. Europe, including the Italian peninsula, was in the midst of political ferment when the bishop of Spoleto. He took the name Pius, after his generous patron and the prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte. Through the 1850s and 1860s, Italian nationalists made military gains against the Papal States, however, concordats were concluded with numerous states such as Austria-Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Tuscany, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti. Many contemporary Church historians and journalists question his approaches, in his Syllabus of Errors, still highly controversial, Pius IX condemned the heresies of secular society, especially modernism. He was a Marian pope, who in his encyclical Ubi primum described Mary as a Mediatrix of salvation, in 1854, he promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, articulating a long-held Catholic belief that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without original sin. In 1862, he convened 300 bishops to the Vatican for the canonization of Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan and his most important legacy is the First Vatican Council, which convened in 1869. The council is considered to have contributed to a centralization of the Church in the Vatican, Pius IX was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000. His Feast Day is 7 February, Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was born on May 13,1792. He was educated at the Piarist College in Volterra and in Rome, as a theology student in his hometown Sinigaglia, in 1814 he met Pope Pius VII, who had returned from French captivity. In 1815, he entered the Papal Noble Guard but was dismissed after an epileptic seizure. He threw himself at the feet of Pius VII, who elevated him, the pope originally insisted that another priest should assist Mastai during Holy Mass, a stipulation that was later rescinded, after the seizure attacks became less frequent. Mastai was ordained priest on April 10,1819 and he initially worked as the rector of the Tata Giovanni Institute in Rome
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Battle of Calatafimi
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Four days prior to the battle, the Mille had landed at Marsala, on board the ships Il Piemonte and Il Lombardo. Francesco Crispi, among others, landed before the Mille on Sicily to raise support among the locals for the Mille, on May 14, at Salemi, Garibaldi announced that he was assuming dictatorship over Sicily in the name of King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. The Battle of Calatafimi took place on the hill Pianto Romano, during the battle, Garibaldi is said to have uttered the famous battle cry Qui si fa lItalia o si muore. Due to the battle, the ranks of the Mille enlarged to 1,200 with local men joining, with the help of a popular insurrection, on May 27 they laid siege to Palermo, the islands capital. The city was defended by some 16,000 men, but they were under the confused and timid direction of general Ferdinando Lanza, aged 75. While two columns of Garibaldines attacked the perimeter, part of the population, strengthened by 2,000 prisoners liberated from the local jails. When his troops were back from most of their positions. By May 28, Garibaldi controlled much of the city and declared the Bourbon authority deposed, the following day, a desperate Neapolitan counteroffensive was driven back, and Lanza asked for a truce. However, when a reinforcement party of well equipped and well trained troops arrived in the city, the situation became very serious for Garibaldi, through the mediation of a British admiral, an armistice was signed and the Neapolitan fleet abandoned the port. Risorgimento Expedition of the Thousand Giuseppe Garibaldi Media related to Battle of Calatafimi at Wikimedia Commons
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Battle of Milazzo (1860)
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The Battle of Milazzo was fought on 17–24 July 1860 between Giuseppe Garibaldis volunteers and the troops of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies at Milazzo, Sicily, then part of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The main clash began on the morning of 20 July on a field leading to the cape on which Milazzo is located. In the afternoon, after seven hours of combat, the battle moved towards the town itself, here on a bridge, surrounded by the Neapolitan cavalry, Garibaldi was saved by an assault from Sicilian volunteers. The Garibaldines, after the setbacks, gained confidence from this success. Giacomo Medici, Giuseppe Sirtori and Enrico Cosenz attacked the Neapolitan troops, then came from Palermo the armed ship Tukory, which bombarded the Neapolitans, who retreated to Milazzos fortress. Here they capitulated on 24 July, Garibaldi lost more than 800 troops, the Neapolitans c. This victory allowed Garibaldi an unimpeded passage to Messina, la campagna di Garibaldi nellItalia Meridionale. Risorgimento Expedition of the Thousand Giuseppe Garibaldi
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Battle of Castelfidardo
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The Battle of Castelfidardo was a battle of the Expedition of the Thousand that took place on 18 September 1860, at Castelfidardo, a small town in the Marche region of Italy. It was fought between the Sardinian army - acting as the force in the war for Italian unification. On 7 September, Cavour, Prime Minister of Piedmont, sent an ultimatum to the Pope demanding that he dismiss his foreign troops. When he failed to do this,35,000 troops crossed the border on 11 September, with General Cialdini advancing along the Adriatic coast, the Papal troops were caught by surprise and thrown into confusion. Some of the Papal troops surrendered the day and some retreated to Ancona which fell on 29 September 1860 after a short siege. As a result of battle, the Marches and Umbria entered in the Kingdom of Italy. The battle is remembered for being bloody, and for the highly disparate numbers of troops - less than 10,000 papal soldiers to 39,000 Sardinians. The papal army was composed of volunteers from many different European countries, amongst whom the French, the battle was commemorated by the Italian ironclad Castelfidardo, built in the 1860s. This article draws heavily on the fr, Bataille de Castelfidardo article in the French-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of November 19,2006
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Battle of Volturnus (1860)
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The main battle took place on October 1,1860 between 24,000 garibaldines and 25,000 Bourbon troops. In the meantime the Neapolitan army was rebuilt in Capua under marshal Giosuè Ritucci, on September 30 a Neapolitan corps crossed the river Volturno at Triflisco, marching towards Santa Maria a Vologno, but were halted by two Garibaldine brigades. The following day Ritucci then decided an attack with two divisions against Garibaldis centre, which occupied a line running from SantAngelo in Formis and Santa Maria a Vico. After defeating the enemy, Ritucci was to reach Caserta and then Naples itself, the two armies met on the western front, in which the Neapolitans, spurred by the presence of Francis himself, forced the Garibaldines to retreat. Garibaldi and his fellow Giacomo Medici intervened, re-establishing the situation, nino Bixio, who defended the road to Maddaloni, was initially defeated by the attack of the Bavarian and Swiss brigade of General Giovan Luca von Mechel. In his support arrived colonel Giuseppe Dezza with two Bersaglieri battalions, which pushed back von Mechel northwards, up to Ducenta, at that point the only undefeated Bourbon column was that of colonel Perrone, who was in Capua with c.3,000 troops. The city was attacked on 2 AM by the Garibaldines and one Piedmontese regular Bersaglieri battalion, after this battle, the largest by Garibaldis expedition, both sides seemed exhausted. In the immediate aftermath, the battle was a defeat for Garibaldi, the cost for Garibaldi in men was higher,506 killed and 1389 taken prisoner, but the Neapolitan forces had lost 308 and 2507 taken prisoners. The Bourbon army was unable to use their victory to capture Caserta, both armies showed bravery, except perhaps for the Royal Guards and troops of Ruiz de Ballesteros, who were the largest cause of the defeat. Garibaldi was forced to request troops from the Piedmontese, yet while Francesco II wished to use the impasse for the Garibaldi forces, to attack again, his generals recommended that the troops be reorganized. Thus he left Capua for Gaeta, and was unable to retake his throne, soon Piedmontese reinforcements arrived, defeating the Royal troops at Gaeta, and causing the King to flee. Volume degli atti, testo dellarticolo, tavole ed illustrazioni, la campagna di Garibaldi nellItalia Meridionale. Footnotes Risorgimento Expedition of the Thousand Giuseppe Garibaldi Siege of Gaeta
