THE LIBERAL STATE 1911-18
The Liberal state 1911-18
Liberal Italy: Italy from unification until 1922. Featured rapidly changing coalition gov’ts w/ the majority
believing in democracy, freedoms (such as freedom of speech + religion). However, politics were
characterised by corruption, economic + social problems and a lack of political development.
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Unification:
- Risorgimento: - refers to the unification of Italy
- some saw it as a Piedmont coup.
- Italy became a nation in 1861 + fully unified in 1870.
- In the 50yrs after, politicians failed to create an identity for the country that would unite its citizens.
- Itay had been fragmented politically, economically + culturally since the middle ages. The idea of
‘Italy’ as a nation meant v. little to Italians.
- Campanilismo: a feeling of pride + belonging to their place of birth.
- was felt by most Italians much more strongly than any sense of national identity.
Language:
- They weren't even unified by language as 99% spoke a regional dialect.
- The official language of Italian was the dialect from Florence, but few outside Florence + the
educated classes spoke it.
- Even the king mostly spoke in the Piedmont dialect: most outside Piedmont couldn’t understand him.
- This largely hindered the process of unifying the country.
50th anniversary events:
- International Industrial Fair: - event showing Italy’s economic progress since unification
- began at a large stadium w/ 70,000 cheering spectators.
- Rome: - artistic + cultural events occurred throughout the yr showing excellence in art + fashion.
- 1st ‘Queen of Rome’ beauty contest held.
Behind the facade of cheering crowds:
- Catholic church: boycotted the events + refused to celebrate unification.
- Socialist politicians: stated the idea of a united Italian nation was meaningless.
- Celebrations highlighted regional tensions - but, some thought diversity was positive.
- The north-south divide meant they’d failed to construct a sense of Italian patriotism.
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Statuto - The 1848 constitution:
- Equality before the law
- The right of free assembly
- A free press
- Set up a constitutional monarchy + elected parliament
Monarchy:
, - King’s powers: - appoint + dismiss gov’t ministers + senators (incl. The PM)
- the face of the gov’t in times of crisis
Government:
- Prime Minister: - head of gov’t, responsible for day to day running of the country
- needed parliament support to keep his position + propose laws
- Parliament: - Senate: - upper house
- Senators appointed by the King for life
- Chamber of Deputies: - lower house (had more political power than the Senate)
- elected every 5 yrs
- gov’t ministers chosen from the Chamber of Deputies
- Electorate: - limitations based on age, property ownership + education
- until 1912: 25% of adult men could vote
- many felt alienated from the political system
Weaknesses:
- The system was felt to be elitist, unstable + corrupt
- Politicians were mainly Northern + middle class: representing their own interests.
- They believed most Italians didn’t have the political education needed to vote, but did little to
increase education.
- Parties: - often didn’t have a coherent ideology
- - made up of power hungry men who wanted to serve local interests (could be bribed)
- Transformismo: - process of building coalitions
- - Politicians often bribed political opponents
- - Those looking to build coalitions would offer important jobs/ financial incentives,
- meant the system was unstable as coalitions fell apart quickly = multiple short
- term gov’ts (1900-1911, 9 Gov’ts, only 1 lasted more than 2 yrs)
Transformismo meant an inability to pass laws that would benefit Italians, w/ politics having little to do w/
gaining popular support.
- Protests against the gov’t squashed violently by the army.
- This heightened the split between ‘real Italy’ (the Italian people) + ‘legal Italy’ (the ruling classes) and
fuelled support of more extremist ideologies.
- Many didn’t have knowledge of what was going on beyond village lines.
The Roman Question:
- The Pope had been angered at the capture of Rome in 1870 + the loss of Papal territory, hence
refusing to recognise the Italian state.
- No gov’t was willing to give Rome to the Catholic church + they feared that challenging the church
would further alienate Italians.
- 1886, Pope Leo XIII forbade Catholics from running for office or voting.
- This hampered Italian political development, robbed Italy of a potentially unifying symbol +
questioned the nation’s legitimacy.
- There was hence no national conservative party based on Catholic values, meaning there was little
parliamentary challenge to the liberals.
Political parties:
- Liberals
- Radicals + Republicans
, - Socialists
- Catholics
- Nationalists
ITALY AS A GREAT POWER
The Great Powers in Europe:
- Italy lagged behind Europe’s great powers in foreign policy.
