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Italy's Quest for Great Power Status 1871–1943

The aims and challenges of Italian foreign policy after 1871

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 2

Overview

Three aims of Italian foreign policy after unification, italia irredenta and roman Question.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

State three aims of Italian foreign policy after unification.

Key term

What was meant by Italia irredenta?

Key term

Why was foreign policy expected to help build a sense of Italian identity?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was Italy's international position in 1871?

    Model answer

    Italy was counted among the Great Powers by virtue of its size and its new unity, but had none of the industry, revenue or armed strength of Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary or Russia, and was routinely described as the least of the great powers.

  2. 2

    State three aims of Italian foreign policy after unification.

    Model answer

    Italian governments sought recognition as a Great Power, the acquisition of a colonial empire to match those of France and Britain, and the eventual recovery of the Italian-speaking lands still under Austrian rule.

  3. 3

    What was meant by Italia irredenta?

    Model answer

    Italia irredenta, or unredeemed Italy, meant the Italian-speaking territories still outside the kingdom, above all the Trentino, Trieste, Gorizia and Istria, all of them held by Austria-Hungary.

  4. 4

    Why was foreign policy expected to help build a sense of Italian identity?

    Model answer

    Regional loyalties, dialect and the north–south divide meant that most inhabitants did not yet think of themselves as Italians, so successive governments hoped that colonies, prestige and shared national triumphs would create a nation out of a state.

  5. 5

    What was the Roman Question?

    Model answer

    The Roman Question was the quarrel between the Kingdom of Italy and the Papacy after the seizure of Rome in 1870, in which Pius IX refused to recognise the Italian state, rejected the Law of Guarantees and declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican.

  6. 6

    What was the Non Expedit and why did it matter?

    Model answer

    The Non Expedit was the papal instruction that Catholics should neither vote nor stand in national elections, and it kept a large part of the population outside the political system for a generation.

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