Topic 1. The liberal state 1911–18: Italy in the early twentieth century Flashcards
(5 cards)
Key problems facing Italy: Unification
Risorgimento (means rebirth – refers to the unification): Italy had only become a nation in 1861 and fully unified in 1870 so political leaders had struggled to construct a sense of patriotism - the idea of ‘Italy’ as a nation meant very little to Italians who were defined by campanilismo (pride/belonging to their place of birth) which was stronger than any national identity
Language: 99% of Italians spoke in a regional dialect and were unable to understand people from other areas
Key problems facing Italy: The political system
Politicians were predominantly northern professional middle class who tended to represent the interest of their own class at the expense of the wider population
Roman question (Dispute between church and state in Italy over papal states): Pope Pius IX angered at the capture of Rome in 1870 refused to recognise the new Italian state which questioned the legitimacy of the nation
Lack of political opposition: In 1886, Leo XIII (new pope) formally forbade Catholics from voting and running for office in national elections which prevented the creation of a national conservative party, so there was no parliamentary challenge to liberal middle classes as less than 25% of Italian men had the vote.
Instead of political parties, prominent politicians used trasformismo (offering key positions to other parliamentary members) to form governments. Because the government was characterised by corruption, there were frequent changes (e.g. 29 changes of prime minister between 1870-1922) and an inability to pass legislation to improve the lives of Italian citizens.
The attitude of the liberal elite that the Italian population was lacking in the political education required for electoral participation reinforced the divide between ‘real Italy’ (Italian people) and ‘legal Italy’ (the ruling classes)
Key problems facing Italy: Economic and social problems
Industrialisation accentuated the division between wealthier north and impoverished south: considerable economic expansion and industrialisation in the north (iron and steel industries grew significantly) did not provide benefits to the wider population – living standards of both industrial and rural workers remained low.
Between 1901 and 1911, there were over 1500 strikes against unemployment, food shortages and high taxation.
Key problems facing Italy: North-south divide
Southern intellectuals called for greater economic investment and new fiscal policies, but little was done as Italian politicians tended to ignore the major issues facing the region.
Industrial economic expansion in the north while the southern agricultural based economy stagnated, increasing rural poverty – by 1911, income per head in northern industrial areas was double that in the south
In the impoverished south, the peasant population suffered from malnutrition, lack of clean drinking water and high rates of infant mortality and malaria. 25,000 people died in Naples due to an epidemic of cholera.
Between 1901 and 1913, around 200,00 southern Italians migrated overseas, predominantly to the USA. This did lessen the economic strains in the south but was reliant on other countries’ continual willingness to accept large influxes of poor, unskilled Italian migrants.
Key problems facing Italy: Italy as a ‘great power’
Italy tended to lag behind Europe’s ‘major powers’ in foreign policy, as the French and British dominated the Mediterranean.
Italy was viewed as the ‘the least of the great powers’
Italian foreign policy focused on Irredentism (belief that Italy should reclaim Italian speaking areas under Austro-Hungarian rule such as Dalmatia, Fiume and Trieste)
Italy first focused on Tunisia and signed a defensive alliance with Austria and Germany known as the Triple Alliance (despite having Austria as its traditional enemy) angry at the French and British who invaded Tunisia in 1881 and claimed it for themselves.
In 1894, Italy sought to gain Abyssinia, but this attempt ended disastrously as 5000 Italian troops were killed by the Ethiopian army so faced the worst defeat suffered by European power in Africa
