International relations between France and Italy occur on diplomatic, political, military, economic, and cultural levels. They are both countries in Europe, and geographically border each other.
France played an important role in helping the Italian unification, especially in the defeat of the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence as well as in financial support. They were rivals for control of Tunisia and North Africa in the late 19th century. France won out, which led Italy to join the Triple Alliance in 1882 with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Tensions were high in the 1880s as expressed in a trade war. France needed allies against Germany, so it secretly negotiated a series of arrangements and treaties with Italy that by 1902 made sure that Italy would not support Germany in a war.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Italy was neutral at first but bargained for territorial aggrandizement. The best offer was made by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and France, which promised Italy large swaths of Austria and the Ottoman Empire. Both countries were among the "Big Four" of the Allies of World War I; however, Italian resentment at the difference between the promises of 1915 and the actual results of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles would be powerful factors in the rise to power of Benito Mussolini in 1922.
In the interwar period, France tried to be friendly with Mussolini to avoid his support of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. The efforts failed and when Germany defeated France in the Battle of France (1940), Italy also declared war, and was given control of an occupied zone near the common border. Corsica was added in 1942.
Both nations were among the Inner six that founded the European Coal and Steel Community , the predecessor of the European Union. They are also founding members of the G7/G8 and NATO. Since April 9, 1956, Rome and Paris are exclusively and reciprocally twinned with each other, with the popular saying: Seule Paris est digne de Rome; seule Rome est digne de Paris. Solo Parigi è degna di Roma; solo Roma è degna di Parigi. "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris."
History The France-Italy Treaty, signed in 1947, established a close partnership between France and Italy following World War II. This treaty, also known as the Treaty of Paris, aimed to strengthen political, economic, and cultural ties between the two nations. It emphasized cooperation in various fields, including defense, trade, and technology. The treaty also laid the groundwork for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), a precursor to the European Union, by outlining principles of cooperation in the coal and steel industries. The France-Italy Treaty played a significant role in promoting peace and stability in post-war Europe while fostering mutual prosperity and collaboration between France and Italy.
Border
The two countries share a border. The border was largely determined in 1860 in the Treaty of Turin with minor rectifications performed during the 1947 Treaty of Paris. The kingdom of France had shared a border with the Duchy of Savoy since the incorporation of Provence into France under Charles VIII in 1486. The wider French-Italian border region had been part of the Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles during the 11th to 14th centuries.
The border between France and Savoy had remained in flux since the Italian Wars. In the early modern period, it was fixed in the Treaty of Turin of 1696. After the War of the Spanish Succession, the House of Savoy made large territorial gains, becoming the 18th-century nucleus for the later Italian unification. Savoy was occupied by revolutionary France from 1792 to 1815. Savoy, along with Piedmont and Nice, was conjoined into the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Congress of Vienna in 1815,Wells, H. G., Raymond Postgate, and G. P. Wells. The Outline of History, Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956. p. 723–753. In 1860, under the terms of the Treaty of Turin, Savoie and Nice were annexed by France, while Lombardy passed to Italy. The last Duke of Savoy, Victor Emmanuel II, became King of Italy.
The border between the two countries does not match the linguistic border. Corsica, while traditionally Italian-speaking, is part of France, whereas the Valle d'Aosta, while traditionally French-speaking, is part of Italy.
There remains a territorial dispute over the ownership of the Mont Blanc summit, the highest mountain in Western Europe.
Impact of Emperor Napoleon I Emperor Napoleon I ruled most of Italy (excluding Sicily and Sardinia), from 1796 to 1814. He introduced a number of major reforms that permanently altered the political and legal systems of the multiple small countries on the Italian peninsula, and helped inspire Italian nationalism and a demand for unification. The feudal laws were repealed, and the administration became a matter of expertise rather than corruption and patronage. The aristocracy lost its monopoly over the government, which opened up new opportunities to the middle class. Most church land was sold off. The Congress of Vienna (1814) reversed some of these provisions, but it failed to eliminate the revolutionary spirit introduced by Napoleon. Many secret societies were formed to transform and unify Italy; anticlericalism was an important new element, challenging the Pope's rule over central Italy, and the Catholic Church's major role throughout the peninsula. These ideas of liberty led to the "Risorgimento" which carried implications of unification, modernization and moral reform.Martin Collier, Italian Unification 1820-71 ( Heinemann, 2003) pp 1-31.
