Liberal Italy, c1911-1918

When did Italy become a nation?

1861

When was Italy fully unified?

1870

What is the process of unification called?

Risorgimento

What was the Roman Question?

The papacy was angered but the capture of Rome in 1870 and refused to recognise the new Italian state

What did Pope Leo XIII do in 1886?

Forbade Catholics from voting in national elections

What type of people dominated parliament?

Northern, professional and middle class

What ideology did Italian politicians have?

Liberal

What is trasformismo?

Prominent politicians formed governments by offering key positions to members of parliament (deputies)

How many changes of prime minister were there between 1870 and 1922?

29

How many Italian men had the vote?

Fewer than 25%

Who was the divide in Italy between?

Real Italy- the people
Legal Italy- the ruling class

How did ordinary Italians attempt to voice their opinion?

Through popular protest, this was met with violent repression from the military

What happened between 1899 and 1914 in the north?

Economic expansion, industrialisation (iron and steel industries), agricultural production improved, living standards of industrial and rural workers was low

How many strikes were there between 1901 and 1911?

1500 strikes and they involved nearly 350,000 workers

What was life like in the south?

Stagnation of the agriculture based economy. Peasants suffered a poor diet, high rates of infant mortality and disease

How much of the south were illiterate?

More than half the population ( five times more than Piedmont in the north)

How different was the income per head?

By 1911, the north's was double that of the south

How many southern Italian peasants migrated to the USA between 1901 and 1903?

200,000 every year

Who did Italy lag behind in foreign policy?

Europe's "major powers"

Why did Italy lag behind in foreign policy?

It's economy, the domination of the French and British in the Mediterranean

What is irredentism?

Irredentism is the desire of the people of a state to annex the contiguous territories of another state that are inhabited by mostly members of linguistic and/or cultural minorities of the first state.

What did Italy focus on?

Irredentism- reclaiming Istria and South Tyrol, part of the Austro- Hungarian Empire

What did Italy attempt in 1884?

To gain Abyssinia, they were defeated at Battle of Dogali (500 Italian soldier deaths)

What did they do from 1894?

Attempts were made again, Italian army defeated by the forces of King of Menelik at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 (5000 Italian troops killed and thousands injured)

What was 1901-1914 known as?

The Giolittian Era

What did he try to do as prime minister from 1911?

Make Italy a modern industrialised successful country where the masses were unified by shared values and faith in liberal ideas of parliament

Who did he try to gain the support of?

The socialists, focus on the Partito Socialista Italiano PSI

How many deputies did the socialists gain in 1900 election?

32 deputies from total of 508 seats

How many votes and seats did the socialists achieve in 1913!

Nearly a quarter of votes and 79 seats

How many joined socialist federations by 1902?

250,000 industrial workers striking for higher wages

How many joined socialist agricultural cooperatives that were formed by 1910?

218,000

1898 social reform

Compulsory accident insurance in industrial work (paid for by employer), non-compulsory national insurance for health and old age

1901 social reform

Banning the employment of children under 12

1902 social reform

Limited the working day of women to 11 hours

1910 social reform

Introduction of maternity fund

1913 social reform

State subsidised sickness and old age fund for merchant navy

Which socialists did Giolitti win over?

Moderate socialists like Turati, maximalists like Mussolini in PSI wanted revolution

What did Giolitti allow to disappear in 1904?

The divorce bill and promoted Catholic interests in education

What did the Pope do in the 1909 elections?

Encouraged Catholics to vote cause of worry of socialism

When did the Catholics become part of governing coalitions at a local level?

1911

What was Giolitti not prepared to solve?

The Roman Question and made dealing with socialism his priority

What did the great threat of the nationalists want?

Aggressive foreign policy to expand Italy's power in Africa, claim irredente lands, become a world power

What did the nationalists believe?

Individual needs were subservient to those of the nation and that Giolitti's concessions to the socialists demonstrated the weakness and corruption of liberal order

When did the nationalists come together?

1910, the ANI party under Enrico Corradini

In 1911, how did Giolitti change his tactics?

Expand Italy's empire in North Africa, war with Ottoman Empire over Libya had French backing, hoped it would gain support of Catholic Church (financial interests in Libya) and the nationalists

How was the invasion of Libya greeted?

September 1911- National enthusiasm even from socialist leaders Bissolati hoped it would provide land for Italy's poor peasantry

When did Turkey surrender control of Libya to the Italians?

October 1911, Italy had to keep 50,000 troops in new colony to pacify Arab population and the war cost 3,500 Italian deaths, gained Giolitti considerable support

Who took credit for the Libyan War?

The nationalists and they blamed liberals for the number of men who had lost their lives

Which group did the war lose Giolitti the support of?

The PSI, they opposed the war as imperialist militarism (moderate Bissolati was expelled from the party) and they rejected further cooperation with Giolitti

What did Giolitti pledge in his programme of 1911?

To make changes to the voting system

What new law was passed in 1912?

The vote was extended to all men who had completed military service and all men aged over 30 and over regardless of age

What percentage of Italy's voters were illiterate?

