Chris Webb Page
‘In 1815 the possibility of a united Italy was slight’ to what extent do you agree with this?
There are many arguments for and against the possibility of a united Italy. In this essay I am going to look at these arguments and conclude from the information I gather, to what extent I agree with the above statement.
In 1815 Italy was made up of five separate states, most of these states were run very harshly. They all had different leaders, individual codes of law and had very different views. This would make uniting Italy very difficult as it would be almost impossible to please every state and its leader. There were also a number of different languages spoken; this meant that communication was very difficult. French and Latin were spoken while the Austrian leaders spoke in German, and many different states had their own dialects. This would definitely hinder the chances of an Italian unification, backing up the statement. However because of the way in which some of the states were ruled, many of the people in those states may be in support of a united Italy. Many people had few rights in the states they lived in and were living under harsh regimes, in particular the Jewish community who were persecuted in many of the states. Therefore making a unified Italy much more of a possibility.