Unification process (1848–1870) from 1829 to 1871 The
birth of the Kingdom of Italy was the result of efforts by Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the
House of Savoy to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire
Italian Peninsula. Following the
Congress of Vienna in 1815, the political and social
Italian unification movement, or , emerged to consolidate the different states of the peninsula and liberate it from foreign control. A prominent radical figure was the patriotic journalist
Giuseppe Mazzini, member of the secret revolutionary society of and founder of the influential political movement
Young Italy in the early 1830s. Mazzini favoured a unitary republic and advocated a broad nationalist movement. His prolific output of propaganda helped to spread the unification movement. The most famous member of Young Italy was the revolutionary and general
Giuseppe Garibaldi, renowned for his extremely loyal followers, who led the Italian republican drive for unification in Southern Italy. However, the Northern Italy monarchy of the House of Savoy in the
Kingdom of Sardinia, whose government was led by
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, also had ambitions of establishing a united Italian state. In the context of the
1848 liberal revolutions that swept through Europe, an unsuccessful
First Italian War of Independence, led by King
Charles Albert of Sardinia, was declared on
Austria. In 1855, the Kingdom of Sardinia became an ally of Britain and France in the
Crimean War, giving Cavour's diplomacy legitimacy in the eyes of the great powers. The Kingdom of Sardinia again attacked the Austrian Empire in the
Second Italian War of Independence of 1859, with the aid of
France, resulting in liberating
Lombardy. On the basis of the secret
Plombières Agreement (21 July 1858), the Kingdom of Sardinia ceded
Savoy and
Nice to France, an event that caused the
Niçard exodus, that was the emigration of a quarter of the
Niçard Italians to Italy. In 1860–1861, Garibaldi led the drive for unification in Naples and Sicily (the
Expedition of the Thousand), while the
House of Savoy troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of
Papal States.
Teano was the site of the famous meeting of 26 October 1860 between Giuseppe Garibaldi and
Victor Emmanuel II, last King of Sardinia, in which Garibaldi shook Victor Emanuel's hand and hailed him as
King of Italy; thus, Garibaldi sacrificed republican hopes for the sake of Italian unity under a monarchy. Cavour agreed to include Garibaldi's Southern Italy allowing it to join the union with the
Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860. This allowed the Sardinian government to
declare a united Italian kingdom on 17 March 1861.
Victor Emmanuel II, since March 1849 King of Sardinia, then became the first king of a united Italy, and the capital was moved from Turin to Florence. The title of "King of Italy" had been out of use since the abdication of
Napoleon I of France on 6 April 1814. Following the unification of most of Italy, tensions between the royalists and republicans erupted. In April 1861, Garibaldi entered the Italian parliament and challenged Cavour's leadership, accusing him of dividing Italy, and threatened a civil war between the Kingdom in the North and his forces in the South. On 6 June 1861, the Kingdom's strongman Cavour died. During the ensuing political instability, Garibaldi and the republicans became increasingly revolutionary in tone. Garibaldi's arrest in 1862 set off worldwide controversy. In 1866,
Otto von Bismarck,
Minister President of Prussia, offered Victor Emmanuel II
an alliance with the
Kingdom of Prussia in the
Austro-Prussian War. In exchange, Prussia would allow Italy to annex Austria-controlled
Veneto. King Emmanuel agreed to the alliance, and the
Third Italian War of Independence began. Italy fared poorly in the war with a badly-organized military against Austria, but Prussia's victory allowed Italy to
annex Veneto. At this point, one major obstacle to Italian unity remained: Rome. In July 1870, Prussia went to war with France, igniting the
Franco-Prussian War. To keep the large
Prussian Army at bay, France abandoned its positions in Rome – which protected the remnants of the Papal States and
Pius IX – to fight the Prussians. Italy benefited from Prussia's victory against France by taking over the Papal States from French authority. The Kingdom of Italy
captured Rome after several battles and guerrilla-like warfare by
Papal Zouaves and official troops of the Holy See against the Italian invaders. Italy's unification was completed and its capital moved to Rome. Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi, Cavour, and Mazzini are remembered as Italy's
Four Fathers of the Fatherland. which led the Garibaldini to riots called the "
Niçard Vespers". Fifteen of the Nice rebels were tried and sentenced. Economic conditions in united Italy were poor. The country lacked transportation facilities (see
here) and industry, and suffered from extreme poverty (especially in the ) and high illiteracy. Only a small wealthy elite had the right to vote. The unification movement relied largely on foreign powers' support and continued to do so afterwards. Following the capture of Rome in 1870 from French forces of
Napoleon III, Papal troops, and
Zouaves, relations between Italy and the
Vatican remained sour for the next sixty years, with the
Popes declaring themselves to be
prisoners in the Vatican. The
Catholic Church in Italy frequently protested the anti-clerical actions of the secular Italian governments, refused to meet with envoys from the King, and urged Roman Catholics not to vote in Italian elections. Not until 1929 was the
Roman question resolved and positive relations restored between the Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican, after the signing of the
Lateran Pacts. Some of the states that had been targeted for unification (),
Trentino-Alto Adige and the
Julian March, did not join the Kingdom of Italy until 1918 after Italy
had defeated Austria-Hungary at the end of the
First World War. For this reason, historians sometimes describe the unification period as continuing past 1871, including activities during the late 19th century and the
First World War (1915–1918), and reaching completion only with the
Armistice of Villa Giusti on 4 November 1918. This more expansive view of the unification is presented at the
Central Museum of the Risorgimento.
Unifying multiple bureaucracies , with the
annexation of small territories from France and
Yugoslavia. The territories annexed by the latter are the area constituting the
province of Ljubljana, the area merged with the
province of Fiume and the areas making up the
Governorate of Dalmatia. A major challenge for the prime ministers of the new Kingdom of Italy was integrating the political and administrative systems of the seven different major components under a unified set of policies. The different regions were proud of their traditions and could not easily be fitted into the Sardinian model. Cavour started planning for integration, but died (on 6 June 1861) before it was fully developed – indeed, the challenge
is thought to have hastened his early death. The regional administrative bureaucracies followed the Napoleonic precedent, so their harmonization was relatively straightforward. The next challenge was to develop a parliamentary legislative system. Cavour and most liberals up and down the peninsula highly admired the
British system, which became the model for Italy. Harmonizing the Navy (
Regia Marina) and the
Royal Italian Army was much more complex, chiefly because the systems of
recruiting soldiers and selecting and promoting officers were so different and
grandfathered exceptions to the general system persisted for decades. The disorganization helps explain the dismal performance of the Italian navy in the
1866 war. Uniformizing the diverse education systems also proved complicated. Shortly before his death, Cavour appointed
Francesco De Sanctis as minister of education, an eminent scholar from the
University of Naples who proved an able and patient administrator. The
addition of Veneto in 1866 and Rome in 1870 further complicated the challenges of bureaucratic coordination.
Economy coin with the effigy of King
Victor Emmanuel II of 1873. Minted in
Milan (M BN); other mints included
Rome (R) and
Turin (T BN).
