Post-war Challenges to the Liberal State

Question 1

List 3 social problems Italy had after WW1.

Answer 1

• Returning soldiers pushed for the land reform they had been promised
• Demobilised soldiers in the south forcefully occupied hundreds of thousands of hectares
• In the north there was a split between those who had fought and those who had stayed, who were seen as shirkers who had also become richer as a result

Question 2

When and where were the peace negotiations after WW1?

Answer 2

• Paris Peace Conference at Versailles
• January 1919

Question 3

What happened at the peace negotiations?

Answer 3

• Vittorio Orlando (the new PM) said that Italy should be given all land promised in the Treaty of London as well as Fiume (a port on the Croatian coast) and the Brenner Pass between Italy and Austria
• Wilson, George and Clemenceau did not see Italy as a ‘great power’ and had a condescending attitude; not only did they refuse Italy’s extra requests, but refused to give all of the lands promised in the Treaty of London such as some of Dalmatia and colonies

Question 4

Why did Italy feel that it had the right to Fiume, and how valid was this claim?

Answer 4

• They claimed the people living there were Italian
• However, the majority of Fiume was not Italian

Question 5

What did Orlando do in response to the peace terms? Give 4 details.

Answer 5

• He walked out of the conference in April
• This improved his popularity in Italy, but did not help his situation in Versailles
• He tried to return in May, but anything he said was ignored
• He resigned in June

Question 6

What had Italy gained from the Paris Peace Conference? Give 3 details.

Answer 6

• Lands promised such as Trieste, Trentino and Istria
• Lands that hadn’t been promised such as part of Dalmatia
• 14,500 square km of land; more than any other European country

Question 7

What were 2 clear losses Italy experienced at the Paris Peace Conference?

Answer 7

• Fiume became a free city under the protection of the League of Nations
• The rest of Dalmatia became part of the newly formed Yugoslavia

Question 8

What were attitudes towards the peace treaty like in Italy? Give 3 reasons why.

Answer 8

• Gabriele d’Annunzio called Italy’s victory the ‘mutilated victory’
• Italy had been hoping to get more out of the war, but it didn’t, so it was seen as a waste of the lives of the 650,000 dead soldiers
• It demonstrated the weakness of the liberal government
• It showed how lowly Italy was compared to other European powers

Question 9

What did nationalists do when it became clear that Italy would not get Fiume?

Answer 9

• They occupied it

Question 10

Describe 4 aspects of the occupation of Fiume.

Answer 10

• Gabriele D’Annunzio seized Fiume with the help of 2000 men
• These men were ex-soldiers, students, patriots and Futurists (the most prominent right-wing nationalist group at the time)
• No-one stopped them during and after the seizure of Fiume
• It lasted from September 1919 to December 1920

Question 11

How did the Italian government respond to the occupation of Fiume, and why?

Answer 11

• They originally did nothing as they were afraid of D’Annunzio’s popularity
• Eventually Giolitti’s government sent the Italian army and navy in December 1920 to end the occupation

Question 12

List 3 impacts of the occupation of Fiume.

Answer 12

• D’Annunzio had demonstrated how weak the government was
• It showed decisive action and violence led to success
• Aspects of D’Annunzio’s leadership later influenced Mussolini

Question 13

List 6 aspects of D’Annunzio’s leadership that influenced Mussolini.

Answer 13

• The militia
• The Roman salute
• The title ‘Duce’ (leader)
• Black shirts for those who supported the movement
• Flamboyant public speeches
• The castor oil punishment

Question 14

After the war, what happened to businesses that had been successful (mainly) due to it? What did this cause?

Answer 14

• The government ended war loans and military contracts, so major companies selling munitions and vehicles struggled to survive
• 2 major munition companies went bankrupt in 1921, and this caused a banking crisis

Question 15

What were 4 other economic problems that had been caused by the war?

Answer 15

• The lira had collapsed in value
• State employees’ wages and pensions therefore declined rapidly
• Inflation hugely impacted the cost of living, particularly in urban areas (the average family in Milan needed 75 lira daily, but earned about 7)
• This also wiped out middle-class savings

Question 16

What did the combination of these economic issues at the end of war cause? Along with what other factor?

Answer 16

• Unemployment reached 2 million by November 1919, which was partially caused by the demobilisation of millions of soldiers

Question 17

In what 2 ways did the war impact land ownership in the countryside? Give figures.

Answer 17

• Soldiers (in the south in particular) seized the land of large estates
• Peasants were able to buy land due to the profits they had made in the war from the increase in food prices
• The number of peasant land owners therefore rose to 3.5 million

Question 18

How did the government respond to land seizures?

Answer 18

• Giolitti ordered prefects to legalise them

Question 19

In what 2 ways did life change for rural labourers?

