Modern History of Italy
The year is 1815 AD, the kingdom of Naples stands large in the southern third of the Italian peninsula with the off coast island of Sicily. Its major cities, Naples and Palermo, sit across the sea from one another. The Papacy stretches from the east to the west coast of the middle of Italy with the ancient city of Rome still standing, along with the small Italian states of Tuscany, Massa, Lucca, Modena and Parma. Austria has a strong grip on Italy as it has the Veneto and half of Milan under its control where the city of Venice stands at the shores of the Adriatic sea. The ambitious kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia claims both Piedmont and Sardinia with the old trading city of Genoa lying on the coast. France still controls Corsica from the days of Napoleon.
In 1817 AD, Naples and Sicily more formally united, forming the kingdom of the 2 Sicilies. In 1830 AD, Modena annexed Massa. In 1848 AD, Tuscany annexed Lucca. In 1860 AD, Piedmont-Sardinia wanted to be the one to unite Italy, so they asked France to support them in a war against Austria and they did but only if Piedmont-Sardinia gave the lands west of the Alps to France so they did, and they beat Austria. Sardinia-Piedmont ended up conquering Austrian Milan, Parma, Modena, Florence, and the 2 Sicilies and became known as Italy. Italy was unified. In 1867 AD, Prussia and Italy both went to war against Austria and even though Italy suffered many defeats, they got to annex the Veneto from Austria because Prussia won the war. In 1871 AD, Italy captured Rome, ending the pope's reign. In 1882 AD, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany formed the triple alliance. In the early 1880s, the scramble for Africa began and in 1889 AD, Italy colonied their first land in Africa, some land in southern Somalia. In 1891 AD, Italy conquered parts of Ethiopia and made a new colony in Eritrea. In 1894 AD, Italy expanded their colony in Somalia to the north. In 1897 AD, Italy expanded their colony in Somalia more inland. In 1913 AD, Italy conquered Ottoman Tripolitania and some Ottoman-controlled Greek islands including Rhodes. In 1914 AD, someone from Serbia named Gavrillo Princip assassinates the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. One thing leads to another, and France declares war on Germany for declaring war on Russia for declaring war on Austria-Hungary for declaring war on Serbia. Italy decided to stay out of the war even though they were allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1915 AD, however, Italy joined the Entente powers and fought into Austria-Hungary mainly because the United Kingdom told them that if Italy helped them in the war, Italy could get the Dalamatian coast. In 1916 AD, Italy conquered parts of Trent and Slovenia and also a little bit of Albania which was occupied by the Central powers. In 1917 AD, Austria-Hungary pushed a small bit into Italian territory and kicked them out of Albania. In 1918 AD, Austria-Hungary completely pushed back Italy's gains and conquered the eastern half of the Veneto but the war also ended in a Entente victory. At the end of World War I, Italy did not get as much as it was promised, but they only got western Slovenia and the Pula peninsula. In 1920 AD, Italy expanded their colony in Libya. Because Italy did not get as much as they were promised, they were getting angry. That is why went a man came and said he could fix everything, everyone loved him. His name was Benito Mussolini and he became the dictator of Italy and he wanted to reform the Roman Empire. He wondered, is there any country in the world that is so underdeveloped that they would throw spears and arrows at our steel tanks? Oh there is? That was Ethiopia. So he conquered it. In 1939 AD, Italy and Germany formed the Pact of Steel. In 1940 AD, Italy conquered Albania. In 1941 AD, following Germany's conquest of France or "Fall Gelb" Italy was given control of some lands west of the Alps. Italy also tried conquering Greece, but that went very badly as Greece pushed into Italian Albania. So in 1942 AD, Germany came to help their weak friend and they crushed the Balkan states that would not accept to join the Axis powers. Italy occupied Albania, Kosovo, parts of Slovenia, the Dalamatian coast, and most of Greece. In 1942 AD, Italy also tried invading British Egypt but that went badly as the United Kingdom pushed into Libya. In 1943 AD, the Germans divided their vassal, Vichy France, between themselves and Italy. All of Italy's colonies were also conquered except for half of Libya. In 1944 AD, the Allied powers landed in Sicily and attacked to the north and Italy switched sides. Italy was quickly conquered between Germany and the Allied powers. World War II ended in 1945 AD and Italy was on the losing side. Italy had to give western Slovenia, the Pula peninsula, and Trieste to Yugoslavia and they only kept their Somalian colony. In 1949 AD, Italy joined NATO. In 1958 AD, Italy joined co-founded the European union with France and Germany. In 1961 AD, Somaia gained independece from Italy including British Somaliland. The end.
-- Written by Vikenait Productions