Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

Kingdom of Italy Regno d'Italia
1861–1946
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: FERT (motto of the House of Savoy)
Anthem: Marcia reale d'ordinanza (1861-1943) La leggenda del Piave (1943-1946)
The Kingdom of Italy in 1936
Capital	Rome
Recognised national languages	Italian
Demonym(s)	Italian
Government	Constitutional monarchy and Fascist dictatorship
Legislature	Italian Parliament
History
• Established	1861
• Disestablished	1946
Area
• Total	310,190 km2 (119,770 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	42,993,602 (1936)
Currency	Italian lira
Today part of	Italian Republic (mainly), Slovenia, Croatia

The Kingdom of Italy was the Italian state from the Italian unification in 1861 to its defeat in WW2 and dissolution in 1946 when it became the modern day Italian Republic.

History

Unification

Main article: Italian unification

Before 1861, Italy was not one country. Instead, there were many kingdoms, duchies (places ruled by dukes) and Papal States in the Italian Peninsula. In 1861, they all became one country and King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia became the King of Italy.

Fascism

In WW1, Italy was on the allies side and was one of the winners. In 1922, Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister. He was a fascist leader and made Italy into a dictatorship without much liberty.

When WW2 began, Mussolini's Blackshirts led Italy to be allied with Hitler, and the Axis powers. The axis powers lost WW2. Mussolini's leadership ended in 1943, and he was killed in 1945. Germany invaded Italy and this is why Italy didn't become an occupied country as Germany did. In 1946, the people voted to get rid of the monarchy and become today's Italian Republic and slowly became stable again.

Colonies

Territories controlled by Italy including their colonies in 1940.

Italy began their colonial empire in the late 1880s when they conquered Eritrea and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the 1910's, they took Libya from the Ottoman Empire. In 1936, Italy conquered Ethiopia, creating the colony of Italian East Africa. When they lost WW2, their colonies were lost to the British and the French.

Aftermath of World War II

Nazi Germany controlled Italy at the end of WW2 , but they eventually were invaded by the Allies and when Hitler killed himself, The Nazis lost WW2. After Nazi Germany ceased to exist, Italy was independent again. However, all was not good. Italy was left in huge debt, causing Italy to be poor. Many people from Italy emigrated to the United States to escape being poor. In 1946, People voted to get rid of the monarchy (kings) and establish the new Italian Republic. Slowly, the new government helped Italy get back up again into its current state. Also, dramatically, people stopped emigrating because life in Italy was becoming better.

List of monarchs

• Victor Emmanuel II (1861-1878)
• Umberto I (1878-1900)
• Victor Emmanuel III (1900-1946)

• Umberto II (1946)
  

  This is the flag of Italian fascism, a symbol of Benito Mussolini's ideology.