Accession to the throne and first assassination attempt Ascending the throne on the death of his father (9 January 1878), Umberto adopted the title "Umberto I of Italy" rather than "Umberto IV"
Foreign policy In foreign policy, Umberto I approved the
Triple Alliance with
Austria-Hungary and the
German Empire, repeatedly visiting
Vienna and
Berlin. Many in Italy, however, viewed with hostility an alliance with their former Austrian enemies, who were still occupying areas claimed by Italy. The Alliance was later renewed with the addition of commercial treaties.
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany told him during one visit that he should strengthen the
Regio Esercito to the point that he could abolish parliament and rule Italy as a dictator. Both the Mafia and the Camorra functioned as "parallel states" whose existence and power was tolerated by successive governments in Rome as both the Mafia and the Camorra engaged in
electoral fraud and
voter intimidation so effective that it was Mafia and Camorra bosses who decided who won elections. As it was impossible to win elections in the
Mezzogiorno without the support of organized crime, politicians cut deals with the bosses of the Camorra and Mafia to exchange toleration of their criminal activities for votes. The deputies from the
Mezzogiorno always voted against more schools for the
Mezzogiorno, thus perpetuating southern nescience and privation as both the Mafia and the Camorra were opposed to any sort of social reform that might threaten their power. Umberto, an aggressive proponent of militarism, once said that to accept cuts in the military budget would be "an abject scandal and we might as well give up politics altogether". At least part of the reason why Umberto was so opposed to cutting the military budget was because he personally promised Emperor Wilhelm II that Italy would send five army corps to Germany in the event of a war with France, a promise that the king did not see fit to share with his prime ministers. In December 1893, Umberto appointed Crispi prime minister despite his "shattered reputation" due to his involvement in the
Banca Romana scandal together with numerous other scandals that the king himself called "sordid". As Crispi was heavily in debt, the king secretly agreed to pay off his debts in exchange for Crispi following the king's advice. Umberto I was suspected of aspiring to a vast empire in
northeast Africa, a suspicion which tended somewhat to diminish his popularity after the disastrous
Battle of Adwa in Ethiopia on 1 March 1896. Despite the defeat at Adwa, Umberto still harboured
imperialistic ambitions towards Ethiopia, saying: "I am what they call a warmonger and my personal wish would be to strike back at
Menelik and avenge our defeat." In 1897, the prime minister,
Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì tried to sell Eritrea to
Belgium on the grounds that Eritrea was too expensive to hold onto, but was overruled by the king who insisted that Eritrea must stay Italian. Rudinì attempted to reduce military spending, citing a study showing that since 1861 military spending constituted over half the budget every year, but was again blocked by the king. Prime Minister
Luigi Pelloux and his fellow cabinet ministers stated that Canevaro had acted without informing them, and it was widely believed that the king was the one who had given Canevaro the orders to acquire a concession in China. King Umberto sent a telegram to congratulate Bava Beccaris on the restoration of order and later decorated him with the medal of
Great Official of Savoy Military Order, greatly outraging a large part of the
public opinion. ==Assassination==