The Liberal State, 1911-18

Question 1

What problems did the Liberal State face around 1896?

Answer 1

1. North-South divide.
2. Roman Question: split between the Italian state and the Catholic Church, which refused to recognise the legitimacy of the unified nation.
3. The country was not united. Many saw themselves as separate from each other (e.g. saw themselves as ‘Venetians’ rather than ‘Italians’). Many had strong dialects making communication difficult; modern Italian was only spoken by the rich (about 2% of the population).
4. The right to vote was limited to the rich - dominated by landowners and businessmen.
5. Poor cities such as Naples and in Sicily had organised crime and were run by the Mafia; the govt had no control.
6. Italy lacked economic and military strength, though they aspired to be one of the great European powers.

Question 2

What evidence is there of a North-South divide in Italy between 1896 and 1911?

Answer 2

North:
• Very industrialised (e.g. Venice and Genoa were major European seaports).
• Half of Italy’s 2.2 million industrial workers were employed in the northern provinces of Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont.
• 1900-1912: 40% rise in the income of industrial workers, but agricultural growth was not as good.

South:
• More agricultural and deprived (e.g. in Naples and Sicily, many were subsistence farmers)
• Many were uneducated and illiterate.
• The poor economic state led to many emigrating: 1901-13: 200,000 a year.
• Between 1910 and 1911, 25,000 Italians died from cholera in Naples alone.

Question 3

Where and when was Italy defeated in the 1890s? Why was this so humiliating?

Answer 3

Italy attempted to invade Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) but suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Adwa on 1 March 1896. The Italians suffered about 7,000 killed and 1,500 wounded in the battle and subsequent retreat back into Eritrea, with 3,000 taken prisoner.

Question 4

What were Giolitti’s policies towards the socialists?

Answer 4

Giolitti tried to gain support from the socialists and ‘absorb’ them, by introducing social reforms. These included:
 Banning employment of children under 12 years of age (1901)
 Working days for women were restricted to 11 hours (1902)
 Policy of non-intervention in labour disputes and establishment of arbitration courts to settle pay disputes (helped workers gain better pay without the need for violent strikes).
 State-subsidised sickness and old-age funds for the merchant navy (1913)

Question 5

Which socialists did Giolitti work well with up until 1912?

Answer 5

Reformists / moderates e.g. Filippo Turati

1911: Leonida Bissolati was offered a place in Giolitti’s cabinet (though this was declined).

Question 6

How did Giolitti’s policy towards the socialists fail and further contribute to the weakness of the Liberal State?

Answer 6

Giolitti could not win over the maximalist socialists  they did not want to negotiate with Giolitti  undermined Giolitti’s key aim of trasformismo which was aimed at the socialists.
Giolitti’s attempts to compromise with the socialists  angered Nationalists and Catholics.

Question 7

Which two groups did the socialists split into?

Answer 7

The Reformists

The Maximalists

Question 8

What did the maximalists want?

Answer 8

Complete socialist revolution – refused to cooperate with Liberals as they believed this would undermined the socialists, reduce their support and prevent real reform happening.

Question 9

How did the Catholic Church grow in strength between 1901 and 1911?

Answer 9

19104-11: Catholic youth movements and sports clubs expanded considerably. Through these groups, the Church held considerable influence over the popular vote, particularly in the north.

Question 10

What were Giolitti’s policies towards the Catholic Church?

Answer 10

Offered concessions to the Church in attempt to win its support:
• Allowed a divorce bill to quietly disappear from Plt (1904)
• Promoted Catholic interests in areas such as education

BUT not prepared to give the Pope any concessions on territory.
Prioritised support of the socialists.

Question 11

What evidence is there that Giolitti’s policy towards the Catholic Church was in some way successful?

Answer 11

Catholic church gave Giolitti support in return for his concessions  Giolitti was first to win organised Catholic vote e.g.
 1909: Pope encouraged Italians to vote around in 150 constituencies.
 Catholics were part of governing coalitions in Turin, Florence and Venice.

Question 12

How did Giolitti’s policy towards the Catholic Church fail and further contribute to the weakness of the Liberal State?

Answer 12

Unable to solve the Roman Question  tension between Church and state remained.

Concessions to the Catholic Church and reliance on their support (after 1913 election)  angered socialists and anticlerical liberals  withdrew support  Giolitti forced to resign.

Question 13

Who were the ANI?

Answer 13

Italian Nationalist Party

Question 14

What were the aims and beliefs of the Nationalists?

