IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES

Abraham Lincoln : He was the son of a woodcutter, rose to be the 16th President of the United
States who wanted to abolish slavery and on account of this there was a civil war between the
southern and northern States of America. He won the civil war and abolished slavery.
Adolf Hitler : Adolf Hitler is a German Dictator who was born in Austria. He led the Nazi party and
became German Chancellor in the year 1933. He ordered the invasion of Austria and Czechoslovakia.
His invasion of Poland in 1939 started the Second World War. He committed suicide in Berlin in 1945.
He was the author of Mein Kampf. He is also called "Fuehrer".
Albert Einstein : A world famous scientist of German Swiss origin who settled down in the U.S.A.
after he was driven out by the Nazis from Germany in 1933. He is the author of the Theory of
Relativity.
Alexander Cunningham : (1814-1893 A.D.) He was the father of Indian Archaeology and first
Director-General of the Indian Archaeology Survey 1879-1885. Through his efforts a beginning was
made in translating and dating ancient inscriptions and in describing archaeological sites.
Alexander Fleming : He is the discoverer of penicillin. He received in 1945 the Nobel Prize for
Medicine.
Alexander, the Great : Alexander, son of Philip, King of Macedonia, North of Greece. He was one
of the greatest conquerors of the world . He was born in 356 B. C. The famous philosopher, Aristotle
was his tutor, Alexander made his object to conquer the world . In 326 B. C. he invaded India. He was
the first European invader on Indian soil. In the Battle with Porus, Alexander was victorious. Alexander
lost his famous horse, Bucephalecus in the Battle. His army felt homesick and insisted on returning.
Alexander died in 323 B.C. in Babylonia.
Benito Mussolini : He was a dictator and leader of the Italian Fascists. He seized Abyssinia and
helped the Spanish Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. He fought with Germany in the Second World
War from June 1940. Italy was invaded by an Anglo-American army and he surrendered in 1943.
Mussolini was shot by his own countrymen.
Benjamin Franklin : He was an American Politician who helped to write the American Declaration
of Independence. As a scientist he made discoveries of electricity and invented the lightning
conductor.
Bertrand Russell : A distinguished English Philosopher and mathematician, who won the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1950. He advocated world peace and human approach to international
problems. His books cover diverse subjects and some among them are "Marriage of Mathematics and
Problems of Philosophy".
Bill Gates : World's richest private individual for the sixth consecutive year with a $90b fortune.
President and CEO of Microsoft Corp., He revolutionised the computer industry. Philanthropist who
has made record donations.
Buddha : Gautam Buddha was a Kshatriya prince and was the son of Shudhodana. He was born in
623 B.C. at Lumbini a few miles from Kapilavastu on the Nepal Border. At the age of 28 he left his
home and retired to the forests. This event is known as the Great Renunciation. He sat down in
meditation under a pipal tree near Gaya. He gave his first Sermon in the Deer • Park at Sarnath, near
Banaras. This event is known as Dharma Chakra Pravartan. He founded a powerful Sangha or order
of Bhikshus. His chief teachings were four Noble truths. The Eightfold Path of Middle Path, Karma,
Ahimsa, Good Morals, No caste system and silence about God. Buddha died at Dushinaar (U.P.) He
was indeed the "Light of Asia".
Chaplin, Charlie : The British born comedian, whose silent films gave delight to millions.
Charlemagne : Also known as Charles the great Roman emperor and Frankish King . He founded
the Holy Roman Empire in the year 800 and was for the rest of his life the champion of the Christian
faith and the most powerful figure in Europe.
Columbus, Christopher: Famous Italian Navigator who discovered America in 1498.
Dalai Lama : (Tenzing Gyatso) Spiritual Leader of Tibet. Fled to India after Tibetan uprising and
established Govt. in-exile at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, India (1959). Nobel Laureate (1989).
Diana : Britain's Princess Diana, who had been struggling to build a new life after her turbulent
divorce with Prince Charles, died on August 31, 1997 in a car crash in Paris after being pursued at
high speed by paparazzi on motorcycles. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur also died
when their Mercedes crashed in a tunnel along the Seine river at Pont de L'Alma bridge in Paris.
Eisenhower: He became the President of theUnited States. Commander of Allied Forces in Europe.
Elizabeth I, Queen : Daughter of Henry VIII , she was queen of England, under whose rule
England became a great power. Shakespeare lived during her time.
Epicurus : (342-270 BC) A Greek Philosopher who founded the Epicurus philosophy. He advised
self negation, subdued life and the practice of virtues.
Ferdinand Magellan: A Portuguese Sailor who commanded the first expedition to sail around the
world . He discovered the Magellan Strait and gave the Pacific Ocean his name. He died
before the completion of the first voyage round the world.
Galileo : He was an Italian Scientist and professor of Mathematics. He invented the telescope and
devoted his life to the study of astronomy.
George Washington : An American General who led the revolt against the British and declared
America's Independence. He became the first President of the United States.
Guglielmo Marconi : Italian Electrical Engineer who invented wireless telegraphy and radio. He
received the Nobel Prize for physics for 1909 jointly with Ferdinand Braun of Germany for
development of wireless.
John Milton : A well known epic poet of English. His poetical works are Paradise Lost and Paradise
Regained.
Joseph Stalin : He was a leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution. He became head of the
government in 1924 after the death of Lenin. He helped to make Russia a great power.
