Long-term causes

Weaknesses of Liberal Italy

Lack of an The long history of political division amongst Italians hindered the ability of an Italian identity to be formed.
Italian
identity Few Italians were involved in the actual unification of Italy in 1871, and most people were more loyal to their families, or the
immediate places in which they lived (regionalism), rather than the Italian nation.

Only about 2% of people spoke Italian, with the rest of the population only speaking dialects that were very specific to certain
areas.

Hostility from The Catholic Church was powerful in Italian society, with the majority of Italians identifying as Catholics.
the Church
The creation of Italy had seized the Papal States and Rome from the Church, which the Church resented.

The Pope refused to recognize Italy as a nation and instructed all loyal Catholics to boycott the elections by banning Catholic
participation in the political system.

Though this was lifted in 1895, there still remained hostility between the Church and Liberal Italy, even beyond WWI.

Economic Italy was predominantly agriculture, with 68% of the population being peasants, taking the role of farm labourers that
weaknesses depended on land.

Industry was underdeveloped, with most enterprises being small, craftsmanship based.

The lack of natural resources made it difficult for heavy industry, mainly coal and iron, to develop.

The main industrial development was centred around military purposes, in iron, steel and shipbuilding industries.

The main transportation links, railways, were concentrated in the north.

 Political The political system was very confusing, with no defined political parties or no two-party systems.
weaknesses
The lack of parties meant that politicians were organised into factions, and shared positions between them when in power.

This promoted the politics of transformismo, where political rivals would put their differences aside to form temporary, and often
fragile coalitions.

The urban and rural population did not have the power to vote, meaning that politicians were from a narrow social class:
wealthy/middle class. Their similar backgrounds also contributed to a lack of diverging opinions.

E.g→ This reflected a great political instability, evidenced by how Italy had 29 Prime Ministers between 1870 and 1922.

→ Some historians have pointed out that these ever-changing governments indicated that Liberal politics was about the pursuit
of power, rather than the good of the nation.

Threats to Liberalism
Socialism The industrialization of Northern Italy in the 1880s produced a sizable working class that was attracted to Socialism. A
government reform in 1881 granted 2 million more Italians to vote, which could indicate a Socialist rise.

Moderate Socialists only sought better working conditions, and more workers rights, whereas the more radical ones were
committed to a Communist revolution.

The former group became the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) in 1895.

The PSI grew in popularity exponentially, having secured 200,000 votes in the 1905 elections, granting them 32 seats in the
chamber of deputies.

They advocated for clauses such as universal manhood suffrage, women’s rights, an 8 hour working day, and income taxes.

The Socialists still had little support in the early 1900s, but sparked fear in other groups, particularly the Catholic Church.
 Catholicism Though the Church had maintained its hostile position towards Liberal Italy in the 1890s, following the rise of Socialism, the
Church removed the ban on Catholic voting in the general elections as an attempt to fight the Socialist danger.

The Pope still opposed the creation of a Catholic Party, but some Catholics were allowed to put themselves as candidates.

With Catholics being active in national politics, the Liberal regime faced a challenge.

Nationalism Often members of the middle class, the nationalists were few, but found supporters in the media.

They greatly criticised Liberal politicians for being power hungry, and not caring about the Italian nation.

They condemned the regime for not making Italy as strong as Britain or France.

They sought further military spending, a more aggressive foreign policy, and an Italian Empire in Africa.

These were the ones who would call for Italy’s entry in WWI, and who would later influence the rise of Fascism.

Liberal Italy’s stability

Factor Explanation Positive or
negative

Significant Italy had increased its GDP from 61 billion lira in 1895 to 92 billion lira in 1915. Positive
economic
growth International trade had increased by 6x in 1913.

Taxes on food were reduced, and the government increased spending on infrastructure, communications,
and drinking water supplies.

Great power Italy was thriving in its foreign affairs, having joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, with Germany and Positive
status Austria-Hungary.

Italy had conquested Libya in 1911, expanding the Italian Empire to Africa.
Stable political According to Liberals, the political system was stabilised, evidenced by the passing of universal male suffrage Positive
system in 1912.

Giovanni Giolitti, the Prime Minister, remained in power for 11 years, between 1903-14, and managed to
include moderate Socialists and Catholics in his government coalition.

→ English historian, G.M Trevelyan, wrote before WWI that there was “Nothing is more remarkable than the
stability of the Italian kingdom and the building is as safe as any in Europe. The foundations of human liberty
and the foundations of social order exist there on a firm basis.”

Political Italian politics was becoming very polarised. negative

divisions
The Libyan war of 1911 exposed the great political division within Italy.

While some groups, such as the PSI, condemned the Italian entry in war, others, the nationalists,
encouraged it.

Attempting to moderate the situation, Giolliti was greatly criticised by the right, who thought that the PM had
been too conciliatory towards the Left.

Nationalists started to seek some sort of authoritarian state in order to make Italy a great power.

As WWI broke out in 1914, besides the nationalist opposition, Socialists and Catholics became critical of the
government too.

