Kingdom of Italy (For Want of a Telegram)

The Kingdom of Italy (Italian: Regno d'Italia) was a state founded from 1861, when King was proclaimed King of Italy, to 1946, when a constitutional referendum led civil discontent to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic. The state was founded as a result of the under the influence of the, which can be considered its legal predecessor state.

Italy declared war on in alliance with Prussia in 1866 and received the region of  following their victory. Italian troops entered in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of  temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, following strong disagreements with France about the respective colonial expansions. However, even if relations with became very friendly, the alliance with  remained purely formal, as the Italians were keen to acquire Trentino and Trieste, parts of the Austro-Hungarian empire populated by Italians. Nonetheless, in 1914, Italy declared war alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary against France, Britain and Russia at the outset of World War I. Victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations.

"Fascist Italy" is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1945 with Benito Mussolini as head of government. The fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed the political and intellectual opposition, while promoting economic modernization, traditional social values, and a rapprochement with the Catholic Church. According to Payne (1996), "[the] Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases". The first phase (1923–25) was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, albeit with a "legally organized executive dictatorship". Then came the second phase, "the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929". The third phase, with less activism, was 1929–34. The fourth phase, 1935–40, was characterized by an aggressive foreign policy; warfare in North Africa, which was launched from Italian Libya and Italian Tunisia, as well as support for Germany in its conquest of Ethiopia; confrontations with the League of Nations sanctions; growing economic autarchy; and semi-Nazification. World War II itself (1940-1944) and Italy's role in the German Civil War(1944–45) was the fifth phase with its disasters and defeats, and culminated with Mussolini's overthrow and execution and the collapse of the fascist regime.

Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II and the German Civil War until 1945. It switched sides to the anti-Nazi Coalition after ousting and executing Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the constitutional referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, which is the present form of Italy today.