Italians

As the early modern period dawned, the Italian peninsula was divided between a plethora of small states: merchant republics, kingdoms, duchies, and even the Papacy. These entities, most of which were fabulously wealthy, had driven the Renaissance and dominated the trade networks of the Mediterranean. Such high stakes invited conflict, however, and when the Italian polities were not engaged in conflicts abroad, they fought each other nearly incessantly. For a long time, trade networks between Europe and the lands to the east had flourished, but this changed during the 15th century when the expanding Ottoman Empire vanquished the declining Byzantine Empire and incorporated its lands. Intense rivalry between the Ottomans and European states led to the closure of the traditional trade routes east, and so the latter sought other ways to reach the trading hubs of Asia. While the Italian states spearheaded very few of these efforts, many of their people joined the exploration efforts that sailed in all directions, charting routes around Africa and also reaching the Americas. While many other European states settled these lands, the Italian states seldom did so, being preoccupied with Mediterranean trade and rivalries with the Ottomans and with each other. Further, as the settlement of other continents proved a lucrative business, competition was high, and the small Italian states did not have the power to compete with their larger neighbors in Europe. Although they played a pivotal role in early modern events in their sphere of influence, most notably the Wars of the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire (16th-17th centuries) and the Thirty Years’ War (17th century), their decline progressed swiftly. By the time that the Napoleonic Wars began at the turn of the 19th century, their splendor was past, and they were easily conquered by the French Empire. Adversity drove ambition, however, and after the collapse of the French Empire in 1815, many residents of the Italian states saw the need for unity – a process that would consume the following six decades. Through war and diplomacy, these regions coalesced into one nation-state – largely thanks to the leadership of the so-called Four Fathers of the Fatherland: Victor Emmanuel, Camillo Benso, Giuseppe Mazzini, and most famously, Giuseppe Garibaldi. In 1871, the unification process – or Risorgimento – ended when the new Kingdom of Italy annexed the Papal States and proclaimed Rome its new capital.

From the game's History encyclopedia.