Answer 19

• They became poorer
• Many joined rural trade unions that aimed to create a collective farm

Question 20

In what 2 ways did socialists affect the situation in the countryside?

Answer 20

• In areas where they controlled the local government, they set local wage rates and working conditions
• In some areas, rural socialist unions had so much power that they controlled employment, but this meant that some did exclude labourers who hadn’t joined the union

Question 21

List 3 reasons why the traditional landowners were displeased by the political situation after the war.

Answer 21

• They felt threatened by militant peasants and trade unions
• The local government was not under their control
• The central government was weak and did not protect their interests

Question 22

Give 4 reasons why there was increased militancy among urban workers after WW1.

Answer 22

• The existing economic problems
• Promises of greater freedom were made during the war
• Trade unions and socialist party activities were no longer restricted
• Soldiers expected material reward after war

Question 23

When was the ‘Biennio Rosso’, and what were they?

Answer 23

• The ‘Two Red Years’
• 1919 and 1920
• It was a time when socialist and communist organisations were at their peak

Question 24

List 4 things the Biennio Rosso were characterised by.

Answer 24

• Strikes
• The ‘occupation of the factories’
• Dramatic growth in the membership of workers’ organisations
• Food riots and rioting

Question 25

Give 7 figures on strikes during the ‘Biennio Rosso’.

Answer 25

1919:
- 1663 industrial strikes
- 208 strikes in agriculture
1920:
- 1881 industrial strikes
- 189 strikes in agriculture
- In April there was a general strike in Northern Italy
- In July army troops went on strike

Question 26

What was the occupation of the factories? Give 3 details.

Answer 26

• In September 1920 over 400,000 workers took over factories
• They flew the red flag of communism and the black flag of anarchism over the buildings for nearly 4 weeks
• The government eventually ended the strike

Question 27

How did the number of Italians in worker organisations change?

Answer 27

1919:
- Urban: 1,050,000
- Rural: 505,000
1920:
- Urban: over 1,250,000
- Rural: 1,050,000

Question 28

What caused food riots and rioting?

Answer 28

• There was a sharp increase in food prices in June 1919

Question 29

What change was there in how the government responded to food riots?

Answer 29

• Before, they would have shot the rioters
• Instead, they halved the price of food

Question 30

List 4 concessions the government made towards the working-class, and what other factor influenced them to do this?

Answer 30

• Some socialists called for a communist revolution after witnessing the Russian Revolution
• Minimum wage
• 8 hour working day
• Welfare initiatives such as for the disabled and elderly
• Compulsory employment insurance

Question 31

What were 2 political reforms made after WW1, and why?

Answer 31

• Universal male suffrage (any who had served at the front/ were over 21) was implemented in 1918
• It was meant to be both a reward for the soldiers as well as a method for the liberals to gain more votes
• In 1919, proportional representation was introduced, which the liberals had hoped would weaken support for extreme parties

Question 32

What was the PPI?

Answer 32

• ‘Partito Popolare Italiano’- the Italian Popular Party, which was a Catholic party

Question 33

When was the PPI founded, and by who?

Answer 33

• It was founded in 1919 and led by a priest, Luigi Sturzo

Question 34

Whose support did the PPI have?

Answer 34

• While it did not have official ties with the Vatican, it did have Pope Benedict XV’s support

Question 35

List 3 of the PPI’s policies.

Answer 35

• It pushed for Catholic interests and values
• It did not mention the Roman Question in its manifesto
• It supported land reform and campaigned for peasants to be given more land

Question 36

How well did the PPI and liberals work together?

Answer 36

• The PPI would enter coalitions with the liberals as long as they were granted concessions

Question 37

How well were socialists doing after WW1? Give 4 details.

Answer 37

• They were increasing in popularity
• However, they were divided into 3 groups that didn’t always agree and work together effectively: the PSI, socialist trade unions and socialist councils
• They therefore tended to gain support due to issues such as economic discontent, rather than because of their own appeal
• However, they did gain support through improving conditions for workers

Question 38

How well did the PSI work with the liberals, and why?

Answer 38

• Not very well anymore, as they had started to become more radical after the Russian Revolution

Question 39

What were the results of the November 1919 elections?

Answer 39

• PSI 156 seats (32%)
• PPI 100 seats (21%)
• Liberals 91 seats
• Fascists 0

Question 40

What was significant about the results of the 1919 elections?

Answer 40

• For the first time, the PSI had won the most seats
• They had won 3 times as many seats as they had won in the last elections (in 1913)

Question 41

What did the 1919 elections mean for the new government, and why?

Answer 41

• The PSI and PPI would not work together
• The liberals therefore took control again as part of a coalition with Giolitti in charge (after Nitti’s government collapsed in 1920), which was a dangerous failure for democracy