2a.1 Liberal State And Politic Flashcards
What were the key problems facing Italy in the early part of the 20th century?
Unification
Political system
Economic growth and social problems
North-south divide
Italy as a ‘great power’
Unification of Italy:
Only a nation in 1861 and fully unified in 1870, spending 50 years struggling to create an identity for the new country that could create nationalism and patriotism.
—> Italy was fragmented politically, economically and culturally
—> defined by Companilismo ( feeling of pride and belonging to place of birth) to their local towns and villages
—>99% of Italians spoke a regional dialect ( King Victor Emmanuel II spoke a dialect many couldn’t understand)
—> could not achieve “Risorgimento”
What was Risorgimento?
Directly meaning resurgence, referring to the unification of Italy
—> concluded with the incorporation of Rome in 1870 and the creation of Italy as a new nation
Political anarchism and assassination
May 1898: protests against Italy’s political system and economic problems was brutally put down by the government, killing 100 protesters in Milan
—> July 29 1900, Kinb Umberto I was assassinated by an Italian anarchist
What is the political ideology of anarchism?
Believing in the violent overthrow of state authority and control, whilst establishing a self governing order where people would be free to live in a orient without government rules or laws
Political system of Italy: what is the problem?
Parliament members were made up of very narrow, predominantly norther, professions, middle class and tended to represent their own interest at the expense of the wider population
—> system was hampered by the attitude of Catholic Church and “Roman Question”
—> same liberal ideology shared + unlike Britain they kept very few formal parties, forming governments by offering key positions to other parliamentary members who would agree to support them as PM.
—> success as politician was due to skill in forming political alliances by knowing how to buy the support of other deputies ( transformismo) being characterised by corruption and frequent changes in govt ( 29 changes from 1870-1922) + inability to pass legislation
Why were Italian politicians fearful of the church?
Pope Piis IX was angered by the capture of Rome in 1870, the loss of papal territory and refused to recognise the new Italian state.
1886> new pope Leo XIII formally forbade catholics from either running for office or voting in national elections.
—> robbed the Italians of having a potentially unifying symbol and questioned the legitimacy of the new nation
—> feared challenging church would only further alienate the population + prevented creation of a national Conservative Party based on carbolic values
—> no partialmentart challenge to liberal middle classes who ruled Italy due to popular political opposition since less than 25% of Italians men could vote
What was the Roman question?
Split between the Italian state and the Catholic Church, refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the unified nation
—> pope had argued that the Papal States had been annexed by an invading force and that the return of his “temporal” powers was necessary to ensure his 8ndepence as God’s representative on earth
—> no Italian govt was willing to give up Rome to the Catholic Church
How related were the people of Italy and their political system?
Disenfranchised and were seen as lacking in political education required for electoral participation
—> any protests were met with violent repression from military, with the attitude reuinforcing the divide between real Italy and the legal Italy
—> inability of most Italians to voice their anger at Italy’s politicians through the ballot box fuelled popular protest
Economic growth and social problems
1899-1914 considerable economic expansion and industrialisation focused on the north
—> iron and steel industries grew considerably alongside chemical, mechanical and electrical industries + Italian car industry
Industrialisation did not provide benefits for the wider population and living standards of both industrial and rural workers remaining low.
—> protests against unemployment, food shortages and high taxation was common ( 1901-11: over 1.5k strikes involving 350k workers)
—> north grew richer whilst the south were still impoverished.
North- south divide! What was it
Many were concerned with the questione meridionale, failing to grasp how the south had fallen into such poverty ( blamed the economic structure, the geographical location, and its history of poor treatment from north)
—> Southern intellects called for more investments and new fiscal policies but very little was done for them ( politicians intended to ignor major issues as no PM had visited south until 32 years after unification
North-south divide: by 1911 what was the situation like?
Situation worsened as industrial economic expansion centred on the large northern cities like Milan, aturin, Genoa and Bologna whilst the southern agriculturally based economy stagnated, leading to an increase in the rural poverty
—> half of Italy’ 2.2 million industrial workers were employed in the northern provinces ( industrial triangle of Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont
—> in the south, peasant population suffered from poor diet, malnutrition, lack of clean drinking water and high rates of infant mortality (1910-11 25k died in Naples due to epidemic of cholera
—> more than half of the population south were illiterate, 5x that of Piedmont
North south divide: what did the politicians try to do and did it work? What option did Italians take?
Poolicies like encouraging industrial investment in Naple failed to make any noticeable difference in improving lives of southern peasantry. The only thing that worked was the emigration overseas.
—> 1901-13 around 200k Italians left Italy every year with 1 million Sicilians out of 3.5 million population
3/4 Italians in the US came from the south and by 1910, 600k living in NY.
Italy as a ‘great power’ what was the problem?
Industrial development was behind that of Britain or German and wa sgeogrpahically disavangaed by the French and British naval dominance in the Med
—> foreign policy focused on irredentism
—> not enough military power or diplomatic means to reclaim these areas + they wanted to gain overseas colonies especially in Africa.
1884: British govt agreed to help Italian expansion in Abyssinia but failed due to the loss at the battle of Dogali where Italians were defeated by Ethiopian army.
1896: battle of Adwa failed disastrously with 5k Italians dead
