Italy and Malta; key historical events
Page last modified 6/2/2019
See also Roman Empire
Colour key:
People
Mussolini
and World War Two
unification
of Italy
Venetian
Republic
(Northern)
League
Malta – see Appendix 1
14/8/2018, A 200 metre stretch of
motorway bridge collapsed in Genoa, Italy, plunging 45 metres onto a riverbed
and factories, killing 43 people. There were suggestions that the bridge, built
in 1967, had been poorly maintained, or badly constructed under Mafia
influence.
27/5/2018, Italy’s Populist
Government nominated Paolo Savona as Finance Minister; an economist who
supported Italy quitting the Eurozone. President Sergio Mattarella
vetoed that appointment.
4/3/2018, Elections in Italy, a
country still in recession, with high unemployment and with anti-immigrant
feeling running high in some areas, produced gains for the two Populist-Right
Parties, The
League in the north and Five Star in the south.
22/10.2017, Voters in two of Italy’s wealthiest northern regions, Veneto and
Lombardy. Voted overwhelmingly for greater autonomy. On a turnout of 58% in
Veneto and hust over 50% in Lombardy, over 95% of votes were for more autonomy.
4/12/2016, Matteo Renzi, Italian Prime
Minister, resigned after a referendum rejected his government reform proposals
by over 60%.
13/2/2011, Women across Italy
protested against Berlusconi.
20/7/2001, The 3-day 27th
G8 talks began in Genoa, Italy, sparking major protests by anti-globalisation groups.
28/3/1994, Silvio Berlusconi became Prime
Minister of Italy. He led a short-lived Rightist government.
1992, The Northern League (Lega Nord) won over 50 seats in the General Election. The Northern
League was resentful of taxes generated in the prosperous north of Italy being
used by Rome to support the poorer South, and wanted an independent State in
northern Italy, so-called Padania.
23/5/1992, In Italy, Judge Giovanni
Falcone, the principal anti-Mafia investigator, was killed by a massive
car bomb.
7/1/1990. The Leaning
Tower of Pisa was closed to the public for the first time in 807 years so
work could begin to stop it leaning any further; the leaning rate had
accelerated. After nearly 12 years of repairs costing 53 billion lire that reduced
its lean by 44 cm the tower re-opened in December 2001, and was expected to be
safe for another 2 or 3 centuries. Parties of up to 30 are allowed up on guided
visits. The Tower of Pisa is the bell tower for a nearby cathedral, and its
construction began in 1173, and continues with two long interruptions, for
nearly 200 years. Designed to be vertical, a lean developed during its
construction. The walls at its base are
eight feet thick, and it has 294 steps. Injection of cement into the base in
1934 had accelerated the lean.
6/9/1987. The historic Venice regatta was held without
gondoliers for the first time since 1315. The gondoliers were on strike as a
protest against the damage to the fabric of Venice caused by powerboats.
23/12/1984. Terrorist bomb killed 29 on
a train in Bologna, Italy.
24/9/1983, In Italy, the executives responsible for the Seveso dioxin disaster were jailed.
4/8/1983. Bettino Craxi became Italy’s first Socialist
Prime Minister.
18/3/1983, King Umberto II of Italy, in
exile since 1946, died in a Geneva clinic aged 78.
3/9/1982, Anti-Mafia chief murdered in Rome.
2/8/1980, A right-wing terrorist bomb hit the railway
station at Bologna, Italy, killing
85 people and wounding over 200.
3/6/1979, In Italian general elections, the Communists
lost ground.
9/5/1978. The body of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro
was found in the boot of a car in central Rome, a victim of the Red Brigade.
16/3/1978, In Rome, former Prime Minister Aldo Moro
was kidnapped.
12/1/1978, Italy, the Andreotti government collapsed.
11/2/1976, In Italy, Aldo Moro formed a minority Christian Democrat
Government,
6/12/1964, Antonio Segni, Italian Prime Minister resigned
for health reasons. He was succeedd on 28/12/1964 by Guiseppe Saragat.
9/10/1963, Three thousand were killed as the Vaijont Dam burst in the Italian Alps.
Despite warnings that the valley sides were being destabilised as the dam
filled, work continued until a rock slide hit the site.
4/12/1962, Pietro Tomasi Della Torretta, Italian
politician and diplomat, died aged 89.
6/5/1962, In Italy, Antonio Segni was elected President on the 9th
ballot.
19/8/1954, Alcide de Gasperi, Italian statesman, died
aged 73.
27/1/1950, In Italy, following the resignation of the
Democratic Socialist Minister in November 1949 and withdrawal of Liberal
support, Alcide
de Gasperi formed a new coalition of Christian Democrats, Democratic
Socialists and Republicans.
18/4/1948, The Christian Democrats won an absolute majority
in Italian elections, securing 305 out of 574 seats.
28/12/1947, Victor Emmanuel III, King of
Italy from 1900 until he abdicated in 1946, died.
15/9/1947, The Free Territory of Trieste was created as the Peace Treaty
with Italy came into effect.
17/4/1947, In Rome, a mob of about a
thousand unemployed workers staged a noisy protest outside the Parliament
building, stopping private cars and sometimes beating the occupants. One of
those assaulted was Italian Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza, who was
struck by several fists as he stepped out of his car to go to his office. The
Foreign Ministry said that Sforza had been shaken but not seriously hurt.
1/2/1947, In Italy, Alcide de
Gasperi formed a government of Christian Democrats, Communists and
Left-Socialists.
28/6/1946, Enrico de Nicola became first President of Italy.
27/6/1946, Italy ceded the Dodecanese islands to Greece.
11/6/1946, Italy was
officially declared a Republic.
3/6/1946, King Umberto II left Italy, to join his family in Lisbon.
2/6/1946, A referendum in Italy produced 12.7 million votes
for a Republic and 10.7 million votes for continuing the monarchy.
9/5/1946. King Victor Emmanuel III, monarch of Italy
since 1900, abdicated. He was succeeded by Umberto II. A referendum voted
narrowly for a republic on 2/6/1946. Enrico de Nicola became the first President of Italy on 28/6/1946,
and Umberto
II left Italy on 3/6/1946.
1945, Alcide de Gasperi (born 1881)
organised the Christian Democratic party, and became Prime Minister of Italy.
15/9/1943, Three days after freed from imprisonment by
Germany, and seven weeks after his overthrow in July, Benito Mussolini was restored to
leadership of Italy by the Nazi occupiers; German paratroopers also landed in
St. Peter's Square at Vatican City in Rome, despite the Vatican's
neutrality in the war Mussolini
made his announcement of a return to power from Adolf Hitler's headquarters at
Rastenburg.
11/9/1943, German Field Marshal
Albert Kesselring declared that all Italian territory was under
German military control, which former dictator Benito Mussolini would later
describe as reducing Italy to the status of a German "colony". Adolf Hitler
ordered that the occupied Italian territory be divided into three zones, with
the area around Rome extending south toward the front lines against the Allies,
the Alpine mountain region ("Alpenvorland") and the coast along the
Adriatic Sea ("Adriatische Kusterland"). Hitler also issued orders to
deal with any Italian military units that had gone over to fight for the
Allies, with all officers to be executed, and soldiers and non-combatants to be
deported to Germany as labourers.
