Sins of the Fathers (Papal States 1836-'78)

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Speechless, I'm absolutely speechless...

I realize we are at the end of the story, (save for a little mop up and epilouge) but I find myself wanting it to go on. The balance in your writing style between being informative and engrossing is beyond compare.

All I can say is I want more...

 

[unmerged(59077)]

Well, waiting for the aftermath now.

I liked that bit about the Mille degli Svizzeri.

 

[Specialist290]

Don't know how I got sidetracked away from this one, but I've just read through the whole thing, and I can say that your AAR is most intriguing. I'm eagerly awaiting your final update(s)

 

[CCA]

You sir are my inspiration.

You can see me making feeble attempts at imitating your brilliant style in my Federal Republic of Central American AAR but I fail sir.

Do you ahve any advice for me?

PS: How many more updates to go, I dont want this to end

 

[Director]

Had you reduced the AAR to my single line it would not have been worth reading, and I have found it very much worth my while. Thank you, for a really excellent read.

So the Papacy doesn't even save the Vatican? Wow. Perhaps a different Pope can cut a deal with an Italian national government, but the Vatican libraries, art galleries and the rest will have been pretty well picked over. One wonders how long a 'papcy in exile' could remain in Spain. Perhaps they could check out some property in Avignon... and perhaps the new national government of Italy will elect their own Pope!

You have the makings here of a fascinating new AAR!

 

[stnylan]

A Papacy in Exile once again, only perhaps this time Salamanca will become the modern Avignon, or something. Excellent update.

 

[Varyar]

Ah, finally have I been able to catch up with this AAR, and just in time for the epilogue! Excellent work Comrade, I've enjoyed every minute

 

[ComradeOm]

Lecture Fourteen: The Civil War in Italy (1876-'78)

"By thy name that in hell-fire was written,
and burned at the point of thy sword,
Thou art smitten, thou God, thou art smitten,
thy death is upon thee, O Lord"
Algernon Charles Swinburne​

As the Papal fleet set sail across the Mediterranean it left behind a city in flames. Chaos reigned in the Eternal City as fighting continued along blazing streets. The rebel armies finally breached the Aurelian Wall on September 10 1876 but it would take until the end of the month before resistance from the remaining Papal soldiers was quashed and order, albeit of a revolutionary variety, restored to the streets of the capital*. But was Rome still the capital? And, if so, just what was it the capital of? These were questions that took on an increasing importance as the victorious armies surveyed the fruits of their struggle. Rome itself had been heavily damaged and skirmishing and conflict continued to rage throughout the peninsula. It was slowly, and fitfully, that order began to emerge from the chaos. With the flight of Pius IX two competing national governments emerged - the socialists of the AICA (nominally headed by Labriola and based in Turin) and the liberals of Ancona (who had nominated Marco Minghetti as Prime Minister of an interim government). Neither group had any claim to legitimacy, besides their armies, but both shared a vision of a unitary Italian state and were eager to prevent any further conflict on, or fragmentation of, the peninsula. Both of these were real concerns as the power blocs began to stabilise, temporarily at least, and new local ruling structures emerged. There were major armed campaigns for independence in both Sicily and Sardinia (the later giving rise to the comic-opera coronation of a minor bandit as Peter II, King of Sardinia) and almost all semblance of civil government ceased to exist in Naples. As various rebel groups began to consolidate their lands, and without the threat of Papal counter-revolution, there was a sharp upsurge in violence amongst revolutionary groups in the countryside.

A band of socialists make their way through Rome after its liberation​

With cautious, and short-lived, optimism both the socialists and liberals agreed to collaborate in forging a democratic republic that encompassed the entire peninsula. The next number of months saw intense political discussion as to the exact nature of this state. On a variety of issues there was broad agreement but compromise on both property and voting rights proved elusive. The northern socialists were adamant that their radical social revolution continue with pace, while few liberal politicians saw sense in a parliament elected by universal suffrage and thus certain to be dominated by the mass socialist current. Negotiations for a compromise government finally collapsed in January 1877 when the AICA Congress in Turin voted to abolish landownership throughout all of Italy. Minghetti and his aides immediately registered their protest by withdrawing from talks and any possibility of a provisional government collapsed before even providing the foundations of a unified state or re-establishing central control of the countryside. Ultimately the great divide between camps could not be bridged and tensions finally erupted in full scale civil war in May 1877.

