Italian industry Flashcards
What were the 3 main parts of Italian economic history?
- An initial period of struggling with high emigration and stagnant growth
- A period of robust catch-up from the 1890s to 1980s, interrupted by the great depression and world wars
- A final period of sluggish growth from which the country is just re-emerging
How economically developed was Italian before unification?
Italian statelets were largely agrarian. However, the agricultural surplus produced allowed for the mergence of manufacturing in Piedmont
What was GDP per capita compared to France, Britain and Germany?
1/2 of Britain, and 3/4 of France and Prussia
What held back industrialisation in Italy?
A lack of iron and coal
What did the 1880s farm crisis lead to?
Modern farming methods
What came in between 1878-87 to aid industrialisation?
Protectionism
Where was there hydropower potential?
The Alpine hills
What developed in the Turin/Milan/Genoa triangle?
Milan and Turin led a chemical, textile, engineering and banking boom, while genoa captured civil and military ship building
Which areas were excluded by industrialisation?
Venetia and the south
How many Italians emigrated between 1865-1985?
29,000,000 (10,000,000 returned)
How many Italians emigrated between 1876-1914?
14,000,000, 2/3 of whom were men (5,000,000 returned)
How did Italy cope with the demands of WW1?
They fought a successful modern war with 5,000,000 recruits. Italy lost 700,000 men and accumulated a sovereign debt ammounting to billions of lire
What did the unification process break down in the south?
The long standing feudal system
Why did agriculture become more unproductive in the south?
Because land was divided between heirs
Which areas were most affected by the diaspora?
Low income agricultural areas with small peasant landholdings
Define mezzadria
A form of share farming where tenant farmers obtained a plot of land to work on from an owner and kept a reasonable share of the profits. It was more prevelant in central Italy, which helps to explain its lower immigration numbers
What was the view on farming in the south?
It was largely despised, with southerners investing in risky state bonds instead of agriculture
Which city proved to be the exception to the north/south disparity?
Naples, as it was home to shipyards, machine shops, vehicle makers and Italy’s first railway
What did the new post-unification lira do to the southern economy?
Crippled it, with exports declining and factories forced to close down
Why did the south struggle to keep up with cheap american grain?
Because they had not agriculturally modernised to the same extent as Lombardy and Piedmont
When did the industrial revolution sweep northern Italy?
1897-1913
What happened in 1894 Turin?
Giovanni Agnelli founded the first fiat works
What was built in Pionbino and Elba?
Steel plants
How did the alps benefit the north?
They provided hydroelectric power
What did the Edison Company build?
Europe’s largest hydroelectric planton the adda river near Palermo
What form of electricity production was introduced from 1916?
Geothermal
What proportion of Italy was industriialised by the start of WW1
Less than half
How was hydroelectric power put to use?
90% of it was used in industry, as it had a 1,000,000 KW capacity
There were not enough wealthier Italian aristocrats to maintain the sports car sector. What did Fiat do instead?
Engineered lorries, buses and aeroplanes, aswell as working in subsidiary industries. They woud also introduce the Fiat zero for 8,000 lire
Italian steel was expensive, what was the response to this?
Krupp German processes were copied to increase production from 20,000 tons to 430,000. Companies like Elbon and Fonderie created a native Italian steel industry
