A History of Modern Italy

Transformation and Continuity, 1796 to the Present

Anthony L. Cardoza

A History of Modern Italy addresses the question of how Italy's modern history--from its prolonged process of nation-building in the nineteenth century to the crises of the last two decades--has produced a paradoxical blend of hyper-modernity and traditionalism that sets the country apart in the broader context of Western Europe.

A History of Modern Italy

Transformation and Continuity, 1796 to the Present

Anthony L. Cardoza

Description

A History of Modern Italy addresses the question of how Italy's modern history--from its prolonged process of nation-building in the nineteenth century to the crises of the last two decades--has produced a paradoxical blend of hyper-modernity and traditionalism that sets the country apart in the broader context of Western Europe.

Author Anthony L. Cardoza explores how Italians have experienced seismic shifts in their social and economic landscape over the past two centuries, while simultaneously maintaining older cultural norms, social practices, and political methods. The book's narrative of modern Italy incorporates and blends the research findings and methodological insights of the new quantitative and cultural historical scholarship of the past twenty-five years. In doing so, the book chronicles the regime changes that have taken the country from a liberal monarchy, through a fascist dictatorship, to a democratic republic while also delving into the economic and social history of the nation through these periods.

A History of Modern Italy

Transformation and Continuity, 1796 to the Present

Anthony L. Cardoza

Preface
Acknowledgements
About the Author

CHAPTER 1. THE ITALIAN PENINSULA IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

From the Center to the Margins of Europe
Land of a Thousand Bell Towers
Roman Catholicism and the Italian Church
The Italian Enlightenment and the Old Regimes'
Italy in the 1790s

CHAPTER 2. BIRTH OF A NATIONAL IDEA: 1796-1850

Catalysts of Change: Napoleon and the French Revolution
The Cultural Roots of the Italian Nation
Giuseppe Mazzini and Romantic Nationalism
Moderate Liberal Nationalism
1848 and the Limits of Popular National Mobilization

CHAPTER 3. A PERFECT STORM: ITALIAN UNIFICATION, 1850-1871

Camillo di Cavour and Piedmontese Liberalism
Cavour, Piedmont and Italian Unification
The Mazzinian Moment: Giuseppe Garibaldi and the South
Completing the Nation State: 1861-1870
Legacies of a Perfect Storm

CHAPTER 4. THE CREATION OF THE LIBERAL STATE: 1871-1887

The Structure and Practices of the Liberal State
The Politics of Accommodation: Parliamentary Transformism
Birth of the "Southern Question"
From Poetry to Prose: Liberal Italy's Crisis of Confidence

CHAPTER 5. LIBERAL ITALY UNDER SIEGE: 1887-1900

Economic Recession, Social Unrest and Political Challenges
Francesco Crispi and the Politics of Strong Man Rule
Crispi and the Politics of National Prestige and Glory
Italy's End of the Century Crisis

CHAPTER 6. LIBERAL ITALY'S GOLDEN AGE: 1901-1914

Giovanni Giolitti and Liberal Politics in a New Key
Economic Growth and Social Progress in Giolittian Italy
The Limits of the Giolittian System
End of an Era: The Interventionist Crisis, 1914-15

CHAPTER 7. THE GREAT WAR AND THE CRISIS OF LIBERAL ITALY, 1914-20

"A Useless Slaughter:" Italy's War on the Front Lines
Italy's War at Home
A Mutilated Victory? Italy's Post-War Malaise, 1918-1920
The "Red Years" 1919-1920

CHAPTER 8. THE RISE AND TRIUMPH OF FASCISM, 1921-1925

Fascists of the First Hour
A Pre-emptive Counter-Revolution: Agrarian Fascism
From Periphery to the Center: The March on Rome
In Limbo: Improvising Fascism, 1922-24
The Matteotti Affair and the Demise of Liberal Italy

CHAPTER 9. FORGING THE FASCIST TOTALITARIAN REGIME: 1925-35

The Fascist Totalitarian Social Project
The Fascist Totalitarian Cultural Project
Mussolini and the Cult of the Duce
The Limits of the Totalitarian State

CHAPTER 10. FASCISM ON THE WAR PATH: 1934-1940

Domestic and International Determinants of Fascist Expansionism
Fascist Expansionism: From Ethiopia to Spain, 1935-39
The Rome-Berlin Axis and the Radicalization of Fascism

CHAPTER 11. FROM FASCIST DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

Death of a Regime: 1940-43
Into the Abyss: 1943-45
A New Beginning: Birth of a Democratic Republic, 1945-46
The Persistence of the Old Order in Republican Italy

CHAPTER 12. ITALY TRANSFORMED: 1948-1970

The Political Framework for Recovery
The Economic Miracle, Italian Style
The Transformation of Italian Society
The Limits of Italian Modernity
A Revolution in Rising Expectations

CHAPTER 13. ITALY ADRIFT, 1972-1991

Shock of the Global: Italian Economy and Society in the 1970s
Italian Democracy under Siege
The Center Holds: The Historical Compromise and the Government of National Solidarity
The Grand Illusion: Italy in the 1980s
The Hidden Costs of the Good Life: Italy in the Late 1980s

CHAPTER 14. AN ELUSIVE TRANSITION: ITALY SINCE 1992

The Center No Longer Holds: The Demise of the Post-War Political Order, 1991-94
The Man on a White Horse: The Rise of Silvio Berlusconi
A Transtion? The Center-Left at the Helm, 1996-2001
While Rome Burned: Berlusconi's Italy, 2001-2011
Decline or Renewal: Italy Since 2011

Suggested Readings
Credits
Index

List of Maps
Italy: Physical Features
Europe in 1748
The Languages and Dialects of Italy
Napoleon's Empire at its Height, 1812
Italy in 1815
Revolutionary Europe
Italian Rail Network, 1861
The Unification of Italy
Italian Rail Network, 1871
The Zones of Italy
The Triple Alliance
The Horn of Africa in the Late 19th Century
The Italo-Turkish War, 1911-1912
The Great War and the Italian Front
Europe after the Paris Peace Conference, 1919
Expansion of the Italian Empire
World War II in Europe, 1939-1945
Postwar Alliances in Europe and the European Coal and Steel Community

A History of Modern Italy

Transformation and Continuity, 1796 to the Present

Anthony L. Cardoza

Author Information

Anthony L. Cardoza is Professor of Modern European History at Loyola University Chicago.

A History of Modern Italy

Transformation and Continuity, 1796 to the Present

Anthony L. Cardoza

Reviews and Awards

"Cardoza's discussion of the postwar period and fascism are the best part of the work. He highlights Mussolini as a skilled leader who knew how to exploit the political system and how to tame his more extreme Fascist rivals to take and hold power." -- Spencer M. Di Scala, Journal of Modern History

"Anthony Cardoza has written a clear, concise, and highly readable survey of modern Italy that seamlessly integrates the economic, political, and social history of the Italian state from the Risorgimento to the present day. A History of Modern Italy helps students not only understand the tremendous changes that Italy has undergone since unification, but also how traditional values and institutions have shaped Italian modernization. It is an essential introduction to Italian history for students and general readers."--Alexander De Grand, North Carolina State University

"A History of Modern Italy provides fresh and exciting understandings of politics on the peninsula from unification until today. The book offers new insights into traditional institutional topics--liberalism, fascism, and the Republic--but also looks at the subcultures that paralyzed the nation from the very establishment of the Kingdom. Cardoza deftly describes the narrowness of the governing class, the paralysis in state administration, and popular challenges to official constructions of italianità."--Alice A. Kelikian, Brandeis University