Kennedy, John : He was the youngest and the first Catholic President of the United States. He was
assassinated in Dallas on 22.11 .1963
Kofi Annan : The seventh UN Secretary General who is credited with the achievement of averting a
possible military strike by Anglo-American forces on Iraq over weapons inspection issue. Recipient of
the Seoul Peace Prize 1998 for his contribution to world peace.
Leonardo da Vinci : He was a great Italian painter, architect, sculptor, scientist, engineer and
musician rolled into one. Last Supper and Mona Lisa are two of his most important paintings.
Leo Tolstoy: The great novelist and dramatist of Russia. His famous novels are War and Peace,
Anna Karenina, and Resurrection. Mahatma Gandhi had great admiration for him and drew inspiration
from his writings.
Louis Braille : He was the inventor of the embossed dot system of reading and writing for the blind.
Mahatma Gandhi : Indian leader who fought against British rule. He believed in nonviolence and
led India to achieve independence. He is called the 'Father of Indian Nation'. Gandhiji founded the
Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad. Gandhiji made his first experiment of Satyagraha in Champaran.
In 1919 Gandhiji led an agitation against the Rowlatt Act and made Satyagraha his instrument of
struggle. Gandhiji gave to the country the slogan, "Do or Die". On January 30, 1948 he was
assassinated at the prayer meeting.
Maria Montessori : Founder of the Montessory system of child education, who hailed from Italy:
Her system enables the child to learn naturally and easily.
Martin Luther : A celebrated German reformer who fought against the dogmas of the Catholic
Church and got himself excommunicated on that account. His movement of reformation eventually led
to the emergence of Protestantism.
Michael Faraday : He was an English Scientist who made important discoveries in electricity and
magnetism which laid the foundation of the modern electrical industry. At first, he was assistant to Sri
Humphrey Davy at the Royal Institution.
Mother Teresa : The angel of mercy who conquered the world by serving the poorest of the poor.
Roman Catholic nun born to Albanian parents in Yugoslavia, and baptised Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhin.
Came to India and was a teacher at Kolkata. Founded "Missionaries of Charity", devoted to working
for destitutes. Became a citizen of India in 1962. Set up about 570 homes for the poor, spread in
about 125 countries. Nobel Peace Prize 1979, Magsaysay Award 1962, Bharat Ratna 1980, and
many other awards. Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997 due to cardiac arrest. She was
conferred with Sainthood on October 19, 2003 at St.Peter's Square in Vatican by Pope John Paul II .
Napoleon Bonaparte : French military leader nicknamed "Little corporal" became emperor of
France from 1804 to 1815. He was victorious in various battles against England, Russia and Austria
but was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815 and was exiled to St.Helena where he died.
Nelson Mandela : The Former South African President and Nobel Prize Laureate (1993) was on
November 29, 2000, selected to share the Gandhi Peace Prize with the Grameen Bank of
Bangladesh for his "exemplary work resulting in social economic and political transformation through
non-violence and Gandhian means". The award which carries an amount of Rs.1 crore and a citation
has for the first time been jointly awarded to two persons or institutions. Dr. Nelson Mandela, who
dedicated his life to fight against apartheid in South Africa and spent 27 years in prison to bring down
an unjust political order, is also the second foreign recipient of Bharat Ratna (1990).
Niccolo Machiavelli : An Italian statesman, diplomat and historian who advocated that the ends
justifies the means. The Prince and Discourses are two of his political treatises.
Nicolas Copernicus : He was a Polish priest and astronomer. He made the great discovery that
the earth is a planet moving round the Sun, with other planets and that the earth was not the centre of
the Universe.
Pythagoras : He was a Greek philosopher and astronomer. Took keen interest in geometry.
Roosevelt, F.D. : The only American to be elected four times to the highest office in the United States.
During his presidency, America entered World War II and tilted the scales in favour of the allies. His
name is also remembered for his New Deal Reform in America. President Roosevelt defined the "four
essential human freedoms"as (1) Freedom of speech and expression, (2) Freedom to worship God in
one's own way, (3) Freedom from want, (4) Freedom from fear.
Shakespeare : The greatest English poet and dramatist. He was born at Stratford-on-Avon. He first
appeared before the public as a poet in 1593 with his Venus and Adonis. His faMous plays are
Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Julious Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra etc. He died at the age of 52.
Sigmund Freud : He is considered to be the father of modern psychological school. The
interpretation of Dreams, Psychopathology of Everyday Life, The Ego and the Id are some of his
famous works.
Sun Yat-sen : The founder and first President of Chinese Republic played a prominent part in the
1911 Revolution of China
Vladimir Lenin : Founder of modern Communist Russia who was responsible for the successful
Soviet revolution of October- November 1917. He wrote "Not a single problem of a class struggle has
ever been solved in history except by violence". Lenin's mausoleum is in Red Square, Moscow.
LEGAL TERMS
Adult Suffrage : is the right of voting in political elections granted to every adult person male or
female without distinction of caste, creed, colour or holding of any property or qualification etc.
Affidavit : a statement on oath for use as evidence in a Judicial process.
Alibi : elsewhere a legal plea that the accused was not presented at the time and place of
occurrence.
All Rights Reserved : Printed intimation in any book or literary work notifying that the owner of the
copyright was legally protected his rights against infringement.
Amnesty : a general pardon that is granted to the prisoners generally during a major national
celebration
Coup d'etat : is a violent and sudden change of Government usually by the force of arms.
Court martial : a court of military or naval officers to try persons for breach of military discipline
according to military law.
Defacto : actually : which actually functions though it may not have any legal sanction.
Extradition : delivering a national of another country for trial or offences.
