M1- Impact of the First World War Flashcards
why was there concerns over remaining neutral with the Triple Alliance?
if Germany and A-H won the war, they would not be sympathetic towards Italian ambitions in the Med
why was there concerns over remaining neutral with the Entente powers?
if Britain and France won the war, Italy would not be able to discuss Italian ambitions in the Med
who was Salandra’s foreign minister?
Sidney Sonnino
what land did the Entente powers promise Italy upon victory?
South Tyrol
Trentino
Istria
Trieste
Dalmatia
when was the Treaty of London signed?
26 April 1915
who was against intervention?
PSI
most Catholics (the Pope)
how many deputies opposed the Treaty of London?
300
why was Salandra’s resignation not accepted by the King?
Giolitti declined to succeed Salandra
Giolitti was afraid of a nationalist rebellion as he himself was anti-war so would have wanted to pull out
when did Italy declare war on A-H?
25 May 1915
what was the main reason for Italy entering the war?
foreign and domestic political pressure
the Italian people had little say despite their protests
what were conditions like in the war?
horrible
war was fought in the mountains with ice and snow
war of attrition meant trench warfare
what were the issues surrounding the Italian troops?
the south was clearly over-represented and these men did not understand the need for war
soldiers spoke different dialects so giving orders was difficult
how many southern peasant conscripts were there in the Italian army?
5 million
how many Italian soldiers were court-martialled for desertion?
290,000
what was the diet of Italian troops like?
3,000 calories of rations a day
who was the Italian supreme commander?
Luigi Cardona
what was Luigi Cardona like as a commander?
repressive and harsh
how many Italian military death sentences were passed under Cardona’s regime?
4000
why were Italian troops fighting inclined to surrender?
conditions in POW camps were better than what Italian troops on the front were dealing with
how many Italians were put in POW camps?
600,000
how many Italian troops died of hunger?
100,000
5x more than France and Britain
how did POWs feel after the war?
they felt betrayed
the Italian govt did nothing to help bring POWs back
why did the Italian govt not try to bring POWs back?
they felt that if they came back, they would tell stories about the better conditions in POW camps which may lead to men surrendering
what was decimation?
to deal with disobedience in the troops, men would be chosen at random and shot in front of everyone
Cardona wanted to force the Italian troops to fight
BUT
it lowered troop moral further
who replaced Salandra as PM in 1916?
Paolo Boselli
when was the Battle of Caporetto?
24 October 1917
why was Caporetto a major failure for Italy?
it was a humiliation
Italian troops retreated hundreds of miles to the River Piave
200,000 men had been displaced from their units
the Veneto region was lost
how many Italians killed at Caporetto?
10,000
how many Italians were taken POW at Caparetto?
300,000
what did Caporetto lead to?
a major restructuring of the army
Cardona was replaced by Diaz
what changes did Diaz make to the Italian army?
rations were raised
annual leave increased
lectures and trench newspapers to boost morale
was a more cautious commander
casualty rate in 1917
520,000
casualty rate in 1918
140,000
what happened to the PSI during the war?
many members were arrested for being anti-war and labelled traitors
when was the Battle of Vittorio Veneto?
24 October 1918
outcome at VV?
Italian victory
split the A-H army into two
when did A-H surrender?
4 November 1918
how did the nationalists use the victory?
showed that Italy had achieved victory through patriotism, unity and self-sacrifice
how many Italian casualties in WW1?
650,000
Italian steel production before the war compared to Austria
1 million tonnes
compared to
2.6 million tonnes
proportion of Italian machine guns to Austrian machine guns at the start of the war
2:12 per battalion
by the end of the war how many machine guns had Italy produced?
20,000
what had the national debt increase to by 1919?
85 billion lira
how much did the purchasing power of the lira drop by?
25%
inflation hit Italians hard
who did well out of the war?
industrialists whose industries were linked to war
what became the largest car manufacturer in Europe at the end of the war?
Fiat
how many planes did Italy produce in 1918?
6,500
how much did Fiat expand it’s workforce by?
400%
who was responsible for Italy’s wartime economy?
Alfredo Dallolio
in what ways did Dallolio organise the war economy?
prevented the conscription of skilled workers
recruited more peasants and women into industry
strikes were made illegal
why was government spending unbalanced?
it had been pretty much all from foreign loans and through printing more money
how had the Italian economy become unbalanced?
the war sectors were growing at a disproportionate rate compared to other industries
how did the war make the north-south economic divide worse?
the North had massively expanded its industry thanks to the war with most of the war effort in the north-east
the South was left alone
by how much did industry in the North grow?
20%
in what ways did living standards massively fall in Italy during the war?
real wages dropped by 25%
working hours were being extended
extreme rationing of food
by 1917 what food was being rationed?
bread and pasta
how did the government look to pay for the war effort?
they increased indirect taxes
majorly angered the Italian people, especially those who did not want war
impact of poor living standards
led to many workers feeling angry at the industrialists who were exploiting and profiting off of the Italian people
how many protestors were killed in Turin in August 1917?
50 workers
what were these protestors protesting against?
bread shortages and the war
