What was the impact of the first world war on Italy?
The intervention crisis - Salandra argued; if Italy did not join then Germany and Austro-Hungary would not be sympathetic to
an ally who failed to come to their side at this critical time vs if Britain and France won, would not be
open to discussing ambitions in the Mediterranean.
- Treaty of London 1915, promised gain of irridente lands, pledging to support Britain, France, and
Russia (secret even army general had not been informed)
- May 1915, 300 deputies announced their opposition to it
- Mussolini expelled from PSI for promoting intervention
- Salandra granted emergency powers by parliament May 1915 (shows how divided the decision was)
- Salandra had hoped that the war would bring the Italian nation together and unite them in a heroic
cause, however the majority opposed it.
- PSI had voted against and were the only far left-wing party in Europe not to support their country’s
intervention in the war
Military stalemate 1915-16 - Characterised by mainly static trench warfare in the ice and snow of the difficult alpine terrain,
thousands of soliders killed by cholera and frostbite
- 2 years of stalemate followed the declaration of war, 1915 62,000 Italians died during 4 attempted
offensives against the Austrians that failed to change the situation at the front
- Southern peasant conscripts were overrepresented and the ideals of the war concerning Italian
expansion meant very little to them
- Range of dialects, could not understand orders given by educated northern Italians
- Role of Luigi Cadorna (harsh punishment) military tribunals passed 4,000 death sentences on Italian
soliders for desertion and indiscipline through the course of the war, those captured had to survive
on 1,000 calories a day + around 100,000 died of hunger-related illnesses, 5 times the number
from France and Britain who were allowed to receive food parcels.
Defeat at Caporetto 1917 - Poor leadership + low morale saw Italian army dissolve in the face of Austrian forces
- Lost the majority of the Veneto region
- Embarrassment to leadership – senator Franchetti committed suicide over the nature of it
- 300,000 taken prisoner + 400,000 simply vanished
- Turning point for Italian nation, had reignited the divisions that had surfaced during the arguments
on intervention 1914 and 1915, the fact that the majority of parliament still didn’t back the war was
blamed for the poor performance
- Greater focus now on boosting solider morale, and in 1917 an organisation to look after the welfare
of the soldiers and their families was established
- Casualty rates fell from 520,000 1917 to 143,000 1918
Socialist response to the war - Hysteria after Caporetto after ‘defeatists’ led to the arrest and imprisonment of many PSI leaders.
- PSI stance was despised nationalists and many liberalists
- Position on the war meant there was an even greater polarisation between left and right in Italian
politics.
The war economy and cost of war Gains: (overall coped effectively with the requirements)
- Fiat established itself and Europe’s leading truck and lorry manufacturer
- End of war produced 20,000 machine guns and 7,000 pieces of heavy artillery, greater number
than the British were able to manufacture
- Leading industrialists ran the central and regional committees for industrial mobilisation
Losses:
- Country was at 23 billion lire in debt (before war was 2.9 billion lire), and national debt was 84.9
billion lire 1919
- Economy was unbalanced, war-based sectors such as steel, cement, rubber growing at a
disproportionate rate
- Accelerated the division between north and south, south remained predominately impoverished
agricultural society, norths economy grew over 20% between 1911-1921 = bitterness of south and
resentment for industrial workers in north
- 1917 bread and pasta were being rationed, long hours and a fall in real wages of 25% when
industrialists were making vast profit + indirect taxes to pay for the war led to greater social division
- 1917 50 workers were killed protesting in Turin against bread shortages + continuation of the war
- Had a profound effect on the country
The significance of victory - Italian offensive 1918, entered Vittorio Veneto + split Austrian army in two
- Came to symbolize the greatest moment of the Italian nation
- Victory promoted by nationalists as demonstrating the glory of Italy, achieved through patriotism,
unity, and self-sacrifice
However
Difficult to see what Italy had actually won?
Suffered 650,000 casualties
Economy was greatly distorted
Legacy divided those who stayed at home and those who backed the war
Government had difficult task of fulfilling promises made after Caporetto to boost morale
Government faced extremely difficult situation – many believed the war should bring about major change in
Italian politics