9/9/1943. Allied forces landed at Salerno, Italy. King Umberto of
Italy left Rome and fled to Brindisi in the south. This was seen as
an abandonment by many Italians and contributed to the conversion of the
country to a Republic in 1946.
7/9/1943,
Suspecting that Italy was about to make peace with the Allies, German troops
quickly occupied Italy, especially its airfields, to forestall a complete
Allied possession of the country. However the entire Italian navy escaped to
Malta, thereby freeing up Allied ships for combat in the Pacific or Atlantic.
19/7/1943, First
Allied air raid on Rome. The raid was a political warning that Mussolini’s
regime must be overthrown.
1942, The Christian
Democratic Party was founded. It was a clandestine anti-Facist Party, and
in fact largely secular. Until 1993 it formed a large bloc in every post-War
Italian government; however it began to be plagued by acusations of corruption,
and by 1993 its popular support had completely evaporated, The Party
disintegrated after 1993.
11/2/1942, Ugo Pasquale
Mifsud, two-time prime minister of Malta, died aged 52.
For main events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
4/5/1941, Emperor Haile
Selassie returned to Ethiopia from exile in England, after the
liberation of his country by British forces.
12/9/1940. Italian forces advanced
on Egypt
from Libya.
19/8/1940, British
Somaliland fell to the Italians. See
4/8/1940.
12/8/1940. In Albania, a revolt against
Italian occupation began.
9/8/1939, Romano Prodi,
Prime Minister of Italy, was born.
4/8/1940. Italian troops
began to invade British Somaliland from Ethiopia. See 19/8/1940.
4/7/1940, Three weeks after
Italy entered the War, Italian forces invaded Sudan, occupying Kassala, 300
kilometers east pf Khartoum, They also occupied Gallabat, further south.
10/6/1940. Italy declared war
on France and Britain.
2/4/1940. All Italians aged
over 14 were mobilised.
For main
European events of World War Two see
France-Germany
7/4/1939. Italy mounted a surprise invasion of Albania, seeing
it as a bridgehead for an invasion of the Balkans. King Zog fled the country. They
began an invasion of Greece from Albania on 28/10/1940. They were driven back
by the Greeks who occupied most of southern Albania. However the Greeks were
beaten back in April 1941 when the Germans occupied Yugoslavia, Albania, and
Greece. From 1944 on local partisans, aided by the British, drove Axis forces
from much of Albania, also eliminating anti-communist forces. See 11/1/1946.
11/1/1939. Neville Chamberlain visited Mussolini to discuss recognition of the Franco
regime in Spain.
17/12/1938, Italy denounced
the Franco-Italian agreement of 1935.
14/12/1938, The Italian
Parliament was replaced by a Fascist Chamber.
30/11/1938, Speeches in the
Italian Chamber claimed Nice and Corsica for Italy.
3/5/1938. Hitler and Mussolini met in Rome.
16/4/1938, Chamberlain, British PM, sought to dissuade Italy from allying
with Germany.
11/12/1937. Italy left the
League of Nations.
6/11/1937. Italy joined the
anti-Communist pact between Germany and Japan.
See 25/11/1936.
2/6/1937, German War
Minister Werner
von Blomberg began a three-day visit to Italy to discuss
German-Italian military ties.
2/1/1937, The UK and Italian governments made an agreement, to curb dangerous
levels of friction between the two in the Mediterranean.
15/7/1936, The League of Nations
raised sanctions against Italy.
1/11/1936. Mussolini announced an anti-Communist ‘axis’ with Germany,
and urged France and Britain to join.
3/3/1936. Mussolini nationalised the Italian banks.
18/12/1935, In response to League
of Nations sanctions, Mussolini appealed to Italians to donate their
gold wedding rings to the government, in exchange for steel ones, also other
gold, to help the invasion effort. Many Italians responded, and a total of
33,622 metric tonnes of gold was handed in.
19/10/1935, After Italy’s invasion of Abyssinia, the League of Nations
imposed economic sanctions on Italy. Meanwhile it was apparent that Italy’s
African possessions could not provide economic self-sufficiency for Italy, and
the country would never be self reliant in key raw materials sources such as
oil, coal and metals. This pushed Italy into a closer partnership with stronger,
industrialised, Germany.
24/1/1935. Mussolini dismissed the Italian Cabinet.
18/9/1934. Mussolini said
all Italians from the age of 8 must have military training.
15/6/1934. The dictators Hitler and Mussolini
met for the first time, in Venice.
20/10/1933. Mussolini denounced Roosevelt as a dictator.
21/5/1933. Britain signed a ten-year non-aggression pact
with Italy, France,
and Germany.
19/3/1933, Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister of Italy,
proposed a pact with Britain, France and Germany.
2/1933, Official Italian
unemployment stood at 1,229,000; up from 765,000 in 1931 and 1,147,000 in late
1932. However the true figure was almost
certainly considerably higher, since Mussolini was keener to attack the
unemployment statstics than deal with the problem of unemployment itself. He
kept excluding new categories of jobless from the figues, so as to massage them
downwards. Nevertheless official remained over one million during early 1934,
and Italian public works programmes never employed more than 200,000. But in
1935 300,000 Italians were called up for the invasion of Abyssinia, which also reduced the
unemployment totals.
28/10/1932. In Rome the Via dell’ Imperio opened. It was part
of a grand plan for the reconstruction of Rome, initiated by Mussolini
in 1931. This was the tenth anniversary of the Fascist March on Rome.
6/11/1931, The Italian government awarded prizes to the
country's biggest families.
20/4/1929. The first Italian
Parliament composed exclusively of Fascists led by Benito Mussolini was
opened by King
Victor Emmanuel III.
24/3/1929. Mussolini’s single party Fascist state claimed it had won 99%
of the vote in elections.
1928, In Italy,
prefects could prevent people from moving from rural areas to cities. Mussolini
wanted to raise the birth rate, and urban women were more lilely to work and
have fewer children. In 1927 Mussolini had prohibited the Italian media
from promoting slimness in women, as that was also associated with a reduced
birth rate, he believed.
20/9/1928, In Rome
the supreme legislative body, the Chamber of Deputies, was taken over by the
Fascists.
12/5/1928. The Italian electorate was reduced from 10 million to 3 million, under
Mussolini.
12/1/1928, The Italian press was
banned from reporting suicides or sensational crimes.
6/1/1928, Italian Finance Minister Giuseppe Volpi
banned industries from taking out foreign loans without government approval.
5/4/1927, Hungary
signed a ‘Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation’ with the Italian leader, Mussolini.
Hungary needed allies, and Italy strengthened its influence in the Danube
Basin.
15/1/1927. Winston Churchill met Mussolini in Italy.