Italy has a long history of different coinage types. Italian unification highlighted the confusion of the pre-unification Italian monetary system which was mostly based on silver monometallism and therefore in contrast with the gold monometallism in force in the
Kingdom of Sardinia and in the major European nations. To reconcile the various monetary systems it was decided to opt for
bimetallism, taking inspiration from the
French franc model, from which the dimensions of the coins and the exchange rate of 1 to 15.50 between gold and silver were taken. The Italian monetary system, however, differed from the French one in two aspects: silver coins could be exchanged in unlimited quantities with the State, but limited quantities between private individuals and it was decided to mint coins that nominally had 900‰ fine silver, but which in fact they contained 835‰ so as to approach the real exchange rate between gold and silver which was approximately 1 to 14.38. Exactly four months after the
proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, the government introduced the new national currency, the
Italian lira. The legal tender of the new currency was established by the Royal Decree of 17 July 1861 which specified the exchange of pre-unification coins into lire and the fact that local coins continued to be legal tender in their respective provinces of origin. In the entire period from 1861 to 1940, Italy experienced considerable economic growth despite several
economic crises and the First World War. Unlike most modern nations, where industrialization was undertaken by large
corporations, industrial growth in Italy was mostly due to small and medium-sized family businesses. Political unification did not automatically bring about
economic integration, because of the sharp contrasts in culture, politics, and economic practices among the various regions. Italy managed to industrialize in several steps, although the country remained the most backward economy among the great powers (except for the
Russian Empire) and was very dependent on
foreign trade, especially the international markets through which it imported
coal and exported
grain. After unification, Italy had a predominantly
agricultural society, with 60 percent of the labor force employed in agriculture. Advances in technology increased export opportunities for Italian agricultural produce after a period of crisis in the 1880s. With industrialization, the proportion employed in agriculture fell below 50% around the transition of the 19th into the 20th century. However, not everyone benefited from these developments, as southern agriculture in particular suffered from the hot
arid climate, while in the north
malaria hampered cultivation of low-lying areas on the
Adriatic coast. The government's focus on foreign and military policy in the early years of the state led to the neglect of agriculture, which declined after 1873. The Italian parliament initiated an investigation in 1877, which lasted eight years and blamed the lack of
mechanization and modern farming techniques, and the failure of landowners to develop their lands. In addition, most farm laborers were temporary inexperienced short-term workers (). Farmers without a steady income were forced to subsist on meager food. Disease spread rapidly and a major cholera epidemic killed at least 55,000 people. Government action was blocked by strong political and economic opposition from the large landowners. Another commission of inquiry in 1910 found similar problems. Around 1890 there was also an
overproduction crisis in the
Italian wine industry, almost the only successful sector in agriculture. In the 1870s and 1880s, viticulture in France suffered from a crop failure caused by insects, and Italy became the largest wine exporter in Europe. After France's recovery in 1888, Italian wine exports collapsed, causing a wave of unemployment and bankruptcies. From the 1860s, Italy invested heavily in the development of
railways, with its rail network more than tripling between 1861 and 1872, then doubling again by 1890.
Gio. Ansaldo & C. from the former Kingdom of Sardinia provided the first Italian built locomotives with the
FS Class 113 and the later
FS Class 650. The first railway section on the island of
Sicily was inaugurated on 28 April 1863 with the
Palermo–
Bagheria line. By 1914 the Italian railway had around 17,000 km of railways. During the Fascist dictatorship, enormous sums were invested in new technological achievements, especially in military technology. But large sums of money were also spent on
prestige projects such as the construction of the new Italian ocean liner , which set a
transatlantic sea voyage record of four days in 1933, and the development of the seaplane
Macchi-Castoldi M.C.72, which was the world's fastest seaplane in 1933. In 1933,
Italo Balbo completed a flight across the Atlantic in a seaplane to the
World's Fair in
Chicago. The flight symbolized the power of the Fascist leadership and the industrial and technological progress the state had made under the Fascists.
Industrialization in 1871 (the national average is 1.0). Source:
Bank of Italy. , set in 1898, during the period of industrialization, National Exhibition of Turin, 1898 During the 1860s and 1870s, Italian manufacturing was backward and small-scale, while the oversized agrarian sector was the backbone of the national economy. The country lacked large coal and iron deposits. In the 1880s, a severe
farm crisis led to the introduction of more modern farming techniques in the
Po Valley, while from 1878 to 1887
protectionist policies were introduced with the aim of establishing a base of heavy industry. In the 1880s industrialisation moved into high gear, which lasted until 1912/13 and reached its peak under
Giolitti. Industrial plants soon clustered around areas of
hydropower energy. Between 1887 and 1911
hydroelectricity became the main source of energy, with over sixty
plants constructed. From 1881 to 1887, Italy's textile, mechanical, steel, iron, and chemical industries grew by an average 4.6 percent annually. The backbone of the industrial boom was, next to the labor force, institutions of higher learning such as the
Politecnico founded in
Milan in 1863 by
Francesco Brioschi and the
Technical School for Engineers in
Turin established four years earlier. Steelworks were established with state and private capital, notably from the
Credito Mobiliare: in 1884 in
Terni and in 1897 in
Piombino using iron-ore from
Elba. The relative backwardness of the south continued to be a central problem for the state. Various solutions were proposed for the so-called "
Southern question" by
Francesco Saverio Nitti,
Gaetano Salvemini and Sidney Sonnino, but the government only acted in special problem areas such as
Naples. The
ILVA group of
Genoa, with the political and financial backing of the Italian state, built the
Bagnoli steel plant as part of the 1904 law for the development of
Naples, prepared by economist and later prime minister Nitti. In 1898, in order to make the steel-industry completely independent from foreign
coal imports, the
Neapolitan engineer Ernesto Stassano invented the
Stassano furnace, the first indirect-arc
electric furnace. By 1917, Italian iron and steel plants operated 88 indirect-arc furnaces, manufactured by Stassano, Bassanese and Angelini. In 1899 the automobile industry commenced when
Giovanni Agnelli bought the designs and patents of the
Ceirano brothers and founded the
Fiat automobile works. In 1906 another automobile factory was built in the
Portello district of Milan for the French entrepreneur
Alexandre Darracq and the headquarters of his Italian branch . In 1910, the company brought the first successful model onto the market with the
24 HP and the brand name
ALFA on the radiator grille. While automobiles were only affordable by few its popularity and fascination rose rapidly, and one of the first
sports car racing events in the world, the
Targa Florio, held annually in the mountains of
Sicily was established in 1906. In the financial sector, Prime Minister Giolitti was mainly concerned with increasing
pensions and restructuring the
state budget, though proceeding with great caution. The government secured the support of large companies and banks. Most criticism the project came from conservatives, with a majority of the public supporting the soundness of public finances. The state budget, which from 1900 had an annual income of around 50 million lire, was to be additionally strengthened by the
nationalization of the railways. In March 1905, after serious labor unrest among railroad workers, Giolitti resigned due to illness, and suggested his fellow party member
Alessandro Fortis to the king as his successor. On 28 March Victor Emmanuel III appointed Fortis as the new prime minister, making him the first
Jewish head of government worldwide. With Law 137 of 22 April 1905 he sanctioned the nationalization of the railways through a public recruitment process under the control of the
Court of Audit and the supervision of the Ministries of Public Works and Finance. At the same time, the
telephone system was nationalized. The Fortis government remained in office until the beginning of 1906. It was followed from 8 February to 29 May by a brief government under
Sidney Sonnino. Finally, Giolitti entered his third term. In this he dealt mainly with the economic situation in southern Italy, due both to long-term demographic and economic factors, as well as natural disasters such as the eruption of
Vesuvius in 1906 and the
earthquake in
Messina,
Calabria, and
Palmi in 1908. Entire villages were depopulated and centuries-old regional cultures disappeared. File:Terni - le Acciaierie 1912.jpg|The
Terni steel plant est. 1884 (picture of 1912) File:Trezzo sull’Adda - Centrale Taccani - panoramio.jpg|Hydroelectric plant on the
Adda river built in 1906 File:Poster FIAT by Giovanni Carpanetto.png|An advertisement for the
4HP automobile by
FIAT in 1899 File:Denkmal Iselle.jpg|Monument in memory of the workers that died mining the