Genocide : the willful extermination of a minority or a religious community or race by mass killing or
by passing repressive measures.
INTERPOL : International Police Headquarters. Lyons (Paris).
Limited Company : is one in which the shareholders' responsibility is limited to the extent of
their shares in it.
Limited liability : liability of the shareholders of a company is limited to the extent of the value of
their shares.
Moratorium : an order authorising postponement of payment of dues without imposition of
punishment.
NOBLE PRIZES
1906 Camillo Golgi Medicine 1975 Renato Dulbecco medicine
1906 Giosuè Carducci literature 1975 Eugenio Montale literature
1907 Ernesto Teodoro Moneta peace 1984 Carlo Rubbia physics
1909 Guglielmo Marconi physics 1985 Franco Modigliani economics
1926 Grazia Deledda literature 1986 Rita Levi-Montalcini medicine
1934 Luigi Pirandello literature 1997 Dario Fo literature
1938 Enrico Fermi physics 2002 Riccardo Giacconi physics
1957 Daniel Bovet medicine 2007 Mario Capecchi medicine
1959 Emilio Gino Segre physics
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo literature
1963 Giulio Natta chemistry
1969 Salvador Luria medicine
SEVEN WONDERS OF TODAY
1. The Taj Mahal of Agra, India.
2. The Great Pyramid of Egypt and the adjacent Great
Sphinx of Gizeh.
3. Hagia Sophia, 6th Century, in present day Istanbul.
4. Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy.
5. The Eiffel Tower, Paris.
6. The Washington Monument, Washington.
7. The Empire State Building, New York City.
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
1. The Pyramids of Khufu
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
4. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
5. The Mausolus at Halicarnassus
6. The Colossus of Rhodes
7. The Pharos (Lighthouse) at Alexandria
RECORDS
ARCHIPELAGO
Largest: Indonesia
CITY
Highest City: Wenchuan (China) Largest City in Population: Shanghai (China)
CONTINENT
Largest Continent: Asia Smallest Continent: Oceania
COUNTRY
Largest in Population: China followed by india Largest in Area: Russia
DESERT
Largest Desert: Sahara (Africa) Coldest Desert: Antarctica Largest Desert in Asia: Gobi (Mongolia)
GULF
Largest Gulf: Gulf of Mexico
ISLAND
Largest Island: Greenland Largest Group of Islands: Malaya Archipelago
LAKE
Largest Salt Water Lake: Caspian Sea Deepest Lake: Lake Baikal (Siberia) 701 mts
Highest Lake: Titicaca (Bolivia) 3854 metres above sea level.
MOUNTAINS
Longest Mountain Range: Mt. Andes (South America) (8,800 km) Highest Peak: Everest Nepal
Highest Mountain Range: Himalayas
MOSQUE, CATHEDRAL, TEMPLE
Largest Mosque: Umayyad Mosque. Damascus, Syria.
Largest Cathedral: Diocese of New York
Largest Temple: Angkor Wat. 162.6 ha area (Cambodia)
OCEAN
Deepest, Largest & Biggest: The Pacific Ocean
PALACE
Biggest Palace: Vatican Palace, Rome (Italy)
PENINSULA
Largest Peninsula: Arabia
PLATEAU
Highest Plateau: Pamir (Tibet)
Largest Park: Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada (17,560 Sq.miles)
PLANETS
Largest, Biggest & heaviest: Jupiter Smallest Planet: Mercury Brightest Planet: Venus Coldest Planet:
Pluto Planet Farthest (from the Sun): Pluto Planet Nearest (to the Sun): Mercury
RIVER
Longest River: The Nile (Egypt)Largest River in Volume: Amazon (Brazil, South America)
STATE
Smallest Independent: Vatican State
STATUE
Tallest Statue: Statue of Liberty, New York
STAR
Biggest and Brightest: 'Sirius' also called Dog Star
TOWER
Highest Tower: 1. Tokyo Television Tower (Japan), 2. Eiffel Tower (Paris, France)
UNIVERSITY
Oldest University: University of Karueein founded in AD 859, Morocco
Eu countries with capitals
Denmark (Copenhagen) Sweden (Stockholm) Finland (Helsinki) Norway (Oslo)
Iceland (Reykjavik) Kosovo (Pristina) Slovenia (Ljubljana) Albania (Tirana)
Croatia (Zagreb) North Macedonia (Skopje) Bulgaria (Sofia) Bosnia and Herzegovina
(Sarajevo )Montenegro (Podgorica) Romania (Bucharest) Serbia (Belgrade) Andorra
(Andorra la Vella) Austria (Vienna) Germany (Berlin) Belgium (Brussels) France (Paris)
Italy (Rome) Greece (Athens) Ireland (Dublin) Malta (Valletta) Liechtenstein (Vaduz)
Luxembourg (Luxembourg) Portugal (Lisbon) Monaco (No official capital) Netherlands
(Amsterdam) Switzerland (Bern) San Marino (San Marino) Spain (Madrid) United Kingdom
(London) Turkey (Ankara) Azerbaijan (Baku) Belarus (Minsk) Serbia (Belgrade) Slovakia
(Bratislava) Ukraine (Kiev) Poland (Warsaw) Republic of Moldova (Chișinău) Russia
(Moscow) Czech Republic (Prague) Estonia (Tallinn) Georgia (Tbilisi) Hungary (Budapest)
Latvia (Riga) Lithuania (Vilnius) Armenia (Yerevan)

CONGRESS OF VIENNA
After Napoleon was defeated, the great victorious countries like Prussia, Russia, Austria and England
met at Vienna between 1814 and 1815 to establish the relationships between the European States.