Post-Congress of Vienna In 1820-1821, the Kingdom of Sardinia, which had recently forced King Victor Emmanuel I to abdicate, sought to establish a constitutional monarchy. However, the Holy Alliance intervened, sending an army to crush the revolution involved revolt by the Muratists, loyal to former King Joachim Murat in Naples. The King of Sardinia also called for Austrian intervention, but the Carbonari revolts collapsed, and their leaders fled into exile. The Britain attended the Congress of Laibach but took a more cautious stance and while the France, under the restored Bourbon monarchy of Louis XVIII, supported the general objective of suppressing revolutionary unrest to safeguard the monarchy but avoided direct military involvement, partly due to domestic political sensitivities and recent revolutionary memories decision.
Unification of Italy France played a central role as Emperor Napoleon III sponsored the unification of Italy in the 1850s, and then blocked it by protecting the papal states in the 1860s.William E. Echard, "Louis Napoleon and the French Decision to Intervene at Rome in 1849: A New Appraisal." Canadian Journal of History 9.3 (1974): 263-274. excerpt Napoleon had long been an admirer of Italy and wanted to see it unified, although that might create a rival power. He plotted with Cavour of the Italian kingdom of Piedmont to expel Austria and set up an Italian confederation of four new states headed by the pope. Events in 1859 ran out of Napoleon's control in the Second Italian War of Independence. Austria was quickly defeated, but instead of four new states, a popular uprising and a new sense of Italian nationalism united all of Italy under Piedmont. The pope held onto Rome only because Napoleon sent troops to protect him. France's reward was the County of Nice (which included the city of Nice and the rugged Alpine territory to its north and east) and the Duchy of Savoy. Piedmont, known officially as the Kingdom of Sardinia, worked closely with France to unify Italy—militarily by pushing Austria out, and financially by providing over one billion gold francs in 1848–1860, which was half the money Sardinia needed. Cavour used the Rothschild Bank in Paris extensively, but also plated off against British and other European financiers.Rondo E. Cameron, "French Finance and Italian Unity: The Cavourian Decade." American Historical Review 62.3 (1957): 552-569. online He angered French and Italian Catholics when the pope lost most of his domains. Napoleon then reversed himself and angered both the anticlerical liberals in France and his erstwhile Italian allies when he protected the pope in Rome. When war with Prussia loomed in 1870, France withdrew its armies and the new Italian government absorbed the papal states and Rome.Harry Hearder, Cavour (1994) 99-159.
1870-1919 Relations after 1870 saw episodes of diplomatic and economic hostility, originating primarily in competition for control of North Africa. Germany's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was worried by French revanchism—searching for revenge for the loss of Alsace Lorraine – so he sought to neutralize that by encouraging French expansion in Tunisia. Italy, a latecomer to imperialism also wanted Tunisia because many Italians lived there and especially because control of both Tunis and Sicily would make it a major Mediterranean power. France was closer and had many well-established business operations there. Italy was outmaneuvered, as Britain and Germany supported France. The French army invaded and took over Tunisia and Italians were furious. Franco-Italian relations were sharply negative through the 1880s. For example, there were disputes over tariffs and trade between the two countries plunged. Francesco Crispi a leading politician on the left, was indefatigable in stirring up hostility toward France.Mark I. Choate, "'The Tunisia Paradox': Italy's Strategic Aims, French Imperial Rule, and Migration in the Mediterranean Basin." California Italian Studies 1, (2010): 1-20." (2010). online
In a spirit of revenge against France, Italy formed a military alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, the Triple Alliance. The new Kaiser William II removed Bismarck from power in 1890, Chancellorship succeeding by Leo von Caprivi with Italian origin, and engaged in reckless diplomatic adventurism in North Africa that disturbed Rome and Paris. Around this time, French and Italian relations were disturbed by the rupturing of the 1881 commercial agreement by Italy in 1886, which resulted in financial weaknesses exacerbated by the demands of the Triple Alliance and Italian colonial adventures in Africa. Tariff issues were resolved only with political concessions as well, resulting in the Franco-Italian agreement of June 1902. France supported Italy's ambitions to take over Tripolitania (modern Libya), and Italy recognized French predominance in Morocco. Both sides came to an understanding that regardless of the Italian renewal of membership in the Triple Alliance, Italy would not go to war with France. Meanwhile, the 1893 massacre of Italians at Aigues-Mortes and 1894 Lyon anti-Italian riots had put pressure on the relationship, but ultimately was resolved amicably between the two governments.