Liberal Italy

Question 1

When was Italy officially unified?

Answer 1

Italy had became a nation in 1861 but fully unified in 1870.

Question 2

What is capanilismo?

Answer 2

A feeling of pride and belonging to their place of birth.

Question 3

How were the north and south not divided through language?

Answer 3

Italians would speak different dialects as 99 percent would speak regional dialect therefore they could not understand what people from other states where saying.

Question 4

Why could Italians outside Piedmont not understand their own king?

Answer 4

He spoke a different dialect therefore Italians outside Piedmont could not understand him.

Question 5

What is Risorgimento?

Answer 5

Means ‘ resurgence ‘ of ‘ rebirth ‘ and refers to the unification of Italy.

Question 6

What happened in May 1898?

Answer 6

100 protesters against the economic problems had been killed. As a result the King was assassinated as vengeance of the Italians Anarchists.

Question 7

What is the Roman Question?

Answer 7

The Roman Question is the success of the relation between the state and the Church.

Question 8

Why was Pope Pius IX angry with the state?

Answer 8

He was angered by the capture of Rome in 1870 and the loss of the papal territory, therefore refused to recognize the Italian State.

Question 9

What did Pope Leo XIII formally forbid?

Answer 9

He forbade the Catholics from running for office or for voting in the national election.

Question 10

Why did the state not challenge the Church?

Answer 10

Many Italian Politicians believed that challenging the church would alienate them even more. This would make people question the legitimacy of the unification. This also prevented the creation of the national conservative party based on Catholic views, which some Italians aristocrats and conservatives had wanted to pursue.

Question 11

What is transformismo?

Answer 11

It is forming political alliances by knowing how to buy support of other deputies. Governments would be set up by offering a good position to other parliamentary members in return for support as these were called deputies.

Question 12

What were the consequences of transformismo?

Answer 12

This meant that Prime Ministers were short lived as the deputies could withdraw their support.
Also this made it impossible to legalize any laws for the Italian people.
Protests increased as the government was made through tranformismo and had nothing to do with the opinion of the Italians and this was due to the fact that the government saw the people as uneducated and this only fueled the citizens.

Question 13

What was the economy like from 1899-1914?

Answer 13

There was expansion as iron and steel companies including the chemical , mechanical and electrical industries were growing rapidly. In addition the car companies such as Alpha Romeo,Fiat and Larcia, were too established. At the same time new industrial techniques were invented and that increase agriculture production. Although living standards were still poor for the rural workers and protest increased(1500) involving over 350,00 workers. The division between the south and north only got worse.

Question 14

What is Merionale?

Answer 14

This was a term that refers to the south of Italy and the reasons for it being poor. It could of been the result of its historical events or the geographical location or even the effect of the poor treatment from the north.

Question 15

What did the Italian Government think of the South?

Answer 15

Southern economist asked for fiscal policies and greater government investment however they were ignored as despite the several parliamentary inquiries little action was actually done. The italian prime minister himself did not enter the south until 32 years after unification.

Question 16

What happened to Italy’s economy during 1911?

Answer 16

There was economic expansion in the north in cities such as Milan, Turin,Genoa and Bologna. This made the south even more poor. 2.2 million industrial workers which is more than half of the workers were working in the north. The industrial triangle were focused around the 3 major industrial cities:Milan,Turin and Genoa. Whereas the south was Europe’s most poorest areas.

Question 17

What were the social problems in 1911?

Answer 17

The peasents were suffering from malnutrition and diseases as many people were dying. From 1910-1911 25,00 people died from cholera due poor drinking water. Half the poeple of the south were illiterate which is 5 times more than the rate in Peidmont. Income in northern industrial areas was double than the south per head.

Question 18

What was happening to the Italian population between 1901 and 1913?

Answer 18

Around 200 000 southern Italians left Italy every year including 1 million Sicilians out of a population of only 3.5 million. By 1914 there were 600 000 Italians migrated to New York as every 3 out of 4 were from the South. All this was due to no improvement in the South. As this migration helped Italy’s economy a tiny bit there was a still long term issue.

Question 19

Why was Italy Geographically disadvantaged?

Answer 19

The British and French dominated the Mediterranean. Italy was not an insignificant country but was seen as less powerful as a great powerful.

Question 20

What was irredentism?

Answer 20

This was a foreign policy goal and was a popular belief that Italy’s successful unification in 1870 should continue until all Italy’s lands have been claimed back such as areas of Istria and South Tyrol.

Question 21

Why couldnt Italy reclaim the lands back?

Answer 21

Those areas were viewed as rightfully Italian but fell into Austro-Hungaria. Italy did not have the military power or the diplomatic means to reclaim the areas from other European nations.

Question 22

Why did Italy want to gain overseas colonies?

Answer 22

Italy looked for colonies , particularly in Africa as colonization was seen essential for any country who wanted to be seen as Europe’s superpower.

Question 23

What is the triple alliance?

Answer 23

|t was a defensive alliance with Italy,Hungary and Germany. This was made as Italy were planning to takeover Tunisia , however Britain and France got their first in 1881.So it was decided that an alliance was needed, even though the Italian citizens were not happy as Hungary was the enemy and this alliance made it even more harder to claim back the irredente lands.

Question 24

What happened between Italy and Abyssinia in 1884 onward?

Answer 24

Britain agreed to Italian expansion in Abyssinia. At the battle of Dogali, Italy failed to turn it into a colony as they lost 500 Italian soldiers and lost against the Ethiopian Army. On the 1st of March 1896, at the battle of Adwa, 5000 soldiers were killed and thousands more hurt from the Abyssinian army that was ran by King Menelik. All this created protests and riots to the Italian government and its current prime minister Francesco Crispi.