The most important aspects were the restoration of absolutism based on the principle of legitimacy,
intervention on behalf of the defence of this principle and establishing new frontiers 'in the distribution
of the French Empire based on the principle of balance. Spain, excluded from the Treaty of Paris from
1814 gets to Vienna as a second power and without any power to negotiate between others whose
diplomats had established and signed the agreements beforehand.
Along the negotiation months, the forces reorganised. France is the leading signature of the
Congress. Once the negotiation period is over, Spain refuses to sign the minute due to the
impossibility of assuming the succession to the Duchy of Parma. He ended up signing the Minutes of
the Vienna Congress in 1817 three days after signing his commitment to the Holy Alliance.
The Treaty of the Holy Alliance was an initiative of the tsar Alexander I that sought for Christian unity
on the defence of absolutism, but it was also an instrument from Russia against the British foreign
policy. It was signed in 1815 by Austria's emperor Francis I (Florence, Italy, 1768-Vienna, Austria,
1835), the king Frederick William I of Prussia (Potsdam, Germany, 1770- Berlin, Germany, 1840) and
the tsar. Ferdinand VII signed the treaty a year after thanks to the Russian plenipotentiary Tatischeff
(1767-1845) very close to the Spanish monarch.
Vienna was the first of a series of congresses that were held among the main powers, including
France in order to avoid the advancement of liberalism. The next ones were held in Aachen (1818),
Troppau (1820), Leibach (1820-1821) and Verona (1822).
The Latin American independence movements were seen with concern by the European powers
since they were looking to maintain the integrity of the traditional monarchies. However, England
wanted to take advantage of the commercial opportunities that were on the horizon and also defended
the slavery abolition. In August 1818, Spain asked for the intervention of the European powers in
exchange of a general amnesty, free trade, equality in the American positions and predisposition to
adopt the necessary measures proposed by allies. A few months later, the Spanish policy changed
and in the Congress of Aachen, held between October and November of that year, the allies proposed
the intervention of all powers of America. Spain rejected it.
The revolutionary wave of 1820 had as a result a reaction from the European powers. At the Troppau
Congress, held in 1822, Austria, Prussia and Russia agreed to a military intervention in the countries
where a revolutionary government turned victorious. Finally, Austria is in charge of the intervention
with the aim to suffocate the Naples revolution. A month later the Congress of Leibach started and
France was pushed to intervene against the Spanish liberal government, but nothing was done.
Finally, the French intervention in Spain was decided in the Congress of Verona, held in October
1822. The following April 7, the troops of the Duke of Angulema cross the Pyrenees to restore
Ferdinand VII in his absolutist throne.
Two years later, Spain asks for military support to France in order to suffocate the Latin American
independence movements and the allies are called up for a conference in Paris to discuss the issue.
Nonetheless England announces its intention to acknowledge the independence.

ITALiAN UNIFICATION
For many centuries, the Italian peninsula was a politically fragmented conglomeration of states. This
was the case when the United States announced its independence from Great Britain in 1776. When
war broke out between Austria and the Revolutionary French Government in 1792, the French
invaded ' the Italian peninsula, consolidated many of the Italian states, and established them as
republics. In 1799 the Austrian and Russian armies pushed the French out of the Italian peninsula,
which led to the demise of the fledgling republics.
After Napoleon's rise to power, the Italian peninsula was once again conquered by the French. Under
Napoleon, the peninsula was divided into three entities: the northern parts which were annexed to the
French Empire (Piedmont, Liguria, Parma, Piacenza, Tuscany, and Rome), the newly created
Kingdom of Italy (Lombardy, Venice, Reggio, Modena, Romagna, and the Marshes) ruled by
Napoleon himself, and the Kingdom of Naples, which was first ruled by Napoleon's brother Joseph
Bonaparte, but then passed to Napoleon's brother-in-law Joachim Murat.
The period of French invasion and occupation was important in many ways. It introduced
revolutionary ideas about government and society, resulting in an overthrow of the old established
ruling orders and the destruction of the last vestiges of feudalism. The ideals of freedom and equality
were very influential. Also of consequence, the concept of nationalism was introduced, thus sowing
the seeds of Italian nationalism throughout most parts of the northern and central Italian peninsula.
With the downfall of Napoleon in 1814 and the redistribution of territory by the Congress of Vienna
(1814-15), most of the Italian states were reconstituted: the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (often
referred to as Sardinia), the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Parma, the Papal States, and the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (fused together from the old Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily).
These were largely conservative regimes, presided over by the old social orders.
Although the Italian peninsula remained fragmented through the mid-1800s, the concept of a united
Italy began to take root. Secret societies formed to oppose the conservative regimes. Several of these
societies also promoted Italian nationalism and the idea of a unified Italian political state. One such
society was the group Young Italy, founded in 1831 by Guiseppe Mazzini. Mazzini was an ardent
advocate of the necessity for Italian unification through the desires and actions of the Italian people.
Thus, the movement of Italian unification, a process referred to as the Risorgimento (resurgence) ,
proliferated by mid-century.
The revolutions of 1848 ignited nationalist sentiment throughout the Italian peninsula. There were
widespread uprisings in several Italian cities that year, mostly by the professional classes (such as
doctors, lawyers, shopkeepers) as well as students. Lombardy-Venetia and Milan tried to rise up
against Austrian rule. Although the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia sent troops to aid the revolt, it was
crushed by the Austrians at Custoza in July 1848. The Italian uprisings were unsuccessful and by
1849 the old regimes were once again in place.
