Italian History

Italy has a long and tumultuous past. The country was officially unified in 1861, but history began forming long before. Inhabitants of the peninsula are known to have existed as early as the 9^th century BC. Rome began its ascent to a world-wide super power with the creation of the republic in 509 BC. By 14 AD, Augustus had already created an empire, an empire which survived the split of west and east in 395, but finally fell in 476. 1000 years later, the Italian Renaissance of the 14^th-16^th centuries had a lasting impression on the world as it was then and has helped create the world that we know now. With its unification in 1861, Italy became known as the Kingdom of Italy until 1946 when the monarchy was abolished. World War II gave way to the rise of Mussolini, a dictator similar to Hitler. Italy was named a republic in 1946 and has stayed such ever since.