15/12/1926. The Italian fascist party adopted the Roman symbol
of authority, the fasces, or bundle
of sticks, and origin of the word ‘fascist’, as its symbol.
27/11/1926, Italy and Albania signed the Treaty of Tirana,
effectively making Albania an Italian Protectorate. Britain formally recognised
the Treaty, angering France, who saw the Balkans as their sphere of influcnce.
31/10/1926. An
attempt was made on Mussolini’s life. This gave him the excuse to
remove more civil liberties.
7/10/1926. Mussolini decreed the Fascist party to be the state Party;
all opposition was banned.
25/9/1926, Italy began a campaign against the Mafia in
Sicily.
2/9/1926, Italy agreed a treaty with Yemen; Italy was
attempting to control the eastern coast of the Red Sea.
4/8/1926, Umberto Nobile was feted in Rome for his part
in the recent North Pole expedition, as 20,000 filled the square in front of
the Palazzo Chigi.
29/6/1926. In Italy, Mussolini increased the working day by one
hour.
7/4/1926. Mussolini survived an
assassination attempt.
3/4/1926, In Italy the Ballilla, a Fascist youth organisation,
was founded. It cultivated Fascist
indoctrination of the Italian youth and promoted patriotism, It hosted youth
clubs, organised sports events and organised basic military training. Its
numbers grew aafter the Catholic Boy Scouts were abolished in 1928.
12/2/1926. Mussolini outlawed strikes in Italy.
7/1/1926, The Royal Academy of Italy was created.
4/12/1925, The Italian Chamber of Deputies passed a law
allowing the government to regulate rates of industrial production based on the
needs of the country.
5/11/1925. In Italy, Mussolini banned all left-wing parties.
3/1/1925. Mussolini assumed full dictatorial control in Italy. He nominated his cabinet on 5/1/1925.
17/9/1924, Italy abrogated
the Treaty of Rapallo (made 12/11/1920).
10/6/1924, Italian socialist
leader Giacomo
Matteotti was assassinated by Mussolini’s fascists. He had replaced Filippo Turati
as leader of Italy’s reformed Socialist Party, and on 30/5/1924 he denounced
the Italian elections of April 1924, in which Mussolini’s Fascists had done
well, as fraudulent.
6/4/1924. Mussolini’s Fascist Party won a sweeping victory in the Italian
general election. However there was widespread voter intimidation so the vote
was not free and fair.
27/1/1924. Mussolini signed a pact with Yugoslavia, and Italy annexed
the free city of Fiume.
24/1/1924, All non-Fascist Trades Unions were banned in Italy.
14/11/1923, Italy passed a law stating that the Party winning
the greatest number of votes in an election would automatically receive two
thirds of the seats.
16/7/1923.Mussolini banned
gambling in Italy.
9/6/1923, In Italy,
the Vatican ordered the Catholic Party to disband, and many of its members
joined Mussolini’s Fascist party. The Catholic Party, or Partito Popolare
Italiano (Italian People’s Party), had been formed in 1919;before then the
Vatican had forbidden Catholics to vote. In Italian elections in 1919 and in
1921 the Catholic Party received 20% of the vote, second only to the Italian
Socialist Party. Following Mussolini’s victory in 1922 Cardinal
Gasparri, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, made a deal with Mussolini
that the Catholic Church would support him; in return Mussolini would restore the
historic privileges of the catholic Church in Italy. In 1927 Mussolini was
baptised as a Catholic, and in 1929 he signed the Lateran Treaty, making the
Vatican a separate sovereign State. He also made Catholicism the State religion
of Italy, and paid the Vatican 750 million lire as compensation for the Vatican’s
loss of the ancient Papal States territory in Italy.
2/1923, Fascists were forbidden to be Freemasons; this
helped gain support for Fascism from the Catholic Church. The
Catholic Church was alarmed by the spread of Leftist influence and possible
Communist-inspired anarchy, especially in impoverished southern Italy, and saw
the Fascists as promising welcome stability. The Liberal Left would likely tax
Church property. The Fascists were also anti-contraception and birth control.
21/2/1923, In Italy
the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Vincenzo Cardinal Vanutelli, said ‘Mussolini
had been chosen to save the nation and restore her fortune’.
25/11/1922, The
Italian Parliament granted Mussolini temporary emergency powers to force
through reforms.
31/10/1922, Mussolini’s
supporters organised a mass rally in Rome.
30/10/1922. Benito
Mussolini took power in Italy.
29/10/1922, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy invited Mussolini to travel to Rome from
Milan to form a government. Mussolini’s Fascist Party had been founded in
March 1919, and was dissolved on 28/7/1943.
24/10/1922, A
mass rally of 40,000 Fascists at Naples.
4/8/1922, Fighting in Italy between
Fascists and Socialists in several cities; disturbances continued until
8/8/1922.
31/7/1922, General Strike in Italy began in protest at the
weakness of the State in the face of Fascist agitators. Fascists
used the Strike as a pretext to seize power on several cities, including Milan
and Genoa.
7/11/1921, Benito Mussolini, the 38 year old son of a blacksmith from the
Romagna, became leader of the Italian National
Fascist Party, with its 35 seats in Parliament. Black-shirted Fascist
sqaudristi roamed the country disrupting Communist meetings.
26/6/1921, In Italy, Prime Minister Giolitti fell. He was succeeded
by Ivanoe
Bonomi.
5/6/1921, Italy and Yugoslavia signed an agreement over
control of Fiume.
14/5/1921. Fascists won 35 seats
in Italian elections.
27/2/1921. Communists and Fascists
rioted in Italy.
12/11/1920, The first
Treaty of Rapallo was signed,
between Italy and Yugoslavia, settling territorial disputes in the Adriatic and
pledging collaboration to prevent a Hapsburg restoration. Istria, the territory
east of Venice, became part of Italy. The town of Fiume,
seized by Italian Nationalists in September 1919, was to return to Free City
status. However, although the Nationalists were ejected from Fiume by the
Italian Navy, Fiume did not regain this
status and in 1924, when Mussolini came to power, Italy abrogated these terms
and retained control of Fiume
(although Yugoslavia controlled the adjacent port of Susak). After World War
Two, Fiume became part of the
Republic of Croatia, itself a part of Yugoslavia.
1919, Italy had made
considerable territorial gains through the Treaty
of Versailles, adding some 14,500 square kilometers of land at Austria’s
expense. Italy gained the provinces of Trentino, South Tyrol and Istria, and in
1924 annexed the Free City of Fiume
(see 12/11/1920). Italy, however had hoped for more, such as some of Germany’s
former colonies.
19/11/1919, In Italy, Benito
Mussolini and 37 Fascists were arrested after rioting at the
election of the Socialists.
16/11/1919, First Italian
elections that were contested by the Fascists.