Yet, the idea of the Risorgimento continued to gain adherents after 1848. The final push for Italian
unification came in 1859, led by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (then the wealthiest and most
liberal of the Italian states), and orchestrated by Piedmont-Sardinia's Prime Minister, Count Camillo di
Cavour. A skilled diplomat, Cavour secured an alliance with France. The Franco-Austrian War of 1859
was the agent that began the physical process of Italian unification. The Austrians were defeated by
the French and Piedmontese at Magenta and Solferino, and thus relinquished Lombardy. By the end
of the year Lombardy was added to the holdings of Piedmont-Sardinia.
The northern Italian states held elections in 1859 and 1860 and voted to join the Kingdom of
Piedmont-Sardinia, a major step towards unification, while Piedmont-Sardinia ceded Savoy and Nice
to France. Giuseppi Garibaldi, a native of Piedmont-Sardinia, was instrumental in bringing the
southern Italian states into the unification process. In 1860, Garibaldi cobbled together an army
(referred to as the 'Thousand") to march into the southern part of the peninsula. Landing first in Sicily
and then moving onwards into Naples, Garibaldi and his men overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and
turned over the southern territories to Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia. In early 1861 a
national parliament convened and proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy, with Victor Emmanuel II as its
king. At this point, there were only two major territories outside of the parameters of the new Kingdom
of Italy: Rome and Venetia.
In 1866 Italy joined Prussia in a campaign against Austria (the 1866 Austro-Prussian War) and thus
won Venetia. In 1870, taking advantage of the fact that France (the country responsible at the time for
guarding the Papal States) was distracted by involvement in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71 ), the
Italian army entered Rome. That year, Rome and the Papal States were incorporated into Italy and
the Risorgimento completed. During the summer of 1871, the Italian capital moved to Rome from
Florence (it was moved from Turin to Florence in 1865).
Franco-Austrian War, 1859.
After striking an alliance with Napoleon Ill's France, Piedmont-Sardinia provoked Austria to declare
war in 1859, thus launching the conflict that served to unify the northern Italian states together against
their common enemy: the Austrian Army. The Austrians suffered military defeats at Magenta and
Solferino, and a ceasefire was agreed to at Villafranca. In the peace negotiations, Austria ceded
Lombardy to France, which then ceded it to Piedmont-Sardinia
Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, 1861.
The aftermath of the Franco-Austrian War brought about a series of plebiscites in the northern Italian
states. By going to the ballot box, the states voted to join Piedmont-Sardinia, with the ultimate goal of
unifying the entire peninsula. It should be noted that Piedmont-Sardinia was one of the more powerful
states in the peninsula, as well as having one of the most liberal political systems. Garibaldi's march
to "liberate" the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1860 brought the southern peninsula into the fold , and
the new Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on March 17, 1861, with the royal family of
Piedmont-Sardinia as the new ruling monarchs of Italy.
The Kingdom of Italy added Venetia to its holdings in 1866 following the Austrian defeat in the 1866
Austro-Prussian War.
Incorporation of Rome, 1870.
French troops were the main barrier to Italian occupation of the Papal States after 1867; however,
when Prussia declared war upon France in the summer of 1870, the Italians took advantage of the
situation. With French resources allocated to the struggle of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71 ),
Napoleon Ill ordered his troops out of the Italian peninsula. The Italians entered the Papal States in
September 1870 and, through the backing of a plebiscite held in early October, annexed the Papal
States and Rome to the Kingdom of Italy.
ITALY IN FIRST WORLD WAR
Italy's involvement in World War I is often neglected with the Western and Eastern Fronts being the
focal points of remembrance, but for the Italians, their involvement in WWI caused significant loss and
human suffering. Italy joined the war in April 1915 and by the end of the war, it is estimated that
600,000 Italians were dead in combat and more than a million were wounded or crippled. The Italian
government spent more. on the war than it had in the previous 50 years. The war debt, food
shortages, bad harvests and significant inflationary increases effectively bankrupted the country, with
an estimated half a million civilians dying. In addition, the territorial gains were small in comparison to
the monetary cost of the war- the debt contracted to pay for the war's expenses was finally paid back
in the 1970s.
Leading up to WWI, Italy had formed an alliance with the Central Powers of the German Empire and
the Empire of Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance. Italy should have joined the side of the Central
Powers when war broke out in August 1914 but instead declared neutrality. The Italian government
had become convinced that support of the Central Powers would not gain Italy the territories she
wanted as they were Austrian possessions - Italy's old adversary. Instead, over the course of the
months that followed, Italy's leaders considered how to gain the greatest benefit from participation in
the war. In 1915, Italy signed the secret Treaty of London and came into the war on the side of the
Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia). By its terms, Italy would receive control over territory on its
border with Austria-Hungary stretches from Trentino through the South Tyrol to Trieste as well as
other areas. The Triple Entente countries saw a way of weakening the Central Powers by opening up
a new front and thus splitting them still further with a Western, Eastern and now Southern Front. The
success of this depended on Italy making military progress into Austro-Hungary in the south, but this
did not transpire.
Italy had only become a unified nation in 1859, and so, like Russia, was not yet a fully industrialised
power and was still largely an agricultural country, with a weak economy. It lacked both the large
military and the industrial base of her enemies and was certainly not prepared for large-scale warfare.