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Siege of Gaeta (1860)
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For other sieges of this city at different dates, see Siege of Gaeta. The Siege of Gaeta was the event of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, part of the unification of Italy. It started on November 5,1860 and ended February 13,1861, at first, he planned to organise a resistance in Capua. However, after city was lost to the Garibaldines in the aftermath of the battle of the Volturnus, he. Gaeta was one of the strongest military fortresses in Europe and it consisted of a triangle-shaped promontory which stretched for more than one and a half kilometers and rose to 169 m and with almost vertical cliffs on the seaward sides. The cliff was connected to the mainland by a 600 m wide isthmus, called Montesecco, the isthmus was the only way for a besieger to conquer the stronghold. The ships of the time were indeed considered too fragile to face the massive fortifications that encircled the promontory, built in the time of emperor Charles V, the promontory was provided with 220 guns divided between 19 batteries. An additional 230 guns defended the fortress on the mainland side, most of the guns were smoothbore arms, some dating back to the 18th century, and therefore rather imprecise. The massive castle, which commanded the east side on the sea, the forces amounted to 19,700 sub-officers and soldiers and 1,770 officers, there were also 3,000 citizens of Gaeta. 17 ships of various nations kept open communications with the sea, the Piedmontese forces were composed of the IV Army Corps, led by general Enrico Cialdini. His staff included the engineer general Luigi Federico Menabrea, future minister of Italy. Troops were composed of 808 officers and 15,500 sub-officers and soldiers, the most modern rifled ordnance could fire from a distance up to five kilometers without risking any harm from the aged guns of the defenders. The Piedmontese fleet, under admiral Carlo di Persano, had ten ships, the commander of the fortress of Gaeta was Francesco Millon, a Neapolitan general, who on November 10 was replaced by Pietro Carlo Maria Vial de Maton, an 83-year-old native of Nice. The actual command, however, was placed into the hands of the Swiss Baron General Felix von Schumacher from Lucerne, aide-de-camp and fatherly friend of King Francis II and he was assisted by the Swiss Generals August de Riedmatten and Josef Sigrist. The former was responsible for the front, the latter for the mainland front. But instead of Josef Sigrist it was the Neapolitan Baron Colonel Gabriele Ussani who commanded this part, the engineering arm was led by the Neapolitan Count General Francesco Traversa. General Schumachers aide-de-camp was Alphonse Pfyffer von Altishofen who later became the Chief of General Staff of the Swiss army, a painting by the German history painter Karl Theodor Piloty shows him and General Schumacher with Queen Marie Sophie on the ramparts of Gaeta. Since then four Swiss regiments had formed the back-bone of the Neapolitan army until 1859 and his son had entered the service in the 1st regiment in 1833 and soon became the personal aide-de-camp of Ferdinand II who commissioned him to weaponize the Neapolitan army
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Marsala
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Marsala is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in Trapani District and the fifth in Sicily, the town is famous for the docking of Garibaldi on 11 May 1860 and for its Marsala wine. A feature of the area is the Natural Reserve called Stagnone Lagoon — a marine area with salt ponds, Marsala is built on the ruins of the ancient Carthaginian city of Lilybaion, and includes in its territory the archaeological site of Motya island, an ancient Phoenician town. Situated at the western point of Sicily, the town was founded on Lilibeo Cape from where the Aegadian Islands. The territory of Marsala,241 square kilometres, has a cultural and landscape heritage, its area includes the Stagnone Lagoon. The city of Marsala had a population of about 86,000 until the end of 1970, when Petrosino, the area of Marsala is classified as a seismic zone 2. In the last 200 years three earthquakes of medium-high intensity were recorded,18 May 1828 – magnitude 5.1715 January 1968 – Belice earthquake which in Marsala reached VII Mercalli scale. 7 June 1981 – magnitude 4.60 with epicentre in Borgo Elefante in Mazara del Vallo, the weather is warm in summer with a maximum of 39 °C. Winters are rainy with temperatures between 10 °C and 17 °C, in 397 BCE the Phoenician colony of Motya on the southwestern coast of Sicily was invaded and destroyed by the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius I. The survivors founded a town on the mainland nearby that they called Lilybaion, The town that looks at Libya, on the site of modern-day Marsala. The First Punic War began here when the Punic army landed at Lilybaion in 265/264 BCE, then marched across Sicily to Messina, the Punic fortress Lilybaion was never conquered although it was besieged several times, e. g. by Pyrrhus of Epirus and by the Romans. In 241 BCE it was given to the Romans as part of the treaty ending the First Punic War. The commercial centre was enriched with mansions and public buildings and dubbed splendidissima urbs by Cicero, ravaged by Vandals during the 5th century CE, the town was annexed in the 6th century to Justinians Byzantine Empire. In this period the town was struck by dysentery, raided by pirates, the arrival of Arabic Berbers at the nearby Granitola mount in the 8th century entailed the resumption of commerce and the start of the rebirth of the town. The town was renamed Marsa ʿAlī ʿAlīs harbour or maybe, Marsa ʿāliyy, Big harbour, for the width of the ancient harbour, another possible derivation is Marsa Allāh, Gods harbour. Since the end of the 11th century, the area has been conquered by Swedish, Norman, Angevin, during this time, Marsala became wealthy, primarily through trade. However the blocking up of the harbour of Punta Alga, decreed by Emperor Charles V so as to stop Saracen forays, the development of Marsala wine at the end of the 18th century, headed by English merchants settled in Sicily, considerably improved local trade. This triggered an expansion in Marsala, including the funding of infrastructure projects such as the current harbour of Margitello
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Bourbons
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The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century, by the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs, the royal Bourbons originated in 1268, when the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon married a younger son of King Louis IX. The house continued for three centuries as a branch, while more senior Capetians ruled France, until Henry IV became the first Bourbon king of France in 1589. Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, a cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown. The Princes de Condé were a branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV. Both houses were prominent in French affairs, even during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. When the Bourbons inherited the strongest claim to the Spanish throne, the claim was passed to a cadet Bourbon prince, a grandson of Louis XIV of France, who became Philip V of Spain. The Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734–1806 and in Sicily from 1734–1816, and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816–1860. They also ruled in Parma from 1731–1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859, all legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV. The term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, the remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, all future Bourbons would descend from James IIs younger brother, Louis, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mothers inheritance. In 1514, Charles, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme and his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoines younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon, Louis male-line, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. Finally, in 1589, the House of Valois died out and he was born on 13 December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre
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Referendum
