During 1859-1861, a politically fragmented Italy was forged by nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi into a single kingdom. His War of Unification freed Italy from Austrian control. The process of reunification had effectively begun with the Congress of Vienna in 1815, although it meant that Austrian control over large areas of Italy had to be endured for another two generations, along with the restored and fragmented regional authorities which included the fiercely protective Papal States. It took a long time before even those who supported reunification could agree on how to achieve it. One of the most feared (and soon outlawed) revolutionary groups were that of the Carbonari, the coal burners. They almost succeeded in assassinating Napoleon III of the French Second Empire in 1858 for his allegedly turning his back on them.
With support growing, and with a secret agreement in place with France, the war soon achieved its aims. Once reunification had been achieved, the conservatively supportive Savoyard king of Sardinia became king of Italy (a title previously held by the Holy Roman Emperors), gaining Parma, Sicily & Naples, and Spoleto, while at the same time handing Savoy to France as promised. In 1866 Venice was annexed to the new Italy, while the Papal States were also seized by the kingdom in 1870.
Initially, the capital of this newly unified state was at Savoy's old capital of Turin (between 1861-1864), but was moved to Florence, where it remained until the capture of Rome. In 1861, the kingdom was set up as a constitutional monarchy with a representative parliamentary body. During the Mussolini years, that was swept aside for a single party fascist state, between 1928-1943, and it was this that essentially sealed the kingdom's end three years later.
1861 - 1878 Victor Emanuel II Formerly the Savoyard king of Sardinia (1849-1861).
1866 Prussia fights the Austro-Prussian War against Austria, essentially as a decider to see which of the two powers will be dominant in central Europe. Prussia gains Italy as an ally in the south and several minor German states in the north. Austria and its southern German allies are crushed in just seven weeks (giving the conflict its alternative title of the Seven Weeks' War), and Prussia is now unquestionably dominant. Bismark oversees the seizure of four of Austria's northern German allies, the kingdom of Hanover, the electorate of Hessen-Kassel, and the duchy of Nassau, along with the free city of Frankfurt. Prussia also subsumes Schleswig and Holstein and Saxe-Lauenberg, while despite being defeated in its own theatre of the war, Italy gains Venice thanks to Prussia's dominance, completely terminating the Austrian kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.
1870 - 1871 Italy achieves full union under the House of Savoy. In 1871, Rome becomes its capital for the first time since the collapse of the Western Roman empire (although even then, Ravenna had been the capital for some considerable time).
1871 Plenipotentiary Conference in Rome
The delegates of the 1871 Plenipotentiary Conference in Rome pose for a group photo
1878 - 1900 Umberto I 'the Good' Son. Killed by an anarchist. Amadeo / Amadeus Brother. King of Spain (1870-1873).
1882 Italy and France disagree over their respective colonial expansionism so, seeing an opportunity to isolate France, Bismarck welcomes Italy into a Triple Alliance with the Prussian-dominated German empire and Austria. Italian relations with Berlin now enter their best period, although Vienna remains icily formal with its former subject.
1900 Umberto is assassinated by an Italo-American anarchist named Gaetano Bresci in Monza. The reason is that Bresci wanted to avenge the people killed during the Bava-Beccaris massacre in Milan in May 1898. Umberto is laid to rest in the Pantheon in Rome, alongside his father.
1900 - 1946 Victor Emanuel III Son of Umberto I. Abdicated.
1911 Italy invades Ottoman Libya. An Italian protectorate is declared in 1912, and the region is governed by Italy in this fashion until 1934, when the colony of Libya is formed.
1915 - 1919 In the secret Treaty of London of 26 April 1915, Italy agrees to abandon its allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary, declaring war on them instead. Italy has been promised territory in compensation for its change of allegiance, which will certainly be at Austria's expense. With the collapse of Austria's empire at the end of the First World War, and the agreement of a ceasefire on 3 November 1918, Italy inherits the province of Istria. The victory elevates Italy to a major power and gains it a permanent seat at the League of Nations. In 1919, Italy also gains the Canal Valley region of Carinthia from Austria under the terms of the Treaty of St Germain.
1922 The fascist leader Benito Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy and has the support (officially, at least) of the king. He also seeks to heal the breach between the Papacy and the state, an act that will strengthen his position, but this takes until 1929 to achieve. Totalitarian rule is established over the country and political and intellectual opposition is crushed.
1929 The Pope and Mussolini sign the Lateran Treaty, finally settling the breach between the Italian government and the papacy that has existed since the seizure of the Papal States in 1870. The treaty establishes the independent Vatican City State.
1936 - 1939 In 1936 Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after a short military campaign in which mustard gas is used. For much of the Spanish Civil War both Germany and Italy supply weapons and even aircraft to General Franco's forces.
1939 - 1941 Italy invades and occupies Albania in 1939. The following year it demands to be allowed to station troops in Greece, but the Greek king refuses. The resultant Greco-Italian War is a victory for Greece, with southern Albania also being occupied. Nazi Germany is forced to intervene, invading Greece in 1941 and capturing it. In the same year, the USA and Cuba enter the war against Italy and on the side of the allies.
Mussolini is hung
1943 - 1945 The Italian fleet surrenders at Valetta, Malta, on 10 September 1943, giving Britain's Royal Navy control of the Mediterranean. With the collapse and surrender of the Italians, northern and central Italy is occupied by Nazi Germans. Mussolini is summarily executed the day after he is captured by communist partisans on 27 April 1945, as he attempts to escape to Switzerland.
1946 Umberto II Son. Succeeded 9 May, abdicated 12 June.
1946 A constitutional referendum is held in the country and Italians take the decision to form a republic. The king is forced into exile as punishment for his support of Mussolini.