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 = Italian Unification =

By﻿: Luke O'Connor, Nick Zombolas, Jake Robotin
Italy did not proclaim unity until 1861 and took about half a century to achieve. There were many obstacles facing the Italians before unity occured. One was the fact that Italy was seperated into several states in which the people related themselves to and some of these states didn't like each other. Also most of the states were under foreign rule (mainly Austria).Italians did have reasons to want to unify though. Like the fact that all of the states share a common history, language, and culture. Also the fact that the last time Italy was united it was before the fall of the Roman Empire. Finally, some Italians thought that Italian unification would end trade barriers between states and cause economic prosperity. Nationalism and a feeling for Italian unification really started with Napoleon and the French revolution when Napoleon conquered Italy and spread French ideas like liberty, fraternity, and equality. Revolution leaders popped up like Camillo Cavour, Guiseppe Mazzini, Guiseppe Garibaldi, and Victor Emmanuel II.