The new front was along Italy's northern border which was 400 miles long, mostly in the mountainous
Italian Alps and along the isonzo river. Despite being numerically superior, the Italian army were
poorly equipped, lacked strategic leadership and were unable to move equipment and supply lines
quickly. In addition to which, the Austrians owned the higher ground and so consequently, after
several quick Italian successes on the lsonzo front, combat settled into stalemate. As in the Western
Front, it became trench warfare with the Italian army repeatedly attacking Austria, making little or no
progress and suffering heavy losses. However, unlike the Western Front, the main difference was the
fact that the trenches had to be dug in the Alpine rocks and glaciers instead of in the mud and often
up to 3,000 m of altitude.
Between 1915 and 1917, Italian troops only advanced 1 O miles inside Austrian territory, having
launched eleven offences in lsonzo with heavy losses on both sides. The frequency of offences for
which theItalian soldiers partook, one every three months, was higher than demanded by the armies
on the Western Front and had a significant effect on morale. During this stalemate, in 1916 the
Austro-Hungarian army counter-attacked in the Battle of Asiago in Trentino, which also failed. In late
October 1917, Germany intervened to help Austro-Hungary, by moving seven divisions from the
Eastern Front when Russia withdrew from the war. This resulted in a victory over the Italians in the
Battle of Caporetto (otherwise known as the Twelfth Battle of the lsonzo). When the battle had run its
course, 11,000 Italians were dead, more than a quarter-million had been taken prisoner and Italy had
retreated well behind their original lines. Caporetto was an unmitigated disaster and the whole Italian
front along the lsonzo disintegrated, sparking a crisis in Italy. With the Central Powers now threatening
Italy's territory, the Government changed tactics and implemented more defensive military strategies,
replaced the Chief-of-Staff, improved soldier morale and Allied troops arrived (mainly British and
French) to reinforce the front.
In the spring of 1918, Germany pulled out its troops for use in its upcoming Spring Offensive on the
Western Front and due to increased civil unrest in Austro-Hungary, the Italian and Allied troops
attacked on 24th October 1918. The Austro-Hungarian army finally broke, and the Allies drove deep
into Austria, becoming the first troops to cross the pre-war boundaries. Once the line was broken, the
advance was so fast that the Allied supply lines took two days to reach the troops at the front pushing
into enemy territory. Austria asked for an armistice which was signed on 4th November 1918, a week
before the general armistice. It is an often overlooked part of WWI history that the British fought
alongside the Italians but in the mountains around Asiago in northern Italy, there are 712 British
soldiers who now lie in cemeteries.
After the war ended, at the Paris Peace Conference that led to the Versailles Treaty, the Italian
government struggled against the other Allied leaders, the Big Three (Britain, France and the US), to
gain all that they believed had been promised to them. Although Italy did receive control of most of the
European requests, they failed to gain their colonial ambitions and felt they did not get what they had
been promised. This engendered resentment towards the Allied countries, especially as Italians felt
they had paid a high price, in terms of men and money, fighting for the Allies. These resentments
helped drive the success of Benito Mussolini and his fascist movement - four years after the war,
Mussolini and his blackshirts gained power.
ITALY IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
After a series of riots in 1922 King Victor Emmanuel Ill appointed Benito Mussolini in an attempt to
prevent a communist revolution in Italy. Mussolini headed a coalition of fascists and nationalists and
The parliamentary government continued until the murder of the socialist leader, Giacomo Matteotti in
1924. Left-wing parties were suppressed and in 1929 Italy became a one-party state. Mussolini
carried out an extensive public-works programme and the fall in unemployment made him a popular
figure in Italy.Italy controlled Eritrea and Somalia in Africa but had failed several times to colonize
neighbouring Ethiopia. When Benito Mussolini came to power he was determined to show the
strength of his regime by occupying the country. In October 1935 Mussolini sent in General Pietro
Badoglio and the Italian Army into Ethiopia.
The League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and in November imposed sanctions. This
included an attempt to ban countries from selling arms, rubber and some metals to Italy. Some
political leaders in France and Britain opposed sanctions arguing that it might persuade Mussolini to
form an alliance with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Over 400,000 Italian troops fought in Ethiopia. The poorly armed Ethiopians were no match for Italy's
modern tanks and aeroplanes. The Italians even used mustard gas on the home forces and were able
to capture Addis Ababa, the capital of the country, in May 1936, forcing Emperor Haile Selassie to flee
to England.
Adolf Hitler had been inspired by Mussolini's achievements and once he gained power in Germany he
sought a close relationship with Italy. In October 1936 the two men signed a non-military alliance.
In 1939 Italy invaded Albania and soon afterwards Benito Mussolini signed a full defensive alliance
with Nazi Germany (the Pact of Steel). However, Mussolini did not declare war on Britain and France
until 10th June 1940.
Mussolini already had over a million men in the Italian Army based in Libya. In neighbouring Egypt the
The British Army had only 36,000 men guarding the Suez Canal and the Arabian oil fields. On 13th
September, 1940, Marshall Rodolfo Graziani and five Italian divisions began a rapid advance into
Egypt but halted in front of the main British defences at Mersa Matruh.
In October 1940, Benito Mussolini declared war on Greece. Attempts by the Italian Army to invade
Greece ended in failure. The war was also going badly in North Africa. Although outnumbered,
General Archibald Wavell ordered a British counter-offensive on 9th December, 1940. The Italians
suffered heavy casualties and were pushed back more than 800 km (500 miles). British troops moved
along the coast and on 22nd January, 1941, they captured the port of T obruk in Libya from the
Italians.