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A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to vote on a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new law, in some countries it is synonymous with a plebiscite or a vote on a ballot question. Some definitions of plebiscite suggest that it is a type of vote to change the constitution or government of a country, however, some other countries define it differently. For example, Australia defines referendum as a vote to change the constitution, the addition of the verb sum to a gerundive, denotes the idea of necessity or compulsion, that which must be done, rather than that which is fit for doing). This determines the form of the plural in English, which according to English grammar should be referendums, the use of referenda as a plural form in English is thus insupportable according to the rules of both Latin and English grammar alike. The Latin plural gerundive referenda, meaning things to be referred, compare also, Agenda those matters which must be driven forward, from ago, to drive, Memorandum, that matter which must be remembered, from memoro, to call to mind, etc. The name and use of the referendum is thought to have originated in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as early as the 16th century. Today, a referendum can also often be referred to as a plebiscite, for example, Australia defines referendum as a vote to change the constitution, and plebiscite as a vote that does not affect the constitution. In contrast, Ireland has only held one plebiscite, which was the vote to adopt its constitution. Of that which has most definitely already occurred and this is in line with Eamon De Valeras oft stated belief that the people do not have the right to do wrong which in this context means to reject his new Eire constitution. The term referendum covers a variety of different meanings, a referendum can be binding or advisory. In some countries, different names are used for two types of referendum. From a political-philosophical perspective, referendums are an expression of direct democracy, however, in the modern world, most referendums need to be understood within the context of representative democracy. Australia ranked second with dozens of referendums, a referendum usually offers the electorate a choice of accepting or rejecting a proposal, but this is not necessarily the case. In Switzerland, for example, multiple choice referendums are common and this question can be resolved by applying voting systems designed for single winner elections to a multiple-choice referendum. Swiss referendums get around this problem by offering a separate vote on each of the options as well as an additional decision about which of the multiple options should be preferred. In the Swedish case, in both referendums the winning option was chosen by the Single Member Plurality system, in other words, the winning option was deemed to be that supported by a plurality, rather than an absolute majority, of voters. In the 1977, Australian referendum, the winner was chosen by the system of preferential instant-runoff voting, the 1992 New Zealand poll, was counted under the two-round system, as were polls in Newfoundland and Guam, for example
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Naples
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Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
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Giuseppe Mazzini
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Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy and spearheaded the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the separate states, many dominated by foreign powers. He also helped define the modern European movement for democracy in a republican state. S. President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, but also post-colonial leaders such as Gandhi, Savarkar, Golda Meir, David Ben-Gurion, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mazzini was born in Genoa, then part of the Ligurian Republic, under the rule of the French Empire. His father, Giacomo Mazzini, originally from Chiavari, was a university professor who had adhered to Jacobin ideology, his mother, Maria Drago, was renowned for her beauty, from a very early age, Mazzini showed good learning qualities. He was admitted to the University at only 14, graduating in law in 1826 and he also hoped to become a historical novelist or a dramatist, and in the same year he wrote his first essay, Dellamor patrio di Dante, which was published in 1837. In 1828–29 he collaborated with a Genoese newspaper, Lindicatore genovese and he then became one of the leading authors of LIndicatore Livornese, published at Livorno by F. D. Guerrazzi, until this paper was closed down by the authorities, too. In 1827 Mazzini travelled to Tuscany, where he became a member of the Carbonari, on 31 October of that year he was arrested at Genoa and interned at Savona. In early 1831, he was released from prison, but confined to a small hamlet and he chose exile instead, moving to Geneva in Switzerland. In 1831 Mazzini went to Marseille, where he became a figure among the Italian exiles. He was a frequent visitor to the apartment of Giuditta Bellerio Sidoli, the Olliviers took care of the child in June 1833 when Giuditta and Mazzini left for Switzerland. The child died in February 1835, Mazzini organized a new political society called La giovane Italia. Young Italy was a society formed to promote Italian unification. Mazzini believed that an uprising would create a unified Italy. The new nation had to be, One, Independent, Free Republic, Mazzinis political activism met some success in Tuscany, Abruzzi, Sicily, Piedmont, and his native Liguria, especially among several military officers. Young Italy counted about 60,000 adherents in 1833, with branches in Genoa, in that year Mazzini first attempted insurrection, which would spread from Chambéry, Alessandria, Turin, and Genoa. However, the Savoy government discovered the plot before it could begin, the repression was ruthless,12 participants were executed, while Mazzinis best friend and director of the Genoese section of the Giovine Italia, Jacopo Ruffini, killed himself. Mazzini was tried in absentia and sentenced to death, despite this setback, he organized another uprising for the following year
27.
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour
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Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri, generally known as Count Cavour was an Italian statesman and a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification. Cavour put forth several economic reforms in his region of Piedmont in his earlier years. After a large rail system expansion program, Cavour became prime minister in 1852, English historian Denis Mack Smith says Cavour was the most successful parliamentarian in Italian history but he was not especially liberal. Cavour was often dictatorial, ignored his ministerial colleagues and parliament and he also practiced transformism and other undesirable policies which were carried over into post-Risorgimento Italy. Camillo Benso was born in Turin during Napoleonic rule, into a family that had gained an amount of land during the French occupation. His godparents were Napoleons sister Pauline, and her husband, Prince Camille Borghese, Camillo and his older brother Gustavo were initially educated at home. He was sent to the Turin Military Academy when he was ten years old. In July 1824 he was named a page to Charles Albert, Cavour frequently ran afoul of the authorities in the academy, as he was too headstrong to deal with the rigid military discipline. He was once forced to live three days on bread and water because he had been caught with books that the academy had banned and he was found to be apt at the mathematical disciplines, and was therefore enlisted in the Engineer Corps in the Piedmontese-Sardinian army in 1827. While in the army, he studied the English language as well as the works of Jeremy Bentham and Benjamin Constant, developing liberal tendencies which made him suspect to police forces at the time. He resigned his commission in the army in November 1831, both because of boredom with life and because of his dislike of the reactionary policies of King Charles Albert. He administered the estate at Grinzane, some forty kilometers outside the capital. Cavour then lived time in Switzerland, with his Protestant relatives in Geneva and he grew acquainted with Calvinist teachings, and for a short while he converted from a form of unorthodox Catholicism, only to go back later. A Reformed pastor, Alexandre Vinet, impressed upon Cavour the need for the separation of church and state and he then traveled to Paris where he was impressed by parliamentary debates, especially those of François Guizot and Adolphe Thiers, confirming his devotion to a political career. He next went to London, where he was much more disappointed by British politics, and toured the country, visiting Oxford, Liverpool, Birmingham, Chester, Nottingham, a quick tour through the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland eventually landed him back in Turin. Cavour believed that progress had to precede political change. He was a supporter of transportation by steam engine, sponsoring the building of many railroads. Between 1838 and 1842 Cavour began several initiatives in attempts to solve problems in his area
28.