- Its industrial development was slower than Britain + Germany
- Geographically disadvantaged as the French + British navies dominated the Med.
Foreign policy aims:
- Irredentism: Italy should reclaim Istria + the South Tyrol as many in these areas were ethnically
Italian + spoke the language.
- The areas were viewed as rightfully Italian but fell in the Austro-Hungarian empire + Italy didn’t have
the military or diplomatic means to reclaim it.
- Wanted overseas colonies: (particularly in Africa) seen as crucial to becoming a great power.
History of Italian Foreign policy:
- Tunisia: - the country Italy 1st focused on, given its economic + strategic interests.
- 1881: French (w/ British diplomatic support) invaded + claimed it.
- Triple Alliance: - Italian gov’t allied w/ Austria + Germany, against the French, as a result of Tunisia.
- angered many Italians as Austria was their traditional enemy seen as the barrier to
irredente lands.
- 1884, British agreed to Italian expansion in Abyssinia.
- Battle of Dogali: - Italy attempts to colonise Abyssinia
- Italian forces defeated by the Ethiopian army + 500 Italian soldiers died.
- Battle of Adwa: - 1896, Italy again attempts to invade Abyssinia.
- It’s the worst defeat ever suffered by a European power in Africa
- 5,000 Italian troops killed + thousands more injured
These failures provoked mass protests against Italy’s political class.
Italy only had 750,000 available soldiers (Germany had 2.2mil + France had 1.25mil) + the announcement
of conscription (1907) wasn’t met w/ the reverence it was in Germany.
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Industrialisation:
- The state invested in industries + encouraged use of new technology
- Cheaper iron + steel imports led to the founding of motor + engineering firms (e.g: Fiat + Lancia)
- Pirelli + Montecatini: - began producing sulphuric acid, rubber + electric cables
- 1896-1913 profits grew by 10.6%
- Exports increased at a rate of 4.5%
- 1901-11 industrial workers increased by 2mil
- Industrialisation didn’t provide benefits to the wider population + living standards of rural + industrial
workers stayed low.
- Accentuated the north south divide.
- However, w/in the industrial centres there was greater mixing of Italians. Caused:
- spread of political ideas + awareness of political engagement (increased PSI’s popularity)
, - higher literacy rates + education
Industry in the North:
- North west: - engineering + textiles
- Particularly successful given its geographical closeness to the rest of Europe, trade
links, accessible markets + power sources.
- North: - chemicals
- North east: - steel + heavy machinery
Limitations:
- Not evenly spread out: in 1911 Milan, Genoa + Turin (aka the ‘industrial triangle’) accounted for 55%
of industrial income + employed half the industrial workers.
- Lack of resources meant they had to import iron, steel + coal
- Workforce was large but unskilled
- Industrial machinery needed to be imported
- Communications, transport + energy was limited in most areas
Industry in the South:
- Industry was inefficient + poorly developed
- Francesco Saverio Nitti: - introduced policies to help encourage development
- e.g: - construction of aqueducts
- tax incentives + loans
- 1900: - internal tariffs ended, free trade introduced
- damaged the Southern economy as it couldn’t compete with the north
Agriculture:
- 1870: Most of the population dependant on land to support their families
Italy wasn’t self sufficient in food.
- Most of the population was rural: 1913 = 57%
North:
Positives: - benefitted from intro of new crops (1890-1910), increasing production of wheat
- had rich land (e.g: Po Valley)
- irrigation + drainage systems protected farms from flooding
- mechanisation, fertilisation + improved techniques boosted productivity
Negatives: - larger farm owners employed landless labourers, sacking them when demand slowed
South:
Positives: - produced some luxury items (wine, oil, citrus fruits)
Negatives: - land was poorer quality (partly due to deforestation + exhausted soil)
- harsher climate
- summer brought disease + drought
- large, inefficient noble owned estates.
- gov’t support was slow, southerners thought northern politicians didn’t care about them.
- 0.1% owned half the land in the South, mainly landowners who eventually moved north.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
North-south Divide:
- Meridionalismo: an intellectual movement that aimed to understand the problems of the south to
encourage proper gov’t reform, they called for fiscal stimulus + investment, little