By the end of 1941 Italy was totally dependent on Nazi Germany. The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Galaezzo Ciano became increasingly dissatisfied with the way Mussolini was running the country.
After a series of heated arguments with Mussolini, Ciano resigned in February, 1943.
At the Casablanca Conference Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt discussed ways of taking
Italy out of the war. It was eventually decided to launch an invasion of Sicily, an island in the
Mediterranean Sea, south-west of Italy. It was hoped that if the island was taken Benito Mussolini
would be ousted from power. It was also argued that a successful invasion would force Adolf Hitler to
send troops from the Eastern Front and help to relieve pressure on the Red Army in the Soviet Union.
The operation was placed under the supreme command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. General
Harold Alexander was commander of ground operations and his 15th Army Group included General
George Patton (US 7th Army) and General Bernard Montgomery (8th Army). Admiral Andrew
Cunningham was in charge of naval operations and Air Marshal Arthur Tedder was air commander.
On 10th July 1943, the 8th Army landed at five points on the south-eastern tip of the island and the
US 7th Army at three beaches to the west of the British forces. The Allied troops met little opposition
and Patton and his troops quickly took Gela, Licata and Vittoria. The British landings were also
unopposed and Syracuse was taken on the same day. This was followed by Palazzolo (11th July),
Augusta (13th July) and Vizzini (14th July), whereas the US troops took the Biscani airfield and
Niscemi (14th July).
General George Patton now moved to the west of the island and General Omar Bradley headed north
and the German Army was forced to retreat behind the Simeto River. Patton took Palermo on 22nd
July cutting off 50,000 Italian troops in the west of the island. Patton now turned east along the
northern coast of the island towards the port of Messina.
Meanwhile General Bernard Montgomery and the 8th Army were being held up by German forces
under Field Marshal Albrecht Kesselring. The Allies carried out several amphibious assaults
attempting to cut off the Germans but they were unable to stop the evacuation across the Messina
Straits to the Italian mainl~nd. This included 40,000 German and 60,000 Italian troops, as well as
10,000 German vehicles and 47 tanks.
The loss of Sicily created serious problems for Benito Mussolini. It was now clear that the Allies would
use the island as a base for invading Italy. A meeting of the Fascist Grand Council was held on 24th
July and Galaezzo Ciano got support for his idea that Italy should sign a separate peace with the
Allies. The following day Victor Emmanuel Ill told Mussolini he was dismissed from office. His
successor, Pietro Badoglio, declared martial law and placed Mussolini under arrest.
On 3rd September, 1943, General Bernard Montgomery and the 8th Army landed at Reggio. There
was little resistance and later that day British warships landed the 1st Parachute Division at Taranto.
Six days later the US 6th Corps arrived at Salerno. These troops faced heavy bombardment from
German troops and the beachhead was not secured until 20th September.
While the Allies were arriving in Italy, Adolf Hitler sent Otto Skorzeny and a group of airborne
commandos to rescue Mussolini, who was being held in the Abruzzi Apennines. Mussolini was soon
freed and Skorzeny flew him to safety. After a short spell in Germany Mussolini was sent to Gargnano
in German- occupied northern Italy where he established the fascist Salo Republic.
On 23rd September 1943, Pietro Badoglio and General Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Italian
surrender aboard Nelson off Malta. The German Army continued to fight ferociously in southern
Italyand the Allied armies made only slow progress as the moved north towards Rome. The 5th Army
took Naples on 1st October and later that day the 8th Army captured the F oggia airfields.
In danger of being captured by the German forces, Badoglio and the Italian royal family were forced to
escape to Pescara where a government was set up under the protection of the Allies. On 13th
October the Italian government declared war on Germany.
General Albrecht Kesselring now withdrew his forces to what became known as the Gustav Line on
the Italian peninsula south of Rome. Organized along the Garigliano and Rapido rivers it included
Monte Cassino, a hilltop site of a sixth-century Benedictine monastery. Defended by 15 German
divisions the line was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers, turreted machine-gun emplacements,
barbed-wire and minefields. In December 1943, the Allies suffered heavy losses while trying to
capture the monastery.
In January 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Harold Alexander, Supreme Allied
Commander in Italy, ordered a new Cassino offensive combined with an amphibious operation at
Anzio, a small port on the west coast of Italy. The main objective of the operation was to cut the
communication lines of the German 10th Army and force a withdrawal from the Gustav Line.
Attacks on Monte Cassino on 17th January resulted in the Germans reserves moving to the Gustav
Line and on 22nd January troops led by General John Lucas landed at Anzio. Lucas decided not to
push straight away to the Alban Hills. This enabled General Heinrich Vietinghoff to order the 14th
Army to return to the area and contain the 6th Corps on the Anzio bridgehead.
On 12th February the exhausted US Army at Cassino were replaced by the New Zealand Corps.
Alexander now decided to use these fresh troops in another attempt to capture Cassino. General
Bernard Freyberg, who was in charge of the infantry attack, asked for the monastery to be bombed.
Despite claims by troops on the front-line that no fire had come from the monastery, General Harold
Alexander agreed and it was destroyed by the United States Air Force on 15th February, 1944.
Once the monastery had been bombed, the German Army moved into the ruins. As Basil Liddell
Hartpointed out later in his book The Other Side of the Hill the bombing "turned out entirely to the
tactical benefit of the Germans. For after that they felt free to occupy the ruins, and the rubble
provided mud better defensive cover than the Monastery would have been before its destruction. As
anyone with experience of street-fighting knows, it is only when buildings are demolished that they are
converted from mouse traps into bastions of defence."
