ITALY

so you know its history will show italy.

Italian history

The history of Italy is one of the most important in Europe and worldwide. Closely linked to that of Western culture and history of Europe , has lived most of the major historical events of the western world and universal.
Inheriting multiple ancient cultures such as the Etruscans and Latins and receiving Greek and Carthaginian colonization , was born the Roman Empire , bequeather of much of Western culture and one of the largest in history . After the fall of the Empire , Italy underwent a series of Germanic invasions alternated with Byzantine and Frankish attempts to reconstruct the unity of the Empire Romano.1 Rome , the seat of the papacy and imperial legitimacy source was at that time a center that attracted the likes of Justinian I and Charlemagne.
During the Middle Ages Italy would become a patchwork of city-states fought each other for hegemony over the rest , with frequent interventions surrounding powers and the Catholic Church . Its privileged position made it key European trade and maritime republics favored connected with European history. The temporal power struggle between imperial , which included Italy , and the papal spiritual , which was based in Rome, had particular impact in Italy .
This legacy of political relevance it became the focus of the struggle for power in Europe. Moreover, the classical and ecclesiastical cultural heritage was the hotbed of new trends. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries became the cultural center of Europe , giving rise to the Renaissance and was one of the areas in which European supremacy was decided Spanish Empire to victory over Francis I of France.
After the decline of the Spanish monarchy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would control the region , like much of Central Europe . Transformed into a battlefield during the French Revolutionary Wars and the First Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte , would fight for their independence. Between 1856 and 1870 he held the Unification of Italy after a series of wars that involved face the Austrian Empire and the Papal States .
Later , Italy with other European powers carried out imperialist policies that make up the Italian Empire and that led her to participate in World War I on the side of the Entente , to develop the fascism of Benito Mussolini 's invasion of Albania and Abyssinia and to participate in the Second World War with the Axis Powers with Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan . After the defeat in the Second World War, the monarchy would be overthrown and the current republic was established that had an excellent economic recovery , political, military and sporting , reaffirming Italy as a great world power .
Today Italy is a prestigious country , democratic , belonging to such important organizations as the European Union or the G -8 , and one of the major economic powers of the Earth .

Prehistoric Italy
(Terramare · Villanovanos)
Pre-Roman Italy (until the eighth century a.)
(Italos · Latinos · · Greek · Etruscan Gauls)
Ancient Rome (eighth century. C. - Century V d. C.)
(Monarchy · Republic · Empire)
Middle Ages (VI-XIV)
Italian Renaissance (XIV-XVI)
Italian Wars (1494-1559)
Foreign rule (1559-1814)
Risurgimento (1814-1861)
Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)
Republic of Italy (1946-present)

Italian euro coins

have a design unique to each denomination, though there is a common theme of famous Italian works of art from one of Italy's renowned artists. Each coin is designed by a different designer, from the 1 cent to the 2 euro coin they are: Eugenio Driutti, Luciana De Simoni, Ettore Lorenzo Frapiccini, Claudia Momoni, Maria Angela Cassol, Roberto Mauri, Laura Cretara and Maria Carmela Colaneri. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU, the year of imprint, the overlapping letters "RI" for Repubblica Italiana(Italian Republic) and the letter R for Rome.^[1] There are no Italian euro coins dated earlier than 2002, even though they were certainly minted earlier, as they were first distributed to the public in December 2001.

History

Prehistory and antiquity

Between the 17th and the 11th century BC Mycenaean Greeks established contacts with Italy and in the 8th and 7th centuries BC Greek colonies were established all along the coast of Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula became known as Magna Graecia. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily.

Rome, a modest agricultural community conventionally founded in 753 BC, grew over the course of centuries into a massive empire, stretching from Britain to the borders of Persia, and engulfing the whole Mediterranean basin, in which Greek and Roman cultures merged into a unique civilization. The Roman Imperial legacy has deeply influenced Western civilization for the following millennia. Ancient Rome shaped most of the Modern World.^[39] In a slow decline since the late 2nd century AD, the Empire broke into two parts in 395 AD. The Western Roman Empire, under the pressure of the Barbarian invasions, eventually dissolved in 476 AD, when the last western Emperor was deposed by the Germanic chief Odoacer, while the Eastern half of the Empire survived for another thousand years.

Middle Ages

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was seized by the Ostrogoths,^[40] followed in the 6th century by a brief reconquest under Byzantine Emperor Justinian. The invasion of another Germanic tribe, theLombards, late in the same century, reduced the Byzantine presence to a rump realm (the Exarchate of Ravenna). The Lombard kingdom was subsequently absorbed into the Frankish Empire byCharlemagne in the late 8th century. The Franks also helped the formation of the Papal States in central Italy. Until the 13th century, Italian politics were dominated by the relations between the Holy Roman Emperors and the Papacy, with most of the Italian city-states siding for the former (Ghibellines) or for the latter (Guelphs) from momentary convenience.^[41]

Early Modern

In the 14th and 15th centuries, northern-central Italy was divided into a number of warring city-states, the rest of the peninsula being occupied by the larger Papal States and Naples. The strongest among these city-states gradually absorbed the surrounding territories giving birth to the Signorie, regional states often led by merchant families which founded local dynasties. War between the city-states was endemic, and primarily fought by armies of mercenaries known as condottieri, bands of soldiers drawn from around Europe, especially Germany and Switzerland, led largely by Italian captains.^[47] Decades of fighting eventually saw Florence, Milan and Venice emerged as the dominant players that agreed to the Peace of Lodi in 1454, which saw relative calm brought to the region for the first time in centuries. This peace would hold for the next forty years.

