WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.259 Welcome to the deep dive. Today we're unlocking 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:07.000 a really fascinating somewhat forgotten 50 year 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.300 chapter of European history. We really are. It's 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:11.039 a very unique era. Yeah, we're talking about 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:13.699 the Kingdom of Lombardy Venetia. So if you're 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:15.519 a lifelong learner who's curious about Italian 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.760 history, the Austrian Empire, the Habsburgs or, 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:21.059 you know, just the general quirks of 19th century 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:23.960 Europe, this deep dive is custom tailored for 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:27.039 you. Absolutely. Because we are looking at a 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:32.100 period from 1815 to 1866 where northern Italy 00:00:32.100 --> 00:00:35.380 was uniquely packaged together and ruled directly 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:37.719 by the Austrians. Right. And we really want to 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.240 uncover the surprising social reasons. that ultimately 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:42.979 led to its dramatic collapse. And to do that, 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.840 we're pulling from a really comprehensive Wikipedia 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:48.719 article detailing the Kingdom of Lombardy Venetia, 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:51.039 its creation at the Congress of Vienna, and the 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:53.320 whole Italian resorgimento. Right, the unification 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:57.679 of Italy. But to truly understand how this artificial 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:00.200 kingdom function and why it eventually failed, 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.140 we have to establish the foundation of what it 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:05.659 actually was. It was a normal country. No, not 00:01:05.659 --> 00:01:07.579 at all. It wasn't an independent nation in the 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:10.709 way we think of one today. The kingdom of Lombardy 00:01:10.709 --> 00:01:14.489 Venetia was officially a crown land of the Austrian 00:01:14.489 --> 00:01:17.569 Empire. Okay, let's unpack this. Because the 00:01:17.569 --> 00:01:19.989 way they actually built this kingdom is wild 00:01:19.989 --> 00:01:21.989 to me. It was created by the Congress of Vienna 00:01:21.989 --> 00:01:25.709 in 1815. Which was essentially the giant European 00:01:25.709 --> 00:01:27.930 reset button right after the fall of Napoleon. 00:01:28.269 --> 00:01:30.409 I mean, the map of Europe was a map. Exactly. 00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:33.150 Napoleon had established his own kingdom of Italy 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:36.909 back in 1805. And once his empire collapsed, 00:01:37.090 --> 00:01:39.930 there was this massive power vacuum in northern 00:01:39.930 --> 00:01:42.549 Italy. Right. And the victorious powers needed 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:45.209 to redraw the borders. The Austrian House of 00:01:45.209 --> 00:01:47.989 Habsburg -Lorraine historical rights to certain 00:01:47.989 --> 00:01:50.390 territories there and the Congress of Vienna 00:01:50.390 --> 00:01:52.989 recognized those rights. So they created this 00:01:52.989 --> 00:01:56.170 new crown land to secure Austrian dominance in 00:01:56.170 --> 00:01:58.950 the region. And to act as a buffer against any 00:01:58.950 --> 00:02:01.269 future French expansion, right? Precisely. But 00:02:01.269 --> 00:02:03.450 they didn't just take an existing unified country 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:05.890 and change the flag. They essentially stitched 00:02:05.890 --> 00:02:08.349 together two completely different historically 00:02:08.349 --> 00:02:11.009 distinct territories that had honestly very little 00:02:11.009 --> 00:02:13.849 in common. It was an entirely artificial construction. 00:02:14.150 --> 00:02:16.949 You had the former Lombard Duchy of Milan on 00:02:16.949 --> 00:02:19.770 the western side and the former Republic of Venice 00:02:19.770 --> 00:02:21.930 on the eastern side. Which is like a corporate 00:02:21.930 --> 00:02:24.590 merger between two rival companies. That's a 00:02:24.590 --> 00:02:27.270 great way to put it. And these two regions had 00:02:27.270 --> 00:02:30.030 vastly different political cultures. The Duchy 00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:32.689 of Milan was somewhat accustomed to this arrangement. 