Crimea's history has been related to my city, Turin, and the unification of Italy.
In 1854, Vittorio Emanuele II, king of Piedmont - Sardinia and later king of Italy, sent 18000 soldiers in Crimea siding the French, the Ottoman and the British Empire against the Russian Empire, thus gaining the participation at the peace conference, where it could address the issue of the Risorgimento (the process who built the Italian nation) to other European powers. This mission led, as astutely expected, to the commitment of the French Empire to side Piedmont - Sardinia in the second Independence war, defeating the Austrians (who were occupying the north east of Italy), and thus starting the unification process of Italy.
This is why in our city you can find Piazza Crimea, Corso Sebastopoli, Via Cernaia (from the battle of Čërnaja rečka) and Via La Marmora (the piedmontese general who won the battle).
In the same way, our city still has plenty of streets and monuments named after battle fields and generals which should keep the flame of the Italian Risorgimento alive.
All these rhetorical reminiscences make me think of how building our nation wasn't just a revolution of the Italian people and the intellectuals, but, most of all, the invasion of our peninsula by a dynasty of kings looking more for military success than fighting for the freedom of the Italian people.
And I think that, if any of the key battles had a different fate, the events would have gone totally in another direction, and today Italy would still be split into many countries.
So, if Piedmont hadn't sent those 18000 soldiers to Crimea in 1854, today a unified Italy would perhaps not exist, and, maybe, I would be an Austrian citizen and Risorgimento would sound like a failed attempt of destabilisation in our history books approved by the Austrian minister for Education.
Would it really make the difference?
Maybe not.
Maybe we would be a respected minority in a multi ethnic nation, which is what European countries should be today.
Similarly, switching back to Crimea, I think that nowadays what makes the real difference for its people is not the success of one or the other side, but the choice of political leaders between attempting to build a multinational and peaceful Ukraine or the drifting to a Russian - nationalist secessionist republic, leading to a process of disgregation of all Ukraine.
People's and politicians' choice in Crimea can make the difference.
They could decide to create the "Russian Republic of Crimea", thus making all the Ukrainians and other non-Russian ethnicities a minority in a nationalistic country. In the same time the rest of Ukraine would become a more ethnically homogeneous country where the remaining Russians would be less represented than today, and this would lead to further attempts of secessionism in the eastern provinces, thus giving the rest of Ukraine further homogenity, and even less representation for the Russians leaving in the rest of the country... and so on. I'm thinking of Jugoslavia.
Otherwise, Crimea can choose to remain an autonomous republic, demanding for a more multi-ethnical Ukraine, where Russians and other minorities have more rights and leave with Ukrainians in peace.
In 1854, Vittorio Emanuele II, king of Piedmont - Sardinia and later king of Italy, sent 18000 soldiers in Crimea siding the French, the Ottoman and the British Empire against the Russian Empire, thus gaining the participation at the peace conference, where it could address the issue of the Risorgimento (the process who built the Italian nation) to other European powers. This mission led, as astutely expected, to the commitment of the French Empire to side Piedmont - Sardinia in the second Independence war, defeating the Austrians (who were occupying the north east of Italy), and thus starting the unification process of Italy.
This is why in our city you can find Piazza Crimea, Corso Sebastopoli, Via Cernaia (from the battle of Čërnaja rečka) and Via La Marmora (the piedmontese general who won the battle).
In the same way, our city still has plenty of streets and monuments named after battle fields and generals which should keep the flame of the Italian Risorgimento alive.
All these rhetorical reminiscences make me think of how building our nation wasn't just a revolution of the Italian people and the intellectuals, but, most of all, the invasion of our peninsula by a dynasty of kings looking more for military success than fighting for the freedom of the Italian people.
And I think that, if any of the key battles had a different fate, the events would have gone totally in another direction, and today Italy would still be split into many countries.
So, if Piedmont hadn't sent those 18000 soldiers to Crimea in 1854, today a unified Italy would perhaps not exist, and, maybe, I would be an Austrian citizen and Risorgimento would sound like a failed attempt of destabilisation in our history books approved by the Austrian minister for Education.
Maybe not.
Maybe we would be a respected minority in a multi ethnic nation, which is what European countries should be today.
Similarly, switching back to Crimea, I think that nowadays what makes the real difference for its people is not the success of one or the other side, but the choice of political leaders between attempting to build a multinational and peaceful Ukraine or the drifting to a Russian - nationalist secessionist republic, leading to a process of disgregation of all Ukraine.
People's and politicians' choice in Crimea can make the difference.
They could decide to create the "Russian Republic of Crimea", thus making all the Ukrainians and other non-Russian ethnicities a minority in a nationalistic country. In the same time the rest of Ukraine would become a more ethnically homogeneous country where the remaining Russians would be less represented than today, and this would lead to further attempts of secessionism in the eastern provinces, thus giving the rest of Ukraine further homogenity, and even less representation for the Russians leaving in the rest of the country... and so on. I'm thinking of Jugoslavia.
Otherwise, Crimea can choose to remain an autonomous republic, demanding for a more multi-ethnical Ukraine, where Russians and other minorities have more rights and leave with Ukrainians in peace.