Answer 14

• Worked for a united, republican Italian nation. Attracting many Italians to the cause of independence.
• It was the belief that all the men of the nation are called to be free and equal brothers, and only a republic could assure this. It also favoured a unitary state because without unity there is not truly a nation as there would be no strength.

Question 15

Why did the Nationalists grow in strength between 1901 and 1911?

Answer 15

M

Question 16

What were Giolitti’s policies towards the Nationalists?

Answer 16

At first, attempted to stop the growing support for the nationalists by boosting support for his leadership with a liberal programme of reform and economic modernisation.
In 1911, Giolitti pursued a different path. He attempted to embrace nationalism and win the support of nationalists by invading Libya and thereby expand Italy’s empire in North Africa.

Question 17

How did Giolitti’s policy towards the Nationalists fail and further contribute to the weakness of the Liberal State?

Answer 17

Economic modernisation failed to halt the rise of nationalism.

Nationalists saw Giolitti as representing weakness and corruption  refused to work with him.

Nationalism was much more attractive than Liberalism  gained support.

Giolitti’s attempt to embrace nationalism  invasion of Libya  destroyed cooperation with the PSI (who opposed the war).

Question 18

Describe the Libyan War.

Answer 18

An attempt to gain the support of the nationalists and the Catholic Church (which had considerable financial interests in Libya).

29 September 1911: 70,000 Italian troops invaded Libya, as the navy gained Libya’s ports and coastal towns.

Question 19

In what ways was the Libyan War successful?

Answer 19

Met with an outpouring of national enthusiasm (even from socialist leaders such as Bissolati).

Naval forces seized most ports and coastal towns within three weeks.

8 October 1912: Ottomans surrendered control of Libya

 Greeted as a resounding Italian victory, which overcame the shame of Adwa and demonstrated Italy as a great power.
e shame of the battle of Adwa. The War also encouraged support for the PSI and the church cooperated with the Liberals.

Question 20

How did Italians respond to the Libyan War?

Answer 20

Initially, met with an outpouring of national enthusiasm. Seen as a victory which overcame the shame of the Battle of Adwa (1896), and showed Italy to be a great power.

The war angered the socialists because they disagreed with the idea of colonisation, leading them to withdraw all their support for Giolitti.

The Nationalists took credit for the war but blamed the Liberals’ weaknesses as the reason why the army had lost so many men, infuriating some Italians  the war increased support for the ANI.
ation, leading them to withdraw all their support for Giolitti
- The Nationalists took credit for the war but blamed the Liberals weaknesses as the reason why the army had lost so many men, infuriating some Italians.
-The war increased support for the ANI.

Question 21

How many Italian casualties were there in Libya? How many troops were needed in order to keep peace?

Answer 21

3,500 Italian casualties.

Italians were not welcomed by Libyan population  50,000 troops were needed to pacify the population

Question 22

In what ways was the Libyan War a failure? How did it further contribute to the weakness of the Liberal State?

Answer 22

Nationalists took credit for the war  increased their support.

Nationalists blamed loss of so many troops on Liberal weakness and a lack of patriotism  increased support for ANI.

Destroyed Giolitti’s cooperation with the PSI (moderates e.g. Bissolati were expelled from PSI)  Giolitti relied more heavily on the Catholic Church.

Encouraged Giolitti to extend the franchise  Liberal defeat in 1913 election  Giolitti relied more heavily on the Catholic Church  forced to resign.

Question 23

Describe Giolitti’s extension of the franchise. When was it? Who did it give the vote to?

Answer 23

Libyan War  difficult to deny vote to Italy’s conscript soldiers

 1912: vote extended to all men who had completed military service and all men aged 30 or over (regardless of literacy).

Question 24

In what ways was the extension of the franchise a success?

Answer 24

Giolitti hoped it would promote greater national unity  increase Liberal popularity in rural areas, and undermine the PSI.

Question 25

What was the result of the 1913 election?

Answer 25

Liberals won 318 seats (loss of 71)

 PSI, ANI and Catholic all made gains

Question 26

Why did the 1913 election lead to Giolitti’s resignation?

Answer 26

President of Catholic Electorate Union secretly asked Liberal candidates to agree to 7 concessions in return for Catholic vote  boasted that 228 Liberals owed their victory to Catholic support.

Liberals lost seats to PSI and ANI in election.

 Liberal regime became more and more reliant on Catholic support  angered socialists and anticlerical liberals  withdrew support  Giolitti forced to resign.

