Italian History History Summary

Greeks settled in the southern tip in the eighth and seventh centuries BC and by the first century AD, The Roman Empire dominated.

Then way back in 485, Italy was invaded by Attila the Hun. In 800, Charlemagne became the Roman emperor by inherence. He was a great leader, and his people liked him. He remained leader until his death. In 962, Otto the Great was crowned emperor and established the Holy Roman Empire which caused many religious problems amongst the people.

From the 1000s-1400s, Independent city-states were established. From 1618-1648 was the thirty year war. In 1804, Napoleon declared himself as the emperor of Italy, but he failed to keep his throne, so Italy was free from him in 1814.

Italy was then united in 1861. It grew larger, and Venice became a part of Italy in 1866. Rome became the capital of Italy in 1870. They joined WWI in 1914. In early 1920s, Mussolini became the dictator of Italy. He made many decisions that the Italians didn’t agree with. In 1940, they entered World War II. In 1945, Mussolini was finally shot, and Italians were free from him. They abolished the monarchy, and Italians then voted for Italy to become a republic.

Historical Enemies

Italy had many historical enemies.

Attila the Hun was one of their first and greatest enemies. They were invaded by Attila the Hun. He was the leader of a vicious and powerful group called the Huns. They wanted to gain power in Europe. He first threatened, than attacked the Roman Empire, and it took a lot, but they finally defeated him. He was going to attack again for the second time, but died in 453.

Carthaginian brought his army over the snowy Alps of Italy. He had three huge wins over Roman armies, including the biggest battle of Cannae in 216 BC. He fought Italy because, when he took over as commander of Spain from his father, they were fighting over control of the western Mediterranean.

Other Italian historical enemies happened because of World War I and II. They became enemies with Austria-Hungary, Germany, the Ottoman Empire and other countries on the axis side in World War I because Italy was on the allies’ side. They joined World War I because they wanted to keep their land from axis countries, who wanted to take it from them. Italy joined World War II because of Mussolini’s decisions. They started off on the axis side because of an agreement with Hitler, making all the countries on the allies’ side against them, but after things started looking bad, they switched back to the allies side, making the axis countries their enemies once again.

Italy has been in many wars. The Italian Wars took place from 1490s-1560s. They were often called the Great Italian Wars. Most of these wars were about problems over power and land disputes.