Challenge: Hapsburgs unify Italy

Since usually the task of unifying Italy falls on the Savoia, I'd like to explore some other path.

Your challenge is to have Italy unified under the rule of a member of the Hapsburg family, with a POD after 1815.

The new nation must include all Italy, as per geopgraphical definition, and be a separate nation from Austria-Hungary.
 
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can this so called nation be in perpetual union with Austria and Hungary in a triple crown Austria-Hungary-Italy or would such a union just rename itself the Holy Roman Empire or just Roman Empire considering its size.
 

Susano

Banned
Well, the most logical uniter in this case would be Tuscany, which was under a Habsburg line. Lets say we have an 1848-analogue thats much worse than IOTL, but our alternate Grand-Duke of Tuscany behaves much more cleverly and exploits Italian nationalism to his advantage. Maybe he can thus get Austria to cede Veneto-Lombardia, lest it falls into completly non-Habsburg lands. That should give Tuscany a large enough powerbase and prestige to unite the rest of Italy as Savoy did IOTL.
 
I guess make the Haspurgs realise what the Savoys were planning and then unite their Italian holdings with the Duchies and Tuscany under a Hasburg prince. Have a dramatic war (maybe allied with France) to partition Piedmont (Savoy, nice, and maybe sardinia to France?) and after that encourage the Italian nationalists to cooperate with the new state and have some Mille Expedition analogue or was against two sicillies. The Papal States will be harder, though.
 
Maximilian was Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, and I did a timeline once where Italy was unified from this. Details escape me now, unfortunately but I exchanged my head for a sieve and now the memories just leak out

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Certainly reasonable. Theoretically could get papal blessing, too. Perhaps a spin-off or splinter of the HRE?

What if Gustav II Adolph survives and kicks ass in the *30-yrs war (Protestawank?)? Might a Hapsburg Catholic German prince or HRE look south for his new kingdom?
 
Certainly reasonable. Theoretically could get papal blessing, too. Perhaps a spin-off or splinter of the HRE?

What if Gustav II Adolph survives and kicks ass in the *30-yrs war (Protestawank?)? Might a Hapsburg Catholic German prince or HRE look south for his new kingdom?
Err... OP says PoD after 1815. If it was limitless, then I have a very good scenario for it...
 
Maximilian was Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, and I did a timeline once where Italy was unified from this. Details escape me now, unfortunately but I exchanged my head for a sieve and now the memories just leak out

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
This is my personal favorite avenue for a Habsburg unified Italy. However you need something to cause Franz Joseph to give up Venetia and Milan to Maximilian. Perhaps if he focused more on Germany.
 
Given the relationship of both the Hapsburgs and the Fr. Bourbon's with the Holy See. Isn't any Hapsburg unification likely to be confined only to North Italy, probably under Tuscany....with a remaining southern Bourbon Two Sicilies separated by the P.S.
 
Given the relationship of both the Hapsburgs and the Fr. Bourbon's with the Holy See. Isn't any Hapsburg unification likely to be confined only to North Italy, probably under Tuscany....with a remaining southern Bourbon Two Sicilies separated by the P.S.

What were the relative population/resource base/military tradition of Northern vs Southern Italy? What if a WWI (a bit different due to butterflies, but let's just assume it's similar enough to OTL) has North Italy siding with the Central Powers and South Italy siding with the Entente? Italy joining the Central Powers is generally considered a game winner, but that's not nearly the same as a divided Italy. If Central Powers wins in this case, I think we might be able to wind up with Tuscany uniting Italy, I just don't know if this situation would be enough to give a strong likelyhood of CP victory.
 
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