unit 1 Flashcards
(49 cards)
1
Q
what were the key problems in 1911?
A
- unification
- the political system
- economic growth/social problems
- north/south divide
- italy being a ‘great power’
2
Q
what were the problems with unification?
A
- italy became a nation in 1861 and fully unified in 1870
- people struggled to feel unified and patriotic - they mostly identified with their towns or regions (campanilismo)
- 99% of people spoke a regional dialect and only people from florence could actually speak ‘italian’ - even the king only spoke in the piedmont dialect
3
Q
what were the problems with the political system?
A
- parliament was made up of middle class people from the north who didn’t care for most of the population
- very few formal parties, politicians would offer positions to others in exchange for support
- many governments were short lived as politicians could easily withdraw support
- trasformismo - political manoeuvring based on forming alliances, led to corruption/frequent changes
- 29 different pms between 1870 and 1922
4
Q
what was the roman question?
A
the split between italian state and catholic church, who refused to recognise a unified state
5
Q
what were the problems with the church?
A
- roman question
- 1886 - pope leo xiii forbade catholics from voting/running in elections
- politicians feared challenging the church because it would alienate the people
- no catholic conservative party - no parliamentary challenge to middle class liberals
6
Q
what were the problems with economic growth/social issues
A
- italy industrialised and expanded economically between 1899 and 1914
- industries that grew - iron, steel, chemical, mechanical, electrical
- did not provide benefits for most of the population
- many protests against unemployment, food shortages and taxation
- between 1901 and 1911 there were 1.5k strikes involving 350k workers
- contributed to north/south divide
7
Q
what were the problems with the north-south divide?
A
- very little investment done in the south despite high poverty
- no pm visited the south for 32 years after unification
- economic expansion focused on the north
- half of the 2.2 million industrial workers worked in lombardy, liguria and piedmont in the north
- in the south - malnutrition, no clean water, infant mortality, disease
- 25k died from 1910-11 due to cholera
- more than half the southern population was illiterate
- 200k southern italians migrated every year from 1901 to 1913 to the usa
8
Q
why was italy not seen as a great power?
A
- seen as the ‘least of the great powers’
- behind britain and germany industrially
- french and british navies dominated mediterranean
9
Q
battle of dogali
A
- 1887
- failure
- 500 italians dead
10
Q
battle of adwa
A
- 1 march 1896
- failure
- 5k italians dead + more injured
11
Q
what is irredentism?
A
italy wanted to reclaim istria and south tyrol - areas under the austro-hungarian empire
12
Q
how else did they attempt african expansion?
A
- wanted african colonies - tunisia, but france invaded first in 1881 (led to triple alliance)
- 1884 - britain supported italian expansion in abyssinia
- pm hoped gaining colonies would result in more patriotism, but failures led to riots and protests
13
Q
who was giovanni giolitti?
A
- served as pm of italy 5 times
- 1901-14 known as giolittian era
- liberal
- master of trasformismo
14
Q
what were the issues with the socialists?
A
- socialism grew more popular as italy became more industrialised, psi gained more popularity
- by 1902, 250k workers joined socialist national federations
15
Q
how did giolitti try to win over the socialists?
A
trasformismo - absorbed many socialist ideals - accident insurance, health insurance, banning child employment under 12, 11 hour working day for women etc
- courts to settle pay disputes between employers and employees
- was successful, but difficult to win over the entire psi (split into reformists - okay with working with giolitti, and maximalists - against the liberal state)
16
Q
who was filippo turati?
A
- leader of the psi from 1895 to ww1
- believed ideas of risorgimento had been betrayed by liberals
- was not radical and willing to work with giolitti until invasion of libya, became more extremist after that
17
Q
what did giolitti think of the church?
A
1904 - said that church and state should always be separate
18
Q
how did giolitti try to win over the church?
A
- made concessions in exchange for support and absorbed policies (no divorce)
- pope encouraged catholics to vote in 150 constituencies against socialists
- influence of church grew but he prioritised support from catholics
- couldn’t solve the roman question
19
Q
what were giolitti’s issues with the nationalists?