Simplon Tunnel, next to the
Iselle di Trasquera railway station, dated 29 May 1905
Social changes and mass emigration '' by
Giuseppe Pellizza, 1898–1901 Strong social tensions came to light, Italy's social legislation took last place in Europe, the socialists were opposed not only to social policy but also to colonial expansion. Prime Minister
Francesco Crispi financed the colonial policy with tax increases and austerity measures. The internal political differences culminated in the
Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan. There, on 7 May 1898, there were mass demonstrations against rising bread prices. General
Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris, after the state of siege was declared, fired artillery and rifles at the crowd. Depending on the information, between 82 and 300 people were killed. King
Umberto I congratulated the general in a telegram and awarded him a medal. This made him enemies, and in 1900 he, who had been king for 22 years, was shot in
Monza by the anarchist
Gaetano Bresci. His successor was
Victor Emmanuel III politically dominant however was
Giolitti, who was initially Minister of the Interior from 1901 to 1903, then prime minister from 1903 with interruptions until 1914 (and often also Minister of the Interior at the same time). He dominated or shaped Italian politics to such an extent that one speaks of the
Giolitti era. He was willing to make concessions to the reformist and revolutionary movements and promoted industrialization. It is true that state subsidies for private health insurance were introduced in 1886 and the first compulsory accident insurance was introduced in 1898, but it was Giolitti that introduced state social insurance in 1912 based on the German model. He also reformed the right to vote so that there were no more property limits and the number of eligible voters rose to 8 million men. Unemployment insurance came into being as early as 1919, eight years before Germany. In the 1880s there were serious industrial disputes, and around 1889 repression against the Partito Operaio (Labour Party) began, so that the aim was to unite all socialist organizations in the country in one party. The
Fasci Siciliani, short for "Fasci siciliani dei lavoratori", Italian Sicilian Workers' Union was perceived as the "first act of Italian socialism". This popular movement of
democratic and
socialist inspiration that arose in
Sicily in the years between 1892 and 1893, was crushed after harsh military operations in 1894. The industrial workers managed to organize in 1892 in the
Partito dei Lavoratori Italiani (Italian Workers' Party), which in 1893 was renamed
Partito Socialista Italiano (Italian Socialist Party). Prime Minister
Francesco Crispi pushed through exceptional laws against the Socialists from 1894, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. In 1901 his successor
Giovanni Giolitti tried to integrate the party, which had won 32 seats in the elections, into the government, but the latter refused. But from 1908 to 1912 there was cooperation with the bourgeois left until radical syndicalism prevailed. In 1912 the
Partito Socialista Riformista Italiano split off, which for patriotic reasons agreed to the
War against the Ottomans. In 1917, the majority of socialist deputies became pro-war, but the party leadership continued to oppose the war. The state reaction to the drastic social changes came very late, because the social elites, landowners in the south and industrialists in the north, refused for a long time and often relied on the work of the church, which had dominated the social systems since the Middle Ages. However, it was no longer supported by an adequate municipal or
guild system. The population of Italy increased from 18.3 million in 1800 to 24.7 in 1850, finally to 33.8 in 1900. Nevertheless, Italy's share of the population of Europe continued to fall. On the one hand, this was due to its developmental deficit and, on the other hand, to the fact that from about 1852 there was a large-scale mass emigration. By 1985, around 29 million people had been recorded. From 1876 to around 1890, most came from the north, especially from Venetia (17.9%), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (16.1%) and Piedmont (12.5%). After that, Italians from the south increasingly emigrated. From 1876 to 1915, more than 14 million people emigrated chiefly for
south and
north America, of which 8.3 million came from the northern half, including 2.7 million alone from the northeast and from the southern half 5.6 million emigrated. The main destinations were the United States of America, in which the descendants of the Italians (
Italian Americans) today represent the third largest European immigrant group after
Germans and
Irish with a population share of 6%, along with
Argentina (
Italian Argentines),
Brazil (
Italian Brazilians) and
Uruguay (
Italian Uruguayans). Many also emigrated to
Canada,
Australia and other Latin American countries. in 1905 The main reason for emigration was widespread poverty, especially among the rural population. Up until the 1950s, parts of Italy remained a rural, agrarian, and pre-modern society, with agricultural conditions not suitable for keeping farmers in the country, particularly in the northeast and south. Southern peasants, as well as small landowners and tenants, often were in a state of conflict and revolt throughout the late 19th century. There were exceptions to the generally poor economic condition of agricultural workers of the South, as some regions near cities such as
Naples and
Palermo as well as along the
Tyrrhenian Sea coast. This situation of persistent backwardness in the socioeconomic development of the regions of southern Italy compared to the other regions of the country, especially the
northern ones, is called
Southern question. The transition from a peninsula divided into several states to a unified Italy was not smooth for the south (the ). The path to unification and modernization created a divide between Northern and Southern Italy. People condemned the South for being "backwards" and barbaric, when in truth, compared to Northern Italy, "where there was backwardness, the lag, never excessive, was always more or less compensated by other elements". The entire region south of Naples was afflicted with numerous deep economic and social liabilities. However, many of the South's political problems and its reputation of being "passive" or lazy (politically speaking) was due to the new government (that was born out of Italy's want for development) that alienated the South and prevented the people of the South from any say in important matters. However, on the other hand, transportation was difficult, soil fertility was low with extensive erosion, deforestation was severe, many businesses could stay open only because of high protective tariffs, large estates were often poorly managed, most peasants had only very small plots, and there was chronic unemployment and high crime rates. Cavour decided the basic problem was poor government, and believed that could be remedied by strict application of the Piedmonese legal system. The main result was an upsurge in
brigandage, which turned into a bloody civil war that lasted almost ten years. The insurrection reached its peak mainly in
Basilicata and northern
Apulia, headed by the brigands
Carmine Crocco and Michele Caruso. With the end of the southern riots, there was a heavy outflow of millions of peasants in the
Italian diaspora, especially to the United States and South America. Others relocated to the northern industrial cities such as Genoa, Milan and Turin, and sent money home. Poverty was the main reason for emigration, specifically the lack of land as
sharecropping flourished in Italy, especially in the South, and property became subdivided over generations. Especially in
Southern Italy, conditions were harsh. Another factor was related to the overpopulation of Southern Italy as a result of the improvements in socioeconomic conditions after
Unification. That created a demographic boom and forced the new generations to emigrate en masse in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, mostly to the
Americas. The new migration of capital created millions of unskilled jobs around the world and was responsible for the simultaneous mass migration of Italians searching for "work and bread" (, ). at
Altare della Patria in
Rome. At their base there is a plaque bearing the inscription ("Italians abroad to the Motherland"). The
Unification of Italy broke down the feudal land system, which had survived in the south since the Middle Ages, especially where land had been the inalienable property of aristocrats, religious bodies or the king. The breakdown of
feudalism, however, and redistribution of land did not necessarily lead to small farmers in the south winding up with land of their own or land they could work and make profit from. Many remained landless, and plots grew smaller and smaller and so less and less productive, as land was subdivided amongst heirs. The numbers may have even been higher; 14 million from 1876 to 1914, according to another study. Annual emigration averaged almost 220,000 in the period 1876 to 1900, and almost 650,000 from 1901 through 1915. Prior to 1900 the majority of Italian immigrants were from northern and central Italy. Two-thirds of the migrants who left Italy between 1870 and 1914 were men with traditional skills. Peasants were half of all migrants before 1896. The
allegorical meaning of the flames that burn perpetually is linked to their symbolism, which is centuries old, since it has its origins in
classical antiquity, especially in the
cult of the dead. A fire that burns eternally symbolizes that the memory, in this case of the sacrifice of the Unknown Soldier and the
bond of the country of origin, is perpetually alive in Italians, even in those who are far from their country, and will never fade. and he considered the Catholic religion to be the "foundation and crowning" of education.