00:02:32.909 --> 00:02:35.409 It had actually been ruled by the Habsburg Monarchy, 00:02:35.569 --> 00:02:39.469 dating way back to 1714. So Milan is... at least 00:02:39.469 --> 00:02:42.409 somewhat familiar with Austrian influence. But 00:02:42.409 --> 00:02:45.009 Venice is a totally different story. A completely 00:02:45.009 --> 00:02:47.870 different world. Venice had been a fiercely independent 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:50.610 maritime republic for a millennium. A thousand 00:02:50.610 --> 00:02:52.969 years of independence. Right. They had only been 00:02:52.969 --> 00:02:55.590 under Austrian rule intermittently, starting 00:02:55.590 --> 00:02:59.069 with the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797. Which 00:02:59.069 --> 00:03:01.610 was a brief period when Napoleon essentially 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:04.849 handed Venice to Austria as a diplomatic bargaining 00:03:04.849 --> 00:03:07.340 chip. Right. Exactly. So you have Milan, which 00:03:07.340 --> 00:03:09.879 is used to the Habsburgs, and Venice, which has 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:12.939 this deep ingrained tradition of fierce independence. 00:03:13.419 --> 00:03:16.139 And suddenly they're told by diplomats in a faraway 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:20.020 room, congratulations, you are now one single 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:23.379 kingdom. Forced to get along. Yeah. And looking 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:25.680 at the sources, what's wild is that the Congress 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:29.460 of Vienna decided to use the term Lombardy to 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:32.539 describe this specific entity. Yes. The text 00:03:32.539 --> 00:03:34.919 notes that this was the first time since the 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:38.599 year 1428 that the word Lombardy was officially 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:42.219 used to name a specific political entity. Rather 00:03:42.219 --> 00:03:45.659 than just being a vague catch -all geographic 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:49.379 term for all of northern Italy. Right. It highlights 00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:51.759 just how manufactured the whole enterprise was. 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:54.340 And the way it was managed from the top down. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.740 perfectly reflects that artificial nature. The 00:03:57.740 --> 00:04:00.539 kingdom was ruled in a personal union by the 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:03.039 Habsburg emperor of Austria. This brings us back 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:05.620 to that corporate merger analogy. The Austrian 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:08.199 emperor, starting with Francis I. Who ruled from 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:11.240 1815 until his death in 1835. Right, they were 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.539 the official kings. But they were sitting in 00:04:13.539 --> 00:04:15.740 palaces in Vienna. They weren't walking the streets 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:17.980 of Milan. Or taking gondolas in Venice. They 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:21.540 were totally absentee CEOs. Far from it. Day 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:24.379 -to -day operations had to be handled by viceroys. 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:27.459 Regional managers? Essentially, yes. They were 00:04:27.459 --> 00:04:30.139 appointed by the Imperial Court in Vienna and 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:32.519 they resided locally to deal with the administrative 00:04:32.519 --> 00:04:35.600 headaches. Men like Heinrich von Belgard, Anton 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.779 Victor, and later Reiner Josef of Austria. But 00:04:38.779 --> 00:04:41.620 even with a viceroy in place, they couldn't just 00:04:41.620 --> 00:04:44.160 treat the territory as one... big happy region. 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:46.600 No, the cultural divide between Milan and Venice 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.379 was just too wide. They hated each other, basically. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:51.579 Well, administratively, the kingdom was officially 00:04:51.579 --> 00:04:54.160 split into two independent governments. They 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.279 called them Gubernian in German. You had the 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:59.779 government of Lombardy headquartered in Milan 00:04:59.779 --> 00:05:02.360 and the government of Venetia headquartered in 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:05.040 Venice. And then they subdivided those two massive 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.439 governments even further into local provinces. 