Francesco Crispi
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Francesco Crispi was an Italian patriot and statesman. Crispi served as Italys Prime Minister for six years, from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896, Crispi was internationally famous and often mentioned along with world statesmen such as Bismarck, Gladstone and Salisbury. Originally an enlightened Italian patriot and democrat liberal he went on to become a bellicose authoritarian prime minister and ally, due to his authoritarian policies and style, Crispi is often regarded as a strongman and seen as a precursor of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Crispi’s paternal family originally from the small agricultural community of Palazzo Adriano. It had been founded in later fifteenth century by Orthodox Albanians and his grandfather was an Arbëreshë Orthodox priest, the parish priests were married men, and Arbëreshë was the family language down to the lifetime of the young Crispi. Crispi himself was born in Ribera, Sicily, to Tommaso Crispi, belonging to a family of Arbëreshë descent, he spoke Italian as his third or fourth language. His uncle Giuseppe wrote the first monograph on the Albanian language, at the age of 5 years old he was sent to a family in Villafranca, where he could receive an education. In 1829, at 11 years old, he attended a seminary in Palermo, the rector of the institute was Giuseppe Crispi, his uncle. Crispi attended the seminary until 1834 or 1835, when his father, after becoming mayor of Ribera, encountered difficulties in health. In the same period Crispi became a friend of the poet and doctor Vincenzo Navarro. In 1835 he studied law and literature at the University of Palermo receiving a law degree in 1837, in the year he fell in love with Rosina DAngelo. Despite his fathers ban, Crispi married Rosina in 1837, when she was already pregnant, in May Crispi became father of his first daughter, Giuseppa, who was named after his grandmother. Anyway it was a marriage, in fact Rosina died on 29 July 1839, the day after giving birth to her second son, Tommaso. Between 1838 and 1839, Crispi founded his own newspaper, LOreteo and this experience brought him into contact with a number of political figures including the Neapolitan liberal activist and poet, Carlo Poerio. In 1845 Crispi took up a judgeship in Naples, where he distinguished himself for his liberal, the revolution started on 12 January 1848, and therefore was the very first of the numerous revolutions to occur that year. Three revolutions had previously occurred on the island of Sicily starting from 1800 against Bourbon rule, the uprising was substantially organized from, and centered in, Palermo. The popular nature of the revolt is evident in the fact that posters, the timing was deliberately planned, by Crispi and the other revolutionaries, to coincide with the birthday of Ferdinand II. Vincenzo Fardella was elected president of Sicilian Parliament, the idea was also put forward for a confederation of all the states of Italy
29.
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
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The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchys capital was Florence, Tuscany was nominally a state of the Holy Roman Empire until the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797. Initially, Tuscany was ruled by the House of Medici until the extinction of its branch in 1737. The Medicis only advancement in the days of their existence was their elevation to royalty, by the Holy Roman Emperor. Francis Stephen of Lorraine, a descendant of the Medici, succeeded the family. Tuscany was governed by a viceroy, Marc de Beauvau-Craon, for his entire rule and his descendants ruled, and resided in, the grand duchy until 1859, barring one interruption, when Napoleon Bonaparte gave Tuscany to the House of Bourbon-Parma. Following the collapse of the Napoleonic system in 1814, the duchy was restored. The United Provinces of Central Italy, a client state of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, Tuscany was formally annexed to Sardinia in 1860, following a landslide referendum, in which 95% of voters approved. In 1569, Cosimo de Medici had ruled the Duchy of Florence for 32 years, during his reign, Florence purchased the island of Elba from the Republic of Genoa, conquered Siena and developed a well-equipped and powerful naval base on Elba. Cosimo also banned the clergy from holding positions and promulgated laws of freedom of religion. Cosimo also was a supporter of Pope Pius V, who in the light of Florences expansion in August 1569 declared Cosimo Grand Duke of Tuscany. The international reaction to Cosimos elevation was bleak, Queen Catherine of France, though herself a Medici, viewed Cosimo with the utmost disdain. Rumours circulated at the Viennese court that had Cosimo as a candidate for King of England, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King Philip II of Spain reacting quite angrily, as Florence was an Imperial fief and declared Pius Vs actions invalid. However, Maximilian eventually confirmed the elevation with an Imperial diploma in 1576, during the Holy League of 1571, Cosimo fought against the Ottoman Empire, siding with the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy League inflicted a defeat against the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto. Cosimos reign was one of the most militaristic Tuscany had ever seen, Cosimo experienced several personal tragedies during the later years of his reign. His wife, Eleanor of Toledo, died in 1562, along with four of his due to a plague epidemic in Florence. These deaths were to him greatly, which, along with illness
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Duchy of Modena and Reggio
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It was ruled from 1814 by the noble House of Este, of Austria-Este. In 1452 Emperor Frederick III offered the duchy to Borso dEste, whose family had ruled the city of Modena, Borso in 1450 had also succeeded his brother as margrave in the adjacent Papal Duchy of Ferrara, where he received the ducal title in 1471. The Este lands on the border of the Holy Roman Empire with the Papal States formed a stabilizing buffer state in the interest of both. In the War of the League of Cambrai from 1508, troops from Modena fought in Papal service against the Republic of Venice, upon the death of Duke Alfonso II in 1597, the ducal line became extinct. The Este lands were bequested to Alfonsos cousin Cesare dEste, however, Cesare could retain Modena and Reggio as Imperial fiefs. In the 1628 War of the Mantuan Succession, the dukes of Modena sided with Habsburg Spain and in received the town of Correggio from the hands of Emperor Ferdinand II. During the War of the Spanish Succession, Duke Rinaldo was ousted by French troops under Louis Joseph de Bourbon, in 1711 the small Duchy of Mirandola was absorbed by the Este. His successor Francesco III backed France in the 1740 War of the Austrian Succession, and was expelled by Habsburg forces, in 1796 Modena was again occupied by a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte, who deposed Duke Ercole III and created the Cispadane Republic out of his territory. By the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville, the last Este Duke was compensated with the Breisgau region of the former Further Austrian territories in southwestern Germany, and died in 1803. Following his death, the title was inherited by his son-in-law, the Habsburg-Lorraine archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Soon after, he inherited the territories of Massa and Carrara from his mother, in the course of the Italian unification period in the 1830s-60s, the Austria-Este dukes were briefly ousted in the revolutions of 1831 and 1848, but soon returned. During the Second Italian War of Independence following the Battle of Magenta, the last Duke Francis V was again forced to flee, this time permanently