However the Fascists did badly,
receiving just 4657 votes out of 270,000 cast in Milan, supposedly a Fascist
stronghold. In Predappio, Mussolini’s birthplace, not one vote went to
the Fascists. The Socialists,
however, did very well, gaining 1.76 million votes, their best tally to
date; they raised their seats from 52 to 156, and became Italy’s largest single
party. Socialist support had been boosted by the suffering of World War One,
especially in Germany and the troubles in Russia. The Popolari Party, run by Don Sturzo,
representing Catholics, the forerunner of the post-World War Two Christian
Democrats, also did well, gaining 100 seats. The Pope, who had previously
discouraged Catholics from voting, had now informally encouraged Catholic
support for the Popolari. The Socialists
were later undermined by the split in their ranks between the reformists
(riformisti) and the revolutionaries (massimilasti), the latter defecting to
the Communist Party in 1921. This split allowed the fascists to gain power.
12/9/1919, An unofficial Italian army under Gabriele
d’Annunzio seized Fiume,
before it was incorporated in Yugoslavia.
21/6/1919. Francesco Nitti became Prime Minister of
Italy.
23/3/1919 The
Italian Fascist Party (Fascio di Combattimento) was founded in Milan by Benito Mussolini. The party aimed to fight both Liberalism and
Communism. The Fascists wanted land
for the peasants, abolition of the Senate, a seizure of Church property, and
tax reform. However most of this agenda was already offered by the Socialists
and by December 1919 the Fascists only had 870 members. During 1926 Party
membership rose from 600,000 to 938,000. By the end of 1933 there were
1,400,000 members, a figure that went up to 2,633,000 by 1939.
14/1/1919, Giulio
Andreotti, Italian politician, was born (died 2013).
4/11/1918, Italian troops occupied Trieste. Under the Treaty of London (25/4/1915), The UK, France, and Russia agreed to
give Trieste to Italy after the War.
1917, Food riots in Turin put
down by troops; 50 people were killed.
28/8/1916. Italy
declared war on Germany.
9/8/1916. Italian troops took Glorizia.
17/6/1916, In Italy a coalition government was formed,
including the Catholics and Reformed Socialists, under Paolo Boselli.
25/5/1915. The Austrians bombarded Venice.
24/5/1915. The Austrian fleet bombarded Ancona, N.E. Italy.
23/5/1915, Italy
entered the war on the Allied side.
4/5/1915, Italy denounced the Triple Alliance (Italy, Germany,
Austro-Hungary). This was a preparatory move to her entering the War on the
Allied side on 23/5/1915.
For main
European events of World War One see
France-Germany
25/4/1915. Italy signed
a secret treaty, the Treaty of London, with Britain, France, and Russia. Italy agreed to enter the war on the Allied
side within one month in return for territorial gains. Italy was to gain the Austrian provinces of
Trentino, South Tyrol, Istria, Gorizia, Gradisca, and Trieste, also a large
stretch of the Dalmatian coast and islands, some Albanian territory around
Valona, full sovereignty over the Turkish-controlled Dodecanese Islands, the
Turkish province of Adalia in Asia Minor, colonial gains in Africa, and a share
of war indemnities. The Allies agreed to
this because they believed that Italian intervention would soon destroy
Austro-Hungary, opening the ‘back door to Germany’. Italy duly entered the war on 24/5/1915, but
the expected breakthrough against Austria never materialised. When
the Bolsheviks took over in 1917 they revealed the terms of this secret treaty,
which ran totally against the ethnic-determination principles of President Wilson of the USA;
he stated he did not consider the treaty terms as binding. At the Paris Peace Conference the UK and
France also opposed implementation of the treaty’s terms, and Italy received
far less than originally specified. This created popular resentment in Italy
and was a factor in the rise of Mussolini
and Fascism in Italy.
25/1/1915, Mussolini formed the Fasci d’Azione Rivoluzionara in Milan.
For more on 1911-12 conflict between Italy and Turkey see Greece-Turkey
1912, Electoral reform in Italy extended the vote to all literate
men aged 21 and over, and all men aged over 30. This expanded the Italian
electorate from 3 million to 8.6 million. A subsequent electoral reform soon
after abolished the literacy requirement for man aged 21-30, further expanding
the electorate to 11 million, and was a measure to ensure continued popular
support for the Italian war in Libya. It was estimated that 70% of these new
voters were illiterate.
1911,The Camorra were suppressed. Starting as a band of prisoners
united against their gaolers in Naples
in the 1820s, the Camorra entered Italian politics in 1848.
29/9/1911. Italy declared war on Turkey, having been assured of the neutrality
of other European countries. The
Italian Navy bombarded Preveza, and Italian forces landed at Tripoli and in
Cyrenicia. This was in retaliation for the alleged mistreatment of Italians in
Libya. The Italians expected the Arabs to welcome them as liberators from Turkish
rule, but instead the Arabs sided with the Turks in resisting Italian rule. In
May 1912 Italy invaded some islands off Turkey, including Rhodes, to put
further pressure on Turkey. Then Italy had some unexpected good fortune when in
1912 Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece started the Balkan War against
Turkey, forcing the Ottomans to surrender Libya to Italy. However Arab resistance
continued and despite a permanent Italian garrison of 50,000 troops Italian
rule only covered Tripoli and other major towns. At least, though, Italy could
now claim to have its own African colony.
18/3/1911, Italian
Prime Minister Luzzatti
resigned.
19/11/1910, Alessandro
Mussolini, father of the Italian dictator, died, aged 56.
24/4/1904, The
French President Emile Loubert and Foreign Minister Theophile Delcasse visited King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. The Papacy was annoyed at the visit.
1/11/1902, Italy
signed the Franco-Italian entente with Italy. Italy assured France it would
remain neutral if France was attacked.
7/2/1901, The
Italian Government of Guiseppe Saracco was overthrown, for its weak
response to a dock strike in Genoa.
16/12/1900, France and Italy agreed to
respect each other’s sphere of influence in North Africa.
30/7/1900. In Italy, Umberto I, 56, King since 1878, was shot dead
in Monza by an anarchist. Victor Emmanuel III, 30, succeeded him.
1898, Nearly 100 people died in
riots in Milan sparked by poverty.
7/8/1898, Enrico Cosenz, Italian military commander,
died.
3/1/1894, The
Italian government ordered the dissolution of the Fasci, and the arrest of their ringleaders. Over 1,000 people were
deported to Italian islands, often without trial. The Fasci were small
alliances, groups of radical or socialist academics and peasants, and some
anarchists, local gentry and Mafiosi. The name derived from the fasces, or bundle,
of sticks used in ancient Rome. Starting in Sicily in 1893 the Fasci agitated
for political ends, with strikes and riots, alarming the larger landowners.
1893, 40,000 troops had to be sent to Sicily to quell unrest
there caused by poverty.
26/11/1892, Simone St-Bon,
Italian admiral, died (born 20/3/1823).
11/4/1890, Birth of Donna Rachele
Mussolini, wife of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (died 1979)
1/1/1890, The Kingdom of Italy established the colony of Eritrea in Africa.
27/2/1888, As
Italian-French relations deteriorated, France imposed selective duties against
Italian products. Italy retaliated in kind on 1/3/1888.
14/3/1884, Quintino Sella,
Italian statesman, died (born 7/7/1827).
