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General Knowledge :: HISTORICAL EVENTS BY COUNTRY :: ITALY

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Italy

Italy: Historical Dates

476	The Germanic leader Odoacer sacked Rome, ending the Western Roman Empire.
572	The Lombards invaded Italy, ending the last period of Byzantine rule in Italy.
800	Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III.
962	Otto the Great was crowned emperor, marking the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire.
1300s	The thriving Italian city-states such as Florence and Venice contributed to the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy. Venice controlled European trade with Asia and the Middle East.
1494	The French army defeated the armies of several of the divided city-states. France and the Holy Roman Empire subsequently vied for control of Italy.
1559	Most of Italy had come under the influence of the Spanish Habsburgs. Control passed to the Austrian branch of the family by the early 1700s.
1796	Napoleon Bonaparte conquered much of northern Italy and established Italian republics. Northern Italy was unified as the Kingdom of Italy under French rule in 1804.
1814	Following Napoleon's defeat, Italy was divided into the Papal States, Austrian duchies, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
1859	Sardinia and France expelled the Austrians from all of northern Italy except Venice.
1861	The Kingdom of Italy was formed, encompassing the entire peninsula except for Rome, Venice, and San Marino. King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia became king of Italy.
1866	Venice became part of Italy.
1870	Italian forces occupied Rome, which became the capital of Italy the following year.
1912	Italy acquired Libya after a war with the Ottoman Empire.
1915	Although it was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Italy entered World War I on the side of the Allies.
1922	Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy and rapidly assumed dictatorial powers.
1929	The Lateran Treaty normalized relations between Italy and the Vatican.
1940	Italy entered World War II having previously formed an alliance with Germany.
1943	Italy surrendered to invading Allied forces, but Germany took control of the country and fought the Allies until the end of the war.
1946	Italians voted to abolish the monarchy, and Italy became a republic.
1952	Italy became a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would eventually become the European Union.
1984	Reflecting the diminished influence of the church in Italian life, Roman Catholicism was deinstitutionalized as Italy's state religion.
1986	Italy took its most visible steps toward fighting organized crime, convicting 338 Mafia members of criminal activities.
1990s	A far-reaching scandal of political corruption and influence-peddling led to the fall of the Christian Democratic party, which had been the most influential political party in Italy since 1948.
1994	A rightist coalition, led by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi and which included neo-Fascist elements, was overwhelmingly elected to power. However, the coalition collapsed late in the year, and Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister.
1996	The Olive Tree coalition was voted into power, marking the first time since World War II that a leftist government controlled Italy. Romano Prodi, an economics professor, headed the coalition as prime minister.