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Duchy of Parma
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The Duchy of Parma was created in 1545 from that part of the Duchy of Milan south of the Po River, which was conquered by the Papal States in 1512. These territories, centered on the city of Parma, were given as a fief for Pope Paul IIIs illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese. In 1556, the second Duke, Ottavio Farnese, was given the city of Piacenza, becoming thus also Duke of Piacenza and he ruled until 1735 during the War of the Polish Succession, when Parma was ceded to Emperor Charles VI in exchange for the Two Sicilies. As Duke Philip, he became the founder of the House of Bourbon-Parma reigning over the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza, in 1796, the duchy was occupied by French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte, and the political situation of the State became extremely confused. Napoleon was undecided about the future of the duchy, aspiring to an engagement of the Bourbons in the European wars as his allies. Even as French laws and administration were introduced, the formal annexation to the French Empire was declared only in 1808 after the outbreak of the conflict against Bourbonic Spain. The duchy was reformed as the département of Taro, in 1814, the duchies were restored under Napoleons Habsburg wife, Marie Louise, who ruled them for the rest of her life. After Marie Louises death in 1847, the Duchy was restored to the Bourbon-Parma line, in this context, Guastalla was ceded to Modena. The Bourbons ruled until 1859, when they were out by a revolution following the French. The House of Bourbon continues to claim the title of duke of Parma to this day, prince Carlos of Bourbon-Parma has held the title since 2010. Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, French diplomacy in the age of revolution, alessandro Cont, Il potere della tradizione. Guillaume Du Tillot e la questione della nobiltà, Nuova Rivista Storica,100,1, pp. 73-106
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Romagna
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Romagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, the regions major cities include Cesena, Faenza, Forlì, Imola, Ravenna, Rimini and City of San Marino. The region has been formally expanded with the transfer of seven comuni from the Marche region. The name Romagna comes from the Latin name Romania, which originally was the name for land inhabited by Romans. It later took on the detailed meaning of territory subjected to Eastern Roman rule. Romania later became Romandìola in Vulgar Latin, meaning little Romania, a number of archaeological sites in the region, such as Monte Poggiolo, show that Romagna has been inhabited since the Paleolithic age. The Umbri, speaking an extinct Italic language called Umbrian, are the first traceable inhabitants of the region, the Etruscans also dwelt in some portions of Romagna. In the 5th Century BC, various Gaulish tribes, most notably the Lingones, Senoni and Boii, moved south into Italy, the Senoni utterly subjugated the Umbri and settled in Romagna. The Senoni extended further south to Ancona, with their capital Sena Gallica, the lands formerly inhabited by the Senoni were known as ager Gallicus to the Romans. According to the Italian linguist Giacomo Devoto, there are still a number of Celtic substrata in the Romagnolo dialect, gallic predominance in the region was consistently challenged by the Romans. In the battle of Telamon, the Romans defeated the joint forces of the Celtic tribes, after the Second Punic War, the pro-Carthaginian Lingones and Senoni were expelled. To consolidate the Roman rule in the region, the Via Aemilia was built from Ariminium to Piacentia, the most significant ones are Forum Livii, Forum Cornelii and Forum Popili. After the Social War, the Lex Julia was introduced in 90 BC, in the first Roman civil war, between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, most cities in the regions supported Marius. As a result, Forum Livii and Caesena were razed to ground, during the first triumvirate, the Roman Republic was divided along the infamous Rubicon. Most of modern Romagna was ruled by Julius Caesar, the exception of Ariminium. In 49 BC, Caesar, who was residing in Ravenna then, led the Legio XIII across the Rubicon, after the decisive battle of Actium, Augustus started a century-long era of Pax Romana. All of Cisalpine Gaul had been incorporated into the Roman province of Italia, around 7 BC, Augustus divided all of Italy into eleven regiones, and most of Romagna was in the eighth, Aemilia. By the beginning of the 3rd Century, Diocletian re-divided the Empire into four prefectures, each divided into dioceses, under the new system, Italy was demoted to a mere Imperial province
33.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
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Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
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Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
36.
Suez Canal
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The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, after 10 years of construction, it was officially opened on November 17,1869. It extends from the terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km, including its northern and southern access channels, in 2012,17,225 vessels traversed the canal. The original canal was a waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass. It contains no locks system, with seawater flowing freely through it, in general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez, the canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. In August 2014, construction was launched to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km to speed the canals transit time, the expansion was planned to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. At a cost of $8.4 billion, this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities, the New Suez Canal, as the expansion was dubbed, was opened with great fanfare in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. On 24 February 2016, the Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel and this side channel, located at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal anytime of day and night. Ancient west–east canals were built to travel from the Nile River to the Red Sea. One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II or Ramesses II. Another canal, probably incorporating a portion of the first, was constructed under the reign of Necho II, the legendary Sesostris may have started work on an ancient canal joining the Nile with the Red Sea. In his Meteorology, Aristotle wrote, One of their kings tried to make a canal to it, so he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder wrote,165. Later the Persian king Darius had the idea, and yet again Ptolemy II. This proved to be the canal made by the Persian king Darius I
37.