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:11.819 Lombardy had provinces like Milan, Como, Bergamo, 00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:15.019 Brescia and Pavia. While Venetia was broken down 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:18.019 into Venice, Verona, Padua, Vicenza and several 00:05:18.019 --> 00:05:20.500 others. The structural blueprint for those provinces 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:22.879 is really telling. The sources note that these 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:25.279 subdivisions roughly mirrored the old departments 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:27.759 that Napoleon had set up. So essentially, the 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.439 Austrians didn't reinvent the wheel. They just 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:32.740 took the bureaucratic zones Napoleon had already 00:05:32.740 --> 00:05:35.160 drawn up and slapped an Austrian label on them. 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:38.160 Very pragmatic. Pragmatism really defined their 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.800 early approach. especially when we look at the 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:43.100 reality of the people actually living inside 00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:45.139 these newly drawn borders. Yeah, the demographics 00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:48.060 are wild. We have incredibly precise data on 00:05:48.060 --> 00:05:50.699 this, thanks to an ethnographic map issued by 00:05:50.699 --> 00:05:53.500 the Imperial and Royal Administration of Statistics 00:05:53.500 --> 00:05:57.579 in 1855. Created by a statistician named Karl 00:05:57.579 --> 00:06:00.199 von Cernig -Chirnhausen. Correct. I was looking 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:03.519 at this 1855 census data in the source, and it 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:06.459 just blew my mind. We are talking about a kingdom 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:08.740 of roughly five million people, right? Exactly. 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:14.339 5 ,024 ,117 people, according to Trinic Cernhuysen's 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:16.699 meticulous records. Down to the exact person. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:19.540 That is very Austrian. It is. And the ethnic 00:06:19.540 --> 00:06:21.899 breakdown is absolutely vital to understanding 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:24.360 the social tensions that eventually tore the 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:27.600 kingdom apart. Because out of those 5 million 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:31.139 people, an overwhelming 4 .6 million were Italians. 00:06:31.740 --> 00:06:35.160 or Lombard Venetians. You also had a few minority 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:39.819 groups. Right. Roughly 350 ,000 Friulians, some 00:06:39.819 --> 00:06:43.519 Slovenians, a small Jewish population, and about 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:46.519 12 ,000 Germans. Specifically, Cymbrians and 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:49.579 Venetia. Yes. So if you are the Austrian emperor 00:06:49.579 --> 00:06:51.740 sitting in Vienna, you are ruling over a kingdom 00:06:51.740 --> 00:06:54.920 of five million people. And statistically speaking, 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:57.079 basically none of them are actually Austrian. 00:06:57.379 --> 00:07:00.160 What's fascinating here is how the Austrian authorities 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:04.439 chose to handle that stark demographic reality. 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:07.189 Particularly when it came to language. Because 00:07:07.189 --> 00:07:10.449 history is full of occupying empires that immediately 00:07:10.449 --> 00:07:12.550 forced the conquered population to speak the 00:07:12.550 --> 00:07:14.649 imperial language. To assimilate them by force. 00:07:14.990 --> 00:07:17.269 Exactly, but the Austrians didn't do that. They 00:07:17.269 --> 00:07:18.949 really didn't. The Austrians actually didn't 00:07:18.949 --> 00:07:21.250 care if you used Italian in local court or to 00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:23.509 pay your taxes. They were surprisingly tolerant 00:07:23.509 --> 00:07:26.149 on a civilian level. The administration used 00:07:26.149 --> 00:07:29.449 Italian for both internal and external communications. 00:07:29.589 --> 00:07:31.649 The dominant position of the Italian language 00:07:31.649 --> 00:07:34.750 in local politics, in finance, and in the judicial 00:07:34.750 --> 00:07:37.529 system was openly accepted by the Austrian officials. 00:07:37.949 --> 00:07:40.569 They even printed the official state newspaper 00:07:40.569 --> 00:07:43.410 of the kingdom in Italian. The Gazette di Milano. 