M1- Impact of the First World War

Question 1

why was there concerns over remaining neutral with the Triple Alliance?

Answer 1

if Germany and A-H won the war, they would not be sympathetic towards Italian ambitions in the Med

Question 2

why was there concerns over remaining neutral with the Entente powers?

Answer 2

if Britain and France won the war, Italy would not be able to discuss Italian ambitions in the Med

Question 3

who was Salandra’s foreign minister?

Answer 3

Sidney Sonnino

Question 4

what land did the Entente powers promise Italy upon victory?

Answer 4

South Tyrol
Trentino
Istria
Trieste
Dalmatia

Question 5

when was the Treaty of London signed?

Answer 5

26 April 1915

Question 6

who was against intervention?

Answer 6

PSI
most Catholics (the Pope)

Question 7

how many deputies opposed the Treaty of London?

Answer 7

300

Question 8

why was Salandra’s resignation not accepted by the King?

Answer 8

Giolitti declined to succeed Salandra

Giolitti was afraid of a nationalist rebellion as he himself was anti-war so would have wanted to pull out

Question 9

when did Italy declare war on A-H?

Answer 9

25 May 1915

Question 10

what was the main reason for Italy entering the war?

Answer 10

foreign and domestic political pressure

the Italian people had little say despite their protests

Question 11

what were conditions like in the war?

Answer 11

horrible
war was fought in the mountains with ice and snow
war of attrition meant trench warfare

Question 12

what were the issues surrounding the Italian troops?

Answer 12

the south was clearly over-represented and these men did not understand the need for war

soldiers spoke different dialects so giving orders was difficult

Question 13

how many southern peasant conscripts were there in the Italian army?

Answer 13

5 million

Question 14

how many Italian soldiers were court-martialled for desertion?

Answer 14

290,000

Question 15

what was the diet of Italian troops like?

Answer 15

3,000 calories of rations a day

Question 16

who was the Italian supreme commander?

Answer 16

Luigi Cardona

Question 17

what was Luigi Cardona like as a commander?

Answer 17

repressive and harsh

Question 18

how many Italian military death sentences were passed under Cardona’s regime?

Answer 18

4000

Question 19

why were Italian troops fighting inclined to surrender?

Answer 19

conditions in POW camps were better than what Italian troops on the front were dealing with

Question 20

how many Italians were put in POW camps?

Answer 20

600,000

Question 21

how many Italian troops died of hunger?

Answer 21

100,000

5x more than France and Britain

Question 22

how did POWs feel after the war?

Answer 22

they felt betrayed

the Italian govt did nothing to help bring POWs back

Question 23

why did the Italian govt not try to bring POWs back?

Answer 23

they felt that if they came back, they would tell stories about the better conditions in POW camps which may lead to men surrendering

Question 24

what was decimation?

Answer 24

to deal with disobedience in the troops, men would be chosen at random and shot in front of everyone

Cardona wanted to force the Italian troops to fight
BUT
it lowered troop moral further

Question 25

who replaced Salandra as PM in 1916?

Answer 25

Paolo Boselli

Question 26

when was the Battle of Caporetto?

Answer 26

24 October 1917

Question 27

why was Caporetto a major failure for Italy?

Answer 27

it was a humiliation Italian troops retreated hundreds of miles to the River Piave 200,000 men had been displaced from their units the Veneto region was lost

Question 28

how many Italians killed at Caporetto?

Answer 28

10,000

Question 29

how many Italians were taken POW at Caparetto?

Answer 29

300,000

Question 30

what did Caporetto lead to?

Answer 30

a major restructuring of the army Cardona was replaced by Diaz

Question 31

what changes did Diaz make to the Italian army?

Answer 31

rations were raised annual leave increased lectures and trench newspapers to boost morale was a more cautious commander

Question 32

casualty rate in 1917

Answer 32

520,000

Question 33

casualty rate in 1918

Answer 33

140,000

Question 34

what happened to the PSI during the war?

Answer 34

many members were arrested for being anti-war and labelled traitors

Question 35

when was the Battle of Vittorio Veneto?

Answer 35

24 October 1918

Question 36

outcome at VV?

Answer 36

Italian victory split the A-H army into two

Question 37

when did A-H surrender?

Answer 37

4 November 1918

Question 38

how did the nationalists use the victory?

Answer 38

showed that Italy had achieved victory through patriotism, unity and self-sacrifice

Question 39

how many Italian casualties in WW1?

Answer 39

650,000

Question 40

Italian steel production before the war compared to Austria

Answer 40

1 million tonnes compared to 2.6 million tonnes

Question 41

proportion of Italian machine guns to Austrian machine guns at the start of the war

Answer 41

2:12 per battalion

Question 42

by the end of the war how many machine guns had Italy produced?

Answer 42

20,000

Question 43

what had the national debt increase to by 1919?

Answer 43

85 billion lira

Question 44

how much did the purchasing power of the lira drop by?

Answer 44

25% inflation hit Italians hard

Question 45

who did well out of the war?

Answer 45

industrialists whose industries were linked to war

Question 46

what became the largest car manufacturer in Europe at the end of the war?

Answer 46

Fiat

Question 47

how many planes did Italy produce in 1918?

Answer 47

6,500

Question 48

how much did Fiat expand it's workforce by?

Answer 48

400%

Question 49

who was responsible for Italy's wartime economy?

Answer 49

Alfredo Dallolio

Question 50

in what ways did Dallolio organise the war economy?

Answer 50

prevented the conscription of skilled workers recruited more peasants and women into industry strikes were made illegal

Question 51

why was government spending unbalanced?

Answer 51

it had been pretty much all from foreign loans and through printing more money

Question 52

how had the Italian economy become unbalanced?

Answer 52

the war sectors were growing at a disproportionate rate compared to other industries

Question 53

how did the war make the north-south economic divide worse?

Answer 53

the North had massively expanded its industry thanks to the war with most of the war effort in the north-east the South was left alone

Question 54

by how much did industry in the North grow?

Answer 54

20%

Question 55

in what ways did living standards massively fall in Italy during the war?

Answer 55

real wages dropped by 25% working hours were being extended extreme rationing of food

Question 56

by 1917 what food was being rationed?

Answer 56

bread and pasta

Question 57

how did the government look to pay for the war effort?

Answer 57

they increased indirect taxes majorly angered the Italian people, especially those who did not want war

Question 58

impact of poor living standards

Answer 58

led to many workers feeling angry at the industrialists who were exploiting and profiting off of the Italian people

Question 59

how many protestors were killed in Turin in August 1917?

Answer 59

50 workers

Question 60

what were these protestors protesting against?

Answer 60

bread shortages and the war