Sulphur
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Sulfur or sulphur is a chemical element with symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent, and nonmetallic, under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur reacts with all elements except for gold, platinum, iridium, tellurium, though sometimes found in pure, native form, sulfur usually occurs as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Being abundant in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times, being mentioned for its uses in ancient India, ancient Greece, China, in the Bible, sulfur is called brimstone. Today, almost all elemental sulfur is produced as a byproduct of removing sulfur-containing contaminants from natural gas, the greatest commercial use of the element is the production of sulfuric acid for sulfate and phosphate fertilizers, and other chemical processes. The element sulfur is used in matches, insecticides, and fungicides, many sulfur compounds are odoriferous, and the smells of odorized natural gas, skunk scent, grapefruit, and garlic are due to organosulfur compounds. Hydrogen sulfide gives the characteristic odor to rotting eggs and other biological processes, sulfur is an essential element for all life, but almost always in the form of organosulfur compounds or metal sulfides. Three amino acids and two vitamins are organosulfur compounds, many cofactors also contain sulfur including glutathione and thioredoxin and iron–sulfur proteins. Disulfides, S–S bonds, confer mechanical strength and insolubility of the keratin, found in outer skin, hair. Sulfur is one of the chemical elements needed for biochemical functioning and is an elemental macronutrient for all organisms. Sulfur is derived from the Latin word sulpur, which was Hellenized to sulphur, the spelling sulfur appears toward the end of the Classical period. In 12th-century Anglo-French, it was sulfre, in the 14th century the Latin ph was restored, for sulphre, the parallel f~ph spellings continued in Britain until the 19th century, when the word was standardized as sulphur. Sulfur was the form chosen in the United States, whereas Canada uses both, the IUPAC adopted the spelling sulfur in 1990, as did the Nomenclature Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1992, restoring the spelling sulfur to Britain. Sulfur forms polyatomic molecules with different chemical formulas, the best-known allotrope being octasulfur, cyclo-S8. The point group of cyclo-S8 is D4d and its dipole moment is 0 D. Octasulfur is a soft, bright-yellow solid that is odorless and it melts at 115.21 °C, boils at 444.6 °C and sublimes easily. At 95.2 °C, below its melting temperature, cyclo-octasulfur changes from α-octasulfur to the β-polymorph, the structure of the S8 ring is virtually unchanged by this phase change, which affects the intermolecular interactions. At higher temperatures, the viscosity decreases as depolymerization occurs, molten sulfur assumes a dark red color above 200 °C
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Casus belli
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Casus belli is a Latin expression meaning an act or event that provokes or is used to justify war. Either may be considered an act of war, the term is also used informally to refer to any just cause a nation may claim for entering into a conflict. It attempts to demonstrate that it is going to war only as a last resort, modern international law recognizes only three lawful justifications for waging war, self-defense, defense of an ally required by the terms of a treaty, and approval by the United Nations. Proschema is the equivalent Greek term, first popularized by Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War, the proschemata are the stated reasons for waging war, which may or may not be the same as the real reasons, which Thucydides called prophasis. Thucydides argued that the three primary reasons for waging war are reasonable fear, honor, and interest, while the stated reasons involve appeals to nationalism or fearmongering. Countries need a public justification for attacking another country, both to galvanize support for the war and to gain the support of potential allies. The UN also reserves the right to ask member nations to intervene against non-signatory countries that embark on wars of aggression and this section outlines a number of the more famous and/or controversial cases of casus belli which have occurred in modern times. While slavery was the long term cause of the American Civil War, in the eyes of the United States, the sinking of the USS Maine provided casus belli for the Spanish–American War. There have been several alternative explanations for the explosion, such as proposed by Mr. Evans. Europeans had access to Chinese ports as outlined in the Treaty of Nanking from the First Opium War, France uses the execution of Auguste Chapdelaine as a casus belli for the Second Opium War. On February 29th,1856, Chapdelaine, a French missionary, was killed in the province of Guangxi, in response, British and French forces quickly take control of Guangzhou. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria provided the trigger that led to the outbreak of World War I, in June 1914, the refusal of two points of the July Ultimatum offered to Serbia was used by Austria-Hungary as a casus belli for declaring war on Serbia. The murder at Sarajevo in Bosnia by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, Austrian subject, the Russian Empire started to mobilize its troops in defense of its ally Serbia, which resulted in the German Empire declaring war on Russia in support of its ally Austria-Hungary. This telegram was intercepted by the British, then relayed to the U. S. which led to President Woodrow Wilson then using it to convince Congress to join World War I alongside the Allies. The Mexican president at the time, Venustiano Carranza, had a military commission assess the feasibility, in his autobiography Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler had in the 1920s advocated a policy of lebensraum for the German people, which in practical terms meant German territorial expansion into Eastern Europe. Polands allies, the UK and France, subsequently declared war on Germany in accord their alliance. In 1941, acting once again in accordance with the policy of lebensraum, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union also employed a manufactured casus belli against Finland during World War II on its part. In November 1939, shortly after the outbreak of hostilities between Germany, Britain and France, the Soviet Union staged the shelling of the Russian village of Mainila and this manufactured incident was then used as a casus belli for the Winter War
39.
Brescia
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Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometres from the lakes Garda, with a population of 196,480, it is the second largest city in the region and the fourth of northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the city limits and has a population of 672,822. The city is the capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy. Founded over 3,200 years ago, Brescia has been an important regional centre since pre-Roman times, Brescia is considered the industrial capital of Italy. The metallurgy and the production of tools and firearms are of particular economic significance, along with mechanical. In addition, Brescia is the setting for most of the action in Alessandro Manzonis 1822 play Adelchi, Brescia and its territory will be the European Region of Gastronomy in 2017. Various myths relate to the founding of Brescia, one assigns it to Hercules while another attributes its foundation as Altilia by a fugitive from the siege of Troy. According to another myth, the founder was the king of the Ligures, Cidnus, colle Cidneo was named after that version, and it is the site of the medieval castle. Others scholars attribute the founding of Brescia to the Etruscans, the Gallic Cenomani, allies of the Insubres, invaded in the 7th century BC, and used the town as their capital. The city became Roman in 225 BC, when the Cenomani submitted to the Romans, during the Carthaginian Wars, Brixia was allied with the Romans. During a Celtic alliance against the city remained fateful to the Romans, with their Roman allies the city remain and attacked and destroyed the Insubres by surprise. Subsequently, the city and the tribe entered the Roman world peacefully as faithful allies, in 89 BC, Brixia was recognized as civitas and in 41 BC, its inhabitants received Roman citizenship. Augustus founded a colony there in 27 BC, and he. Roman Brixia had at least three temples, an aqueduct, a theatre, a forum with another temple built under Vespasianus, when Constantine advanced against Maxentius in 312, an engagement took place at Brixia in which the enemy was forced to retreat as far as Verona. In 402, the city was ravaged by the Visigoths of Alaric I, during the 452 invasion of the Huns under Attila, the city was besieged and sacked. Forty years later, it was one of the first conquests by the Gothic general Theoderic the Great in his war against Odoacer, in 568, Brescia was taken from the Byzantines by the Lombards, who made it the capital of one of their semi-independent duchies. The first duke was Alachis, who died in 573, later dukes included the future kings of the Lombards Rothari and Rodoald, and Alachis II, a fervent anti-Catholic who was killed in battle at Cornate dAdda in 688
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Lombardy
