Name of Nation: Italian Socialist Republic
Population: 22,182,000
Military Branches:Country and Territories:
- Esercito Popolare (Popular Army): The main Italian army.
- Cacciatori delle Alpi (Hunters of the Alps): A special division of the Italian army, specially trained for Alpine combat.
- Arma dei Carabinieri (Corps of Carabiniers): The military police of the Republic.
- Guardia Nazionale (National Guard): The militia units of the Republic.
- Marina Militare (Military Navy): The Italian navy.
Head of State: Presidente Guiseppe Mazzini (Partito Socialista Italiano)
Head of Government: Prime Minister Carlo Cattaneo (Partito Librale)
Government Style: Socialist Parliamentary Republic
Primary Weapon: Garibaldi M1860
Secondary Weapon: Mazzini M1859, Knives, Shovels, Tools, etc.
Standard Artillery: Cattaneo 7.5 cm
Most powerful Naval Vessels: Devastazione Class Warship
History: In the year 1848, the people of Paris took to the streets, determined to overthrow their king and establish a republic. The resulting wave of revolution not only spread across France, but across all of Europe, and eventually, across the world. In Italy, the effect was obvious. For centuries, the states of Italy had been divided, and the rest of Europe had taken advantage of their weakness. Austria seized control of the north. France pulled the Papal States, Piedmont, and Sardinia under their influence. Spain conquered Naples and Sicily, and battled the French for dominance. By the time 1848 rolled around, Spain had been forced out of the peninsula, and many states were nominally independent. However, French and Austrian influence remained, both through control over Italian leaders and through military presence. This situation, mixed with food riots throughout Italy and the failure of the reforms put into place by Pope Pius IX, set the stage for revolution.
In January of 1848, the people of the island of Sicily rose in revolt, desiring to overthrow the Bourbon monarchy. This revolution soon spread to Palermo, and from there to Naples. The revolt drove King Ferdinand II out of Sicily, and a new provisional government was established. Soon after, however, Bourbon armies returned in force, intending to restore Ferdinand to power. These armies seized control of Palermo and Messina, and soon after a bloody struggle for Sicily ensued. While the revolution in Sicily had yet to prove a success, it did have another effect. News of the events in Sicily spread throughout the Italian peninsula sparking off more revolts. In Milan, capital of the Austrian controlled Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, tensions rose. The Milanese began boycotting tobacco and gambling products (both Austrian monopolies), and as a result, deprived the Austrians of millions of lire. In response, the police were ordered out with cigars, in an attempt to provoke the citizens. This resulted in a bloody street battle between Austrian soldiers and Milanese citizens, resulting in five dying and another 59 being wounded. Tensions remained high, until they finally boiled over in March, culminating in the Five Days of Milan. Over the course of those five days, the Austrian armies were driven out of Milan, and a provisional government was set up.
In Venetia, which at that point was controlled by the Austrians much like Milan, citizens took to the streets. With the support of officials and Italian soldiers in the Austrian military, the city of Venice soon declared independence, and other cities throughout Venetia soon followed, the exception being Verona, which was heavily garrisoned by the Austrian military. These newly independent cities soon established the Republic of San Marco, and began planning for war against Austria. In Rome, faced with civil unrest, the Pope was forced to flee. With the leader of the Papal government now gone, the people of Rome, led by Giuseppe Mazzini, declared the Roman Second Republic. Fearing the creation of yet more revolutionary republics on the Italian peninsula, Austria finally acted, sending armies to crush the revolutionaries. Determined to survive, the Republics of Sicily, Milan, Rome, and San Marco banded together, rallying their forces in Rome. They were soon aided by the arrival of Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Redshirts, as well as the arrival of troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, who had decided to throw their lot in with the revolutionaries in hopes of uniting Italy.
The resulting war raged on for years, finally coming to an end in 1856. On April 29 of that year, the triumphant republics agreed to be annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, and the Kingdom of Italy was declared. The new kingdom had problems from the start, however. The war had ravaged Italy, killing many, and causing serious damage to the economy. The Italian military, although made up of fiercely patriotic and loyal soldiers, had incompetent commanders, save for a few. Many government officials were corrupt, and there was almost constant tension between the conservative royals and the more liberal leaders of the various provinces. In 1858, the situation boiled over when protesters in Rome were gunned down by the military for protesting against the monarchy. The city rioted for days, and before long the rest of Italy did the same. After roughly a month of rioting and violence, massive numbers of soldiers deserted from the military, and a new government was declared in Rome, forcing the monarchy to relocate to Verona. The new government, led by heroes of the War of Independence such as Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, declared war on the old, and civil war broke out.
This war, unlike the one for independence, only lasted a year, coming to an end when King Charles Albert was captured and executed by firing squad. The newly established Italian Republic was much like the Directory in France after the French Revolution; like the Directory, it soon took a violent turn. Suspected monarchists and Austrian spies, many of them innocent, were arrested by the government, and hysteria ran rampant, causing neighbor to turn on neighbor, only to be arrested themselves later on. The death toll soared, especially in the cities. By January of 1860, there were over fifteen thousand deaths throughout Italy, either from executions or from revolutionary mobs. Many in the government urged the public and the military to see reason and stop the killings, but they soon found themselves dead as well. The final straw came when one of the Republic's founding fathers, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was accused of treason by a rival political party, and was summarily executed. Outraged, yet another revolution began, with Giuseppe Mazzini and his Italian Socialist Party rallying the proletariat as well as the rural farmers against the government and the military. This war, the bloodiest of the three, finally came to an end in 1861, with Mazzini and his supporters establishing the Italian Socialist Republic. The years of bloodshed and hardship have made Italy strong, and the fiercely patriotic, fiercely socialist population dream of spreading the revolution throughout the world.
RP Sample:
429 (It helps to find apps)
