User:Azn Onslaught/sandbox

The Siege of Venice took place from 10 February, 1869 to 5 June, 1871 when Italian forces attempted to force unification between Italy and Venice. It would be the last major conflict of the Italian Unification period and one of the bloodiest. While Italian forces were able to defeat the much smaller Venetian forces on the continent, the Venetian Lagoon proved to be a formidable obstacle allowing the Venetians to hold for well over two years. Italian victory was achieved only when Venice surrendered on the behest of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria who withdrew Austrian naval support that had prevented an Italian naval blockade of the city.

Background
In 1869 only two other states remained on the Italian Peninsula apart from the Kingdom of Italy. The Papal States in Rome and the Venetian Republic in Venice. Previous states had succumbed quickly to unification through a combination of Italian military expeditions and internal strife caused by rising Risorgimento. The Papal States and the Venetian Republic were able to resist Risorgimento in their cities due to substantial public support for the Pope and Doge respectively. Thus the only option to integrate the Papal States and the Venetian Republic would be through an Italian expedition. The Papal States would fall on the 20 September 1870 as the defenses of Rome were not adequate enough to resist the massive Italian army.