Question 25

Who was Giovanni Giolitti?

Answer 25

He was a liberal politician in which he has been prime minister on 5 different occasions. From 1901 - 1914 it is known as the Giolitti era. He was the master of trasformismo. He kept files on the weaknesses of every other deputy. in 1911 he became prime minister for the 4th time and his policies were a bit different and he focused on the big goal of turning Italy into a modernized, industrialized and successful country that was unified with values and liberal ideas. His programme involved getting the 3 oppositions to give him support.

Question 26

Who were the Parito Socialista Italiano (PSI)?

Answer 26

They were formed in 1892. It was growing very quickly. in general election of the 1900 , it achieved 216,000 votes and 32 deputies out of the total 508 parliamentary. By 1913, it had grown substantially, winning 79 deputies in parliament. The Souths peasants moved to the North and there was mass migration like this as they wanted better education and lifestyle. This is why socialism was becoming popular. Intellectuals that had believed that Risorgimento was impossible and the only way to solve Italy’s economic problem was by decreasing the gap between the South and the North supported this socialist Party. It was ran by Filippo Turati and the socialist party held meetings in bars and cafes to get the message across.

Question 27

how successful was Giolitti in getting support from the PSI?

Answer 27

Socialism grew rapidly by 1902 as it had 250,000 industrial workers join the socialist national federation and by 1910 2180,000 Italians had joined the thousands of socialist agriculture cooperatives. There were also many strikes in the pursue of getting high wages. This party was getting the attention of the liberals and Giolitti thought they could be controlled by trasformismo. Giolitti got support from Turatio by giving the PSI a series of reforms. The most important being in 1906, the non-intervention of labour disputes as that settled pay disputes between workers and employers. In 1911,Giolitti offered a place in the cabinet to socialist Bissolati although this eventually got declined. However this programme did not gain the support of the whole party as the PSI were split into reformist and maximalist. Maximalists were poeple like Mussolini and they believed in violent overthrow of the state.Also since half of the PSI were supporting Giolitti this gained conflict from the Church and the Nationalists.

Question 28

What were the reforms that Giolitti gave to the PSI?

Answer 28

Things such as:
Compulsory accident insurance for industrial workers
non-compulsory national health insurance for old age
the banning of employement of children u12
Limiting working day for women up to 11 hours
introduction of a maternity fund
Also further reforms in 1913:
state-subsidised sickness
Old age fund for the merchant navy
And the most important non-intervention in Labour disputes and the establishment of arbitration courts.

Question 29

How did Giolitti gain support from the Church?

Answer 29

Even though Giolitti previously said in 1904 that the church and state are two lines that should never meet he still managed to be the first prime minister to gain support from them. He done this by giving concessions to the Church. In 1904 he had allowed a divorce bill which had been close to passing before he quietly disappeared from parliament to promote `Catholic interests in areas such as education. Due to the rise of Soicialism the Church supported the Liberals and in 1909 they encouraged Italians to vote for 150 constitutions around socialist rich areas. It was evident that Liberals and the Catholics were working together. as Catholics were governing coalitions in Turin,Bologna,Florence and Venice. They had gained support through youth movements and sports clubs. However the Socialists were still more important to Giolitti and he was not going to jeopardise that by creating an even greater link with the Church. So he did not giving any concessions to the Church and therefore did not solve the Roman Question.

Question 30

Who were the ANI and how was Giolittis relationship with them?

Answer 30

The nationalist were growing tremendously and Giolitti saw them as a threat. The fact that the risorgimento failed and that the battle of adwa and the country’s weakness as a world power were humiliating the nationalist gained even more support. They believed that only through aggressive force can Italy gain land in Africa and claim back irredente lands. The aim was to create patriarchal love for the country and reunite everyone. the supporters were middle class that thought nationalism would destroy socialism and the corruption of Rome. In 1910 the ANI was formed and the leader was Corradini. The Nationalists were not willing to support Giolitti so he tried to gain popularity through reforms however poeple still liked the ANI more so Giolitti decided to win over the Nationalists by taking over Libya.

Question 31

Why did Giolitti decide to take over the Ottoman Empire?

Answer 31

The nationalists wanted to Giolitti to take back the lands from Austria but he couldn’t as they were part of the triple alliance with Germany. So instead he took over Libya to please them. Also Italy had a deal in 1902 in which Italy would support French expansion in Morocco in return for the French backing the Italian influence in Libya. Although Giolitti feared that the French would break the deal and invade Libya too. Another reason is that it would taking over Libya would satisfy the catholic church and the nationalists.

Question 32

What happened in the invasion of Libya in 1911?

Answer 32

There was a great amount of enthusiasm across the nation as they thought acquiring a colony would help give lands or the peasants. Italy’s naval forces seized most of Libya’s ports and coastal towns within only weeks with 70 000 soldiers. Instead of the Libyans greeting the Italians as Liberators they went against them. This lead to Giolitti occupying 13 turkish held islands in the Aegean Sea. Since the Libyans had had war with Bulgaria,Serbia,Montenegro and Greece they surrendered control to the Italians. There were 50 000 soldiers left in Libya to pacify it. This invasion was a success and it was a move away from the failures of the battle of adwa.

Question 33

What was the consequence of invading Libya?

Answer 33

The ANI took credit for the war and told everyone that Giolitti only invaded Libya as he was pressurized from them.More people joined the ANI as Liberals were blamed for not having patriotic love and therefore that was the reason why there were so many deaths. The PSI expelled those members that supported the invasion such as Bissolati. The revolutionary side took over the party and stopped further agreements with Giolitti.