Liberal era of politics (1870–1914) in
Milan was an architectural work created by
Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877 and named after the first king of unified Italy,
Victor Emmanuel II. After unification, Italy's politics favored
liberalism: the liberal-conservative right ( or Historical Right) was regionally fragmented and liberal-conservative prime minister
Marco Minghetti only held on to power by enacting revolutionary and left-leaning policies (such as the nationalization of railways) to appease the opposition.
Agostino Depretis In 1876, Minghetti was ousted and replaced by liberal
Agostino Depretis, who began the long Liberal Period. The Liberal Period was marked by corruption, government instability, continued poverty in Southern Italy and the use of authoritarian measures by the Italian government. Depretis began his term as prime minister by initiating an experimental political notion known as ("transformism"). The theory of was that a cabinet should select a variety of moderates and capable politicians from a non-partisan perspective. In practice, was authoritarian and corrupt as Depretis pressured districts to vote for his candidates if they wished to gain favourable concessions from Depretis when in power. The results of the Italian general election of 1876 resulted in only four representatives from the right being elected, allowing the government to be dominated by Depretis. Despotic and corrupt actions are believed to be the key means by which Depretis managed to keep support in Southern Italy. Depretis put through authoritarian measures, such as banning public meetings, placing "dangerous" individuals in internal exile on remote penal islands across Italy and adopting militarist policies. Depretis enacted controversial legislation for the time, such as abolishing arrest for debt and making elementary education free and compulsory while ending compulsory religious teaching in elementary schools. in 1913, shown in red In 1887,
Francesco Crispi became prime minister and began focusing government efforts on foreign policy. Crispi worked to build Italy as a great world power through increased military expenditures, advocacy of expansionism and trying to win the favor of
Germany. Italy joined the
Triple Alliance, which included both Germany and
Austria-Hungary in 1882 and which remained officially intact until 1915. While helping Italy develop strategically, he continued and became authoritarian, once suggesting the use of martial law to ban opposition parties. Despite being authoritarian, Crispi put through liberal policies such as the Public Health Act of 1888 and established tribunals for redress against abuses by the government.
Francesco Crispi Francesco Crispi was prime minister for a total of six years, from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896. Historian R. J. B. Bosworth says of his foreign policy: Crispi greatly admired the United Kingdom, but was unable to get British assistance for his aggressive foreign policy and turned instead to Germany. Crispi also enlarged the army and navy and advocated expansionism as he sought Germany's favor by joining the
Triple Alliance which included both Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882. It remained officially intact until 1915 and prevented hostilities between Italy and Austria, which controlled border regions that Italy claimed.
Colonialism promoted the Italian colonialism in Africa in the late 19th century. at greatest extent in 1942-43. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Italy emulated the Great Powers in acquiring colonies, especially in the scramble to take control of
Africa that took place in the 1870s. Italy was weak in military and economic resources compared to Britain, France and Germany. Still, it proved difficult due to popular resistance. It was unprofitable due to high military costs and the lesser economic value of spheres of influence remaining when Italy began to colonize. Britain was eager to block French influence and assisted Italy in gaining territory of the Red Sea. Several colonial projects were undertaken by the government. These were done to gain the support of Italian nationalists and imperialists, who wanted to rebuild a Roman Empire. Italy had already large settlements in
Alexandria,
Cairo and
Tunis. Italy first attempted to gain colonies through negotiations with other world powers to make colonial concessions, but these negotiations failed. Italy also sent missionaries to uncolonized lands to investigate the potential for Italian colonization. The most promising and realistic of these were parts of Africa. Italian missionaries had already established a foothold at
Massawa (in present-day
Eritrea) in the 1830s and had entered deep into the
Ethiopian Empire. during the construction of the rails to connect
Massawa to Saati in
Italian Eritrea, 1886. during the
Italo-Turkish War: propaganda postcard made by the Italian Army The beginning of colonialism came in 1885, shortly after the fall of
Egyptian rule in
Khartoum, when Italy landed soldiers at
Massawa in East Africa. In 1888, Italy annexed Massawa by force, creating the colony of
Italian Eritrea. The Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab handled trade with Italy and Ethiopia. The trade was promoted by the low duties paid on Italian trade. Italy exported manufactured products and imported coffee, beeswax and hides. At the same time, Italy occupied territory on the south side of the horn of Africa, forming what would become
Italian Somaliland. The
Treaty of Wuchale, signed in 1889, stated in the Italian language version that Ethiopia was to become an Italian protectorate, while the Ethiopian Amharic language version stated that the Ethiopian Emperor
Menelik II could go through Italy to conduct foreign affairs. This happened presumably due to the mistranslation of a verb, which formed a permissive clause in Amharic and a mandatory one in Italian. When the differences in the versions came to light, in 1895 Menelik II abrogated the treaty and abandoned the agreement to follow Italian foreign policy. Because of the Ethiopian refusal to abide by the Italian version of the treaty and despite economic handicaps at home, the Italian government decided on a military solution to force Ethiopia to abide by the Italian version of the treaty. In doing so, they believed that they could exploit divisions within Ethiopia and rely on tactical and technological superiority to offset any inferiority in numbers. As a result, Italy and Ethiopia came into confrontation, in what was later to be known as the
First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Italian army failed on the battlefield and was overwhelmed by a huge Ethiopian army at the
Battle of Adwa. At that point, the Italian invasion force was forced to retreat into Eritrea. The war formally ended with the
Treaty of Addis Ababa in 1896, which abrogated the Treaty of Wuchale, recognizing Ethiopia as an independent country. The failed Ethiopian campaign was one of the few military victories scored by the Africans against an imperial power at this time. during the
Boxer Rebellion in 1900 From 2 November 1899 to 7 September 1901, Italy participated as part of the
Eight-Nation Alliance forces during the
Boxer Rebellion in
China. On 7 September 1901, a concession in
Tientsin was ceded to Italy by the
Qing Dynasty. On 7 June 1902, the concession was taken into Italian possession and administered by an Italian
consul. In 1911, Italy declared war on the
Ottoman Empire and
invaded Tripolitania,
Fezzan and
Cyrenaica. These provinces together formed what became known as
Libya. The war ended only one year later, but the occupation resulted in acts of discrimination against Libyans, such as the forced deportation of Libyans to the
Tremiti Islands in October 1911. By 1912, one-third of these Libyan refugees had died from a lack of food and shelter. The annexation of Libya led nationalists to advocate Italian domination of the
Mediterranean Sea by occupying
Greece and the
Adriatic Sea coastal region of
Dalmatia.
