Italy and the First World War - 1914-1919

Question 1

Who were the original members of the Triple Alliance?

Answer 1

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy

Question 2

What were the benefits of remaining in the Triple Alliance?

Answer 2

Germany and Austria saw Italy as a great naval power - increased power in Mediterranean
Germany supported Italy financially when they claimed Eritrea
Germany would help Italy financially with military preparations
Italy were offered some lands in the Balkans
Italy would be allowed dominate the Mediterranean if the Suez Canal was taken off Britain

Question 3

What were the benefits of leaving the Triple Alliance?

Answer 3

Many Italians were Anti-Austrian
Germany was horrified by the Italian invasion of Libya (Ottoman alliance)
Italy would not be offered the irredenta lands of South Tyrol, Trentino or Trieste

Question 4

Who was in the Triple Entente?

Answer 4

Britain, France and Russia

Question 5

Why should Italy join the Triple Entente?

Answer 5

Italy shares a large Western border with France
Italian African colonies share borders with British colonies and they share Somalialand
Italy had worked closely with Britain during the Mahdist War
Italy helped Britain bring peace to Sudan and Egypt

Question 6

Why should Italy not join the Triple Entente?

Answer 6

Britain were vocally against Italy’s colonisation of Eritrea (1882)
1881 Slap of Tunis - anti-French sentiment in Italy
Treaty of London stated that Britain and France would only reward Italy she put in sufficient effort - could walk away with nothing

Question 7

What happened on the 26th April 1915?

Answer 7

Triple Entente proposed the secret Treaty of London to Italy

Question 8

What was offered to Italy in the Treaty of London?

Answer 8

Italy would get Trentino, Tyrol and Trieste - irredenta lands
Italy would be given Dalmatia
Italy would keep the Dodecanese islands
Italy would receive compensation according to her war effort

Question 9

What happened in the socialist party in 1914?

Answer 9

Mussolini was expelled

Question 10

When did Italy join the Triple Entente?

Answer 10

April 1915

Question 11

How many Italians emigrated between 1871 and 1915?

Answer 11

5 million

Question 12

What was the intervention crisis?

Answer 12

Debate over whether or not Italy should join WW1

Question 13

Why was there an intervention crisis?

Answer 13

Italy declared herself neutral in 1914, Salandra and the gov were also neutral
Treaty of London divides Italy
Interventionists (pro-war) - PM Salandra, nationalist D’Annunzio
Neutralists - Mostly socialists and catholics. Maybe could have prevented war but too opposed to unite

Question 14

When did Italy officially enter WW1?

Answer 14

23rd May 1915, King Victor Emmanuel used his emergency powers to declare war on Austria-Hungary

Question 15

What happened between 1915 and Nov 1917?

Answer 15

12 Battles of Isonzo - 950,000 casualties

Question 16

How much had Italy gained by the end of 1915?

Answer 16

1 mile

Question 17

What happened in June 1916?

Answer 17

Salandra resigned and was replaced by Boselli

Question 18

What happened in October 1917?

Answer 18

Battle of Caporetto
400,000 vanished
300,000 taken prisoner
10,000 dead
30,000 wounded

Question 19

Defeat at Caporetto was due to Austrian strength

Answer 19

Took 15,000 prisoners on the first day
2AM attack and heavy artillery bombardment

Question 20

Defeat at Caporetto was due to Italian weakness

Answer 20

Cadorna was very old-fashioned and Capello focused solely on attack
Cadorna thought the campaign was over and went on leave
Capello was seriously ill and could not give any orders
400,000 soldiers vanished
1500 soldiers handed themselves into German soldier, Rommel
Italian general shot by own troops for not surrendering

Question 21

What were Italian soldiers receiving in the winter of 1916-17?

Answer 21

Less than 3000 calories a day and 0.5 lire a day for infantrymen + similar for his family

Question 22

How many soldiers were mobilised in 1918? How many of these were volunteers?

Answer 22

5.5 million mobilised but only 8000 were volunteers

Question 23

How many men faced military tribunals during the war?

Answer 23

400,000

Question 24

How many soldiers were sentenced to death?