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Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy, in the northwest of the country, with an area of 23,844 square kilometres. Milan, Lombardys capital, is the second-largest city and the largest metropolitan area in Italy, the word Lombardy comes from Lombard, which in turn is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus, derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz, equivalent to long beard. Some sources derive the second element instead from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz, Lombardy referred during the early Middle Ages to the entire territory of Italy ruled by the Lombards, a Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Italian peninsula beginning in the 6th century. During the late Middle Ages, the term shifted meaning and was used to identify the whole of Northern Italy, with a surface of 23,861 km2, Lombardy is the 4th largest region of Italy. It is bordered by Switzerland and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region, mountains, hills and plains – the latter being divided in Alta and Bassa. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above made is the subregion of Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po River. The mighty Po river marks the border of the region for a length of about 210 km. In its progress it receives the waters of the Ticino River, the other streams which contribute to the great river are, the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, the Oglio and the Mincio. The numerous lakes of Lombardy, all of glacial origin, lie in the northern highlands, from west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. A minor mountainous area, the Oltrepò Pavese, lies south of the Po, in the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The most commons trees are elm, alder, sycamore, poplar, willow, in the area of the foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias. Numerous species of flora in the Prealpine area include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflowers. The highlands are characterized by the vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels oak woods or broadleafed trees grow, on the slopes beech trees grow at the lowest limits. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone, Lombardy has a wide array of climates, due to local variances in elevation, proximity to inland water basins, and large metropolitan areas. In addition, there is a seasonal temperature variation. A peculiarity of the climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February. In the Alpine foothills, characterised by an Oceanic climate, numerous lakes exercise a mitigating influence, in the hills and mountains, the climate is humid continental
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Veneto
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Veneto or Venetia is one of the twenty regions of Italy. Its population is five million, ranking fifth in Italy. The regions capital and largest city is Venice, Veneto was part of the Roman Empire until the 5th century AD. Later, after a period, it was part of the Republic of Venice until 1797. Venice ruled for centuries one of the largest and richest maritime republics. The Statute of Veneto describes Venetians as a people, besides Italian, most inhabitants also speak Venetian. The region is home to a notable nationalist movement, the regions largest party is the Venetist/Padanist Liga Veneta, a founding member of Lega Nord. The current President of Veneto is Luca Zaia, elected in 2010 with 60. 2% of the vote and the support of Lega Nord, The People of Freedom, Veneto is the 8th largest region in Italy, with a total area of 18,398.9 km2. At its northernmost corner it borders also on Austria, the north-south extension of Veneto is 210 km from the Austrian border to the mouth of the River Po. By area, 29% of its surface is mountainous, the highest massif in the Dolomites is the Marmolada-massif at 3,342 m. Other dolomitic peaks are the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the Pale di San Martino, the Venetian Prealps are not as high and range between 700 m and 2,200 m. Fossil deposits are abundant there. The plain itself is subdivided into the plain and the lower plain. The lower plain is both a mainstay of production and the most populated part of the region. Several rivers flow through the region, the Po, Adige, Brenta, Bacchiglione, Livenza, Piave, the eastern shore of the largest lake in Italy, Lake Garda, belongs to Veneto. The coastline covers approximately 200 km, of which 100 km are beaches, the coasts of the Adriatic Sea are characterised by the Venetian Lagoon, a flat terrain with ponds, marshes and islands. The Po Delta to the south features sandbars and dunes along the coastline, the inland portion contains cultivable land recently reclaimed by a system of canals and dykes. Fish ponds have been created there as well, the delta and the lagoon are a stopping-point for migratory birds
42.
Tuscany
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Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is considered a nation within a nation. Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited destination in the region. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val dOrcia are also internationally renowned, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year. In 2012, the city of Florence was the worlds 89th most visited city, roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north and east, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany has a western coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres, surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds of the total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres, and mountains. Plains occupy 8. 4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres —mostly around the valley of the River Arno, many of Tuscanys largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks, following this, the Villanovan culture saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms. City-states developed in the late Villanovan before Orientalization occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose, the Etruscans created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory, throughout their existence, they lost territory to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts. Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks, the cultures of Greece, one reason for its eventual demise was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, however, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, in the years following 572, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia
43.
Kingdom of Naples
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It continued to be officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily, although it no longer included the island of Sicily. For much of its existence, the realm was contested between French and Spanish dynasties, in 1816, it was reunified with the island kingdom of Sicily once again to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Following the rebellion in 1282, King Charles I of Sicily was forced to leave the island of Sicily by Peter III of Aragons troops, Charles, however, maintained his possessions on the mainland, customarily known as the Kingdom of Naples, after its capital city. Charles and his Angevin successors maintained a claim to Sicily, warring against the Aragonese until 1373, joans reign was contested by Louis the Great, the Angevin King of Hungary, who captured the kingdom several times. Queen Joan I also played a part in the demise of the first Kingdom of Naples. This led to Joan Is murder at the hands of the Prince of Durazzo in 1382, the two competing Angevin lines contested each other for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples over the following decades. René of Anjou temporarily united the claims of junior and senior Angevin lines, in 1442, however, Alfonso V conquered the Kingdom of Naples and unified Sicily and Naples once again as dependencies of Aragon. At his death in 1458, the kingdom was again separated and Naples was inherited by Ferrante, Alfonsos illegitimate son. Charles VIII expelled Alfonso II of Naples from Naples in 1495, Ferrantino was restored to the throne, but died in 1496, and was succeeded by his uncle, Frederick IV. Charles VIIIs successor, Louis XII reiterated the French claim, in 1501, he occupied Naples and partitioned the kingdom with Ferdinand of Aragon, who abandoned his cousin King Frederick. The deal soon fell through, however, and Aragon and France resumed their war over the kingdom, the Spanish troops occupying Calabria and Apulia, led by Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova did not respect the new agreement, and expelled all Frenchmen from the area. The peace treaties that continued were never definitive, but they established at least that the title of King of Naples was reserved for Ferdinands grandson, the future Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Ferdinand nevertheless continued in possession of the kingdom, being considered as the heir of his uncle Alfonso I of Naples. The French finally abandoned their claims to Naples by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, in the Treaty of London, five cities on coast of Tuscany were designated the Stato dei Presidi, and part of the Kingdom of Naples. After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, under the terms of the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714, Naples was given to Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. He also gained control of Sicily in 1720, but Austrian rule did not last long, when Charles inherited the Spanish throne from his older half-brother in 1759, he left Naples and Sicily to his younger son, Ferdinand IV. Despite the two Kingdoms being in a union under the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasts, they remained constitutionally separate. Being a member of the House of Bourbon, Ferdinand IV was an opponent of the French Revolution and Napoleon
44.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
45.