Question 27

In what ways was the extension of the franchise a failure? How did it further contribute to the weakness of the Liberal state?

Answer 27

Extension of franchise  reduced number of Liberal deputies  became more reliant on Catholics  Giolitti forced to offer further concessions to the Catholic Church angered socialists and anticlerical liberals  withdrew support  Giolitti forced to resign.

Question 28

Who was Italy allied with when WWI broke out?

Answer 28

Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Question 29

What did most Italians think in relation to whether Italy should enter WWI in 1914?

Answer 29

They did not want to get involved in the war (especially so soon after the Libyan War).

Question 30

Why did Italy initially decide to remain neutral in WWI?

Answer 30

• The socialists didn’t want to go to war.
• When World War One broke out, Italy did not have to join the war on the side of Austria-Hungary, as it had not consulted with Italy’s government before declaring war on Serbia .
• Therefore Italy’s treaty obligations to Austria did not apply and she remained neutral.
• The majority of Italians agreed, and had no wish to get involved.
• Many within Parliament (including Giolitti) argued that Italy was not economically ready for a major war, especially so soon after the Libyan War.
• Many politicians believed Italy would gain more by negotiating with both sides to stay neutral.

Question 31

Why did Salandra want Italy to join the war? (Give four reasons).

Answer 31

• He believed it would unite Italy.
• He was concerned that if Germany and Austria-Hungary won, they would not be sympathetic to an ally who failed to come to their side at this critical time.
• He wanted land (if Britain and France were victorious, he believed Italy might gain land in the Mediterranean)
• Gain support from the nationalists (they wanted land)

Question 32

When was the Treaty of London? What did it say?

Answer 32

The Treaty of London (26 April 1915) was an agreement which secured Italy to be part of the allied side of the First World War. This meant Italy would join France, Britain and Russia fighting against Germany and Austria-Hungary.
In this Treaty, Italy would be granted territorial concessions such as Trentino, Trieste, South Tyrol, Istria, the Dodecanese Islands, Northern Dalmatia and parts of Germany’s colonies in Asia and Africa. However, Fiume was not included.

Question 33

What was the reaction in Italy to the Treaty of London (both political and from the public)?

Answer 33

Politicians happy that Italy would get trieste, southern Tyrol, northern Dalmatia.
Majority of public were neutralists and didn’t want to join in the war so were upset.

Question 34

How many Italians were court-martialled during the war for desertion?

Answer 34

• 290,000 Italian soldiers were court-martialled during the war for desertion.

Question 35

How many Italian soldiers were sentenced to death?

Answer 35

4,000

Question 36

Why did so many peasants want to desert the army?

Answer 36

• Many of the soldiers fighting in the war were from the South
• Southern peasants, who spoke a vast range of dialects, could not understand orders being given to them by those in charge
• The conditions which the soldiers fought in were horrific and many were killed by cholera and frostbite.
• Thousands of soldiers died with little success. In 1915, 62,000 Italians were killed during four attempted offensives against the Austrians that failed to change the situation at the front.

Question 37

Why did Italian PoWs feel angry towards their government?

Answer 37

French and British prisoners of war were allowed to receive food parcels from home, whereas the Italian government stopped any attempts by families to help Italian soldiers who had been taken prisoner by the enemy. This was because Italian leaders feared that if soldiers heard that conditions in prisoner of war camps were tolerable they might be encouraged to surrender.

Therefore, 600,000 Italian soldiers who had been captured were left to survive on 1,000 calories a day. 100,000 died of hunger-related illnesses (5 times the number from France and Britain). Those soldiers who survived the camps came out with a strong feeling of abandonment and considerable anger towards a government they felt had betrayed them.

Question 38

What was the name of the battle in October 1917? Who was it between? Who won? (Give statistics to support your answer).

Answer 38

The name of the Battle in October 1917 was the Battle of Caporetto. This was between Italy and Austria and was a huge embarrassment to the Italian leadership, resulting in 10,000 Italians killed, 30,000 wounded and 300,000 taking as prisoners. While the initial Austrian victory had been due to Italy’s poor tactical skills, poor morale and poor leadership meant a chaotic retreat took place. 400,000 soldiers simply vanished, in most cases using the chaos to head back to their homes in Italy.

Question 39

Why did Italy perform so badly during WWI?