70%

What did Giolitti hope would happen with extending the vote?

Promote greater national unity, increase the popularity of the liberals and undermine the PSI

What happened in the election of 1913 under the new suffrage?

Liberal deputies won only 318 seats (a loss of 71 seats from the 1909 election). Socialists, nationalists, radicals and Catholics made gains

What caused Giolitti to resign in 1914?

Some liberals made a secret deal with the president of the Catholic Electoral Union, withdrawal of support for liberals

Who was Giolitti replaced by?

Antonio Salandra, aimed to link liberalism with nationalism

What was 'Red Week'?

In June 1914, the PSI led a national strike and for a week most of northern and central Italy was in chaos. Public buildings torched railway stations seized and churches attacked. Hundreds killed by authorities

How did Red Week end?

Trade unions agreed to call off the strike

What happened in August 1914?

War broke out in Europe, Germany and Austria against Russia, Britain and France

Why did the Triple Alliance of 1882 not apply?

Austria didn't consult Italy when it declared war on Serbia

What did Italy do in response to the war?

Declared it would stay neutral

Why did they declare neutrality?

Many in parliament believed Italy was not economically ready for war. Nationalist press pushed for intervention. Majority of Italians favoured non- intervention

What did the declaration of neutrality set off?

Political crisis, Salandra argued that Italy should join the war

What did Salandra begin at the start of 1915?

Secret negotiations with both to decide which would offer the best deal

What was signed in April 1915?

The Treaty of London, pledged support to Britain, France and Russia. Promised Italy much of irredente lands- South Tyrol, Trentino, Istria, Trieste and much of Dalmatia

How did the public respond to intervention?

The PSI and the Catholics were against it. The prefects (local government officials) reported that public opinion was against war. Giolitti and 300 deputies announced their opposition.

Did anyone support the intervention?

Crowds of supporters gathered in the streets, declaring those who favoured neutrality to be traitors. Mussolini was expelled from the PSI for promoting intervention

What myth would Mussolini use later?

Interventionists had forced the government into war

When did Italy declare war on Austria?

May 1915

What did Salandra hope the war would do?

A brief offensive war, bring Italy almost immediate territorial gains, unite Italian people.

What actually happened in the war?

Static trench warfare in the ice and snow of the difficult alpine terrain. Thousands of Italian soldiers sacrificed to move a few hundred metres.

How many were conscripted into the army?

Nearly five million men, communication was difficult

What were rations like?

Low around 3000 a day by the end of 1916

How many were court-martialled for desertion?

290,000, didn't understand why the war was being fought

How many death sentences did Cadorna give out?

4000

What did the government do to prevent soldiers surrendering?

Didn't help the 600,000 soldiers who were captured

What did the Austrian army launch in 1916?

Strafexpedition, a major offensive in the Trentine salient, in order to allow it to attack northern Italy. Italian army able to halt Austrian attack, low public morale forced Salandra to resign

Who replaced Salandra?

Paolo Boselli

When was the Battle of Caporetto?

24th October 1917

What happened to Italy in the Battle of Caporetto?

They were defeated due to poor leadership and low morale. 10,000 were killed, 30,000 injured and 300,000 were taken prisoner

Who replaced Boselli?

Vittorio Orlando

What happened to the army?

Cardona was removed and the army was reorganised under a new commander, General Diaz

What did Diaz do?

Rations were raised, trench newspapers were used to raise morale, promises of land reforms were made for peasant conscripts

What happened to the casualty rates?

520,000 in 1917 to 143,000 in 1918

What did Orlando launch in October 1918?

An offensive on the town of Vittorio Veneto following the shift in military tactics and the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

What did the offensive do?

Split to Austrian army in two, forcing it to sign an armistice on 4 November, ending Italy's war

How did Italy's steel production compare to Austria?

One million tonnes to 2.6 million

Machine guns per battalion

2 compared to 12 per battalion

How did manufacturers do

Truck and lorry manufacturers such as Fiat and the aeronautical industry and arms manufacturers did well

What changed about the industrial work?

Woman and peasants were recruited into factories, working hours increased and strikes were made illegal.

How many workers in the war economy were men exempted from the army?

A third of the 900,000 workers

How did the government finance the industrial expansion?

Cheap loans and establishing profitable contracts for big business, foreign loans and printing more money

What was the economy like at the end of the war?

There was inflation and massive cuts in government spending

What was the country's debt at by June 1919?

84.9 billion lire

How much did the north's economy grow by?

20% between 1911 and 1921, south bitter at being ignored, north resentment between workers

What was rationed by 1917?

Bread and pasta

How much did real wages fall by?

25%

What was the governments response to the fall of real wages?

Increase taxes, greater social division, bread riots in Turin in August 1917. Politicians increased food supplies and pro- war propaganda to respond to this

How many casualties did Italy suffer?

650,000

What was the impact of WW1?

Economy even more greatly distorted between north and south, suffered from debt and inflation, society was divided between those who backed the war and those who didn't need those who fought and this who stayed home.