Liberal Italy

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  • Created by: Tommy1boy
  • Created on: 23-05-16 09:06

Political System

1886 - Church forbids Catholics of running for office or voting in elections.

Before 1900 - Less then 25% of Italian men had the vote.

Trasformismo Politics - 29 changes of Government between 1870 and 1922.

Giovanni Giolitti - Nov 1903 - Mar 1905 :: May 1906 - Dec 1909 :: Mar 1911 - Mar 1914 :: June 1920 - July 1921 ::

Salandra - Mar 1914 - Jun 1916

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The Questione Meridonale

Betwen 1899 and 1914, Italy expereinced major economic expansion, which was mainly focused in the industrialised north.

North Illiteracy Rates - Piedmont 11% :: Lombardy 13.4%

South Illiteracy Rates - Apulia 59.4% :: Calabria 69.6%

By 1911, the gap between the industralist north and the agriculturalist south and grown.

1911 Census showed that half (1.1 million) of industrial workers were employed in Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont. All of these are industrial provinces in the north.

1910 - 1911 - 25000 people died due to poor drinking water.

Between 1901 and 1913, 200000 southern Italians left Italy every year. This includes 1 million people from Sicilly out of a population of 3.5 million.

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The Questione Meridonale Cont.

In 1910, there were 600000 Italians living in New York. It had the same population of Italians as some major Italian cities at the time.

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Italian Foreign Policy

The French and British Navies dominated the Mediterranean.

'least of the great powers'

Irredentism -The belief that Italy should reclaim Istria and South Tyrol. Most in those areas were of Italian ethnicity and spoke the language.

In 1884, Britain agreed to allow Italy  to take Abyssinia, but it was defeated by the Abyssinian army at the Battle of Dogali. 500 Italian soldiers died.

March 1896 - Italy defeated again in Abysinnia at the Battle of Adwa. 5000 Italian troops killed.

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Giovanni Giolitti and the Socialists

Socialists

Population of Milan almost doubled between 1880 and 1914.

1902 - 250000 industrial workers had joined the socialist national federations.

1910 - 218000 Italians had joined the socialist agricultural cooperatives.

Giolitti never managed to fully win round the split PSI.

They declined a cabinet spot in 1911.

The concessions he made also brought him into contention with the Church and the Nationalists.

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Italian Economic Stats

Real wages rose by 25% between 1890 and 1913.

1500 strikes involving nearlly 350000 workers between 1901 and 1911.

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Giovanni Giolitti and the Socialists Cont

Giolitti focues on absorbing the socialist deputies by offering a range of social reforms.

- Compulsory accident insurance

- Non-compulsory national insurance fund for health and old age (1898)

- Banning of employment of children under 12 (1901)

- 11 hour working day for women (1902)

- Introduction of a maternity fund (1910)

- Policy of non-intervention in labour disputes and the establishment of arbitration courts. (1906)

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Giovanni Giolitti and the Catholic Church

1904 - 'The curch at the state were two parallel lines which should never meet'.

First Italian PM to win an organised Catholic Vote, by offering concessions.

- The Divorce Bill quitely dissapeared from Parliament.

- Promoted Catholic interests in education.

In turn, the pope encourages voters to vote for the liberals due to his alarm of a socialist rise in the polls.

In 1911, the Church became part of governing coalitions in Turin, Bologna, Florence and Vencie.

No concessions on Roman Territory.

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Giovanni Giolitti and the Nationalists

Organised Italian Nationalist as a political force had barely existsed in 1908, but it becamse highly influential by 1914.

The defeat at Adwa, the weakness as a world power and the shame at mass emigration meant the nationalist mvoement gained in strength.

1910 ANI Political Party formed.

1911 Giolitti invaded Libya.

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Giovanni Giolitti and Foreign Policy

The Triple Alliance was holding but showed signes of strain by 1911. Italy wanted the balkans, but Austria would not budge on the issue.

In 1902, France and Italy agreed to protect each others interests in Morocco and Libya. In 1911, France begain to consilidate its power in Morocco and Italy feared it would go after Libya.

The church had been pushing for Italy to invade Libya.

29 September 1911, Italy invaded Libya. Italy's naval force gained most of Libya's ports in three weeks. Italy hoped Libya would greet them, but it did not.

Giolitti had to put pressure on the Ottomon Empire somewhere else, and so they occupied 13 Turkish-held islands in the Agean Sea. Ottomon wars elsewhere meant that they had to surrender Libya to Italy in October 1912.

3500 Italians died and it was forced to keep 50000 troops in Libya to counter the Arab popoulation. The success of this was meat by cries of triumpth by the nationalists.

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Growth of Nationalism and Extremism

In June 1914, the PSI procliamed a national strike after three protestors were shot dead by police in Ancona.

For a week most of the north was in chaos. Hundreds of workers lost their lives in violent protests. 'Red Week' ended after trade unions agreed to call off the strike.

Italian Society was more dicied on class and ideological grounds than at any time since unification

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