home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection
/
BS1 part 27.zip
/
BS1 part 27
/
WorldAtlas2_d2.adf
/
TEXTA
/
74
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-04-02
|
2KB
|
27 lines
Rome, the city state, emerged as a major power after 500 BC, to
first dominate the other Italian city states, later to most of
Western Europe, The Balkans, the near East and North Africa
through the 5th Century AD. After the Germanic invasions of
Europe and Italy, several city sates in the north, notably
Florence and Venice became powerful and created the Renaissance.
However, major European powers attempted to prevent the
unification of Italy fearful for its combined strength. In 1859,
Lombardy came under the control of King Victor Emmanuel II of
Sardinia. In 1860, the states of Parma, Modena, Romagna and
Tuscany followed into the coalition. Shortly afterwards, Sicily
and Naples followed and on March 17, 1861, Victor Emmanuel became
King of Italy. On March 23, 1919, Benito Mussolini introduced
fascism to the Italian people. On October 28, 1922, Mussolini
assumed control of the government at the invitation of the King.
Mussolini assumed greater dictatorial powers, invaded Ethiopia,
defied the League of Nations, joined the Tokyo - Berlin Axis and
joined Germany in World War II. Mussolini was killed by
partisans on April 28, 1945 and Victor Emmanuel II abdicated on
May 9, 1946. On June 10, 1946, Italy became a republic. Today,
Italy is controlled by a coalition of different political
parties. In 1976, the Vatican agreed to disavow the status of
Roman Catholicism as the national religion and in 1974 Italians
voted to allow divorce. Italy has experience extraordinary
growth since World War II, mostly due to its inclusion into the
European Common Market and participation in the European Monetary
System. @