Italian industry

Question 1

What were the 3 main parts of Italian economic history?

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

How economically developed was Italian before unification?

Answer 2

Italian statelets were largely agrarian. However, the agricultural surplus produced allowed for the mergence of manufacturing in Piedmont

Question 3

What was GDP per capita compared to France, Britain and Germany?

Answer 3

1/2 of Britain, and 3/4 of France and Prussia

Question 4

What held back industrialisation in Italy?

Answer 4

A lack of iron and coal

Question 5

What did the 1880s farm crisis lead to?

Answer 5

Modern farming methods

Question 6

What came in between 1878-87 to aid industrialisation?

Answer 6

Protectionism

Question 7

Where was there hydropower potential?

Answer 7

The Alpine hills

Question 8

What developed in the Turin/Milan/Genoa triangle?

Answer 8

Milan and Turin led a chemical, textile, engineering and banking boom, while genoa captured civil and military ship building

Question 9

Which areas were excluded by industrialisation?

Answer 9

Venetia and the south

Question 10

How many Italians emigrated between 1865-1985?

Answer 10

29,000,000 (10,000,000 returned)

Question 11

How many Italians emigrated between 1876-1914?

Answer 11

14,000,000, 2/3 of whom were men (5,000,000 returned)

Question 12

How did Italy cope with the demands of WW1?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What did the unification process break down in the south?

Answer 13

The long standing feudal system

Question 14

Why did agriculture become more unproductive in the south?

Answer 14

Because land was divided between heirs

Question 15

Which areas were most affected by the diaspora?

Answer 15

Low income agricultural areas with small peasant landholdings

Question 16

Define mezzadria

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What was the view on farming in the south?

Answer 17

It was largely despised, with southerners investing in risky state bonds instead of agriculture

Question 18

Which city proved to be the exception to the north/south disparity?

Answer 18

Naples, as it was home to shipyards, machine shops, vehicle makers and Italy’s first railway

Question 19

What did the new post-unification lira do to the southern economy?

Answer 19

Crippled it, with exports declining and factories forced to close down

Question 20

Why did the south struggle to keep up with cheap american grain?

Answer 20

Because they had not agriculturally modernised to the same extent as Lombardy and Piedmont

Question 21

When did the industrial revolution sweep northern Italy?

Answer 21

1897-1913

Question 22

What happened in 1894 Turin?

Answer 22

Giovanni Agnelli founded the first fiat works

Question 23

What was built in Pionbino and Elba?

Answer 23

Steel plants

Question 24

How did the alps benefit the north?

Answer 24

They provided hydroelectric power

Question 25

What did the Edison Company build?

Answer 25

Europe’s largest hydroelectric planton the adda river near Palermo

Question 26

What form of electricity production was introduced from 1916?

Answer 26

Geothermal

Question 27

What proportion of Italy was industriialised by the start of WW1

Answer 27

Less than half

Question 28

How was hydroelectric power put to use?

Answer 28

90% of it was used in industry, as it had a 1,000,000 KW capacity

Question 29

There were not enough wealthier Italian aristocrats to maintain the sports car sector. What did Fiat do instead?

Answer 29

Engineered lorries, buses and aeroplanes, aswell as working in subsidiary industries. They woud also introduce the Fiat zero for 8,000 lire

Question 30

Italian steel was expensive, what was the response to this?

Answer 30

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