00:07:43.629 --> 00:07:45.709 Right, and the people actually working in these 00:07:45.709 --> 00:07:48.389 local government offices, they were mostly Italian. 00:07:48.670 --> 00:07:51.269 The sources show that only about 10 % of the 00:07:51.269 --> 00:07:53.350 civil servants were recruited from other regions 00:07:53.350 --> 00:07:55.670 of the Austrian Empire. And some of those were 00:07:55.670 --> 00:07:58.389 bilingual Italian German speakers from the neighboring 00:07:58.389 --> 00:08:01.550 county of Tyrol. So on a day -to -day civilian 00:08:01.550 --> 00:08:04.649 level, the government looked and sounded like 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:07.139 the local population. But we have to address 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:10.079 the massive caveat to this tolerance, because 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.480 it was very strictly compartmentalized. Right. 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:14.720 While the pen was Italian, the sword was very 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:17.259 much German. The German language remained the 00:08:17.259 --> 00:08:20.180 strict, uncompromising command language of the 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:22.279 military. And it wasn't just the regular army 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:25.360 soldiers, the top police officials, specifically 00:08:25.769 --> 00:08:28.230 The secret police, keeping a paranoid eye on 00:08:28.230 --> 00:08:31.689 everything, were native German speakers. Imported 00:08:31.689 --> 00:08:33.870 directly from other parts of the empire. Furthermore, 00:08:34.110 --> 00:08:36.610 the absolute highest governorships were exclusively 00:08:36.610 --> 00:08:39.049 reserved for Austrian aristocrats. So there was 00:08:39.049 --> 00:08:42.110 a very clear, impenetrable glass ceiling for 00:08:42.110 --> 00:08:44.450 the locals. Yeah. I want you to put yourself 00:08:44.450 --> 00:08:46.909 in those shoes for a moment. Consider what it 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:49.149 would feel like to live in a state where your 00:08:49.149 --> 00:08:51.990 native language is perfectly fine for mundane 00:08:51.990 --> 00:08:54.629 things. You can read the news? You can file your 00:08:54.629 --> 00:08:57.490 taxes? You can argue a contract dispute in court 00:08:57.490 --> 00:09:00.360 in Italian? but the heavily armed soldiers marching 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:03.179 through your city square, the military commanders 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:06.320 making strategic decisions, and the secret police 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:09.100 officers eyeing you suspiciously from the corner. 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:12.039 They all speak a foreign tongue. And the executives 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:15.159 making the ultimate rules are foreign aristocrats. 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.580 It creates a profound underlying psychological 00:09:18.580 --> 00:09:21.399 tension. It is a total recipe for resentment, 00:09:21.940 --> 00:09:24.120 which perfectly sets up the social dynamics we 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:25.860 mentioned at the start. OK, here's where it gets 00:09:25.860 --> 00:09:27.940 really interesting, because the source material 00:09:28.269 --> 00:09:30.970 includes the historical memoirs of an Austrian 00:09:30.970 --> 00:09:34.029 general named Karl von Schoenhals. A fascinating 00:09:34.029 --> 00:09:36.789 primary source. And he points out a massive historical 00:09:36.789 --> 00:09:39.789 irony about who actually supported this Austrian 00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:42.669 occupation and who actively plotted to destroy 00:09:42.669 --> 00:09:45.649 it. General von Schoenhals wrote quite candidly 00:09:45.649 --> 00:09:48.070 about the social reality on the ground during 00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:51.490 the 1840s. If you were to guess, you might assume 00:09:51.490 --> 00:09:54.950 the wealthy native Italian elites were the ones 00:09:54.950 --> 00:09:56.950 collaborating with the Austrians. To maintain 00:09:56.950 --> 00:09:59.720 their status, right. while the oppressed lower 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:02.200 and middle classes revolted. But the reality 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:06.039 was the exact opposite. Yes. The Austrian administration 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:08.820 actually enjoyed the support of the rural population 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:11.799 and, crucially, the local middle class. And the 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:14.100 reason why is entirely based on bureaucracy. 