Hungarians
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Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are a nation and ethnic group who speak Hungarian and are primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 13. 1–14.7 million Hungarians, of whom 8. 5–9.8 million live in todays Hungary, the Hungarians own ethnonym to denote themselves in the Early Middle Ages is uncertain. The Magyars/Hungarians probably belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance, and it is possible that they became its ethnic majority, in the Early Middle Ages the Hungarians had many names, including Ungherese, Ungar, and Hungarus. The H- prefix is an addition of Medieval Latin, another possible explanation comes from the Old Russian Yugra. It may refer to the Hungarians during a time when they dwelt east of the Ural Mountains along the borders of Europe. The Hungarian people refer to themselves by the demonym Magyar rather than Hungarian, Magyar is Finno-Ugric from the Old Hungarian mogyër. Magyar possibly derived from the name of the most prominent Hungarian tribe, the tribal name Megyer became Magyar in reference to the Hungarian people as a whole. Magyar may also derive from the Hunnic Muageris or Mugel, the Greek cognate of Tourkia was used by the scholar and Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in his De Administrando Imperio of c. AD950, though in his use, Turks always referred to Magyars, the historical Latin phrase Natio Hungarica had a wider meaning because it once referred to all nobles of the Kingdom of Hungary, regardless of their ethnicity. During the 4th millennium BC, the Uralic-speaking peoples who were living in the central, some dispersed towards the west and northwest and came into contact with Iranian speakers who were spreading northwards. From at least 2000 BC onwards, the Ugrian speakers became distinguished from the rest of the Uralic community, judging by evidence from burial mounds and settlement sites, they interacted with the Indo-Iranian Andronovo culture. In the 4th and 5th centuries AD, the Hungarians moved from the west of the Ural Mountains to the area between the southern Ural Mountains and the Volga River known as Bashkiria and Perm Krai. In the early 8th century, some of the Hungarians moved to the Don River to an area between the Volga, Don and the Seversky Donets rivers, meanwhile, the descendants of those Hungarians who stayed in Bashkiria remained there as late as 1241. The Hungarians around the Don River were subordinates of the Khazar khaganate and their neighbours were the archaeological Saltov Culture, i. e. Bulgars and the Alans, from whom they learned gardening, elements of cattle breeding and of agriculture. Tradition holds that the Hungarians were organized in a confederacy of seven tribes, the names of the seven tribes were, Jenő, Kér, Keszi, Kürt-Gyarmat, Megyer, Nyék, and Tarján. Around 830, a rebellion broke out in the Khazar khaganate, as a result, three Kabar tribes of the Khazars joined the Hungarians and moved to what the Hungarians call the Etelköz, the territory between the Carpathians and the Dnieper River. The Hungarians faced their first attack by the Pechenegs around 854, the new neighbours of the Hungarians were the Varangians and the eastern Slavs. In 895/896, under the leadership of Árpád, some Hungarians crossed the Carpathians, the tribe called Magyar was the leading tribe of the Hungarian alliance that conquered the centre of the basin
46.
Trentino
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Trentino, officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the countrys far north. Trentino is, along with South Tyrol, one of the two provinces making up the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which is designated a region under the constitution. The province is divided into 178 comuni and its capital is the city of Trento. The province covers an area of more than 6,000 km2, Trentino is renowned for its mountains, such as the Dolomites, which are part of the Alps. The province is known as Trentino. The name derives from Trento, the city of the province. Originally, the term was used by the population only to refer to the city. In its wider sense, Trentino was first used around 1848 in an article by a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly, since the new 1972 autonomous status, the administrative name of the province is Autonomous Province of Trento. The history of Trentino begins in the mid-Stone Age, the valleys of what is now Trentino were already inhabited by man, the main settlements being in the valley of the Adige River, thanks to its milder climate. In the early Middle Ages, this area was included within the Kingdom of Italy, in 1027, the Bishopric of Trent was established as a State of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Conrad II. It was a territory, roughly corresponding to the present-day Trentino. The Council of Trent, held in three sessions from 1545 to 1563, with the first at Trento, was one of the important councils in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. It was an articulation of Roman Catholic doctrine in response to the Protestant Reformation, and specified doctrine on salvation, the sacraments, after the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, the bishopric was secularized and absorbed into the Austrian County of Tyrol. It was governed by the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, the region was the location of heavy fighting during World War I, as it was directly on the front lines between Austria-Hungary and Italy. Trentino remained a part of Austria-Hungary until after the end of the war in 1919, since this treaty, Trentino enjoys considerable autonomy from the Italian central government in Rome. It has its own elected government and legislative assembly, in 1996, the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino was formed between the Austrian state of Tyrol and the Italian provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino. The boundaries of the association correspond to the old County of Tyrol, the aim is to promote regional peace, understanding and cooperation in many areas. The regions assemblies meet together as one on various occasions and have set up a liaison office to the European Union in Brussels
47.
Austrian Empire
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The Austrian Empire was an empire in Central Europe created out of the realms of the Habsburgs by proclamation in 1804. It was an empire and one of Europes great powers. Geographically it was the second largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire and it was also the third most populous after Russia and France, as well as the largest and strongest country in the German Confederation. Proclaimed in response to the First French Empire, it overlapped with the Holy Roman Empire until the dissolution in 1806. The Ausgleich of 1867 elevated Hungarys status and it became a separate entity from the Empire entirely, joining with it in the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Changes shaping the nature of the Holy Roman Empire took place during conferences in Rastatt, on 24 March 1803, the Imperial Recess was declared, which reduced the number of ecclesiastical states from 81 to only 3 and the free imperial cities from 51 to 6. This measure was aimed at replacing the old constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, taking this significant change into consideration, the German Emperor Francis II created the title Emperor of Austria, for himself and his successors. In 1804 the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, who was ruler of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, founded the Empire of Austria. In doing so he created a formal overarching structure for the Habsburg Monarchy, to safeguard his dynastys imperial status he adopted the additional hereditary title of Emperor of Austria. Hungarys affairs remained administered by its own institutions as they had been beforehand, thus under the new arrangements no Imperial institutions were involved in its internal government. The fall and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire was accelerated by French intervention in the Empire in September 1805, on 20 October 1805, an Austrian army led by general Karl Mack von Leiberich was defeated by French armies near the town of Ulm. The French victory resulted in the capture of 20,000 Austrian soldiers, Napoleons army won another victory at Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. Francis was forced into negotiations with the French from 4 to 6 December 1805, the French victories encouraged rulers of certain imperial territories to assert their formal independence from the Empire. On 10 December 1805, the prince-elector Duke of Bavaria proclaimed himself King, finally, on 12 December, the Margrave of Baden was given the title of Grand Duke. In addition, each of these new countries signed a treaty with France, the Treaty of Pressburg between France and Austria, signed in Pressburg on 26 December, enlarged the territory of Napoleons German allies at the expense of defeated Austria. Certain Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies—the King of Bavaria, the King of Württemberg, Austrian claims on those German states were renounced without exception. On 12 July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was established, comprising 16 sovereigns and this confederation, under French influence, put an end to the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, even Francis recognized the new state of things and proclaimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, as he did not want Napoleon to succeed him
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Sardinia
Two Sicilies
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