Description: ÒIndeed, there was no Italy, no united, single country, but only a collection of petty statesÉOnce masters in their own house, the Italians had long ago fallen from their high estate and had for centuries been in more or less subjection to foreigners, to Spaniards, to Austrians, sometimes to the FrenchÉThey had no great attachment to their governments, save possibly in Piedmont and in the republics of Venice and Genoa, and there was no reason why they should have. Several of the governments were importations from abroad, or rather impositions, which had never struck root in the minds or interests of the peoples. The political atmosphere was one of indifference, weariness, disillusionment. — Hazen, 1917
Source: Charles Downer Hazen, The French Revolution and Napoleon (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1917) 14
Map Credit: Courtesy the private collection of Roy Winkelman |
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