Italy booklet 1: The liberal state

Question 1

What were Giolitti’s main aims?

Answer 1

cooperation between socialists, liberals, nationalists and catholics
the creation of an italian overseas empire
staying in power

Question 2

In particular, which political tactic was Giolitti a master in?

Answer 2

Transformismo

Question 3

Who were the liberals, and what did they want?

Answer 3

They were a group of politicians who represented the ideals of liberalism, such as constitutional and political democracy. They wanted the unity of the italian state and to cement their own place in parliament

Question 4

What event that happened in both 1882 and 1912 made it increasingly difficult for the liberalists to maintain power? Why?

Answer 4

The expansion of the franchise, because the liberalist represented the desires of the middle-upper class, older men, so the expansion of the franchise to include others meant that other populist parties gained popularity.

Question 5

What did Giolitti do to make sure he had the support of parliamentary deputies?

Answer 5

He kept files on the weaknesses of every deputy in italian parliament so that he knew how exactly to grantee their support

Question 6

When was the PSI set up and what was special about them?

Answer 6

The italian socialist party was established in 1895 and they were the first italian political organisation set up as a modern political party.

Question 7

What were the three main policies of the PSI?

Answer 7

votes for all men, an 8 hour working day and women’s rights.

Question 8

In 1900, how many votes and seats did the PSI get in the general election?

Answer 8

they won 200,000 votes and 32 seats

Question 9

What was the PSI split into?

Answer 9

the minimalist socialists and the maximalist socialists

Question 10

Who were the minimalist socialists?

Answer 10

They were moderate socialists, they wanted more socialist policies, but didn’t want to reorganise the governmental structure.

Question 11

Who were the maximalist socialists?

Answer 11

They were the radical socialists who wanted to totally restructure the government.

Question 12

What was the relationship like between the socialists, the nationalists and the church?

Answer 12

The church and the nationalists supported one another, but both hated the socialists and the socialists hated them.

Question 13

What was Giolitti’s aim regarding the socialists?

Answer 13

He wanted to adopt some social reforms in order to encourage the moderate socialists to ally with the liberals and cooperate with his government.

Question 14

What are some examples of the social reforms Giolitti implemented?

Answer 14

He set a minimum age for working (12) in 1901
He set a maximum working day for women at 11 hours in 1902.
In 1906 he set up arbituary courts to deal with pay disputes, reducing the need for workers’ strikes.

Question 15

What was the main political sacrifice that Giolitti made for the socialists?

Answer 15

He offered one of the key socialist leaders; Leonida Bissolati, a place in his cabinet.

Question 16

What catholic issue did Giolitti refuse to compromise on?

Answer 16

The Roman Question

Question 17

What was the problem Giolitti faced with the catholic church?

Answer 17

He had stated in 1904 that the church and state were ‘two parallel lines that should never meet’, showing that he didn’t think they should work together.

Question 18

What problem did Giolitti face with the nationalists?

Answer 18

They were antisocialist and antilberal, they saw giolitti and weak and corrupt.

Question 19

In which four cities did the catholics form coalitions in in 1911?

Answer 19

Turin, bologna, Florence and Venice

Question 20

Who was Count Gentiloni, and why was he significant?

Answer 20

He was the president of the catholic electoral union in 1913. He had secretly made deals with liberal politicians before the election of 1913 promising to encourage italians to vote for the liberals in exchange for the liberals voting in favour of 7 key catholic ideals.

Question 21

What was Giolitti’s initial response to the rising popularity of the nationalist party?

Answer 21

He focused on boosting italian support for his leadership through a liberal programme of reform and economic modernisation, which he hoped would encourage Italians to view liberals in a more positive light and undermine the nationalists growing support.

Question 22

When Giolitti’s initial plan to reduce the popularity of the nationalists failed, what did he do?

Answer 22

He attempted to embrace nationalism by expanding Italy’s empire in North Africa by invading Libya.

Question 23

How did the PSI respond to the actions of Count Gentiloni?

Answer 23

The socialists in parliament were angered and withdrew their support of Giolitti in the spring of 1914.

Question 24

How did the invasion of Libya affect the PSI?

Answer 24

As they opposed the war (imperialist militarism), it destroyed their relationship with Giolitti. The radical socialists expelled those who supported the war, the revolutionary wing of the party seized control and refused all further cooperation with Giolitti.

Question 25

How did the nationalists respond to the invasion of Libya?

Answer 25

They took credit for the war, claiming that Giolitti had only launched it under pressure from their movement. They denounced the liberals, blaming their weakness and the lack of patriotism for as the reasons why the Italians’ lost so many soldiers.