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:17.419 The Austrians implemented a strict meritocracy 00:10:17.419 --> 00:10:19.820 for their civil administration. If you wanted 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:23.139 a good stable, well -paying job managing the 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:25.320 kingdom, you had to have a university degree. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:28.039 And the local middle class was more than willing 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:30.139 to meet that requirement. They flocked to the 00:10:30.139 --> 00:10:32.240 local universities, specifically the historic 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:35.340 universities of Pavia and Padua. They studied 00:10:35.340 --> 00:10:38.200 hard, got their degrees, and stepped into these 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:40.940 comfortable, influential, administrative careers. 00:10:41.059 --> 00:10:43.320 The system was predictable, and it was working 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:45.679 for them. But the local Italian aristocrats, 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.519 they were absolutely furious. They were completely 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:50.990 alienated from the levers of power. You see, 00:10:51.309 --> 00:10:53.970 these aristocratic families had a deeply ingrained 00:10:53.970 --> 00:10:57.789 cultural tradition of completely rejecting university 00:10:57.789 --> 00:11:01.090 education. In their view, formal schooling was 00:11:01.090 --> 00:11:03.429 for commoners who needed to work for a living. 00:11:03.610 --> 00:11:06.330 Their power, their leadership roles, and their 00:11:06.330 --> 00:11:09.009 entire position in society had always been based 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:11.389 entirely on their family background. On their 00:11:11.389 --> 00:11:14.450 noble bloodlines. Exactly. But the Austrians 00:11:14.450 --> 00:11:16.750 sitting in Vienna didn't care about their local 00:11:16.750 --> 00:11:19.549 bloodlines. The Austrian government actively 00:11:19.549 --> 00:11:22.250 mistrusted these Italian aristocrats and point 00:11:22.250 --> 00:11:25.149 blank refused to give them high government offices. 00:11:25.450 --> 00:11:27.529 Unless they had the proper educational credentials. 00:11:27.909 --> 00:11:31.190 So suddenly these incredibly wealthy, proud aristocrats 00:11:31.190 --> 00:11:33.610 find themselves locked out of managing their 00:11:33.610 --> 00:11:35.870 own society simply because they felt they were 00:11:35.870 --> 00:11:38.210 too good to go to college. If we connect this 00:11:38.210 --> 00:11:41.190 to the bigger picture, this is a profound realization 00:11:41.190 --> 00:11:44.100 about the mechanics of revolution. Deprived of 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:47.200 their traditional leadership roles, this uneducated 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.820 aristocratic class became the primary engine 00:11:49.820 --> 00:11:53.029 driving the Risoramento. the movement for Italian 00:11:53.029 --> 00:11:56.389 unification. They threw their vast wealth, their 00:11:56.389 --> 00:11:59.649 societal influence and their bitter anger behind 00:11:59.649 --> 00:12:01.769 the wars of independence against the Austrians. 00:12:02.129 --> 00:12:06.590 It is such a human, petty and yet massively consequential 00:12:06.590 --> 00:12:09.289 reason for supporting a revolution. It really 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:11.950 is. It wasn't just about the noble concept of 00:12:11.950 --> 00:12:14.450 a unified Italian peninsula. It was you won't 00:12:14.450 --> 00:12:16.330 let me be a regional manager because I didn't 00:12:16.330 --> 00:12:18.929 go to the University of Pavia. Fine. I'll fund 00:12:18.929 --> 00:12:21.370 a massive rebellion. I'll burn your bureaucracy 00:12:21.370 --> 00:12:23.970 to the ground. Exactly. It truly changes the 00:12:23.970 --> 00:12:26.690 lens through which we view these historical events. 00:12:26.889 --> 00:12:29.929 And that aristocratic rebellion was gaining unstoppable 00:12:29.929 --> 00:12:33.029 momentum throughout the 1830s and 40s. Let's 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:34.909 set the scene for when things finally boil over. 00:12:35.330 --> 00:12:38.090 We are moving into the late 1830s. The first 00:12:38.090 --> 00:12:41.669 Austrian king, Francis I, has died. And his son, 00:12:41.889 --> 00:12:46.129 King Ferdinand I, takes over. In 1838, Ferdinand 00:12:46.129 --> 00:12:48.970 travels to Milan and actually becomes the last 00:12:48.970 --> 00:12:51.309 king to be crowned with the historic iron crown 00:12:51.309 --> 00:12:54.070 of Lombardy. It was a grand spectacle meant to 00:12:54.070 --> 00:12:56.970 project stability. But despite the fancy crowns 00:12:56.970 --> 00:12:58.789 and the functional Italian speaking bureaucracy 00:12:58.789 --> 00:13:01.549 we just talked about, the risorgimento movement 00:13:01.549 --> 00:13:04.570 was reaching a fever pitch. The tension was palpable 00:13:04.570 --> 00:13:08.289 and 1848 becomes the year the dam finally breaks. 