29/7/1883. Benito Mussolini, Italian
founder of the Fascist party and ally of Hitler, was born in Predappio, near Forli, a
town in the impoverished Romagna region of east-central Italy. He was the son of a blacksmith.
2/6/1882, Guiseppe Garibaldi,
Italian
soldier and politician who helped form the Kingdom of Italy, died
aged 74.
9/1/1878, Victor Emmanuel II, who became the first King of Italy in 1863, died of
fever in Rome aged 57. He was succeeded by his son Umberto, aged 33, who ruled
until his assassination in 1900.
10/3/1872, Guiseppe Mazzini, Italian revolutionary who fought for
his country’s unity and independence, died in Pisa.
1871, The Palace of the
Quirinal, in the centre of Rome, became the residence of the Italian Kings.
20/9/1870. Taking advantage of the French defeat at Sedan,
Italian troops under Victor Emmanuel II entered Rome and expelled the
Papal troops. Garibaldi had made several
attempts to take Rome with his
people’s army, the last in 1867, but had been defeated by the French. Now
however Napoleon
III had his troops away from Rome to
fight the Prussians. There was little resistance from Rome;
the walls were shelled, and breached at Porta Pia, and only a few lives were
lost.
11/11/1869, Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, was born.
3/11/1867, The Battle
of Mentana. Garibaldi was defeated by French
troops rushed to Italy by Napoleon III to defend Rome. Garibaldi’s
poorly-organised and diplomatically ill-advised attempt to march on the Papal
capital resulted in France revoking on
the September Convention, under which French troops had been withdrawn from
Italy in December 1966.
25/7/1866, The Italians were defeated in a sea battle against
Austria off Lissa.
8/4/1866. Bismarck arranged an alliance between Italy and
Germany. Italy promised to join Germany in was against Austria if war broke
out in the next three months.
15/9/1864, Under the ‘September Convention’, Napoleon
agreed to evacuate Rome
and Italy agreed to move her capital from Turin to Florence.
9/1862, The Battle of Aspromonte. Garibaldi, frustrated by the reluctance of the
Italian forces to take Rome,
tried to take the city with a force of volunteers from Sicily. He was opposed
by Rattazzi,
and Garibaldi
was wounded and captured. He was detained briefly at La Spezia before receiving
a royal pardon.
28/8/1862, Garibaldi’s
army landed at Calabria en route to Rome.
6/6/1861, Count Cavour, the politician primarily
responsible for the unification of Italy, died.
17/3/1861, Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed King of Italy at Turin by the
country’s first Parliament.
2/1861, The formerly independent Grand-Duchy of Tuscany declared itself part
of Italy.
18/2/1861, The Italian Parliament opened at Turin. The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed.
26/10/1860, Guiseppe Garibaldi,
soldier and fighter for Italian unification, proclaimed Victor
Emmanuel as King of Italy.
21/10/1860, Several
territories in Italy voted with large majorities to join the emerging Kingdom
of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel, including the Marches and Umbria, as well
as the territories conquered by Garibaldi. This deprived Garibaldi
of political momentum. This was a relief to the rest of Europe, who had feared
that Garibaldi would overrun the
Papal Territories, destabilising other States in Europe. Garibaldi
handed power to Victor Emmanuel (see 26/10.1860) and retired to the island of Caprera.
1/10/1860, Garibaldi’s forces
decisively defeated Naples at the Battle
of Volturno.
6/9/1860, Francis II, last King of Naples., left the city which had
fallen to Garibaldi’s army. Naples ceased
to be a separate state and came under the Italian rule of King Victor Emmanuel.
20/8/1860, Garibaldi’s forces,
having conquered all of Sicily, crossed the Straits of Messina to attack the
Italian mainland.
6/6/1860, Garibaldi took
Palermo.
5/5/1860, The
radical Italian, Garibaldi, striving for
Italian Unification, set sail from Genoa with his army of redshirts for the
port of Marsala in Sicily.
2/4/1860, The first
Italian parliament met, in Turin.
10/11/1859, A peace
treaty signed at Zurich ended the war between France, allied to Piedmont, and
Austria. The effects of the treaty were crucial in the unification of Italy.
Under its terms, Lombardy passed from Austria to Piedmont, with the exception
of the Quadrilateral forts (see 24/6/1859) which were retained by Austria.
Piedmont compensated France 60 million lire for the cost of the war
with Austria. Plebiscites were held in various territories to determine which
State they would join.
10/7/1859, The Treaty of Villafranca was signed, see 24/6/1859.
The war between France (allied with Piedmont) and Austria was finally
concluded by the peace treaty signed at Zurich on 10/11/1859.
See also Austrian history
24/6/1859, At the Battle of Solferino, Lombardy, Italy, the French under Napoleon III allied to Piedmont
defeated the Austrians. However the victory was costly for the French. Napoleon III
knew that his armies must next face the Austrians at the ‘Quadrilateral’, the
four fortresses of Legnano, Mantua, Peschiera and Verona, where the Austrians
had retreated northwards to, and opposition to the French would increase in
this region. Within France, the war against Austria was becoming unpopular as
army casualties, and deaths from a typhus epidemic within the ranks, mounted.
The war was expensive to France, There was also the question of what Britain
might do, being opposed to the extension of French power in Italy. Prussia’s
intentions, with its 400,000 strong army, were also uncertain. Therefore
Napoleon, without consulting his Piedmont ally, signed the Treaty of
Villafranca, see 10/7/1859.
23/4/1859, Austria
issued an ultimatum to Piedmont to disarm. This followed an agreement between
France and Piedmont to ally against Austria. This agreement was strengthening
the power of Italy (see 14/1/1858) and was a significant threat to the southern
flank of Austria. See also 3/5/1859.
14/1/1858, An
Italian assassin threw a bomb at French Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie
as they drove to the Paris Opera. The bomb, thrown by Felici Orsini, missed its target
but killed eight bystanders and injured 100. Orsini planned the attack in London,
causing anti-British sentiment in France. Napoleon III, now convinced of the magnitude
of nationalist sentiment in Italy, invited Count Cavour to the spa town of Plombieres in
the Vosges Mountains where the Plombieres
Agreement of July 1858 was worked out. This Agreement provided that
Piedmont would provide 100,000 men along with 200,000 French to fight Austria. After
victory against Austria, three kingdoms would be set up in Italy. Northern
Italy would include Lombardy, Romagna, Sardinia and Venetia. Central Italy
would include Tuscany and the Duchy of Parma; the Papal lands however would
continue under the rule of the Pope. Thirdly, southern Italy, the Kingdom of
the Two Sicilies, would be ruled by Luciano Murat, if its current ruler, Ferdinand II,
abdicated. A secret agreement of 24/1/1859 between France and Piedmont provided
that both would respect the sovereignty of the Pope.
10/7/1858, Napoleon III
of France secretly met Count Cavour at Plombieres. The two agreed to
jointly attack Austria.
11/11/1854, Mussolini’s
father, Alessandro,
was born in Montemaggiore, close to Predappio.