Answer 24

4028 BUT only 750 carried out

Question 25

Why did the Italian government refuse to provide aid to prisoners of war?

Answer 25

Lack of faith in the motivation of troops

Question 26

What were the consequences of the refusal to give aid to prisoners of war?

Answer 26

Calorie intake fell below 1,000 a day and around 100,000 died of starvation (five times the French figure)

Question 27

What happened after Caporetto?

Answer 27

Boselli resigned and was replaced by Orlando

Question 28

How did Orlando try and raise morale in Italy after Caporetto?

Answer 28

State employees subject to patriotic mobilisation e.g. Union of Italian Doctors for National Resistance
New propaganda office
Rations raised
Annual leave extended by 10 days
Free life insurance
Peasants promised land
Opera Nazionale Combatteni set up in 1917 to look after the welfare of soldiers and their families
Propaganda leaflets dropped over Vienna by D’Annunzio and others in 1917/18

Question 29

How did things change for Italy in 1918?

Answer 29

General Diaz new commander
143,000 killed and wounded compared to 520,000 in 1917

Question 30

What happened in October 1918?

Answer 30

Vittorio Veneto

Question 31

What happened at Vittorio Veneto?

Answer 31

Offensive launched at Monte Grappe, followed by an advance across the Piave
30th Oct - Italians entered the town of Vittorio Veneto, splitting the Austrian army in two
3rd November - Trento taken, troops headed for Trieste
4th November - Austria signed an armistice and the war came to an end

Question 32

What was PSI membership in 1919?

Answer 32

200,000 (increased from 50,000 in 1914)

Question 33

Negative consequences of WW1

Answer 33

Italy spent 148 billion lire
National debt increased from 16 billion to 85 billion lire in 1919
Inflation around 50%
Workers wages fell by 25% between 1915 and 1918
In 1918, gov spent 23.3 billion more than it collected in taxes
Cost of living tripled
Increased political instability - 3 PM’s during the war
2 million unemployed

Question 34

Positive impacts of WW1

Answer 34

Fiat awarded huge contracts and in 1916, became Europe’s leading manufacturer of trucks and lorries
Ilvasteel and Montecanini chemicals benefited from large contracts
By 1918 some peasants could pay off their debts due to inflation

Question 35

What was held in 1919?

Answer 35

The Paris Peace Conference?

Question 36

What happened at the PPC?

Answer 36

Orlando was under pressure from the nationalists to negotiate Fiume
Britain and France want peace in Balkans, so they form the state of Yugoslavia. Balkan peace = Dalmatia (offered in Treaty of London) and Fiume not given to Italians
Orlando stormed out and refused to sign

Question 37

What role did Wilson play at the PPC?

Answer 37

Wilson = US president
‘Fourteen-point plan’ - most important was self-determination. Italy should not be ‘handed things’

Question 38

What did Italy sign after the war?

Answer 38

Treaty of St Germain
‘Mutilated victory’

Question 39

What were the consequences of the PPC?

Answer 39

Orlando resigned and was replaced with Nitti
Alliance with Entente somewhat lost
Increased political divides - interventionists move to nationalism and neutralists move to socialism
Italy looks weak globally due to Orlando’s failure to negotiate

Question 40

What electoral reform was introduced in 1919?

Answer 40

Proportional representation

Question 41

1919 election results

Answer 41

Socialists - 156 seats, 32%
PPI (Catholics) - 100 seats, 20%
New Liberals - 96 seats, 15%
Social democracy - 60 seats, 10%
Liberals - 41 seats, 8%

Question 42

Outcome of 1919 election

Answer 42

Nitti as PM
In coalition with PPI (led by Luigi Sturzo), moderate socialists and other small parties

Question 43

What happened on 12th September 1919?

Answer 43

2000 men march on Fiume, D’Annunzio is their leader. They are unemployed ex-soldiers

Question 44

What happened on 14th September 1919?

Answer 44

Fiume is declared independent and D’Annunzio makes himself king

Question 45

What happened in October 1919?

Answer 45

League of Nations demands that Italy intervenes but Italy does nothing

Question 46

What happened in June 1920?

Answer 46

Nitti resigned and was replaced with Giolitti