On 18th May, 1944, Allied troops led by General Wladyslaw Anders (Polish Corps) and General
Alphonse Juin (French Corps) captured Monte Cassino. This opened a corridor for Allied troops and
they reached Anzio on 24th May. The German defence now began to disintegrate and General Harold
Alexander Ordered General Mark Clark to trap and destroy the retreating 10th Army. Clark ignored
this order and instead headed for Rome and liberated the city on the 4th June.
After the capture of Rome Pietro Badoglio resigned and Ivanoe Bonomi formed a new government. In
an attempt to unite the country against Benito Mussolini, Bonomi's government included long-time
campaigners against fascism such as Carlo Sforza , Benedetto Croce and Palmira Togliatti, the leader
of the Italian Communist Party.
The Allied armies now pursued the German 10th Army and took Grosseto (16th June), Assisi (18th
June), Perugia (20th June), Florence (12th August), Rimini (21st September), Lorenzo (11th October)
until being held on the Gothic Line in the northern Apennines. The arrival of winter weather meant that
a renewed offensive did not begin until 9th April, 1945.
On 23rd April the 8th Army began to cross the River Po at Mantua. German resistance now began to
collapse and Parma and Verona were taken and partisan uprisings began in Milan and Genoa.
With Allied troops approaching, Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, attempted to escape
to Switzerland. They were captured at Lake Como by Italian partisans on 27th April, 1945. The
following day they were shot and their bodies displayed in public in Milan.
German resistance came to an end on 29th April and General Karl Wolff, who had unofficially been
negotiating with the Allies for some time, signed a treaty of unconditional surrender at Caserta on 29th
May. Two days later General Heinrich Vietinghoff, commander of all German troops in Italy, agreed to
the terms signed by Wolff at Caserta.
The cold war

The korean war

The vietnam war

Iran Iraq war

The first gulf war

BALKAN WARS 1912-1913

THE SECOND GULF WAR (IRAQ WAR)

THE ARAB SPRING

LITERATURE
1. Which Shakespearean plays feature the character Lady macbeth? MACBETH
2. The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogy was written by which author? John
Ronald Reuel Tolkien, an english writer
3. Which of the following phosphate containing salts is possible? The catcher in the rye
by Holden Caulfield, a protagonist and a novel narrator.
4. The author of Brave new world? Aldous Huxley publish in 1932
5. The road not taken written by an American poet? Robert Frost wrote this as a joke for
a friend.
6. Author of 1984? George orwell english author
7. Which famous novel by Leo Tolstoy explores the theme of love, infidelity, and the
meaning of life in 19th century Russia? Anna Karenina
8. Frankenstein, or the modern prometheus is an 1818 novel by english author Mary
Shelley, the story of victor Frankenstein a young scientist who creates hideous
sapient creatures in an unorthodox scientific experiment.
9. Opening line is call me ishmael of Mody Dick
10. One hundred years of solitude by garcia marquez, the winner of nobel prize in
literature.
11. The divine comedy poem written by dante aligheri
12. Six characters in search of an author and enrico IV famous work of Luigi Priandello
13. The mandrake, a comedy about lust greed and deception, by Niccolo Machiavelli
14. The cloven viscount and the nonexistent knight by Italo Calvino
15. The leopard, epic historical novel, by Tomasi di lampedusa nobel prize in literature
16. The iron lady first female prime minister of italy, was Silvio Berlusconi
17. Canti by Giacomo Leopardi
18. Love story of lorenzo and lucrezia, in Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
19. Pride and prejudice by jane austen
20. To kill a mockingbird by harper lee
21. The last supper painted by leonardo da vinci
22. The ceiling of sistine chapel painted by michelangelo
23. Harry potter by J.K. rowling
24. The persistence of memory painted by Salvador Dali
25. The great gatsby written by F. scott Fitzegerald
26. The scream painted by edvard munch
Landmarks of europe
1. Eiffel tower built in 1889 in paris france
2. The colosseum is the world's largest amphitheatre in rome italy
3. Castle Hill castle is historical castle on a hill of edinburgh scotland
4. Sagrada Familia is a famous cathedral who is under construction after more than 100
years in barcelona spain
5. The parthenon is the ancient greek temple located in acropolis in athens greece
6. Palace of versailles is the famous palace in versailles france from 1682 to 1789
7. Big ben is the largest clock tower located in london england
8. The tower bridge is iconic bridge crosses river thames in london england
9. Venice italy is famous for gondola and canals
10. The royal palace of madrid is famous palace in madrid spain
11. Trevi fountain is the ;largest baroque fountain in the city rome italy
12. Sydney opera house is the famous opera house in the heart of sydney australia
13. Statue of liberty is a gift from france to us located in new york city
14. St. peter's basilica is the famous church in rome italy
15. The louvre museum is famous museum in paris france home to mona lisa painting by
leonardo da vinci
16. Christ the redeemer is located in city rio de janeiro
17. Charles bridge historica; bridge located in prague
18. Neuschwanstein castle a fairy tale castle in germany
19. The little mermaid statue located in copenhagen
20. Anna frank house museum in amsterdam
21. Giant's causeway in northern ireland
22. Pare guell is a park with artistic elements located in barcelona
23. Catherine palace is located in russia
24. The atomium brussels
25. Machu picchu ancient city in peru
26. Golden gate bridge in san francisco
27. Taj mahal in agra india
28. Statue of liberty design by frederic auguste bartholdi