1850, Sicilian agriculture was being transformed after James
Lind, surgeon for the British Navy, calculated in the mid 18th
century that scurvy
had done more damage to the British Navy than the French and Spanish fleets
combined. Lemon juice was found to prevent scurvy, and Sicily was one of the
few places in Euripe where they could be reliably cultivated. Sicialian exports of lemon
juice rose 740 barrels in 1837 to 20,707 in 1850.
23/3/1849, Victor Emmanuel
II became King of Sardinia, on the abdication of his father, Charles Albert
(1789-1849), following the defeat of Charles at the Battle of Novara, against Austria. Charles had been assisting the Lombards in a
rebellion against Austrian rule, and had been defeated once before by Austria,
at the Battle of Custozza
(25/7/1848), by forces under Radetzky (following this 1848 defeat, the Salasco Armistice was signed).
9/2/1849, The Republic of
Rome was proclaimed by Garibaldi.
His Nationalist Army came under attack (from 30/4/1849) from a combined force
of French, Austrian, Tuscan, Spanish and Neapolitan troops.
26/8/1848. Garibaldi was defeated by the
Austrians at Morrazone.
4/1848, Pope Pius IX announced that he would not back
war against Austria; the Papal Allocution. With this, the Pope lost
favour with the Italain Nationalists.
13/4/1848.Sicily declared itself independent from Naples.
18/3/1848, Revolution broke out in Milan. This was the Cinque
Giornate, ‘Five Days’ of street fighting that heralded the start of the anti-Austrian
Revolution in Lombardy. Radetzky was driven from
Milan, and a provisional government established under Carlo Cattaneo.
12/1/1848, In Palermo, an uprising began against the misrule
of Ferdinand
II of Naples.
1847, In the Papal States,
the National Guard was set up to
keep civil order, by Pope Pius IX.
30/5/1845, Ferdinando Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, Italy, was born
(died 18/1/1890).
14/3/1844, Umberto I, King of Italy, was born in Turin,
the son of King
Victor Emmanuel I.
27/6/1835, Domenico Comparetti, Italian scholar of
mediaeval studies, was born in Rome (died 1929).
28/8/1834, Mussolini’s paternal grandfather, Luigi Mussolini,
was born.
1831, Italy adopted the current
red, green and white flag. Before then it was a red, blue and black Flag of
Revolution.
7/1831, A temporary volcanic
island, called Grahame’s Island,
appeared 50 km off Sciacca, Sicily. It attained a height of 50 metres and a
circumference of 2 km before volcanic action ceased in August. Thereafter,
erosion totally obliterated the new island.
7/7/1827, Quintino Sella, Italian statesman, was born
(died 14/3/1884).
8/8/1826, Count Nicolas Robilant, Italian diplomat, was
born (died 17/10/1888).
4/1/1825, Ferdinand I,
King if the Two Sicilies, died aged 73. He was succeeded 47-year old son, Francesco I.
14/3/1820, Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia and first King
of a united Italy, was born.
13/10/1815, Joachim Murat,
King of the Two Sicilies, was executed.
Murat – see also Napoleonic France
28/9/1815, Joachim Murat,
former King of Naples, landed with only 30 men at Pizzon to try and regain the
throne. He was soon captured.
10/8/1810, Count Cavour, Italian politician who played a
major role in the unification of Italy, born in Turin.
4/7/1807, Giuseppe
Garibaldi, soldier who played a major role in the unification
of Italy, was born.
1802, Ludovico Manin, last Doge of Venice (born
1726), died. He was elected as Doge in March 1789. He both antagonised the
French by allowing sanctuary to those fleeing it, and refused to join the
league of Italian states proposed by Victor Amadeus III to counter French
ambitions. The French forced the Republic of Venice to capitulate in 1797 with
overwhelming military force.
For Napoleonic campaign in Italy, 1800s, see France
4/6/1798. Casanova, Italian adventurer, lover, and
romancer, died at his Castle of Waldstein, Bohemia.
1778, Inauguration of La Scala opera
house, Milan.
4/11/1768, Maria Francesco Appendini, Italian historian,
was born (died 1837).
25/3/1767, Joachim Murat, king of Naples, was born.
1739, Archeological excavations
began at Herculaneum, near the town of Pompeii buried by an eruption of Vesuvius.
Excavation of Pompeii itself began in 1748.
19/9/1734, The Battle of Luzzara.
29/6/1734, The Battle of Parma.
25/5/1734, The Battle of Bitonto.
2/4/1725. Giovanni Casanova,
Italian adventurer, gambler, secret agent, and ‘world’s greatest lover’, was
born in Venice.
1631, The independence of San
Marino was formally recognised by Pope Urban VIII.
See also Spain-Portugal,
1700-1718, for events related to the War
of the Spanish Succession
17/11/1617, A naval battle between Sicily and Venice ended
inconclusively.
12/12/1602, Duke Charles Emmanuel attempted to take the
city of Geneva
by surprise, for the Kingdom of Savoy.
He failed with heavy losses.
1594, The ancient town of Pompeii was (re)discovered.
1582, The Academia Della Crusca was founded in Florence, for the purpose of
maintaining the purity of the Italian language. In 1612 it published, for this
purpose, the Vocabulario della Crusca.
18/2/1564. Michelangelo Buonarotti
died in Rome, aged 89.
10/8/1557, The Battle of St Quentin. Spanish forces under the Duke of Savoy
defeated the French under the Constable of Montmorency. The French were
driven out of Italy.
2/8/1553, Battle of Marciano. A French army
invading Tuscany was defeated.
15/4/1542, Leonardo da Vinci was born. His father, Piero da Vinci, was a notary and
his mother, Caterina
da Vinci, was a peasant
6/1/1537, Alessandro de Medici was
assassinated
24/10/1535, Francesco Sforza II, Duke of Milan, died aged 45 without a successor. Milan
became a suzerainty of Charles V.
26/10/1530, The Knights of Malta were formed when the Knights
Hospitaller were given Malta by Charles V.
23/2/1530, Carlos
I of Spain was crowned Charles V of the Holy Roman
Empire and King
of Italy by Pope Clement V.
22/6/1527. Nicolo Macchiavelli
died in Florence, Italy, aged 58.
6/5/1527, German mercenaries sacked the city of Rome, an
event considered by many to mark the end of the Renaissance. This occurred
during warfare between the Holy League and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
24/7/1526, The Spanish captured Milan.
24/2/1525. The Battle of Pavia.
Pavia, held by the French, had been under siege by Spanish forces since October
1524. Italy itself was a territory being fought over by the rival powers of
France, Germany, Turkey and Spain. The French under King Charles
VIII defended Pavia with cavalry and cannon, but the Spanish had
adopted the arquebus or hackenbushe, an early version of the handgun; this
weapon replaced the Spanish crossbow. The
arquebus meant an unskilled infantryman could kill a skilled knight and Pavia
was the start of the dominance of the handgun as a military weapon.