Giovanni Giolitti was
Prime Minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. In 1892,
Giovanni Giolitti became Prime Minister of Italy for his first term. Although his first government quickly collapsed one year later, Giolitti returned in 1903 to lead Italy's government during a fragmented period until 1914. Giolitti had spent his earlier life as a civil servant and then took positions within the cabinets of Crispi. Giolitti was the first long-term Italian Prime Minister because he mastered the political concept of by manipulating, coercing and bribing officials to his side. In elections during Giolitti's government, voting fraud was common. Giolitti helped improve voting only in well-off, more supportive areas while attempting to isolate and intimidate poor areas where opposition was strong. Southern Italy was in terrible shape before and during Giolitti's tenure as Prime Minister: four-fifths of southern Italians were illiterate, and the dire situation there ranged from problems of large numbers of absentee landlords to rebellion and even starvation. Corruption was such a large problem that Giolitti himself admitted that there were places "where the law does not operate at all". of 1911–1912 was the first in history in which air attacks (carried out here by dirigible airships) determined the outcome. In 1911, Giolitti's government sent forces to occupy Libya. While the success of the
Libyan War improved the status of the nationalists, it did not help Giolitti's administration as a whole. The government attempted to discourage criticism by speaking about Italy's strategic achievements and inventiveness of their military in the war: Italy was the
first country to use the
airship for military purposes and undertook
aerial bombing on the Ottoman forces. The war radicalized the
Italian Socialist Party, and anti-war revolutionaries called for violence to bring down the government.
Elections were held in 1913, and Giolitti's coalition retained an absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies, while the
Radical Party emerged as the largest opposition bloc. The Italian Socialist Party gained eight seats and was the largest party in
Emilia-Romagna. Giolitti's coalition did not endure long after the election, and he was forced to resign in March 1914. Giolitti later returned as Prime Minister only briefly in 1920, but the era of liberalism was effectively over in Italy. The
1913 and
1919 elections saw gains made by Socialist, Catholic and nationalist parties at the expense of the traditionally dominant Liberals and
Radicals, who were increasingly fractured and weakened as a result.
World War I and failure of the liberal state (1915–1922) on 3 November 1918, after the victorious
Battle of Vittorio Veneto Italy entered into the
First World War in 1915 with the aim of completing national unity: for this reason, the Italian intervention in the First World War is also considered the
Fourth Italian War of Independence, in a historiographical perspective that identifies in the latter the conclusion of the
unification of Italy. The war forced the decision whether to honor the alliance with Germany and Austria. For six months Italy remained neutral, as the
Triple Alliance was only for defensive purposes. Italy took the initiative in entering the war in spring 1915, despite strong popular and elite sentiment in favor of neutrality. Italy was a large, poor country whose political system was chaotic, its finances were heavily strained, and its army was very poorly prepared. The Triple Alliance meant little either to Italians or Austrians – Vienna had declared war on Serbia without consulting Rome. Prime Minister
Antonio Salandra and Foreign Minister
Sidney Sonnino negotiated with both sides in secret for the best deal, and got one from the Entente, which was quite willing to promise large slices of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including the
Tyrol and
Trieste, as well as making
Albania a protectorate. Russia vetoed giving Italy
Dalmatia. Britain was willing to pay subsidies and loans to get 36 million Italians as new allies who threatened the southern flank of Austria. , 3 November 1918 When the
Treaty of London was announced in May 1915, there was an uproar from antiwar elements. Reports from around Italy showed the people feared war, and cared little about territorial gains. Rural folk saw war as a disaster, like drought, famine or plague. Businessmen were generally opposed, fearing heavy-handed government controls and taxes, and loss of foreign markets. Reversing the decision seemed impossible, for the Triple Alliance did not want Italy back, and the king's throne was at risk. Pro-war supporters mobbed the streets. The fervor for war represented a bitterly hostile reaction against politics as usual, and the failures, frustrations, and stupidities of the ruling class.
Benito Mussolini created the newspaper , which at first attempted to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war. The
Allied Powers, eager to draw Italy to the war, helped finance the newspaper. Later, after the war, this publication would become the official newspaper of the Fascist movement. of
Redipuglia, with the tomb of
Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta in the foreground Italy entered the war with an army of 875,000 men, but the army was poorly led and lacked heavy artillery and machine guns, their war supplies having been largely depleted in
the war of 1911–12 against Turkey. Italy proved unable to prosecute the war effectively, as fighting raged for three years on a very narrow front along the
Isonzo River, where the Austrians held the high ground. In 1916, Italy declared war on Germany, which provided significant aid to the Austrians. Some 650,000 Italian soldiers died and 950,000 were wounded, while the economy required large-scale Allied funding to survive. Before the war the government had ignored labor issues, but now it had to intervene to mobilize war production. With the main working-class Socialist party reluctant to support the war effort, strikes were frequent and cooperation was minimal, especially in the Socialist strongholds of Piedmont and Lombardy. The government imposed high wage scales, as well as collective bargaining and insurance schemes. Many large firms expanded dramatically. Inflation doubled the cost of living. Industrial wages kept pace but not wages for farm workers. Discontent was high in rural areas since so many men were taken for service, industrial jobs were unavailable, wages grew slowly and inflation was just as bad. The Italian victory, which was announced by the and the , marked the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire and was chiefly instrumental in
ending the First World War less than two weeks later. More than 651,000 Italian soldiers died on the battlefields. The Italian civilian deaths were estimated at 589,000 due to malnutrition and food shortages. In November 1918, after the surrender of Austria-Hungary, Italy occupied militarily
Trentino Alto-Adige, the
Julian March,
Istria, the
Kvarner Gulf and
Dalmatia, all Austro-Hungarian territories. On the Dalmatian coast, Italy established the
Governorate of Dalmatia, which had the provisional aim of ferrying the territory towards full integration into the Kingdom of Italy, progressively importing national legislation in place of the previous one. The administrative capital was
Zara. The Governorate of Dalmatia was evacuated following the Italo-Yugoslav agreements which resulted in the
Treaty of Rapallo (1920). , i.e.
