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From a divided peninsula to a kingdom

From a divided peninsula to a kingdom

In 1830, Italy was a cultural idea rather than a single country. The peninsula was split between Piedmont-Sardinia in the north-west, Austrian-controlled Lombardy-Venetia in the north-east, the central duchies and Papal States in the centre, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the south.

Key territorial changes on the road to unification:

  • 1859: Lombardy passed to Piedmont-Sardinia.
  • 1860: The central duchies and Romagna were annexed to Piedmont-Sardinia through plebiscites, while Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand conquered Sicily and Naples, which Garibaldi later handed over to Victor Emmanuel II.
  • 1866: Venetia joined the Kingdom of Italy.
  • 1870: Rome was annexed, completing unification.

The unification of Italy, c1830–70 Lesson

  1. A Level
  2. /History
  3. /The unification of Italy, c1830–70

Step-by-step lessons on Edexcel A Level History The unification of Italy, c1830–70. Each one builds up to exam-style questions. Build a secure grasp of the outline narrative for your breadth and depth periods first, since the source-evaluation and historical-interpretations questions that carry a large share of the marks depend on that contextual knowledge.

Lessons