A
- grew more powerful from 1911
- wanted colonies in africa and to reclaim irridente lands
- supported by middle classes who prioritised the nation over individuals
- against socialists/liberals
- 1910 - ani formed and refused to work with giolitti
- wanted to undermine their support through policy promoting liberalism but failed due to growth of nationalism
20
Q
what was the ani?
A
- formed in 1910 by corradini
- thought only nationalism could unite the italians
- merged into fascist party after mussolini became pm in 1913
21
Q
what were the reasons for the invasion of libya
A
- 1902 - deal with france that italy would back french expansion in morocco if france backed italy in libya
- france quickly gained control in morocco, feared they would break deal and invade libya
- would be supported by catholic church who had financial interests in libya
22
Q
when was the invasion of libya?
A
29 september 1911
23
Q
what were the successes of libya?
A
- seized ports and coastal towns in 3 weeks
- put pressure on ottomans in turkish held islands
- this + turkish war in october 1912 meant they surrendered libya to italy on october 8
- national enthusiasm in italy + shown as great european power
24
Q
what were the failures of libya?
A
- 50k troops kept in libya but 3.5k italians died
- nationalists took credit for war and denounced liberals - said lack of patriotism is why they lost soldiers
- lost support of psi who were against imperialist militarism
- revolutionary wing of psi took power and refused to cooperate further with giolitti
25
what was the 1912 franchise extension?
- before, only literate men over 21 could vote but they couldn't deny vote from men in libya despite low literacy
- 1912 - all men who complete military service + all men over 30 could vote regardless of literacy
- hoped this would lead to national unity + increased support for liberals + strengthen vote in conservative rural areas
- electoral representation would undermine the psi
26
what were the consequences of the franchise extension?
- 1913 - liberals only won 318 seats, 71 less than 1909
- church asked liberals to agree to seven key points in exchange for catholic support
- said liberals owed the church 228 of their seats who became more reliant on the church
- giolitti found it difficult to utilise trasformismo - concessions to church angered socialists and anticlerical liberals
- 1914 - socialists withdrew support and giolitti resigned
27
how did nationalism and socialism grow in 1914?
- mass suffrage led to mass parties - church and nationalists gained support from the people
- salandra replaced giolitti in march - wanted to revive liberalism by linking it with nationalism
28
what was red week?
- june 1914 - psi caused national strike after 3 protestors were shot dead by police
- known as 'red week' - occurred in northern/central italy
- public buildings torched, tax registers destroyers, stations seized and churches attacked
- hundreds of workers killed by authorities
- trade unions called it off
- riots displayed difficulties of achieving national unity
29
when and why did italy declare neutrality?
- august 1914 - italy did not have to join austria in ww1 as it had not consulted with italy before declaring war on serbia
- italy announced it would remain neutral
- supported by liberals who said italy wasn't economically ready after libya
- angered nationalists
30
what was the intervention crisis?
- salandra wanted to join war with germany and austria-hungary because they wouldn't be sympathetic to italy if they won
- also wanted to join with britain and france - if they won without italy they couldn't discuss their interest in the mediterranean
- sonnino began secret negations with both britain/france and germany/austria-hungary
31
what was the treaty of london?
- signed april 26 1915
- entente convinced italy they would gain much of the irridente lands
32
how did people react to the treaty of london?
- caused unrest because it was conducted in secrecy by salandra and sonnino and the army general staff weren't aware
- psi and most catholics were against intervention
- april 1915 - survey conducted which said most italians feared war and didn't care for irredentism or war against austria
- may 1915 - giolitti denounced treaty and 300 deputies announced opposition to it
- supporters for the war held rallies against those backing neutrality
33
what were the political consequences of the treaty of london
- salandra resigned may 13
- mussolini expelled from psi for promoting intervention as he thought it would lead to revolution
- king asked giolitti to take over as pm again
- declined - didn't want to support treaty, king said he would abdicate if he went back on it
- salandra reinstated may 16 and granted emergency powers on 20th
34
when was war declared
- war on austria declared 25 may 1915
- psi were the only far left party who didn't support intervention
35
what were the failures after entering the war?