Trentino-Alto Adige, the
Julian March and
Dalmatia (tan), and the
Snežnik Plateau area (green). Dalmatia, after WWI, however, was not assigned to Italy but to
Yugoslavia. As the war came to an end,
Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando met with
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George,
Prime Minister of France Georges Clemenceau and
United States President Woodrow Wilson in
Versailles to discuss how the borders of
Europe should be redefined to help avoid a future European war. The talks provided little territorial gain to Italy as Wilson promised freedom to all European nationalities to form their nation-states. As a result, the
Treaty of Versailles did not assign
Dalmatia and
Albania to Italy as had been promised in the
Treaty of London. Furthermore, the British and French decided to divide the German overseas colonies into their mandates, with Italy receiving none. Italy also gained no territory from the breakup of the
Ottoman Empire. Despite this, Orlando agreed to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which caused uproar against his government. The
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) and the
Treaty of Rapallo (1920) allowed the annexation of
Trentino Alto-Adige, the
Julian March,
Istria,
Kvarner as well as the
Dalmatian city of
Zara. Furious over the peace settlement, the Italian nationalist poet
Gabriele D'Annunzio led disaffected war veterans and nationalists to form the
Free State of Fiume in September 1919. His popularity among nationalists led him to be called ("The Leader"), and he used black-shirted paramilitary in his assault on Fiume. The leadership title of and the blackshirt paramilitary uniform would later be adopted by the
Fascist movement of
Benito Mussolini. The demand for the Italian annexation of Fiume spread to all sides of the political spectrum, including Mussolini's Fascists. The subsequent
Treaty of Rome (1924) led to the annexation of the city of
Fiume to Italy. Italy's lack of territorial gain led to the outcome being denounced as a
mutilated victory. The rhetoric of
mutilated victory was adopted by Mussolini and led to the
rise of Italian fascism, becoming a key point in the
propaganda of Fascist Italy. Historians regard
mutilated victory as a "political myth", used by fascists to fuel
Italian imperialism and obscure the successes of
liberal Italy in the aftermath of World War I. Italy also gained a permanent seat in the
League of Nations's executive council.
Fascist regime, World War II, and Civil War (1922–1946) Rise of Fascism into power , who titled himself ruled the country from 1922 to1943.
Benito Mussolini created the or Combat League in 1919. It was originally dominated by patriotic socialist and
syndicalist veterans who opposed the pacifist policies of the Italian Socialist Party. This early Fascist movement had a platform more inclined to the left, promising social revolution, proportional representation in elections, women's suffrage (partly realized in 1925) and dividing rural private property held by estates. They also differed from later Fascism by opposing
censorship,
militarism and
dictatorship. during the
March on Rome in 1922 At the same time, the so-called ("Red Biennium" or "Two Red Years") took place in the two years following the war in a context of economic crisis, high unemployment and political instability. The 1919–20 period was characterized by mass strikes, worker manifestations as well as self-management experiments through land and factory occupations. In
Turin and
Milan,
workers councils were formed and many
factory occupations took place under the leadership of
anarcho-syndicalists. The agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of the
Padan plain and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and guerilla conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias. Thenceforth, the Fasci di Combattimento (forerunner of the
National Fascist Party, 1921) successfully exploited the claims of Italian nationalists and the quest for order and normalization of the middle class. In October 1922, Mussolini took advantage of a general strike to announce his demands to the Italian government to give the Fascist Party political power or face a coup. With no immediate response, a group of 30,000 Fascists began a long trek across Italy to Rome (the
March on Rome), claiming that Fascists were intending to restore law and order. The Fascists demanded Prime Minister
Luigi Facta's resignation and that Mussolini be named to the post. Although the Italian Army was far better armed than the Fascist militias, the liberal system and King
Victor Emmanuel III were facing a deeper political crisis. The King was forced to choose which of the two rival movements in Italy would form the government: Mussolini's Fascists, or the marxist
Italian Socialist Party. He selected the Fascists. was murdered a few days after he openly denounced Fascist violence during the 1924 elections. Mussolini formed a coalition with nationalists and liberals, and in 1923 passed the electoral
Acerbo Law, which assigned two-thirds of the seats to the party that achieved at least 25% of the vote. The Fascist Party used violence and intimidation to achieve the threshold in the
1924 election, thus obtaining control of Parliament. Socialist deputy
Giacomo Matteotti was assassinated after calling for a nullification of the vote. The parliament opposition responded to Matteotti's assassination with the
Aventine Secession. Over the next four years, Mussolini eliminated nearly all checks and balances on his power. On 24 December 1925, he passed a law that declared he was responsible to the king alone, making him the sole person able to determine Parliament's agenda. Local governments were dissolved, and appointed officials (called ) replaced elected mayors and councils. In 1928, all political parties were banned, and parliamentary elections were replaced by plebiscites in which the Grand Council of Fascism nominated a single list of 400 candidates.
Christopher Duggan argues that his regime exploited Mussolini's popular appeal and forged a cult of personality that served as the model that was emulated by dictators of other fascist regimes of the 1930s. In summary, historian
Stanley G. Payne says that Fascism in Italy was: :A primarily political dictatorship. The Fascist Party itself had become almost completely bureaucratized and subservient to, not dominant over, the state itself. Big business, industry, and finance retained extensive autonomy, particularly in the early years. The armed forces also enjoyed considerable autonomy. ... The Fascist militia was placed under military control. The judicial system was left largely intact and relatively autonomous as well. The police continued to be directed by state officials and were not taken over by party leaders, nor was a major new police elite created. There was never any question of bringing the Church under overall subservience. Sizable sectors of Italian cultural life retained extensive autonomy, and no major state propaganda-and-culture ministry existed. The Mussolini regime was neither especially sanguinary nor particularly repressive.
End of the Roman question During the
unification of Italy in the mid-19th century, the
Papal States resisted incorporation into the new nation. The nascent Kingdom of Italy invaded and occupied
Romagna (the eastern portion of the Papal States) in 1860, leaving only
Latium in the pope's domains. Latium, including Rome itself, was
occupied and annexed in 1870. For the following sixty years, relations between the Papacy and the Italian government were hostile, and the status of the pope became known as the "
Roman question". The
Lateran Treaty was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the
Holy See under
Pope Pius XI to settle the question. The treaty and associated pacts were signed on 11 February 1929. The treaty recognized
Vatican City as an
independent state under the sovereignty of the Holy See. The Italian government also agreed to give the
Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the
Papal States. In 1948, the Lateran Treaty was recognized in the
Constitution of Italy as regulating the relations between the state and the Catholic Church. The treaty was significantly revised in 1984, ending the status of Catholicism as the sole state religion.
