Papal States

Papal States
Government type	Absolute Monarchy
Ruling party	Restaurazionisti (reactionary)
Capital	Rome (ID 749)
Population	687.82 thousand
Primary culture	South Italian
Accepted cultures	North Italian
Religion	catholic
Literacy	35%
National value	Order
Tech school	Traditional academia
Status	Civilized

The divided Italian states in 1836

The Papal States is a smaller state in central Italy. Despite being the state of the pope, it is treated yet as an Italian minor state. It faces a number of difficulties initially in its quest to unite Italy, mostly derived from the relatively low populations. It starts the game in Frances Sphere of Influence.

Unique decisions and events

Papal states have two unique decisions:

• The Vatican Council
• Edgardo Mortara

They both affect the relations with other states, and give prestige at the cost of infamy.

Papal States has a single unique event

• Rerum Novarum

First steps

One should start by industrializing the two starting regions. Romagna has a lot of fruit. So a guaranteed profit maker is the glass factory and a winery. Once Modena is acquired, a steel mill there will be a good choice.

Unfortunately the reunification of Italy will have to stop after this for a while, since the Two Sicilies are too strong for the time being and the other states are either in France's or Austria's Sphere of Influence.

Researching the techs that grant bonuses to research points early can provides a great boost to research. In addition, if they are researched straight away, there is a good chance you'll gain a large amount of prestige from the inventions.

When waiting for Italy to become a more viable option to attack, annexing Tunis and/or gaining regions from Egypt (especially Dumyat and the Levant) can provide some good land. A more daring strategy would be to attack Switzerland before they are sphered by France. They can both be puppeted or annexed. An alliance with France is all you could ever ask for in terms of defence, and they can easily also be used offensively.

Avanti Italia!

The independent Italian nations

Once Great Power status is achieved, the task of uniting the Italian states behind a single flag becomes possible. In order to form Italy, the Papal State must have all of the Italian states, in addition to the Austrian region of Lombardia, either within its Sphere of Influence or conquered. Once Papal States becomes a Great power it breaks out of Frances Sphere of influence and might thus loose the alliance with them. Therefore, it might be better to fight Austria with the help of France before one becomes a great power.

Since most of the other states are already under the French or Austrian Sphere of Influence, the task of gaining states will take a lot of time, so start early, as soon as Great Power status is acquired. Parma and Sardinia-Piedmont may be difficult cases since they border Austria and France respectively.

The war for Austrian Lombardia

It is strongly recommended that a line of forts should be constructed on the Austrian border before declaring war on Austria. They not only help you defend these lands, but more importantly they will delay the Austrian take over, requiring the Austrians to significantly outnumber Papal States' forces. One needs to play defensively. Papal States have the big advantage that Austria cannot march directly to Papal states so they have to deal with Military access (which the other Italian states would deny if they are allied to Papal States) or use their honestly weak fleet.

It is usually a good Idea to keep the alliance with France and call them into the war, but one should think twice before calling in other, weaker allies. If they do more losing than winning battles it will hurt your war score, and worse it could leave a path for the Austrians to get to you if your neighbour states get occupied.

Italy Irredenta

The Italia Irredenta decision gives the newly founded Italy cores on northern Italy including Venice and parts of modern Croatia. It is, like Lombardia used to be, controlled by Austria. Once Italy is formed, it will be possible to field a sizable professional army with a very large amount of troops in reserve. Use a similar strategy to defeat Austria if they are still strong.

Papal States in 1861

In 1861 the Holy See is in a precarious situation to say it mildly. Italy proper has formed and Rome is the only province left. The only thing that saves them from being completely annihialited immidiately is the fact that it is sphered and thus guaranteed by France. The problem is that Italy can attack at anytime with the reconquest casus belli. So anytime, France is busy elsewhere Italy might attack without warning.

This is made further problematic by the fact that Italy borders Rome and France does not. As Italy is a great power, they might just remove France and then attack the Papal States. At one point or another one have to go up against Italy. Try to limit their influence and power. All in all keeping Papal States on the map from the 1861 start date is an extremely daunting task for even the most experienced Victoria 2 players.

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