Problems facing Liberal Italy 1870-96 Flashcards
What were the main problems facing Liberal Italy?
Lack of Italian identity
Hostility of the Catholic Church
Economic weakness
Political weakness
North/South Divide
Why was a lack of identity a problem?
Only 2% of the population spoke ‘Italian’.
BUT Italian was actually just a Tuscan dialect
In the 1890s, emigration had reached around 1,158,000 (was only 168,000 in 1870s)
Why was the Church a problem?
The Pope refused to recognise the state of Italy because Rome had been seized from him. He also instructed all Catholics to boycott Italian elections (ban lifted in 1890s)
Why was the economy a problem?
68% of people were dependent on land for their livelihood
Italy had very few natural resources
Yields were very low. Italy averaged 9 hectolitres whereas Britain averaged 25
What economic crisis took place in 1893?
Banca Romana Crisis
What was the Banca Romana crisis?
Bank notes were printed illegally; 60 million lire to be exact
Large, interest free loans were given to politicians. E.g. Francesco Crispi (PM) received 55,000 lire and the PMs opponent, Giolitti, received 60,000 lire
Made worse because the average annual salary was only 2000 lire
What took place in 1894 as a result of the economic depression?
Sicily riots
Why did the Sicily riots occur?
Economic depression
Workers in urban and rural areas organised strikes and demonstrations to demand higher wages and lower rents
What was the government’s response to the Sicily riots?
In 1894, all the workers’ leaders were arrested
40,000 troops were sent to Sicily to ‘restore order’
Government feared Italy was on the brink of political revolt so they temporarily banned opposition groups and censored critical newspapers
Why was political weakness a problem?
Transformismo politics was unclear and unstable: between 1870 and 1922, Italy had 29 Prime Ministers
What evidence is there of a problematic North/South divide?
In the 1890s, 90% of the south had no roads
- 13,800km compared to 38,000km in north
Illiteracy rate was 87% in south and 68% in north
There was 1370km of railway in the north and 1000km in the south
What happened in 1896?
The Battle of Adowa
Why did the Battle of Adowa happen?
Crispi thought Italy should be a ‘great power’ that was equal to Britain and France and, by the 1880s, both of these nations had empires in Africa. As a result, Crispi and Italy seized Eritrea in 1890
What happened in the Battle of Adowa?
In 1895, Crispi ordered troops to seize Abyssinia which resulted in the Battle of Adowa in 1896
Italy were defeated and 5000 of their men were dead. This was a national embarrassment because they were the first European nation to be defeated by an African state
Humiliation caused Crispi to resign
