Evaluate the impact of the Congress of Vienna on Italy up to 1849.

The question requires that candidates make an appraisal of the impact of the 1814–5 Congress of Vienna and its ensuing treaty on Italy. Some candidates may argue that the immediate impact on Italy was somewhat reactionary: rulers overthrown by Napoleon were swiftly restored as was Austrian influence—both directly and indirectly—in the central duchies and northern Italy (Lombardy and Venetia). Other candidates may argue that the impact of the Congress was to invigorate the nationalist societies and the sense of Italian national identity that had emerged under French rule. Conversely, it may be argued that many of the disturbances in Italy in the 1820s, 1830s and in 1848/1849 were due to economic problems or demands for constitutional reform; rather than the desire for Italian unity and the overthrow of the Vienna settlement. The enlargement of Piedmont (Sardinia, Nice and Savoy) arguably enabled Piedmont to challenge Austrian domination of northern Italy and was an unforeseen consequence.