Foreign politics in the 1930s: • Green:
Nice,
Ticino and
Dalmatia • Red:
Malta • Violet:
Corsica •
Savoy and
Corfu were later claimed. Lee identifies three major themes in Mussolini's foreign policy. The first was a continuation of the foreign-policy objectives of the preceding Liberal regime. Liberal Italy had allied itself with Germany and Austria, and had great ambitions in the Balkans and North Africa. Ever since it had been badly defeated in Ethiopia in 1896, there was a strong demand for seizing that country. Second was a profound disillusionment after the heavy losses of the First World War; the small territorial gains from Austria were not enough to compensate. Third was Mussolini's promise to restore the pride and glory of the
Roman Empire. Italian Fascism is based upon
Italian nationalism and in particular seeks to complete what it considers as the incomplete project of by incorporating (unredeemed Italy) into the state of Italy. To the east of Italy, the Fascists claimed that
Dalmatia was a land of Italian culture. To the south of Italy, the Fascists claimed
Malta, which belonged to the United Kingdom, and
Corfu, which belonged to Greece, to the north claimed
Italian Switzerland, while to the west claimed
Corsica,
Nice and
Savoy, which belonged to France. , which was a client state, was considered a territory to be annexed. Mussolini promised to bring Italy back as a
great power in Europe, building a "New Roman Empire" and holding power over the
Mediterranean Sea. In
propaganda, Fascists used the ancient Roman motto "" (
Latin for "Our Sea") to describe the Mediterranean. For this reason the Fascist regime engaged in
interventionist foreign policy in Europe. In 1923, the Greek island of
Corfu was briefly occupied by Italy, after the assassination of
General Tellini in Greek territory. In 1925,
Albania came under heavy Italian influence as a result of the
Tirana Treaties, which also gave Italy a stronger position in the Balkans. Relations with France were mixed. The Fascist regime planned to regain Italian-populated areas of France. With the rise of Nazism, it became more concerned of the potential threat of Germany to Italy. Due to concerns of German expansionism, Italy joined the
Stresa Front with France and the United Kingdom, which existed from 1935 to 1936. The Fascist regime held negative relations with Yugoslavia, as it continued to claim Dalmatia. During the
Spanish Civil War between the socialist
Republicans and
Nationalists led by
Francisco Franco, Italy sent arms and over 60,000 troops to aid the Nationalist faction. This secured Italy's naval access to Spanish ports and increased Italian influence in the Mediterranean. During the 1930s, Italy strongly pursued a policy of naval rearmament; by 1940, the was the fourth largest navy in the world. ,
Daladier,
Hitler, Mussolini, and Italian foreign minister Count Ciano, as they prepared to sign the Munich Agreement|From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Italian foreign minister
Count Ciano at the signing of
Munich Agreement Mussolini and
Adolf Hitler first met in June 1934, when Mussolini opposed German plans to annex Austria to ensure that Nazi Germany would not become hegemonic in Europe. Public appearances and propaganda constantly portrayed the closeness of Mussolini and Hitler and the similarities between Italian Fascism and German
National Socialism. While both ideologies had significant similarities, the two factions were suspicious of each other, and both leaders were in competition for world influence. After completing the pacification of Libya, Mussolini decided to launch the war in
Ethiopia, one of the few uncolonized African territories. The
Second Italo-Ethiopian War, which began in October 1935, was characterized by the massive use of force and the use of chemical weapons against the Ethiopians. Victory, announced in 9 May 1936 after the entry of Italian troops into
Addis Ababa, led to the proclamation of the
Italian Empire. However, the war resulted in the international isolation of Italy; the only nation to back Italy's aggression was Nazi Germany. After being condemned by the
League of Nations, Italy decided to leave the League on 11 December 1937. Mussolini had little choice but to join Hitler in international politics, thus he reluctantly abandoned support of Austrian independence and Hitler proceeded with the , the annexation of Austria, in 1938. Mussolini later supported German claims on
Sudetenland at the
Munich Conference. In 1938, under influence of Hitler, Mussolini supported the adoption of antisemitic
racial laws in Italy. After Germany annexed
Czechoslovakia in March 1939,
Italy invaded Albania and made it an
Italian protectorate. As war approached in 1939, the Fascist regime stepped up an aggressive press campaign against France claiming that its Italian residents were suffering. This was important to the alliance as both regimes mutually had claims on France: Germany on German-populated
Alsace-Lorraine and Italy on the mixed Italian and French populated
Nice and
Corsica. In May 1939, a formal alliance with Germany was signed, known as the
Pact of Steel. Mussolini felt obliged to sign the pact in spite of his own concerns that Italy could not fight a war in the near future. This obligation grew from his promises to Italians that he would build an empire for them and from his personal desire to not allow Hitler to become the dominant leader in Europe. Mussolini was repulsed by the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreement where Germany and the
Soviet Union agreed to partition the
Second Polish Republic into German and Soviet zones for an impending invasion. The Fascist government saw this as a betrayal of the
Anti-Comintern Pact, but decided to remain officially silent.
World War II and fall of Fascism (The orange line delimits metropolitan Italy, the green line the borders of the enlarged
Italian Empire.) When Germany
invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 beginning
World War II, Mussolini chose to stay
non-belligerent, although he declared his support for Hitler. In drawing out war plans, Mussolini and the Fascist regime decided that Italy would aim to annex large portions of Africa and the Middle East. Hesitance remained from the King and military commander
Pietro Badoglio who warned Mussolini that Italy had too few
tanks,
armoured vehicles, and aircraft available to be able to carry out a long-term war; Badoglio told Mussolini "It is suicide" for Italy to get involved in the
European conflict. Mussolini and the Fascist regime thus waited as France was invaded by Germany in June 1940 (
Battle of France) before deciding to get involved. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940, fulfilling its obligations towards the Pact of Steel. Mussolini hoped to quickly capture
Savoy, Nice, Corsica, and the African colonies of Tunisia and Algeria from the French, on 21 June, Italy
invaded France but their achieved with only modest gains due to the
Franco-Italian Armistice on 24 June, but Germany signed an armistice (22 June:
Second Armistice at Compiègne) with Marshal
Philippe Pétain establishing
Vichy France, that retained control over southern France and colonies. This decision angered the Fascist regime. In summer 1940, Mussolini ordered the
bombing of Mandatory Palestine and the
conquest of British Somaliland. In September, he ordered the
invasion of Egypt; despite initial success, Italian forces were soon driven back by the British on
Operation Compass. Hitler had to intervene with the sending of the
Afrika Korps of General
Erwin Rommel, that was the mainstay in the
North African campaign. Although Rommel himself was officially under Italian command. On 28 October, Mussolini launched
an attack on Greece. However, the Greeks not only proved a more capable opponent successfully repelling the initial attack, but also managed to push the Italians back to Albania. Hitler came to Mussolini's aid by attacking the Greeks through the Balkans. The
Balkans Campaign had as result the dissolution of Yugoslavia and Greece's defeat. Italy gained
south Slovenia,
Dalmatia,
Montenegro and established the puppet states of
Croatia and
Hellenic State. By 1942, it was faltering as its economy failed to adapt to the conditions of war and Italian cities were being heavily bombed by the Allies. Also, despite the Axis advances, the campaign in North Africa began to fail in late 1942. The complete collapse came after the decisive defeat at
El Alamein. By 1943, Italy was losing on every front. Half of the Italian forces
fighting in the Soviet Union had been destroyed, the African campaign had failed, the Balkans remained unstable, and Italians wanted an end to the war. In July 1943, the
Allies invaded Sicily in an effort to knock Italy out of the war and establish a foothold in Europe. On 25 July,
Mussolini was ousted by the
Great Council of Fascism and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III, who appointed General
Pietro Badoglio as new
Prime Minister. Badoglio stripped away the final elements of Fascist rule by banning the
National Fascist Party, then signed the
Armistice of Cassibile and the
instrument of surrender on 29 September. Donald Detwiler notes that "Italy's entrance into the war showed very early that her military strength was only a hollow shell. Italy's military failures against France, Greece, Yugoslavia and in the African Theatres of war shook Italy's new prestige mightily." Historians have long debated why Italy's military and its Fascist regime were so remarkably ineffective at an activity – war – that was central to their identity. MacGregor Knox says the explanation, "was first and foremost a failure of Italy's military culture and military institutions." Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen argue that "the Regia Aeronautica failed to perform effectively in modern conflict." James Sadkovich gives the most charitable interpretation of Italian failures, blaming inferior equipment, overextension, and inter-service rivalries. Its forces had "more than their share of handicaps."