As Italy rapidly descended into further conflict the Papacy failed to capitalise on the infighting amongst its opponents. It can not be said however that this was a failure borne out of sloth - Pius IX lobbied the Great Powers heavily for intervention but to no avail. The French and Austrians maintained a strong presence on the Italian borders, and sought to dissuade their own subjects from taking up the banner of revolution, but were also content to see the demise of an unloved and threatening neighbour. Both Powers no doubt wished for the continued fragmentation of the peninsula and were not shy in encouraging conflict amongst the various Italian factions. The French were marginally more willing to accept an Italian republic but Vienna made little pretence in desiring a return to the weak and divided peninsula of the first decades of the century. Elsewhere the rampant unpopularity of the Papal regime in Britain and Germany ensured that intervention would not be forthcoming as long as the conflict remained localised within Italy. The Spanish monarchy was supportive of the Papacy but not to the extent where the impoverished regime would agree to stage or finance an expedition across the Mediterranean**

The imposing Alcázar could not compensate for the loss of St Peters​

With no hope to be had for foreign intervention there was little that Pius and his government could do to influence affairs. The constant stream of denunciations and excommunications that emanated from the Papal entourage continued to have no impact on opinion or events in Italy and merely served to highlight the degree to which the Church had become isolated from the general population. On a practical level the energies of the Papacy naturally became focused on providing a home for the governance of the global Catholic Church. The immediate problem of re-establishing a physical presence for the Holy See was pressing and Alfonso XII agreed to provide a temporary haven in the form of the Alcázar, a military academy, in Toledo. It was in this old Moorish fortress that Pius IX lived out his last days, watching both his Church and Italy collapse. The pressures of revolution clearly had a detrimental impact on the octogenarian and he fell into ill health shortly after his arrival in Spain. After a lengthy illness Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti died on February 7 1878 at the age of eighty five. As Pius IX he had ruled the Papal States for over three decades (the longest reign of any Pope) and become almost synonymous with its brief rise and fall. The Pope's last words were reported to be "Guard the church I loved so well and sacredly", but it was too late for that. The death of Pius marked the end of an era in Church and Italian history and in 1878 the future of both looked far from certain.

The many campaigns and battles of the Italian Civil War, and beyond, lie outside the scope of this module but it will suffice to say that the last traces of Papal Italy were burned away in the decades of violence that followed Pius' death. In the end the bloodshed and atrocities of these chaotic years were the ultimate fruits of Papal Italy.

-----​

*The exception to this was the few hundred Papal loyalists who barricaded themselves within the Vatican complex itself for over a week. The historic buildings of Church governance, including St Peters, suffered heavy damage during the resulting assault. Ironically the use of organised and disciplined revolutionary units to dislodge the defenders did ensure that many of the Vatican's treasures were not looted by the Roman populace. See, "De Cesare, R., (1909), The Last Days of Papal Rome, London" for a vivid account of these events

** The stances of Britain, France, Austria, and Germany towards Papal Italy are dealt with in "Flint, J.P., (2003), Great Britain and the Holy See: The Diplomatic Relations Question", "McMillan, J., (2003), Modern France: 1880-2002, New York", "Bridge, F.R., (1972), From Sadowa to Sarajevo: The Foreign Policy of Austria-Hungary, London", and "Wiesmann, G., (1886), Geschichte des Kulturkampfs, Leipzig" respectively

 

[ComradeOm]

Well that's the story wrapped up for now. I'll do one further "revision" update to look back at the themes and characteristics of Papal Italy but the above will be the last proper lecture. Usually in these circumstances I'd go into more detail on the future of both the Church and Italy in the decades to come, but hopefully I'll get a chance to do that in a proper sequel.

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Dr. Gonzo: Bugger. I forgot to include the public hangings and executions. Now what am I going to do with all these Cardinals?

Admittedly one reason why I'm putting all these details off to some distant sequel is that I have absolutely no idea as to what the future will entail for this revolutionary Italy. I'll have to sit down and sketch the whole alt-history out some day.