00:13:08.509 --> 00:13:11.529 This is known historically as the year of revolutions 00:13:11.529 --> 00:13:14.860 across Europe. From Paris to Vienna, citizens 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:17.279 were rising up against monarchies. And Lombardy 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:20.080 Venetia was right at the violent center of it. 00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:24.200 March 22nd, 1848. This is a legendary date in 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:26.360 Italian history. It is known as the Five Days 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:30.220 of Milan. The tension snaps, and a massive popular 00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:32.659 revolution erupts in the streets. We are talking 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:35.980 about civilians throwing up barricades, intense 00:13:35.980 --> 00:13:38.100 street -to -street fighting, and a population 00:13:38.100 --> 00:13:40.299 that simply refused to be governed by Vienna 00:13:40.299 --> 00:13:43.340 anymore. The uprising was so fierce and the sheer 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:46.440 volume of angry citizens so overwhelming that 00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:49.340 the heavily armed Austrian military was literally 00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:52.440 forced to flee the capital city. The locals immediately 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:55.039 set up the Governo Provisorio de la Lombardia. 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:57.279 The Lombardy Provisional Government. The psychological 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:00.039 impact of seeing the Austrian army retreat was 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:02.500 immense and the spark caught instantly across 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:06.139 the kingdom. The very next day on March 23rd 00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:08.799 The citizens of Venice rose up against their 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:11.139 Austrian garrisons as well. Forming their own 00:14:11.139 --> 00:14:14.139 provisional government. For a brief shining moment 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:16.840 in the spring of 1848, it looked like the kingdom 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:19.600 of Lombardy Venetia was entirely finished. But 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.919 the Austrian Empire wasn't going to let their 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.700 most valuable crown lands slip away that easily. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.240 They strike back, and they strike back hard. 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:30.840 The military response was swift, methodical, 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:34.070 and brutal. It was led by the infamous Austrian 00:14:34.070 --> 00:14:36.710 Field Marshal Joseph Radecki. He didn't panic 00:14:36.710 --> 00:14:39.669 when Milan and Venice fell. No, he retreated, 00:14:39.850 --> 00:14:42.789 reorganized his forces and prepared for a counteroffensive. 00:14:42.990 --> 00:14:45.350 Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Sardinia, a penitent 00:14:45.350 --> 00:14:48.090 Italian state, sent troops to help the revolutionaries 00:14:48.090 --> 00:14:50.629 in Lombardy. Radecki met those Sardinian troops 00:14:50.629 --> 00:14:55.049 at the Battle of Costosa in July 1848. And Radecki 00:14:55.049 --> 00:14:58.889 absolutely crushes them. On July 24th and 25th, 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:01.720 the Sardinian army is decisively defeated. With 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:04.899 their military backup completely shattered, the 00:15:04.899 --> 00:15:06.879 provisional governments in the cities just couldn't 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:09.600 hold out against a professional imperial army. 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:14.919 By August 6th, 1848, Radecki marches his troops 00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:17.960 right back into Milan. Venice manages to hold 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:21.220 out a bit longer, relying on its lagoon for defense. 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:24.799 But by August 1849, Radecki recaptures Venice 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:28.179 as well. Austrian rule is completely heavily 00:15:28.179 --> 00:15:31.519 restored. The revolutions were crushed, but the 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:33.960 political landscape back in Vienna had fundamentally 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:36.899 changed during the chaos. King Ferdinand I had 00:15:36.899 --> 00:15:40.179 been forced to abdicate due to the wider 1848 00:15:40.179 --> 00:15:42.669 revolutions rocking the empire. And his young 00:15:42.669 --> 00:15:45.750 nephew, Emperor Franz Joseph I, took the throne. 