Answer 39

They fought in ice trenches in the mountains, so they could not go on the offensive.
Many soldiers did not want to fight, so they deserted.
Many were treated badly by commanders, resulting in poor morale.
The army had poor leadership and morale.
Many socialists and Giolitti wanted to stay neutral in the war, and did not support war, so caused political polarisation.
Communication - majority of the peasant conscripts (who spoke a range of dialects) could not understand the orders being given to them by those in charge (usually educated northern Italians who spoke official Italian).
Economic weakness.

Question 40

Who was blamed for Italy’s poor performance?

Answer 40

The Liberal state.

The socialists and neutralists as people believed their defeatism and lack of patriotism had caused the lack of morale.

Question 41

What was the attitude of socialists towards the war? How were they portrayed?

Answer 41

• The PSI continued to oppose the war, declaring a policy of ‘neither support nor sabotage’ to the war effort.
• Its stance was despised by the nationalists and many liberal supporters who saw it as a defeatist, unpatriotic and un-Italian, blaming it for the poor performance of Italy’s military.
• Mussolini himself blamed Italian socialists, asserting that they were a more dangerous enemy than the Austrians.

Question 42

What evidence is there that Italy’s weak economy meant it was unprepared for WWI?

Answer 42

• Italy was behind Austria in nearly all economic areas. E.g.for every 2 machine guns per Italian battalion, the Austrians had 12; Italy only produced 1 million tonnes of steel whilst Austria produced 2.6 million tonnes of steel.
• Rations were extremely low with bread and pasta was being rationed. Also the consumption of meat and sugar fell sharply.
• Italy was in a 2.9 billion lira debt before the war.

Question 43

What evidence is there that Italy’s economy improved during the war?

Answer 43

• The economy of Fascist Italy was weak. The economy of Italy had made little recovery after WW1. Mussolini knew that this was a major area to address if Italy was to become a major European power.
• Mussolini knew that Italy after 1918(WW1) was a poor nation compared to France and Britain. Mussolini wanted to advance the economic state of Italy and his plan was based on a two-fold approach. He first started by attacking the power of the trade unions and therefore controlling the workers, and setting Italy targets as he had with his Battle for Births. For the attempt to get Italy on the road to economic prosperity Mussolini introduced three battles(stages) – the Battle for Land, the Battle of the Lira and the Battle for Grain.

Question 44

How was production increased?

Answer 44

The European-wide economic depression came to an end which meant that Italy went through a period of major industrial growth from 1896 to 1915.

Question 45

How did WWI affect government debt?

Answer 45

Italy’s rapid industrial growth affected their debt increasingly throughout the war as their government investment was almost entirely on war production, which had been paid for by loans. As the war continued, these issues were ignored, As a result, by the end of the war the country found itself around 23 billion lira in debt.

Question 46

What evidence is there that WWI made the economic divide between North and South worse?

Answer 46

• Between 1911 and 1921 the North’s economy grew due to war production by over 20% whereas the South remained poor.

Question 47

Why did WWI increase unrest among industrial workers?

Answer 47

• Workers (particularly in the north) were angry that they had to work longer hours with a real fall in wages of 25%.
• Strikes were made illegal and workers would face military tribunals if their behaviour was deemed unsatisfactory.
• The government increased indirect taxes to pay for the war effort.
• Many of these workers were even more angry about this as they didn’t support the war in the first place.

Question 48

What was rationed in 1917? What was the reaction to this?

Answer 48

Bread and pasta were rationed
Bread riots broke out in working-class neighbourhoods (August 1917).
Army troops took 4 days to quell the riots.
An estimated 50 demonstrators and 10 soldiers were killed in Turin.

Question 49

What challenges did the Liberal government face at the end of WWI?

Answer 49

• they were still in 23 billion lire of debt.
• there had been 650,000 casualties.
• there was even more separation between the north and south of Italy.
• politics was even more polarised than before.
• Real wages had fallen by 25%.
• Nationalists and Neutralists hated each other even more.
• High inflation rates.
• There was a new division between soldiers and non soldiers.
• The government has made promises to the peasants during the war such and more land but they were in able to fufill them due to the mutilated victory.

Question 50

What was the name of the battle that gave Italy victory over the Austrians?

Answer 50

• The Battle of Vittorio Veneto came to symbolise the greatest moment of Italian history
• The victory was promoted by nationalists, as well as demonstrating glory of Italy, achieved through patriotism, unity and self-sacrifice

Question 51

Who was Italian prime minster at the Paris Peace Conference (1919)? What territory did he argue Italy should be given?

