What was the impact of WWI? Flashcards
1
Q
Interventionist crisis
A
- Italy’s neutrality (1914) split the liberals and set off a political crisis.
- PM Salandra favoured intervention, fearing Austro-Hungary and Germany’s lack of sympathy if they won the war, but in contrast, feared B/F’s unwillingness to discuss Italy’s imperialistic ambitions if they remained neutral.
- Began secret negotiations with both sides of the war, but the Entente promised Italy some irredente lands upon victory - signed the Treaty of London (April 26th 1915).
2
Q
Interventionist crisis
Did the Treaty of London help Italy in the long-term regarding land?
A
- Didn’t achieve the speedy and decisive victories for which the Allies had hoped.
- By the Bolsheviks revealing the secret Treaty upon ending their obligations in 1918, the disregard of the ethnic principle angered President Wilson and he made it clear the terms weren’t binding.
- At the Peace Conference in Paris, Italy received far less of their demands than the Treaty originally laid out.
- Italian popular resentment contributed to the rise of Mussolini’s fascism.
3
Q
Interventionist crisis
Reaction to the TOL
A
- Significant unrest - conducted in secret w/o parli approval.
- PSI/Catholics opposed intervention.
- April 1915 = prefects of local govts reported most provinces feared war and had little concern for irredentism.
- May 1915 = denounced by Giolitti and 300 deputies announced their opposition, with pro-neutrality calling on Giolitti to become PM again.
- Pro-War rallies were held in the streets whilst pro-neutral were called traitors.
4
Q
Interventionist crisis
Salandra’s resignation
A
- Upon Salandra’s resignation in May 1915, the king asked Giolitti to form a new govt but feared reversing the TOL was impossible; otherwise he might abdicate. Fearing this, Giolitti declined.
- Reinstated Salandra on May 16th, given emergency powers on May 20th, announced Italy’s declaration of war on Austria on May 25th.
5
Q
Interventionist crisis
What was the cause of entry and the aims?
A
- Foreign and domestic political reasons, rather than the interventionist protests, as Salandra hoped it would unify Italians into a heroic cause.
- Still opposed by most and the debate still caused troubling divisions.
- E.G = PSI voted against Salandra’s emergency powers and they were the only far-left wing party in Europe to not support their country’s intervention in wwi.
6
Q
Military stalemate
A
- Salandra hoped for a brief, offensive war which would bring some territorial gains. Rather, a war of attribution in terrible conditions - two years of stalemate.
- Troops were regularly sacrificed for the sake of a few metres of land (62k soldiers died in 1915 after 4 offensives against Austria).
- Or killed by cholera and frostbite in the difficult alpine terrain.
7
Q
Military stalemate
How did the war reveal the problems and divisions dividing society?
A
- Nearly 5M conscripted (majority peasants or agricultural workers).
- Southern peasant conscripts felt the ideals of war concerning Italian expansion meant little to them.
- Language barrier between the peasants and northern Italians.
- Conscripts were treated poorly by commanders, receiving very low rations (3k per day by 1616) and 290k were court-martialed during the war for desertion.
- Nationalists blamed the government for the poor battle tactics and the government blamed the chief of the army, Luigi Cordorna.
8
Q
Military stalemate
Impact of Cordona
How did he solve the issue of lack of disciple and morale
A
- Repress dissent through harsh punishment.
- Military tribunals passed 4,000 death sentences on soldiers for desertion and indiscipline, considerably more than other Western armies.
- Given the troops’ lack of patriotism, if the soldiers heard that conditions in POW camps were tolerable, they’d be inclined to surrender. Thus, govt hampered any attempts to help captured Italians; 600k captured soldiers had to survive on 1000 calories a day.
- Around 100k died of hunger-related illness (unable to receive food parcels from home) and survivors of POW camps left with a strong feeling of abandonment and anger to the govt.
9
Q
Defeat at Caporetto, 1917
A
- Boselli replaced Salandra after the Austrian attack on Trentine salient, leaving a severe damper on army and public morale as Italy’s military efforts hardly improved.
- Oct 1917 = Austro-Hungarian forces pushed the Italians to retreat because of the poor leadership and low morale - troop action was considered an embarrassment to Italian leadership:
- 10k died, 280k taken prisoner, lost all territory on their northern frontier.
10
Q
How did the defeat at Caporetto reveal the army’s poor state?
A
- 200k lost contact with their regiments, lost large quantities of military arms and a majority of the Veneto region.
- The turning point for Italy’s fight for survival, prompting anger and debate over divisions which surfaced regarding intervention as many still didn’t back the war, while the nationalist blamed them for Italy’s poor military performance.
11
Q
Impact of the Battle of Caporetto - changes in leadership
A
- Orlando replaced Boselli; Diaz took over from Cordona, taking a more defensive approach and tried avoiding needless sacrifices (casualties fell from 520k in 1917 to 143k in 1918).
- Greater focus on boosting soldier morale - created an organisation in Dec 1917 to look after the welfare of the soldiers and their families.
12
Q
Socialist responses to the war
Politically
A
- Opposed the war, declared a policy of ‘neither support nor sabotage the war effort.
- Caused greater polarisation in Italian politics - despised by nationalist and many liberal supporters as being defeatist and unpatriotic = blamed for the poor military performance.
- Further hysteria after Caporetto against ‘defeatists’ led to arrests and imprisonment of many PSI leaders.
13
Q
Socialist responses to the war
How did socialism grow even more rapidly?
A
- As discipline relaxed, factory workers protested against the economic situation (cost of living and working hrs).
- PSI membership rose from 50k pre-war to 200k and Socialist trade union membership rose from 250k in 1918 to 2M in 1920.
- Encouraged by the Russian Rev 1917 - not sufficiently organised or aware how to achieve this.
- Strikes continued in cities and peasants seized land in the countryside (heightened by the return of demobilised soldiers w/o prospects).
- Conservatives blamed the govt for not doing enough to prevent the ‘Red threat’ - controlling 26/69 provinces at local govt level.
14
Q
War Economy
What was the impact of WWI on the economy?
A
- Significant impact.
- Prior 1914, the industry was behind Austria in nearly all areas key to war.
- Made incredible improvements throughout WWI, but it had profound long-term socioeconomic issues in 1918.
15
Q
War Economy
What was the industry like during the war?
A
- Able to overcome its deficits - coped effectively.
- Fiat established itself as Europe’s leading truck and lorry manufacturer and by 1918, Italian industry produced more armament (e.g 20k machine guns) than the British.
- Driven by Dallolio.