00:15:46.210 --> 00:15:48.230 Franz Joseph would end up ruling over the kingdom 00:15:48.230 --> 00:15:50.549 of Lombardy Venetia for the remainder of its 00:15:50.549 --> 00:15:52.889 existence. And he realizes pretty quickly that 00:15:52.889 --> 00:15:55.490 the old way of managing this territory, having 00:15:55.490 --> 00:15:58.529 an absentee king and a rotating cast of viceroys, 00:15:58.590 --> 00:16:00.830 isn't going to work anymore. He completely abolishes 00:16:00.830 --> 00:16:03.250 the title of viceroy. He replaces it with a more 00:16:03.250 --> 00:16:05.590 militaristic governor general role. Initially, 00:16:05.809 --> 00:16:08.690 that job goes to the man who just conquered the 00:16:08.690 --> 00:16:11.549 territory field, Marshal Rudetsky. But when Rudetsky 00:16:11.549 --> 00:16:15.830 retires in 1857, Franz Josef hands the job to 00:16:15.830 --> 00:16:18.830 his own younger brother, Ferdinand Maximilian. 00:16:19.149 --> 00:16:21.429 Maximilian serves as governor general in Milan 00:16:21.429 --> 00:16:26.149 from 1857 to 1859. And as a fascinating historical 00:16:26.149 --> 00:16:28.909 side note, this is the very same Maximilian who 00:16:28.909 --> 00:16:32.529 a few years later notoriously accepts a crown 00:16:32.529 --> 00:16:35.970 from Napoleon III to become the emperor of Mexico. 00:16:36.070 --> 00:16:38.929 A geopolitical adventure that ends quite tragically 00:16:38.929 --> 00:16:41.669 for him in front of a firing squad. It is wild 00:16:41.669 --> 00:16:43.950 how interconnected these historical figures are. 00:16:44.389 --> 00:16:47.470 But before his doomed Mexican adventure, Maximilian 00:16:47.470 --> 00:16:50.190 is sitting in Milan trying to hold this patchwork 00:16:50.190 --> 00:16:52.929 kingdom together. He actually tried to be somewhat 00:16:53.129 --> 00:16:55.529 moderate and reform minded, but it was too little 00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:57.850 too late. The unraveling of the kingdom had already 00:16:57.850 --> 00:17:00.490 begun. The 1850s are really the beginning of 00:17:00.490 --> 00:17:02.509 the end. The fatal blow to the kingdom comes 00:17:02.509 --> 00:17:05.750 in 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence. 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:09.329 The Austrians suffer a massive catastrophic defeat 00:17:09.329 --> 00:17:12.009 at the Battle of Sulferino. The casualties were 00:17:12.009 --> 00:17:14.670 so horrifying that it actually inspired the creation 00:17:14.670 --> 00:17:17.650 of the International Red Cross. This defeat forces 00:17:17.650 --> 00:17:20.369 Austria to the negotiating table. resulting in 00:17:20.369 --> 00:17:22.210 the Treaty of Zurich. And this treaty essentially 00:17:22.210 --> 00:17:25.289 takes a cleaver to the kingdom. Austria is forced 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:28.190 to cede almost all of the Lombardy region, everything 00:17:28.190 --> 00:17:30.829 up to the Mencio River. They only manage to keep 00:17:30.829 --> 00:17:33.509 the heavily fortified cities of Mantua and Piscera. 00:17:33.670 --> 00:17:37.250 But here's the crazy diplomatic hot potato, so... 00:17:37.250 --> 00:17:39.349 Austria doesn't just hand Lombardy over to the 00:17:39.349 --> 00:17:42.769 Italians. No. Imperial pride and the complex 00:17:42.769 --> 00:17:45.589 diplomacy of the era required a bit more theater. 00:17:46.420 --> 00:17:49.000 Austria officially ceded Lombardy to the French 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:51.920 Emperor, Napoleon III, who had allied with the 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:54.299 Italians. Napoleon III then immediately turned 00:17:54.299 --> 00:17:56.039 around and passed the territory to the Kingdom 00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:58.640 of Sardinia. Which was acting as the embryonic 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:01.779 state driving Italian unification. So half the 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:04.059 kingdom vanishes overnight. Governor General 00:18:04.059 --> 00:18:06.079 Maximilian is suddenly out of a job in Milan 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.240 and he is forced to pack his bags and retired 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.900 at Mermer Castle near Trieste. The Austrians 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:13.420 grab whatever administrative paperwork they can 00:18:13.420 --> 00:18:15.740 carry and move the capital of whatever is left 00:18:15.740 --> 00:18:18.400 of the kingdom to Venice. They manage to hold 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:20.819 on to Venetia as a rump state for another seven 00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:24.799 years. But in 1866, the geopolitical winds shift 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:27.779 against them permanently. Austria finds itself 00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:30.880 fighting