Answer 51

Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando.
He argued Italy should have the land it had been promised in the Treaty of London. E.g. the land along Italy’s border with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, stretching from Trentino through the South Tyrol to the city of Trieste (parts of Dalmatia and numerous islands along Austria-Hungary’s Adriatic coast; the Albanian port city of Vlor and territory from the Ottoman Empire). He also argued Italy should be given the port of Fiume on the Croatian coast.

Question 52

What did Italy get in the final Treaty? What did they not get?

Answer 52

They did not get everything promised in the Treaty of London or Fiume. Trent and Trieste were given. Northern Dalmatia and Istria were occupied, so became territory. Italy received no African land.

Question 53

How was the final Treaty described? By whom?

Answer 53

The Treaty was described as a mutilated victory. Orlando, the new Prime Minister argued that Italy should be given all the territory it had been promised in the 1915 Treaty of London plus the port of Fiume on the Croatian coast but the allies did not see Italy worthy of this “great power” status. The idea of Mutilated Victory was created by Gabriele D’Annunzio.

Question 54

What did d’Annunzio do?

Answer 54

• Led protests for Italy’s entry into the war in 1914 (believing it would reclaim its glorious past).
• Took 2000 men containing ex soldiers, futurists, students and patriots to seize the contested port of Fiume without a fight.

Question 55

How did the liberal government react to the occupation of Fiume?

Answer 55

They were scared of D’Annunzio’s (the prominent RW leader who led the occupation of Fiume) popularity, therefore they failed to act for 15 months.
Occupation of Fiume was on 12th September 1919; on Christmas day 1920 the occupying force was removed.

Question 56

What evidence is there that Giolitti’s policy towards the socialists was in some way successful?

Answer 56

Through Giolotti giving the Socialist what they wants and giving in to the Bienno Rosso meant that the threat of a socialist revolution went away and that the Fear of Left became less as now they got what they sort of wanted they didn’t have to cause a civil war or a revolution which calmed the situation down.

Question 57

What evidence is there that Giolitti’s policy towards the socialists between 1911 and 1914 was in some way successful?

Answer 57

Filippo Turati, leader of the Reformists, agreed to work with Giolitti.

Leading socialist Bussolati was offered a place in Giolitti’s cabinet (though he declined)

Question 58

What evidence is there of economic weakness in Italy prior to the First World War?

Answer 58

1. Italy was producing 0.6 million tons of iron and steel, compared to Germany’s 28.6 million tons and Britain’s 16.2 million tons.
2. 1910-11: 1,500 strikes in Italy.

Question 59

Why did the Catholic Church pose a problem to the Liberal State before 1911?

Answer 59

Until 1861, the pope had ruled a large area of Italy (the Papal States, which included Rome).
Once the pope lost independent rule over this territory (when Italy was unified), there was great tension between the Catholic Church and the Italian State.
Pope Pius IX made his opposition known (e.g. refused to acknowledge the Italian state; 1871 ‘Non Expedit’ claimed that it was unwise for Catholics to vote in national elections). This was a problem given that Italy was an overwhelming Catholic country.

Question 60

What were Giolitti’s key aims?

Answer 60

1. Unite politicians behind his liberal government (trasformismo). This required winning the support of:
   • Socialists
   • Catholic Church
   • Nationalists
2. Transform Italy into a modern, successful country.
3. Unite the masses behind shared values and faith in his liberal parliament.

trasformismo = the process of forming political alliances and winning support from other deputies (members of parliament), in order to have enough support to be prime minister (due to an absence of formal political parties). Politicians could then withdraw their support for the prime minister if they were offered a better deal by another deputy. This meant politics was characterised by corruption and frequent changes in government, rather than attracting votes through popular or successful policies.

Question 61

Who were the PSI?

Answer 61

Italian Socialist Party

Question 62

Why did the socialists grow in strength between 1901 and 1911?

Answer 62

1. Northern cities expanded considerably as peasants moved from the southern regions. This encouraged the growth of socialism as a means of working-class advancement.
2. The Socialists were supported by a large number of intellectuals, who had lost faith in the Liberal politicians. They believed only socialism could solve Italy’s problems of corruption, rural poverty and the widening gap between the ruling classes and the masses.
3. The PSI was active in taking their message to Italy’s poor, holding public meetings, lectures and debates in the places where the working class and rural poor gathered (e.g. bars and cafes).

Question 63

What evidence is there that Giolitti’s policy towards the socialists was in some way successful?

Answer 63

Arbitration courts were welcomed by Filippo Turati (PSI leader).