Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Milan's Duomo is finished for the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte, who crowns himself King of
Italy with the Iron Crown and the words, 'God gives it to me, beware whoever touches it'.
1805-1814
Italy becomes a battleground between Napoleon, the Habsburgs and their Russian allies, thousands
of Italians are conscripted and much of the region's cultural patrimony is stolen.
1814-15
The Congress of Vienna re-establishes the pre-Napoleonic European borders with Lombardy and the
Veneto joined as a single 'kingdom' beneath Austrian rule.
1848
Revolts across Europe spark rebellion in Italy. King Carlo Alberto of Piedmont joins the Lombards
against Austria, but within a year the latter recovers Lombardy and the Veneto.
1861
Two decades of insurrections culminate in a new Italian government, with a parliament. Vittorio
Emanuele II is proclaimed king of a newly united Italy.
1870-1915
Milan booms, becoming the country's main railway hub and leading industrial centre. Milanese
banks dominate financial markets and in 1883 one of Europe's first electric power stations is opened.
1915
Italy enters WWI on the side of the Allies to win Italian territories still in Austrian hands. Austria had
offered to cede some of these territories but Italy insists the offer is insufficient.
1921-22
Mussolini forms the Fascist Party and marches on Rome. King Vittorio Emanuele III, fearful of the
movement's popular power, asks Mussolini to form a government in 1922.
1940-43
The Fascist Italian Empire joins Germany in declaring war. Italy surrenders in 1943; Mussolini re-
fuses to comply and establishes the so-called Republic of Salò.
1945
Partisans capture and execute Mussolini and his companion Clara Petacci on the shores of Lake
Como. Their bodies are later strung up in Milan's Piazzale Loreto.