24/6/1519, Lucrezia Borgia, Italian noblewoman from a
corrupt family, illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VII, died.
2/4/1512, At the Battle of Ravenna, French forces defeated a Spanish
– Papal army.
29/4/1507, Louis XII, King of France, led his troops into
Genoa.
1506, Bologna was incorporated
into the Papal States by Pope Julius II.
29/12/1503, At the Battle of Garigliano, near
Gaeta, Italy, Spanish forces
under Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba defeated a
French-Italian mercenary army under Ludovico II, Marquis of Saluzzo.
French forces withdrew to Gaeta.
13/5/1503, The Spanish captured
Naples.
7/9/1496, Ferdinand II, King of Naples, died.
18/12/1495, Alfonso II, King of Naples, died.
6/7/1495, At the Battle of Fornovo, the French Army secured
its retreat from Italy by defeating a combined Milanese-Venetian force under Giobvanni Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of
Mantua.
28/6/1495, At the Battle of Seminara, Cordoba and Ferrante were defeated by a
French army under Bernard Stewart, Lord of Aubigny.
26/5/1495, A Spanish army under Gonzalo de Cordoba landed in
Calabria, to oust the French and restore Ferrante II to the throne of Naples.
22/2/1495, King Charles VIII of France entered Naples to
claim the city’s throne. A few months
later he returned to France with most of his army, leaving a force under his
cousin, Gilbert
Count of Montpensier as viceroy.
8/4/1492. Lorenzo de Medici,
patron of learning and the arts, died aged 43, after a 23 year reign of
cultural enlightenment.
14/4/1489, The Queen of
Cyprus, Catherine
Cornaro, sold her kingdom to Venice.
10/9/1481, Alphonso II of Naples recaptured the city of
Otranto.
18/4/1480, Lucrezia Borgia, Italian noblewoman,
illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI) was born in
Rome.
3/5/1469. Niccolo
Machiavelli, Italian statesman and historian, was born in Florence.
7/10/1468, Sigismondo Malatesta, tyrant and
soldier, died.
1//8/1464, Cosimo de Medici died aged 75 in
Florence. He was succeeded as head of the banking family by his son, Piero.
1457, Death of Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice from 1423.
He pursued an aggressive policy on the Italian mainland, gaining territories
for the Republic of Venice. However his rule was too nepotistic and despotic
for the citizens of Venice, who deposed him in 1457, shortly before his death
from grief.
9/4/1454. Three rival Italian powers – Venice, Milan, and Florence
– agreed to unite in an ‘Italian league’.
Rome and Milan also seemed likely to join.
11/2/1435, Joanna II, Queen of Naples, died.
1416, At the naval Battle of
Gallipoli, Venice defeated the Ottoman fleet.
1415, The Medici family became
bankers to the Papacy.
7/8/1409, The Council of Pisa was dissolved.
29/4/1380, Death of Catherine of Siena, who became the patron
saint of Italy. She was born in 1347 in Siena as Caterina Beninasca and became an
ascetic. She campaigned against the Papal split (Avignon) and corruption, and
was canonised by Pope Pius II in 1471, and is a noted Mediaeval women
writer.
1378, Revolt of the Ciompi, in Milan. Following the Black Death, workers
who were esxcluded from the Guilds, and thereby disenfranchised, breofly
overthrew the merchant oligarchy. However their victory was to be only
short-lived.
8/10/1354, Cola di Rienzi, reformer, was murdered.
1339, Venice conquered Treviso, gaining its first mainland
possession.
1299, Construction of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, began (completed 1301)
11/9/1298, The Governing
Body of Venice, the Great Council, accepted a further amendment (see 5/10/1286)
that entrenched the position of the existing ruling families.
1291, Venice moved its
glass ovens to the island of Murano, initially to limit the risk of fire to the city. However
this also facilitated restrictions on the movement of glass-makers, who were
forbidden under strict penalties to jeopardise Venice’s monopoly in fine
glassware by taking their secrets abroad.
5/10/1286, The Governing
Body of Venice, the Great Council, accepted an amendment that effectively
confirmed membership amongst the families of existing families (an earlier
proposed amendment on 3/10/1286 had failed). The governance of Venice began to
become more exclusive and autocratic, see 11/9/1298.
28/11/1284, Florence began to extend its city walls. The first
stone of the new walls was blessed this day.
31/3/1282, The French were massacred
in Sicily (Sicilian Vespers). The Sicilians resented Angevin rule.
30/3/1282. Peter III of Aragon opened hostilities against
Charles of
Anjou for possession of Naples and Sicily. This war was ended by the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302.
26/2/1266, Manfred, King of Sicily, killed in the Battle
of Benevento.
4/9/1260, The Battle of Montaperti.
2/12/1254, The Battle of Foggia.
1194, Norman rule in Sicily ended with the
death of King
Tancred of Lecce, son of Roger III, who had seized the throne of Sicily
in 1189 when William
II died. Tancred was succeeded by his youngest son, William III.
However 8 months later Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, husband of Roger III’s
daughter Constance,
invaded sicily and was crowned in Palermon Cathedral on 25/12/1194. On 26/12/1194 Constance
gave birth to the future Frederick II.
1285, Death of Charles of Anjou (1227-85),
Angevin King of Naples and Sicily. Posthumous son of Louis VIII of France,
he was crowned King by Pope Urban IV in 1265.
24/7/1177, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa effected a reconciliation with Pope Alexander III at Venice.
29/5/1176, The Battle of Legnano; Italian city-states gained autonomy from the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick
Barbarossa. The Lombard
League of Italian towns, supported by Pope Alexander III, objected to Barbarossa’s
interference in their internal affairs. Barbarossa had laid waste
to Milan, but was defeated at Legnano, north-west of Milan, and admitted
defeat.
8/8/1173, The construction of what
is now known as the Leaning Tower of
Pisa began.
27/4/1167, Italians from the cities of
Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, Mantua, Treviso and Verona arrived at the ruins of
Milan to rebuild it. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick
Barbarossa had
imposed a non-native ruler, or Podesta,
upon it, as he had upon other Italian cities he controlled, following the
surrender of Milan to him after his siege of it in 1158. The taxes imposed upon
Milan by the Podesta were heavy and
they revolted. In 1162 Frederick returned to Milan and this time
razed it to the ground, dispersing its inhabitants into the countryside.
Although Frederick went on to capture Rome in 1167, his
army was decimated by malaria and he had to return to Germany for reinforcements.
Facing domestic issues in Germany he could not return south and deal with this
act of defiance in rebuilding Milan. He was unable to re-enter Italy until
1174, by which time the Lombard League had consolidated and gained control of
the central and eastern Alpine passes. In 1168 the Lombards founded a new city,
called Alessandria in honour of Pope Alexander II, to defend the western
frontier. Alessandria withstood a 6-month siege by Frederick (1174-5) and on 29/5/1176 Frederick
was decisively defeated at Legnano.
26/2/1154. (-) King
Roger II of Sicily
died and was succeeded by his son William the Bald.