The Liberal government was in no imminent threat, but its political monopoly power was over.

Coalitions still depended greatly on Transformismo, which made things much more unstable.

Political divisions were intensified by the internal rivalries between Liberal leaders, who had opposing views
on whether or not Italy should go to war.

In the end, the Liberals decided to go to war, seeking the credit for making “Italy Great”.
 Yet, the opposite occurred, as the war widened political, and social divisions, and further undermined the
Liberal prestige, laying the groundwork for the growth of Fascism.

Economic The industrial North of Italy grew in economic prosperity while the rural South remained poor. negative
divisions
Economic divisions also generated great social disputes between the growing urban working class and their
middle class employers.

WWI
Factor Explanation Category

Hesitation to High disagreement within the country, and even Liberals, on whether Italy should join the war. Most Italians Political
joining the were against Italy joining the war. Instability
conflict
Italy had recently renewed the agreement with the Triple Alliance.

Yet, Italy was politically and socially weak, militarily and economically unstable, and vulnerable to the
British Navy.

Reasons for war The secret Treaty of London (1915) with Britain and France guaranteed that if Italy joined the war it would Political
receive: Instability
1. Italian irredenta
2. Territorial (Turkey) and colonial gains
3. Financial gains

Hence, Italy joined the side of the Entente powers.

Short-term causes
Factor Explanation Category

Difficulties in Italy performed poorly in the conflict. Military

war failures
Campaigns such as the Battle of Caporetto (1917) were considered national humiliations→ 500,000 Italians
captured or deserted.

Over 1 million Italians casualties.

Victory at Vittorio Veneto (1918), made leaders hope that Italy would be well compensated, as it was a decisive
battle that effectively destroyed the AH army.

Italy, however, was poorly compensated.

National Italy felt humiliated for having suffered such significant casualties and not being properly compensated. Italian
humiliation morale
This greatly affected Italian morale.

Led to the resignation of PM Vittorio Orlando in June 1919.

A mutilated Italy was not compensated as it had desired, and the costs of war were far greater than the gains. Political
victory instability
- Italy regained some desired territory, such as Trentino and the Istrian Peninsula.

- It did not, however; receive the Adriatic port of Fiume, German colonies, or major financial
compensation.

This idea would be extensively used by the Fascists to turn people against Liberalism.

The Fiume The former WWI general, Gabrielle d'Annunzio, seized Fiume and established his own (seemingly Fascist) Political
Question regime for 15 months. instability
(September
 1919) This exemplified how direct, violent, action was more effective than weak, unpopular political processes.

This made the government seem weak for being unable to deal with this situation.

Greater political In 1912, Prime Minister Giolliti introduced universal male suffrage as an attempt to ease the tension within Political
representation Italy. Instability

The opposite occurred as many new ideologies entered the political scene, such as Communism.

This set off years of political instability that would last until 1922, when Mussolini became PM.

Small parties grew in parliament, including the PSI (Italian Socilist Party) and the PPI (Catholic Party), whereas the
Liberals and conservatives were no longer a majority.

As these parties had conflicting ideologies, governing was very difficult, as parties would constantly disagree.
- E.g→ Italy saw 6 governments and 4 prime ministers in 4 years.

Fear of The PSI grew significantly following the war→ Over 1 million industrial workers joined a general strike in 1920. Political
Communism Instability

Communists pledged allegiance to the Comintern and Lenin, and sought to establish a proletarian
dictatorship.

This idea was very attractive to workers, especially in a period of uncertainty.

This also triggered a rise in anti-communist ideas, which paved the way for the Fascists.
 The Fascis To combat Communism the government employed the fascis, a very violent and nationalistic paramilitary Use of
group. Violence
Fascis ≠
Fascists
(Not yet) They often disagreed on multiple fronts, but generally believed in similar things→ pro-war, anti-communist.

They successfully repressed the Communists in just ½ year, and created a militia known as the blackshirts.

Even though communism has been repressed, the blackshirts continue to persecute the left.

Yet, the government had extensively financed the group, essentially releasing an unstoppable force that grew
influential in Italian society, undermining the liberals.

Economic An inflation of about 50% hit and greatly damaged the middle class. Economic
Weaknesses & issues
Inflation The effects of this were worsened by the 85 billion Liran national debt in 1919, resulting from war loans from
the USA.

This greatly affected workers→ Industrial workers’ wages fell by about 25%.

During the war, industry appeared to be fine due to increased government spending on war materials, guns,
and resources.

Yet, the end of the war marked the end of lucrative contracts for industries, who now had to survive on their
own.

This quickly led to the bankruptcy of large industrial firms, which was seen by nationalists as a government
failure to protect Italian patriots.
Unemployment Demobilisation of troops led to an unemployment of 2.5 million in 1919, as firms were losing profit, and thus Social
unwilling to employ workers. issues

Unemployment was worsened by the shortages of food and raw materials, as people did not have jobs or
resources.

This greatly decreased Italians’ quality of life.