The 1814 Congress of Vienna restored the situation of the late 18th century, but the ideals of the French Revolution could not be eradicated, and soon re-surfaced during the political upheavals that characterized the first part of the 19th century.

Italian unification and Liberal Italy

The birth of the Kingdom of Italy was the result of efforts by Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the House of Savoy to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire Italian Peninsula. In the context of the 1848 liberal revolutions that swept through Europe, an unsuccessful war was declared on Austria. The Kingdom of Sardinia again attacked the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence of 1859, with the aid of France, resulting in liberating Lombardy.

In 1860–61, general Giuseppe Garibaldi led the drive for unification in Naples and Sicily,^[57]allowing the Sardinian government led by the Count of Cavour to declare a united Italian kingdom on 17 March 1861. In 1866, Victor Emmanuel II allied with Prussia during theAustro-Prussian War, waging the Third Italian War of Independence which allowed Italy to annex Venetia. Finally, as France during the disastrous Franco-Prussian War of 1870 abandoned its garrisons in Rome, the Italians rushed to fill the power gap by taking over the Papal States.

Starting from the last two decades of the 19th century, Italy developed into a colonial power by forcing Somalia, Eritrea and later Libya and the Dodecanese under its rule.^[58]

First World War and aftermath

Italy, lured by Allies into the war with a promise of substantial territorial gains, that included western Inner Carniola, former Austrian Littoral, Dalmatia as well as parts of the Ottoman Empire, annexed most of the promised territories after the First World War according to the secret treaties of London and Rapallo. During the war, more than 650,000 Italian soldiers died,^[59] and the economy collapsed. Whereas only a few hundred Italians were left in the new South Slavic^[i] state, a population of half a million Slavs^[60]—of which the annexed Slovene minority in Italy (1920–1947) was cut off from the remaining three-quarters of total Slovene population—were subjected to forced Italianization. Under the Peace Treaties of Saint-Germain, Rapallo and Rome, Italy obtained most of the promised territories, including the Hungarian harbour of Fiume, but not Dalmatia (except Zara), allowing nationalists to define the victory as "mutilated".

Fascist Regime

The socialist agitations that followed the devastation of the Great War, inspired by the Russian Revolution, led to turmoil and anarchy throughout Italy. The liberal establishment, fearing a Soviet-style revolution, started to endorse the small National Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini. In October 1922 the blackshirts attempted a coup (the "March on Rome"). The coup itself was a failure, but at the last minute king Victor Emmanuel III faltered and appointed Mussolini prime minister. Over the next few years, Mussolini banned all political parties and curtailed personal liberties, thus forming a dictatorship.

In the north, the Germans set up the Italian Social Republic (RSI), a Nazi puppet state with Mussolini installed as leader. The post-armistice period saw the rise of a large anti-fascist resistance movement, the Resistenza. Hostilities ended on 29 April 1945, when the German forces in Italy surrendered. Nearly half a million Italians (including civilians) died in the conflict,^[66] and the Italian economy had been all but destroyed; per capita income in 1944 was at its lowest point since the beginning of the 20th century.^[67] Following the 1947Paris Peace Treaties, Italy surrendered to Yugoslavia almost all the territories gained on the East border at the end of WWI, Briga andTenda to France and lost all its colonies except for Somalia.

Republican Italy

Italy became a republic after a referendum ^[68] held on 2 June 1946, a day celebrated since as Republic Day. This was also the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote.^[69] Victor Emmanuel III's son,Umberto II, was forced to abdicate and exiled. The Republican Constitution was approved on 1 January 1948. Under the Treaty of Peace with Italy of 1947, most of Venezia Giulia was lost to Yugoslavia and, later, the Free Territory of Trieste was divided between the two states. Italy also lost all its colonial possessions, formally ending the Italian Empire.

In the early 1990s, Italy faced significant challenges, as voters – disenchanted with political paralysis, massive public debt and the extensive corruption system (known as Tangentopoli) uncovered by the 'Clean Hands' investigation – demanded radical reforms. The scandals involved all major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: the Christian Democrats, who ruled for almost 50 years, underwent a severe crisis and eventually disbanded, splitting up into several factions. The Communists reorganized as a social-democratic force. During the 1990s and the 2000s (decade), center-right (dominated by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi) and center-left coalitions (led by university professor Romano Prodi) alternatively governed the country, which entered a prolonged period of economic stagnation.

Demographics of Italy

Italy has 60,626,442 inhabitants according to 1/1/2011 municipal records (Anagrafe).^[1] Its population density, at 201/km² (520/sq. mile), is higher than that of most Western Europeancountries. However the distribution of the population is widely uneven. The most densely populated areas are the Po Valley (that accounts for almost a half of the national population) and the metropolitan areas of Rome and Naples, while vast regions such as the Alps andAppennines highlands, the plateaus of Basilicata and the island of Sardinia are very sparsely populated.

At the end of the 2000s, one in five Italians was over 65 years old.^[3]However, as a result of the massive immigration of the last two decades, in recent years Italy experienced a significant growth in birth rates.^[4] The total fertility rate has also climbed from an all-time low of 1.18 children per woman in 1995 to 1.41 in 2008.^[5] The TFR is expected to reach 1.6 - 1.8 in 2030^[6]

lunes, 4 de noviembre de 2013