Question 26

What plan of Giolitti’s was executed in 1912 and backfired on him? How did it backfire?

Answer 26

The expansion of the franchise. He thought that he would get more votes as people would like the fact that they could vote and the rural italians were more conservative. However, in reality, the liberals lost 71 seats at the next election and the only reason they didn’t lose more was because of intervention of the catholics.

Question 27

Explain what powerful business interests Italy had in Libya

Answer 27

The banco di Roma, a bank with powerful connections to politicians and the pope, had established a bank in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, in 1907. It had built up significant investments there in banking, shipping and agriculture. It also financed some catholic press that pushed for the libyan war

Question 28

Who replaced Giolitti as prime minister after he resigned?

Answer 28

Antonio Salandra

Question 29

What significant event for Italy happened in June 1912

Answer 29

red week - A national strike. Anarchists, republicans, and other radicals caused a week of chaos across the north of Italy as public buildings were torched, railway stations were seized and churches attacked.

Question 30

Out of these groups, who was pro-war (ww1) and who was anti?
PSI socialists
liberals (suppoters of Salandra)
liberals (supporters of Giolitii)
catholics
nationalists

Answer 30

PSI socialists - Antiwar (thought it would make life even worse for the working class)
Salandra liberals - Pro-war (wanted to gain the irredente lands and thought war was the way to do that)
Giolitti liberals - anti-war (Didn’t think Italy was ready for war - militarily or economically)
Catholics - anti-war (didn’t want to fight against catholic austria)
Nationalists - pro-war ( a neutral italy would be weak and isolated after the war)

Question 31

What did Salandra decide to do regarding italy’s intervention in WW1?

Answer 31

He entered negotiations with both Britain and France, and Austria and Germany in secret to see which would offer the best deal. In the end, the Entente offered them land in Austria dependent on a victory, so italy entered the war on the side of the Entente.

Question 32

When do Italy official join the war effort?

Answer 32

26th April 1915

Question 33

What events occurred as a result of Salandra entering the war?

Answer 33

Giolitti attacked his decision and Salandra resigned, however, the king supported the treaty of London and threatened to abdicate to get giolitti to back off. He reinstates Salandra and on 25th May 1915, Italy declares war on Austria

Question 34

When was the battle of Vittorio Vento, what happened, and what did this cause?

Answer 34

October 1918, the Italian forces attacked the austrians near Caporetto and won, taking 500,000 austrian soldiers prisoner. This led to austria surrendering

Question 35

When was the battle of Caporetto, and what happened?

Answer 35

October 1917, The austrian forces attacked Italians in the city of Caporetto and the Italians suffered a humiliating defeat. 300,000 italian soldiers were taken prisoner.

Question 36

What happened in 1916 as a result of the strafexpedition?

Answer 36

Italians lost support for the war, and Salandra’s government collapsed, forcing him to resign.

Question 37

What was a positive economic effect of the war?

Answer 37

Industries such as ship building and motor vehicles grew at a huge rate and profiteers made a good living through the thriving black market as many goods were in short supply.

Question 38

What was a positive political effect ww1 0n italy?

Answer 38

Support for the socialist party grew after the war, membership increased from 50000 in 1914 to 200000 in 1919.

Question 39

How did nationalists in Italy feel after the war?

Answer 39

betrayed by the treaty of St Germain. They called the outcome of the war a ‘mutilated victory’

Question 40

Who was D’Annunzio and what did he do in 1919?

Answer 40

he was a nationalist party and in 1919 he took the port of fiume in defiance of the italian government supported by ex-soldiers.

Question 41

What did Mussolini do in march 1919?

Answer 41

He established the fascist movement based on hatred of the liberal government and the threat of socialism

Question 42

Why were there tensions between the working classes in Italy after WWI?

Answer 42

The north south divide was increased by the mass industry in the north caused by the the war. There was tension between the ‘combaters’ (who went to war) and the ‘shirkers’ (who didn’t)

Question 43

What were the numbers of casualties from Italy after WWI?

Answer 43

650,000 dead and over 1 million injured

Question 44

Why weren’t the soldiers that fought for Italy in WWI happy after the war?

Answer 44

They thought that they had been treated unfairly and subject to too harsh conditions and they were annoyed that Italy didn’t even get what they were owed after the war.

Question 45

How did the war negatively impact Italy’s economy?

Answer 45

Unemployment rose to 2 million
they were drained of resources
real wages for workers fell, reduced by 25% between 1915 and 1918
Italy’s gold reserves fell by £19 million
The war had been funded by printing money, so after the war, inflation rose, some prices quadrupled.