Bullet Point One

Bullet Point One

Situation in 1896
1. Unification had begun in 1859 and the Kingdom of Italy was created in 1861
2. Unification was complete in 1870 with the takeover of the state of Rome
3. It had essentially been taken over by the state of Piedmont with little popular enthusiasm
4. There were vast differences between each Italian State
  1. Led to political, social, economic, cultural and religious problems
    1. Caused a number of problems for the Liberal government which would contribute ot its downfall and the rise of the fascist party
Nature of the Political System
1. Very similar to that of Britain
  1. Hereditary Monarch, who appoints a government which is led by a Prime Minister and is advised by an elected member of Parliament which has a senate and a chamber of deputies
2. Initially very few people had the vote and only the wealthy and educated elite could vote
  1. Suffrage was raised to 25% of adult males in 1882 but was still not representative of the people
3. To stay in power politicians did deals with each other in order to form governments. This was called TRANSFORMISMO
4. Local government was also corrupt with prefects being appointed by the central govenrment thus isolating the masses
Impact of the North/South Divide and Cultural Variations
1. The North was much more industrially developed than the South.
  1. The three major engineering cities were Milan, Turin and Genoa
2. North had a better infrastructure
  1. 1370km of railway in the North compared to 100km in the South in 1861
  2. 38000km of road in the North compared to 13800km in the South in 1861
    1. During the 1890s 90% of the South had no roads
  3. 68% of the North was illiterate compared to 87% of the South in 1861
3. There were language differences
4. The majority of the population was rural, most of the rural population lived in the South
  1. 57% in 1913 compared to 15% in Britain
5. Emigration rates were rising from 168,000 in the 1870's to 1,580.000 in the 1890s (many from the South)
6. Liberal governments saw education as important and illiteracy rates fell
  1. North - 42% in 1871 to 11% in 1911
  2. South - 88% to 65%
7. North/South divide continued to grow as industry in the North grew from 1900
Italy's Relative Weakness as a Great Power
1. Far behind other European Countires
  1. Produced 0.1 million tonnes of steel in 1890 compared to Britain's 3.6 million tones
  2. Lacked vital resources such as coal and iron
2. GNP rose by 4% between 1860-96 compared to Britain, France and Germany where it rose by 40-50%
3. Italy's army had only 0.75 million soldiers for mobilisation in 1914 while Germany had 2.2 million
  1. Italy had only spent £10 million on the military between 1913-14 compared to Germany which spent £60 million in the same period
4. Nationalists wanted Italian speaking areas which had not been incorporated into the new state to be acquired
  1. Italia Irredenta (unredeemed Italy) included Trentino, South Tyrol, Istria, Dalmatia, Corsica, NIce and Savoy
  2. Recognised the weakness against Austria/Hungary and France so looked to Africa for an Empire
  3. Nationalists wanted an aggressive foreign policy in order to build support to unite the Italian people
    1. Italy were too weak to match its aspirations
5. Italy lost out in the 'scramble for Africa'
  1. Was given Somaliland and Ertitrea ('crumbs of Africa')
6. Joined the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria in 1882 in order to deter France
7. Invaded Abyssinia in 1896 but were humiliated and suffered 15,000 casualties
8. Defeated the already weak Turkey in 1911-12 and gained Libya
9. Italy didn't join WW1 with Germany and Austria/Hungry in fear of the French Army and British Navy
  1. Signed the secret Treaty of London in 1915 hoping to gain parts if Italia Irredenta

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	Created by patrickcoates96 about 10 years ago