The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861 after the Risorgimento, the movement that united most of the peninsula. Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont became its first king, with Count Cavour as the architect of unification and Giuseppe Garibaldi leading the conquest of southern Italy. Venice joined in 1866 and Rome was taken in 1870, becoming the capital. Italy fought in the First World War on the Allied side, and in 1922 King Victor Emmanuel III invited Benito Mussolini to form a government, which began the Fascist dictatorship. After the Second World War, a referendum in June 1946 abolished the monarchy, and Italy became a republic.
Before and after
- from 8 February 1861 to 1 May 1865Confederate States of America
- 16 February 1861Earthquake in Lagundi, Simuk, Tello I, Indonesia
- 26 February 1861Death of Taras Shevchenko
- 3 March 1861Tsar Alexander II emancipates the Russian serfs
- from 17 March 1861 to 18 June 1946Kingdom of Italy
- 23 March 1861Publication of Great Expectations
- 10 April 1861Founding of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- from 12 April 1861 to 9 April 1865American Civil War
- 7 May 1861Birth of Rabindranath Tagore
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from 11 August 1804 to 8 June 1867Austrian Empire
- 1831Discovery of Lewis chessmen
- from 23 October 1868 to 30 July 1912Meiji era
- October 1871Schliemann begins digging at Hisarlik
- 1879Altamira cave paintings are discovered
- 1899Oracle bones reveal early Chinese writing
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.