- stalemate during 1915/16
- war between austria and italy took place on alpine terrain
- many soldiers killed by frostbite and cholera
- in 1915 - 62000 italians died during 4 failed offensives against austria
- 5 million men conscripted, mostly southern peasants who didn't care for the war and couldn't understand italian, so couldn't understand orders
- conscripts were treated poorly and rations were low
- 290k men court-martialled for desertion
36
what was the solution to these military failures?
| dissent dessertion etc
- cadorna wanted to repress dissent through harsh discipline
- 4000 death sentences passed on soldiers for desertion and indiscipline during the war - far more than other western militaries
- feared that lack of patriotism would lead soldiers to feel inclined to surrender
- didn't try to save any soldiers who were captured in case conditions were tolerable
- 600k men captured and 100k died of hunger related illness
37
who was luigi cadorna
- commander of italian army from july 1914 to october 1917 and a highly conservative military leader
- insisted on offensive warfare which led to thousands of deaths
- created a lack of trust between commanders and troops
- removed by orlando and replaced by diaz
38
when and why did salandra resign?
- 1916 - austrian strafexpedition, italians stopped it but had a major effect on public and army morale
- salandra forced to resign and replaced by boselli
39
what happened at caporetto?
- 24 october 1917 - austrians attacked italian front line, bad leadership and morale caused italians to quickly retreat
- italians retreated without weapons, reports of looting and violence between troops
- some troops celebrated as they thought war was over
- 200k soldiers lost contact with regiments
- 10k killed, 30k wounded, 300k taken prisoner
- 400k soldiers vanished, some went back home
40
what were the consequences of the defeat at caporetto?
- majority of parliament still backed giolitti and didn't support the war
- calls for revolution from many nationalists, some asked for neutral politicians to be put on trial
- boselli resigned and was replaced by orlando in october 1917
- cadorna was removed and replaced by diaz
41
what changes did diaz make to the army?
- rations raised and annual leave increased
- greater focus on boosting morale through lectures and newspapers
- promises of land reform for peasant conscripts
- organisation created for soldiers and their families welfare
- casualty rates fell from 520k in 1917 to 143k in 1918
42
how did the socialists respond to the war?
- continued to oppose the war
- policy of 'neither support nor sabotage'
- seen as defeatist, unpatriotic and anti-italian by nationalists and socialists
- many psi leaders arrested after caporetto
43
what was the economy like at the start of the war? (compared to austria)
- behind austria in all key economic areas
- less than one million tones in steel production, austria had 2.6
- for every 2 machine guns in italy, there were 12 in austria
- short of artillery and bullets
44
what was the state of the economy by the end of the war?
- 20k machine guns and 7k pieces of heavy artillery in italy, higher than britain
- fiat increased workforce from 6k to 30k
- little government interference, leading industrialists led to rapid growth
45
who was alfred dallolio and what did he do for the economy?
- under secretariat of arms and munitions
- recruited women and peasants into factories
- ensured men essential for production were exempt from conscription
- increased hours of work, made strikes illegal
46
what were the economic failures during the war?
- relied on government investment, which came from foreign loans and printing more money
- country became 23 billion lire in debt during war compared to 2.9 before
- growth of industry caused more division between north and south
- northern economy grew by 20% by 1921 while south remained in poverty
- by 1917 - fall in wages + long work hours
- increased taxes
- 50 workers killed protesting against bread shortages in august 1917
47
when was the battle of vittorio of veneto?
- 24 october 1918
48
what happened during the battle of vittorio veneto?
- launched offensive across the piave into vittorio veneto, split the austrian army into two
- austria signed armistice on 4 november 1918
- promoted by nationalists as patriotic
49
what were the key issues in italy after the war?
- 650k casualties
- greater north-south divide
- debt and inflation
- division between people who fought in the war and people who were against it
- government had to fulfill promises made to peasants