25/12/1130, The Norman King Roger II
was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo Cathedral by the anti-Pope Anacletus, who thereby
gained a powerful supporter for his claim on the Papacy against the Pope Innocent
II.
1101, Roger I of Sicily died. He had finally subdued
the whole of Sicily, taking the town of Enna from the Muslims
in 1087 and expelling the Muslims from SE Sicily in 1091. Roger I
was succeeded by his eldest son, Simon; however Simon died in 1105 and was
succeeded by his younger brother, Roger II.
1094, First record of gondolas in Venice.
10/1/1072, The Normans conquered Palermo, Sicily.
16/4/1071. The Norman, Robert Guiscard, took Bari after
a three year siege. This ended Byzantine rule in Italy, which had lasted five
centuries. On 10/1/1072 Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger
took Palermo in Sicily.
1059, Pope Nicholas II invested the Norman
leader, Robery
Guiscard, with the Dukedoms of Apulia, Catalonia and Sicily. The
Papacy had initially been opposed to the growth of Norman power in southern
Italy, but a Norman victory at Civitato in 1053 forced the Popes to reconsider.
1016, The Normans were ‘invited’ to help liberate
southern Italy from Byzantine rule.
1/8/902. The Arabs captured Taormina, which completed their
conquest of Sicily from Byzantium.
878, Taormina,
Sicily, fell to the Saracens.
10/8/843, The Treaty of
Verdun divided the Holy Roman Empire into three equal shares The imperial crown and central portion from
Frisia to Italy went to Lothair. Louis the
German received Germany, and Charles
the Bald, son of Pepin, received
France.
5/5/840, One of the sons of Charlemagne, Emperor Louis of Bavaria, died of
fright during a solar eclipse. His other
sons quarrelled, causing the division of his empire into France, Germany, and Italy, see 843.
831, Palermo,
Sicily, fell to the Saracens.
828, Venetians stole the relics of St Mark from Alexandria.
801, Venice
gained full independence from the Byzantine Empire.
774, Charlemagne defeated Lombardy, adding it to
his Empire.
756, Aistulf went back on his promises and
attacked Rome again. The Pope again allied with Pepin, Lombardy was defeated
again, and at the Treaty of Pavia
Lombardy became a Frank fiefdom.
751, Aistulf, King of Lombardy, conquered Ravenna in a programme of territorial expansion.
This alarmed the Papacy under Pope
Stephen, who enlisted the support of Pepin
the Short against Aistulf. Pepin invaded Italy in 755, defeated Aistulf, and made him promise to return
the conquered territories. Aistulf died in
the campaigns of 756. These events paved
the way for the Carolingian domination of Italy.
Click here for
maps of Lombardy.
749, Aistulf becvazme Kong of Lombardy (died
756).
740, The
Saracen invasions of Sicily began.
607, Venice elected its first Doge, and began its rise to become a major power in the Mediterranean. The
fish and salt trade, and Venice’s central location, helped it become very
wealthy. Moreover Venice persistently defied orders from both the Pope and the
Holy Roman Emperors not to trade with Muslim states.
1/4/568. King Albion of the Lombards
(King since 565, died 573), a Germanic tribe, assembled an army that
included his allies, 20,000 Saxons, in order to cross the Alps and form a
settlement in Italy. The Lombards, from the Danube Valley, may have been
invited to attack Italy by the Byzantine General
Narses. Milan was occupied by the Lombards on 4/9/569 and Lombard
rule was established in northern Italy.
552, King Totila, Ostrogoth, killed fighting Byzantium
(King Narses) at the
Battle of Taginae. In 553 Narses again took
Roma and Naples for Byzantium.
550, The
Ostrogoth King Totila
reconquered Rome.
540, The
Ostroghtic King Totila took Italy
from Byzantium.
534, Malta
taken by Byzantium (who held it until 870).
2/10/534. Death of Athalaric, King of
the Ostrogoths in Italy. Grandson of Theodoric, he was
born in 516 and became King in 526; aged ten, his mother Amalasuntha held the Regency.
15/3/493, Odoacer was killed
by Theodoric, King of
the Ostrogoths.
26/2/493, Ravenna capitulated to Theodoric, King of
the Ostrogoths.
30/9/489, Theodoric conquered
Verona.
452, Venice had become a thriving merchant city, founded by
refugees from the Huns invading Italy.
25/3/421, Venice was founded at twelve o'clock noon
(according to legend) with the dedication of the first church, San Giacomo, on
the islet of Rialto (Italy).
401, The Visigoths invaded Italy.
3/9/301, The republic of San
Marino was established (traditional date).
See also Roman Empire
Appendix 1 – Malta
1/1/2008, Malta adopted the
Euro.
10/5/1987, In elections in Malta, the Nationalist Party
defeated the ruling Labour Party.
22/12/1984, Dom Mintoff resigned as President of Malta.
31/3/1979, The British Royal Navy finally withdrew from Malta.
13/12/1974. Malta became a
republic within the Commonwealth.
26/3/1972, Britain and NATO agreed to pay Malta £14 million a
year for use of military bases there.
21/9/1964. Malta became
independent of Britain, after 164 years of British rule.
21/4/1958, Dom Mintoff, Labour Prime Minister of Malta, found
Britain’s terms for integration unacceptable. The British
Governor-General, Sir Robert Laycock, assumed control, and declared
a State of Emergency on 30/4/1958 after demonstrations in Valetta.
30/12/1957, Malta,
fearing that Britain will not maintain investment in the island, passed a resolution
that Malta had no obligations to the UK unless Britain
found employment for discharged dock workers.
11/2/1956. A Maltese
referendum favoured integration with Britain.
7/3/1955, In Malta,
Dom Mintoff,
Labour Party, won elections on the
platform of seeking greater integration with Britain.
For main events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
1941, Malta was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe,
and withstood a harsh siege, until Allied forces arrived in 1942.
12/2/1928. The British colony of Malta gained Dominion status.
6/8/1916, Dom Mintoff,
Labour politician and Prime Minister of
Malta, was born.
30/3/1913, Censu Tabone,
President of Malta, was born.
1814, The Treaty of Paris gave Malta to Britain.
1798, Napoleon captured Malta from the Knights of St
John, with scarcely a shot nbeing fired. Napoleon was aided from within by a ‘fifth
column’ of Maltese.
1565, Suleiman the Magnificent sent a fleet of
40,000 men in 200 ships to besiege and capture Malta from the Knights of St John. The Knights has
been using Malta as a base to raid Ottoman shipping in the Mediterranean. Malta
held out for four months until a relief force arrived from Sicily. By this time
just 1,000 of the original 9,000 Knights survived unwounded. The Ottomans withdrew,
having lost half their men, and never attempted an attack on the western
Mediterranean again.
1530, The Knights of St
John, driven from Rhodes by the Turks, found a new home on Malta. They were
given the island by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. In fact the island
was only ‘rented’ to the Knights, in return for an annual payment of one
falcon.,
1090, The Normans captured Malta.
869, The Arabs
captured Malta.