J. Passepartout: Of course conversely losing its temporal power did calm the Church down somewhat. Well after a century or so...

Quirinus308: What can I say? Thank you very much for the praise. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't pleased by the reaction to this AAR. Comments such as yours are massively reassuring to me.

RGB: I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the fate of the Mille. Funnily enough, I had the footnote already written and was on my final draft when I stumbled across the fitting reference. Its a small tribute to Garibaldi, who has been notable by his absence in this history.

Specialist290: Thanks, its always good to have readers return!

Director: The problem with planning a sequel is that now I have all these ideas bouncing around my head and interfering with the business of finishing the current AAR

CCA: Unfortunately I haven't been following your AAR (time constraints mean that I barely have time to write this one) so I can't give any specific advice. Generally though I'd say that the most important factors in this AAR have been the tone/style, planning, and work.

There's not much I can say about the tone of this AAR (I aim for a slightly formal and academic prose) as it just comes natural to me. That's probably the result of reading little but history for the past two years. Planning is easier - I made sure to sit down at least twice during this AAR in order to map out future updates and decide where the story was going. As for work, each update of this AAR (aside from the last two) goes through at least three drafts in order to make sure that the final thousand words are as polished as possible. It takes a lot of effort but I feel that the result is worth it.

I hope this helps somewhat. Don't hesitate to pm me with any specific questions.

stnylan: Is there some Papal connection with Salamanca? Apparently Toledo is the foremost diocese in Spain and the Alcázar has some name value. For the moment that will do me.

Varyar: Its great to have you back at the end. I know how difficult it is to catch up with an AAR after falling behind so this is much appreciated.

 

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And so it ends.

Outisde the scope of this course, you are tantalizing us on purpose! But I do appreciate how your AARs are so focused.

And yes the days of the Papacy as a temporal power were surely over. The Papal States were somewhat of an aberration.

 

[stnylan]

There is an old university at Salamanca, and of course universities of old were generally well connected with the Church. Also, I think of Salamanca because the Catholic Church in Scotland has a seminary there which trained Scottish priests during the time when Catholicism was persecuted in Scotland from the Reformation onward.

Of course, an entirely different take on the entire module would be that the Papal State had provided stability and a measure of prosperity for the inhabitants of Italy, a legacy ransacked and looted by those who pursued selfish and unworkable ideologies over the common weal. Wouldn't be history unless there was an altnernative view

A most excellent AAR, in review.

 

[VILenin]

Sad to see it come to an end but, as you point out, it's a logical conclusion. The rise and precipitous collapse of Papal Italy made for a great story. I hope you start a new project sometime soon.

 

[unmerged(62170)]

Ah excellent, you're a credit to AARland and Vicky good sir!

 

[J. Passepartout]

Fine ending. I await the next semester when the next class will be offered.

 

[unmerged(44174)]

A fine story. The rise and fall of the Papacy was great. I love reading of italian aars, but a 20th century thocracy would have been a bit much, so i am glad that the pope did not win in the end. Definatly want to know how your italy ends up.

 

[unmerged(57402)]

a 20th century thocracy would have been a bit much, so i am glad that the pope did not win in the end.

Clearly you're not too familiar with the Middle East ... (And just in case anyone's about to rebut that statement- I'm aware the situation is more complex blah blah blah, I just thought t'was amusing).


On to the main thrust, which is: fantastic AAR ComradeOm! Incredibly enjoyable, very concise, stayed historically authentic throughout and achieved an impressive narrative arc in the end. Great stuff! Just sad to see it's over...

 

[CatKnight]

A very fine ending. I was a little surprised the Papacy didn't pull something out of their uhm...mitre....at the end, but this was more realistic.

Well done. Very well done!

 

[Cinéad IV]

A fantastic and entertaining AAR

 

[unmerged(87106)]

i've been lurking this whole time, but i must say...

FANTASTIC AAR! it is one of the closest-to-a-history-book aars ever

can we please get an epilogue so we can see what becomes of Italy, the Papacy, and the rest of the world?

perhaps, we can continue this into HOI2 as a independent Papal state in Spain?...

 

[Hastu Neon]

Compliments for this wonderful AAR, ComradeOm!