o Italy in the early twentieth century Flashcards
Unification
Italians defined by Campanilismo, a feeling of pride and belonging to their birth place, which was much stronger than any sense of national identity.
90% of Italians spoke a regional dialect - unable to understand what people from other areas of Italy were saying. Even the King, Victor Emmanuel II, mostly spoke in Piedmont dialect - NOT UNIFIED
What is some evidence that Italy wasn’t truly unified?
100 protesters were killed in a brutal government crackdown in Milan whilst protesting against the growing economic problems and Italy’s poor political system.
29th July 1900 king Umberto I was assassinated by an Italian anarchist avenging the protester’s deaths.
What problems did Italy have with its political system in the early 20th century?
Italians in parliament were all Middle Class, northern professionals representing own class interests at expense of those of the population
Attitude of the Catholic Church and the ‘Roman Question’ hampered political development and questioned the legitimacy of newly unified Italy
Prevented creation of a national conservative party with Catholic values, so their was no parliamentary challenge to the ruling liberal Middle Classes
Less than 25% of Italian men had the vote
Italian politicians had same liberal ideologies, so very few formal political parties were formed, governments tended to be process of trasformismo used was characterised by corruption, frequent government changes (there were 29 changes of prime minister between 1870 and 1922) and an inability to pass legislation that might improve the lives of citizens.
Italian population disenfranchised and were seen as lacking education in political education fro electoral participation.
Protest repressed by military force.
The attitude of the liberal elite created a divide between ‘real Italy’ (the Italian people) and ‘legal Italy’ (the government).
Inability of the Italian population to get their voice heard led to the rise in more extreme revolutionary ideologies, such as anarchism.
What economic and social problems did Italy have in the early part of the 20th century?
1899-1914 Italy faced economic expansion and industrialisation in the North, this led to the growth of iron, steel, chemical, mechanical (car industry: Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo) and electrical industries. This also helped increase agricultural production.
BUT, industrialisation didn’t benefit the wider population and those in rural areas as living standards were poor and protests against high tax, food shortages and unemployment were common.
1901-1911 over 1500 strikes took place with around 350,000 workers
Industrialisation accentuated the North-South divide problem
MAJOR BARRIERS IN CREATING UNIFIED ITALY
What problems did Italy have with the North-South divide in the early parts of the 20th century?
Intellectuals grappled with the ‘questione meridionale’ (Southern question- south had fallen into poverty)
South had poor economic structure and geographical location and was treated poorly by the rich North.
Politicians ignored the south until 32 years after unification.
In 1911 the situation worsened as industrialisation was focused in large northern cities like Milan, Turin, Genoa and Bologna. Whist South’s Agricultural based economy stagnated.
A 1911 government census showed that half of 2.2M industrial workers in Italy were from North (specifically Lombardy, Liguria and Pidemont)
Problems in the South = poor diet, malnutrition, lack of clean water, high rates of infant mortality, malaria and tuberculosis. More than Half of the population = illiterate ; from 1910-1911 25000 people died from cholera epidemic due to poor drinking water.
Solution = heavy migration to USA, 1901-1913 200,000 Southern peasants left Italy yearly. 1 mill out of 3.5 million Sicilians migrated. This helped lessen the economic strains however it Failed to deal with long-term issue of North-south divide.
What was the problem of Italy being a great power in the early parts of the 20th century?
-Italy lagged behind the Great European powers
-was also geographically disadvantaged as French and British dominated Mediterranean; Italy viewed as ‘the least of the great powers’.
-Italian foreign policy was characterised by irredentism (which it was unable to do at the time) and gaining overseas colonies (also weak in this area) such as South Tyrol. Italy did not have military power or diplomatic means to reclaim these areas.
-Due to the existence of Colonisation Italy focused on Tunisia, where it had particular economic and strategic interests but 1881 the French backed by Britain invaded and claimed it, led to Italy singing ‘The Triple Alliance’ (with Austria and Germany) predominately aimed against France. Angered many Italians as an alliance with Austria (Italy’s traditional enemy) a country seen as a barrier to the irredente lands.
-1884 Britain allows Italy to colonise Abyssinia, it fails to do so in the Battle of Dogali (500 Italian soldiers died)
-also lost at second attempt at Battle of Adwa 1896.
What were the key problems facing Italy in the early part of the 20th century?
Unification
The Political System in Italy
Economic and social problems
The North-South divide
Italy as a ‘Great Power’
