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>Similar reasons apply to Italy. Because of the geography of the Italian peninsula a unified Italian nation state would be much more successful economically tha
by scythe 6y ago
>Similar reasons apply to Italy. Because of the geography of the Italian peninsula a unified Italian nation state would be much more successful economically than a patchwork of small entities. Once Italy's maritime commercial decline began states had less incentive to block unification.
Italy's largest maritime states, Genoa and Venice, never acquiesced; they were sacked by Napoleon. Modern Italy rose from the ashes. Venice never got over it.
- toyg 6y agoYeah, Italian unification has really little to do with economic forces or incentives. Largely, one kingdom exploited the fall of non-Italian powers to make territorial gains. Most of the Italian states were surviving thanks to foreign protection (Austria, France, and Spain). The Savoy administration was just very quick to stake a claim every time one of those protections had a wobble. Napoleon in particular had done a lot of the work, to then leave a void ready to be filled.