The economic and political impact of WWI

Question 1

What did Italy manage to avenge with their eventual victory in WWI?

Answer 1

The national embarrassment at Caporetto

Question 2

What was the human cost of participation?

Answer 2

650,000 men died and a further 1 million ended up wounded

Question 3

How had the treasury responded to the heavy financial burden placed upon it by the war?

Answer 3

They borrowed huge amounts from Britain and the USA - increasing national debt from 16 billion lire in 1914 to 85 billion in 1919. However, even this was not enough, and so the government resorted to printing more money

Question 4

What was the negative consequence of the inflation brought about by the government printing more money to fund the war effort?

Answer 4

• It destroyed middle class savings
• Landowners relying on rents suffered as tenants couldn’t keep up with payments
• The purchasing power of factory worker wages fell 25% between 1915 and 1918

Question 5

Explain how the industrialists benefitted from the war effort?

Answer 5

They were guaranteed a market, as industrial production was linked to the war effort. They were not impacted by inflation because they simply raised their prices and the government continued to buy their products

Question 6

Give some examples of Italian companies benefitting from WWI

Answer 6

• Pirelli tyres and Montecatini chemicals made huge profits
• Fiat expanded to the point that it became the largest manufacturor of commercial vehicles by 1918

Question 7

What was the consequence of the end of WWI for industrialists?

Answer 7

Easy profits were replaced by a government who could no longer afford to hand out lucrative contracts due to the extent of sovereign debt

Question 8

What was the government deficit in 1918?

Answer 8

23.3 billion lire

Question 9

Why did industrial disputes begin to increase again after WWI ended?

Answer 9

Wartime discipline had been enforced by the military in the factories, but this was now relaxed

Question 10

What were workers venting frustrations about when they began to strike again?

Answer 10

Longer hours, the fall in real wages due to inflation and the ban on industrial action that had existed during the war

Question 11

How much did prices increase during the war years?

Answer 11

They quadrupled

Question 12

How many workers took part in strikes in 1919?

Answer 12

Over 1 million

Question 13

How much did membership of socialist TUs increase between 1918 and 1920?

Answer 13

They increased from 250,000 to two million

Question 14

Why did unemployment spike following the war?

Answer 14

Men were coming back from war at a time of economic crisis, with lower industrial profits making corporations unwilling to take on new workers

Question 15

What did unemployment increase to in 1919?

Answer 15

Over 2 million

Question 16

Why was unemployment so infuriating for returning soldiers?

Answer 16

They saw it as no reward for their sacrifices

Question 17

What happened to political divisions as the economy got suffered?

Answer 17

They widened

Question 18

How much did PSI membership increase between 1914-9?

Answer 18

It went from 50,000 to 200,000

Question 19

What had the PSI begun to advocate for after abondoning Giolitti’s gradual approach?

Answer 19

Revolution

Question 20

What were Italian socialists inspired by?

Answer 20

The 1917 Russian Revolution

Question 21

What did the PSI call for at their 1919 Congress?

Answer 21

A dictatorship of the proletariat brought about by violence

Question 22

What was the result of the 1919 election for the PSI?

Answer 22

They secured 32% of the national vote and won 56 seats - making them the single largest party in the chamber

Question 23

Why was the 1919 election a success for the PSI?

Answer 23

Because it was the first election held under near universal manhood suffrage, so their popular support was more impactful

Question 24

What was the middle class response to the rise of socialism?

Answer 24

They were terrified

Question 25

What did the new socialist deputies do following the 1919 election?

Answer 25

They interrupted the King’s speech by shouting long live the socialist republic and marched out singing the socialist anthem

Question 26

Why was the fear of socialist revolution misguided?

Answer 26

They had devoted no serious thought to revolution and much of what they did was empty posturing

Question 27

Why were the conservatives disgusted with the government response to socialism?

Answer 27

They seemed to be doing nothing to tackle the threat, with PM Nitti encouraging industrialists to make concessions

Question 28

How did the government alienate shopkeepers in June 1919?

Answer 28

They caved in the face of food riots by setting up food committees that set prices

Question 29

Why were landowners angry at the government’s response to socialism?

Answer 29

Because they had failed to prevent revolution from spreading to the countryside - with peasants occupying uncultivated land and farming it for themselves

Question 30

What were agricultural labourers beginning to do?

Answer 30

Join socialist TUs in ever greater numbers and demand higher wages and guaranteed employment

Question 31

What were the nationalists convinced the liberal government would fail to do?

Answer 31

Protect Italian interests at the Paris Peace Conference

Question 32

How did the nationalists think that the liberals had handled the running of the war?

Answer 32

Incompetently

Question 33

What did the nationalists think should happen at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference?

Answer 33

That Italy should get all the land promised under the Treaty of London and Fiume and Istria

Question 34

Why did the USA and Britain refuse to hand over Fiume?

Answer 34

Because it was vital to the economy of the new Yugoslav state

Question 35

What did the nationalists see the failure to capture Fiume as proof of?

Answer 35

Liberal weakness

Question 36

What aggravated the nationalists aside from Fiume about the PPC?

Answer 36

Italy was denied Dalmatia because so few Italians lived there and they did not get a share of the division of German colonies in Africa

Question 37

Who did the nationalists blame for the mutilated victory?

Answer 37

The liberals

Question 38

Explain the idea of the mutilated victory

Answer 38

The claim that Italy had been denied its rightful territorial gains in the WWI peace settlement

Question 39

Why did ex-servicemen dislike the liberal government?

Answer 39

Because they perceived liberal weakness as allowing the country to fall into the hands of the socialists that had opposed them since the start of the war

Question 40

What did the nationalist D’Annunzio do in September 1919?

Answer 40

Led 2000 armed men into Fiume and occupied it in defiance of the Italian government

Question 41

What important message had the seizure of Fiume given to soldiers?

Answer 41

That the way to achieve results was to act decisively and with force instead of engaging in long-winded negotiations

Question 42

What did the liberal government fail to do?

Answer 42

Use troops to end the occupation

Question 43

What was D’Annunzio’s reputation within Italy?

Answer 43

He was received as a public hero

Question 44

Who did D’Annunzio act as a role model for?

Answer 44

Mussolini - due to his dramatic style, eye for publicity and high volume criticism of government