History of Italy May") and the Constitutional Referendum that abolished the monarchy; De Gasperi briefly became acting Head of State as well as Prime Minister on 18 June 1946, but ceded the former role to Provisional President Enrico de Nicola ten days later. The aftermath of World War II left Italy with a destroyed economy and a divided society. Following Victor Emmanuel III's abdication, his son, the new king Umberto II, was pressured by the threat of another civil war to call a Constitutional Referendum to decide whether Italy should remain a monarchy or become a republic. On 2 June 1946, the republican
The Golden Letter of King Alaungpaya The Golden Letter of King Alaungpaya The Golden Letter is a manuscript written on rolled gold in the Burmese language, which was sent on 7 May 1756 by King Alaungpaya of Burma to the King George II of Great Britain in London. It is now preserved at the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library in Hanover. In October 2015, the Golden Letter was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, as a common heritage of Myanmar, Germany, and the United Kingdom. King Alaungpaya of Burma was one of the most influential rulers of his time in Southeast Asia. During this era,