From Ancient Rome to Modern Nation: The Complete History of Italy in under 10 minutes

You may know it for pizza, art, and cities. But the real story of Italy is bigger and more surprising than most people ever hear. In the next few minutes, we will go through the whole thing. From a tiny village of farmers to one of the biggest empires in history, we will meet a general who marched war elephants over snowy mountains. We will see a powerful leader stabbed by the men around him. We will watch a great empire fall apart. Then we will see Italy stay mostly divided Here is the puzzle. About 2,000 years ago, Rome ruled all the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. Yet Italy as one country is only about 165 years old. How is that possible? Stay with me and find out. Let's begin. The Romans said their city was founded almost 2,800 years ago. At that time, Italy was not one place. Many different peoples lived there. The Etruscans lived north of where Rome would grow. And they were skilled builders and traders. Greek settlers built rich cities in the south and on the island of Sicily. And beside the Tiber river, small villages of farmers and shepherds sat on hills. Over many years, these villages joined together. Historians think Rome really grew slowly. The Romans also told a legend. Twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, were raised by a wolf. When they grew up, they argued. And Romulus killed his brother and built the city. It is only a legend. Later, kings ruled Rome. The last king was so hated. The stories say about 2,500 years ago, the people threw him out and promised never to have a king again. Each year, they chose two leaders. And a group of wise older men, called the Senate, helped run the city. This new system was called the Republic. Rome grew step by step. It fought its neighbors, but when it won, it did something clever. It often made the defeated cities allies instead of enemies. And they sent soldiers to fight for Rome. So after every war, Rome's army got bigger. Roman soldiers trained hard. About 2,300 years ago, Rome controlled most of central and southern Italy. Then Rome met its deadliest enemy, Carthage, a rich city in North Africa. The two powers fought three big wars. In the second war, a Carthaginian general named Hannibal did something almost impossible. He marched an army with war elephants over the snowy Alps and attacked Italy. He crushed the Romans in a huge battle, and he stayed in Italy for 15 years. Most countries would have given up. Rome did not. It kept building new armies until it finally beat Hannibal. Later, Rome destroyed Carthage completely. Now, more than 2,100 years ago, Rome was the strongest power around the Mediterranean Sea. But winning brought new problems. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and generals grew too powerful. Then came Julius Caesar, who conquered Gaul, most of what is now France. When the Senate told him to give up his army, he refused. He crossed a small river called the Rubicon and marched on Rome. And a civil war began. Caesar won and became the ruler of Rome. He introduced a new calendar with a leap day every four years. With a small fix made about 1,600 years later, it is the calendar we use today. But some senators feared he wanted to be king. According to ancient writers, they surrounded him and stabbed him 23 times. Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, won the wars that followed. He took the name Augustus and became the first emperor. He was smart. He kept the Senate, but he held a real power. His rule began about 200 years of mostly peaceful times. Called the Pax Romana, Romans built about 50,000 miles of paved roads, and long water channels called aqueducts that brought fresh water into cities. They built the Colosseum, where around 50,000 people watched gladiator fights. At its biggest, the empire stretched from Britain to the Middle East. But no, empire lasts forever. In the 200s, Rome had more than 20 emperors in about 50 years. And most were murdered. Plague, poverty, and attacks made the empire weak. It was too big to rule from one place. So it was divided into an eastern half and a western half. The west kept getting weaker. About 1,600 years ago, a group called the Visigoths broke into Rome and looted it. Then, in the year 476, a general named Odoacer removed the last western emperor, a teenage boy. The Western Roman Empire was over. But the story of Italy was not over. In fact, a new chapter was just beginning. After the fall of Rome, nobody could hold Italy together. Then the Goths ruled it. Later, armies from the eastern half of old empire fought them for almost 20 years and wrecked much of the land. About 1,450 years ago, a people called the Lombards took large parts of it. Rome itself, once home to about a million people, shrank into a much smaller town. In the south, a very different story unfolded. About 1,200 years ago, Arab and Berber rulers from North Africa began taking over the island of Sicily and ruled it for over 200 years. Their capital, Palermo, grew into a large, rich city. They brought better ways to water the land and new crops like lemons, cotton, and sugar cane. A small Arab state also ruled around Bari on the mainland for a short time. Then, Norman knights from France took Sicily. About 900 years ago, a Norman ruler, Roger II, created the Kingdom of Sicily, one of the richest kingdoms in Europe. His court used Arab, Greek, and Norman helpers, and an Arab scholar there, Alidrisi, made a famous world map. In the north and center, rich, independent cities were growing. About 1,000 years ago, cities like Venice, Genoa, Florence, and Milan became wealthy from trade and banking. Venice was built on islands in the sea, and its ships carried goods between Europe and Asia. A Venetian trader named Marco Polo traveled to China more than 700 years ago. Florence was famous for its bankers, and the word bank comes from an Italian word for a bench. But these cities fought each other again and again. Most people felt loyal to their own city, not to something called Italy. There was another reason Italy stayed split. For over 1,000 years, a large state ruled from Rome stretched across the middle of the country and cut it in two. Its rulers often opposed a single Italian kingdom. About 680 years ago, the Black Death reached Italy on trading ships, and some cities lost about half their people. Yet, the rich cities recovered. About 600 years ago, in Florence, something amazing began. The Renaissance, which means rebirth. People studied the ideas of ancient Rome and Greece and wanted to learn about everything. Rich families, like the Medici, paid for great art. Leonardo da Vinci painted, invented, and drew flying machines. About 400 years ago, Galileo used a telescope to find moons circling Jupiter. Italy helped change how the world saw science and art. But being divided had a price. Around 500 years ago, France and Spain fought over Italy, and Spain won control of large parts, including Milan, Naples, and Sicily. About 230 years ago, Napoleon's French army swept in and ended the Republic of Venice, which had lasted more than 1,000 years. After Napoleon fell, the old rulers returned, and Austria held the north. In the 1800s, many Italians began to dream of one country. Their clever politician was Cavour, who won France's help against Austria. Their hero on the battlefield was Garibaldi. In 1860, he sailed to Sicily with about 1,000 volunteers in red shirts and took over the south. Garibaldi then handed his victories to Victor Emmanuel, the king in the north. In 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was born, with Victor Emmanuel as its first king. In 1870, Italian soldiers entered Rome, ending the rule of the large central state, and Rome soon became the capital. At last, Italy was one country. But the new country was poor, and millions of Italians left to find work abroad. In 1922, a man named Benito Mussolini took power. He became a dictator, took away people's freedoms, and in 1940, pulled Italy into World War II on Germany's side. The war left many Italian cities in ruins. In 1946, Italians voted to end the monarchy and become a republic. Then came a comeback. In the 1950s and 60s, factories boomed, and Italy grew from a poor country into one of the world's biggest economies. It became a founding member of what is now the European Union. Today, about 59 million people live there. So how can Italy be so old and so young? For about 1,300 years, it was mostly split into many pieces. And people felt loyal to their city or region, not to the whole country. But, its ideas never died. Latin grew into Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Romanian. Roman ideas about law and government still shape many countries. Even July and August are named after Julius Caesar and Augustus. Italy shows that a country can break into pieces, but great ideas can live on. Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed this journey, please like and subscribe for more stories that shaped the world.