a disastrous war against Prussia. The 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:33.359 Italians see an opportunity and launch the Third 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.920 Italian War of Independence simultaneously. Overwhelmed 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:39.559 and defeated on multiple fronts, the remaining 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:43.039 Austrian territories of Venetia and Mantua finally 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.480 fall. The end of the kingdom is finalized by 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:49.039 the 1866 Peace of Prague. But once again, we 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:51.660 get this incredibly quirky diplomatic loophole. 00:18:51.900 --> 00:18:54.299 Even though Italy clearly won the territory, 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:57.220 Austria absolutely refuses to hand it directly 00:18:57.220 --> 00:18:59.839 to them out of sheer stubborn imperial pride. 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:02.500 It is a remarkable historical detail. On October 00:19:02.500 --> 00:19:05.980 19th, 1866, the territory of Venetia and Mantua 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:08.099 was formally transferred from Austria to France 00:19:08.099 --> 00:19:10.059 again. And then France, playing the middleman, 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.539 immediately handed it over to Italy. It was a 00:19:12.539 --> 00:19:14.839 transparent, face -saving measure for the Habsburgs. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:18.680 A few days later, on October 21st and 22nd, a 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:20.980 plebiscite was held where the local population 00:19:20.980 --> 00:19:23.960 voted, officially marking the Italian annexation. 00:19:24.339 --> 00:19:27.059 And just like that, the 50 -year administrative 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:29.799 experiment known as the Kingdom of Lombardy Venetia 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:32.640 was officially erased from the map. Erased from 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:35.460 the map, but leaving a profound and complicated 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:38.299 legacy on the shape of modern Europe. So what 00:19:38.299 --> 00:19:40.880 does this all mean? When we look back at the 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.619 sources we've explored today, we see a fascinating 00:19:43.619 --> 00:19:46.630 50 -year window. We see an artificial kingdom 00:19:46.630 --> 00:19:49.750 born from a peace treaty administered by a pragmatic 00:19:49.750 --> 00:19:52.569 bureaucracy that respected the local language. 00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:55.730 But was ultimately doomed by its own heavy -handed 00:19:55.730 --> 00:19:59.150 military presence and its rigid social exclusivity. 00:19:59.369 --> 00:20:02.289 It was a bureaucratic experiment that accidentally 00:20:02.289 --> 00:20:04.789 fueled the very revolution that destroyed it. 00:20:04.890 --> 00:20:07.210 It really was. This raises an important question, 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:09.329 a lingering thought for you to ponder as we wrap 00:20:09.329 --> 00:20:12.470 up. We've seen how the Austrian refusal to give 00:20:12.470 --> 00:20:15.250 uneducated aristocrats government jobs pushed 00:20:15.250 --> 00:20:18.089 those elites to fund a revolution. But it makes 00:20:18.089 --> 00:20:20.869 you wonder if the Austrian Habsburgs had just 00:20:20.869 --> 00:20:23.900 compromised. What if they had built a few more 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:26.059 universities or simply lowered the educational 00:20:26.059 --> 00:20:28.400 barrier for those wealthy aristocrats to keep 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:30.880 them happy? Would those elites have stayed loyal 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:33.440 to Vienna? And if they had, would Italy even 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.240 exist as a single unified country today? Or would 00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:39.480 the map of modern Europe look entirely different? 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:42.460 It is the brilliant point and it completely changes 00:20:42.460 --> 00:20:44.740 the way you look at the inevitable march of history. 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:47.819 Sometimes the map of the world hinges on a university 00:20:47.819 --> 00:20:50.240 degree. It really does. Thank you so much for 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:52.460 joining us on this Deep Dive. We hope you learned 00:20:52.460 --> 00:20:54.740 something new about the hidden quirks of 19th 00:20:54.740 --> 00:20:58.380 century geopolitics. Until next time, keep exploring, 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:00.640 keep questioning, and keep learning.