Liberal State - Economic & Social problems and Italy’s ‘Great power’ status Flashcards
What did economic growth do to the North-south divide?
It made it more pronounced
Where was economic growth in Italy concentrated?
North
[Finish the sentence] People did not feel that the governments economic policies had improved their lives…
…And this later led to the support for increasingly radical political groups
Which years did Italy experience considerable economic expansion
1899 - 1914
Which industries in Italy grew significantly between 1899 and 1914?
Iron, Steel, (and newer) Chemical, Mechanical and Electrical
Which industry in Italy was a great success?
Car industries with companies like Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia.
Protests against what were common in Italy?
Unemployment, Food shortages and High taxation
How many strikes were there in Italy between 1901 and 1911?
1500 strikes with 350,000 workers
What was the questione meridionale?
‘Southern Question’ - “Why the south had fallen into such poverty and what could be done to alleviate it?”
What were theories to answer the questione meridionale?
The south’s poor economic structure, its geographical location, its history, its poor treatment by the richer north
What did Italian politicians usually do regarding the south?
Ignore the major issues of the region and no Italian prime minister visited the south until 32 years of unification
Which large cities in northern Italy was industrial economic expansion centred?
Milan, Turin, Genoa and Bologna
Where were half of Italy’s 2.2 million workers employed in 1911?
The industrial triangle; Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont
What did the peasant population of the south suffer with?
Poor diet, malnutrition, a lack of clean drinking water, high rates of infant mortality, malaria and tuberculosis
What caused 25,000 people to die in Naples between 1910 and 1911?
An epidemic of cholera caused by poor drinking water
How much of the population in the south was illiterate?
More than half the population (5x the rate in Piedmont)
Meridionale
Term used to refer to the Italian south encompassing the regions of Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilica, Calabria, Campania, Publio, Molise, Sicily, and Sardinia
Meridionalismo
Intellectual movement that developed after unification and focused on developing an understanding of the south’s problems to encourage proper government reform
Irredentism
A movement that grew out of unification and asserted unification should continue until all Italian speaking areas were incorporated into Italy. The ideal was to have a large influence in Italian politics until 1945 as nationalists and fascists popularised the concept and blamed liberal weakness on why this hadn’t happened.
Which lands did irredentism focus on?
Corsica, Dalmatia, Istria, Malta, Ticino, Trentino,Trieste, Fiume
How many southern Italians left Italy between 1901 and 1913 every year?
200,000
Between 1901and 1913, how many Sicilians left in total?
1 million out of a population of 3.5 million
What were the effects of the mass emigration of southern Italians on Italy?
While it lessened the economic strain in the south, it failed to fix long term issues facing Italy and was reliant on other countries willingness to accept large influxes of poor unskilled Italian migrants.
How was Italy geographically disadvantaged compared to Europe’s ‘major powers’?
French and British navies dominated the Mediterranean
How was Italy views in terms of power in Europe?
Not insignificant but the least of the great powers
What is a summary of the concept of irredentism?
The belief that Italy should reclaim the areas of Istria and South Tyrol since most of the population were ethnically Italian and spoke the language
Why wouldn’t Italy initially carry out irredentism?
It didn’t have the military power or diplomatic means to reclaim the areas from other powerful European nations
Where did Italy look to gain overseas colonies?
In Africa
Why did Italy want to gain overseas colonies in Africa?
Colonisation was seen as essential for any nation wanting to claim a place as one of Europe’s great powers
Where did Italy first look to for colonisation?
Tunisia, an area with economic and strategic interests
What happened in 1881 regarding Tunisia?
The French, with diplomatic support of Britain, invaded Tunisia and claimed it
What did the French’s invasion of Tunisia lead the Italian government to do?
Sign a defensive alliance with Austria and Germany (The Triple Alliance), against france
The Triple Alliance
Italy, Austria and Germany
Why did the Triple Alliance anger Italians?
It allied with Austria its traditional enemy and the barrier to the recover of the irredente lands
Irredente
Unredeemed
Battle of Dogali
After the British government informed Italy it would agree to it’s expansion into Abyssinia in 1884, attempts at gaining this part of Africa as a colony failed and Italian forces were defeated by the Ethiopian army and 500 soldiers died
Battle of Adwa
1 March 1896, Italian attempt to claim Abyssinia failed. Worst defeat ever suffered by a European power in Africa. 5000 Italian troops killed and thousands injured at the hands of King Menelik and Abyssinias powerful army.
What did the humiliation of the Battle of Adwa accentuate?
Growing anger towards Italy’s political class and was a catalyst for the mass protests and riots that rocked Italy at the end of the 19th century?
What did the humiliation of the Battle of Adwa accentuate?
Growing anger towards Italy’s political class and was a catalyst for the mass protests and riots that rocked Italy at the end of the 19th century?