Civil War, Allied advance, and Liberation (27–30 September 1943) Soon after being ousted, Mussolini was rescued by a German commando in
Operation Eiche ("Oak"). The Germans brought Mussolini to northern Italy where he set up a Fascist puppet state, the
Italian Social Republic (RSI). Meanwhile, the Allies advanced in southern Italy. In September 1943,
Naples rose against the occupying German forces. The Allies organized some royalist Italian troops into the
Italian Co-Belligerent Army, while other troops continued to fight alongside Nazi Germany in the , the
National Republican Army. A large
Italian resistance movement started a long
guerrilla war against the German and Fascist forces, while clashes between the Fascist RSI Army and the Royalist Italian Co-Belligerent Army were rare. The Germans, often helped by Fascists, committed several
atrocities against Italian civilians in occupied zones, such as the
Ardeatine massacre and the
Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre. The Kingdom of Italy declared war on Nazi Germany on 13 October 1943; tensions between the Axis Powers and the Italian military were rising following the failure to defend Sicily. by the deportation of about 25,000 people, mainly Jews, Croats, and Slovenians, to the
Italian concentration camps, such as
Rab,
Gonars,
Monigo,
Renicci di Anghiari and elsewhere.
Yugoslav Partisans perpetrated their own crimes against the local ethnic Italian population during and after the war, including the
foibe massacres. In Italy and Yugoslavia, unlike in Germany, few war crimes were prosecuted. in Milan during the
liberation of Italy, April 1945 On 25 April 1945 the
National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy proclaimed a general insurrection in all the territories still occupied by the Nazis, indicating to all the partisan forces active in Northern Italy that were part of the Volunteer Corps of Freedom to attack the fascist and German garrisons by imposing the surrender, days before the arrival of the Allied troops; at the same time, the National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy personally issued legislative decrees, assuming power "in the name of the Italian people and as a delegate of the Italian Government", establishing among other things the death sentence for all fascist hierarchs, Today the event is commemorated in Italy every 25 April by the
Liberation Day,
National Day introduced on 22 April 1946, which celebrates the liberation of the country from
fascism. Mussolini was captured on 27 April 1945, by
communist Italian partisans near the Swiss border as he tried to escape Italy. On the next day, he was executed for high treason. Days later on 2 May 1945, the German forces in Italy surrendered. On 9 June 1944, Badoglio was replaced as prime minister by anti-fascist leader
Ivanoe Bonomi. In June 1945 Bonomi was in turn replaced by
Ferruccio Parri, who in turn gave way to
Alcide de Gasperi on 4 December 1945. Finally, De Gasperi supervised the transition to a Republic following the abdication of Vittorio Emanuele III on 9 May 1946, the one-month-long reign of his son
Umberto II ("King of May") and the
Constitutional Referendum that abolished the monarchy; De Gasperi briefly became acting head of state as well as prime minister on 18 June 1946, but ceded the former role to Provisional President
Enrico de Nicola ten days later.
Anti-fascism against Mussolini's regime . was a militant
anti-fascist group founded in 1921. In Italy, Mussolini's
Fascist regime used the term
anti-fascist to describe its opponents. Mussolini's
secret police was officially known as the
Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism (OVRA). During the 1920s, anti-fascists, many of them from the
labor movement, fought against the violent
Blackshirts and against the rise of the fascist leader Benito Mussolini. After the
Italian Socialist Party (PSI) signed a
pacification pact with Mussolini and his
Fasces of Combat on 3 August 1921, and trade unions adopted a legalist and pacified strategy, members of the workers' movement who disagreed with this strategy formed . The
Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGL) and the PSI refused to officially recognize the anti-fascist militia and maintained a non-violent, legalist strategy, while the
Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I) ordered its members to quit the organization. The PCd'I organized some militant groups, but their actions were relatively minor. The Italian anarchist
Severino Di Giovanni, who exiled himself to Argentina following the 1922
March on Rome, organized several bombings against the Italian fascist community. The Italian liberal anti-fascist
Benedetto Croce wrote his
Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, which was published in 1925. Other notable Italian liberal anti-fascists around that time were
Piero Gobetti and
Carlo Rosselli. (), officially known as Concentrazione d'Azione Antifascista (Anti-Fascist Action Concentration), was an Italian coalition of Anti-Fascist groups which existed from 1927 to 1934, trying to promote and to coordinate expatriate actions to fight fascism in Italy; they published a propaganda paper entitled . () was an Italian
anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945 which shared a belief in active, effective opposition to fascism, compared to the older Italian anti-fascist parties. also made the international community aware of the realities of fascism in Italy, thanks to the work of
Gaetano Salvemini. Between 1920 and 1943, several anti-fascist movements were active among the
Slovenes and
Croats in the territories annexed to Italy after
World War I, known as the
Julian March. The most influential was the militant insurgent organization
TIGR, which carried out numerous sabotages, as well as attacks on representatives of the Fascist Party and the military. Most of the underground structure of the organization was discovered and dismantled by the OVRA in 1940 and 1941, and after June 1941 most of its former activists joined the
Slovene Partisans. Many members of the
Italian resistance left their homes and went to live in the mountains, fighting against Italian fascists and
German Nazi soldiers during the
Italian Civil War. Many cities in Italy, including
Turin,
Naples and
Milan, were freed by anti-fascist uprisings.
End of the Kingdom of Italy (1946) 1946 Italian institutional referendum , the last
king of Italy Much like
Japan and
Germany, the aftermath of World War II left Italy with a destroyed economy, a divided society, and anger against the monarchy for its endorsement of the Fascist regime for the previous twenty years. Even before the rise of the Fascists, the monarchy was seen to have performed poorly, with society extremely divided between the wealthy North and poor South. World War I resulted in Italy making few gains and was seen as what fostered the rise of Fascism. These frustrations contributed to a revival of the Italian republican movement. By the spring of 1944, it was obvious Victor Emmanuel was too tainted by his previous support for Mussolini to have any further role. He transferred his constitutional powers to Crown Prince Umberto, whom he named
Lieutenant General of the Realm and de facto regent. Victor Emmanuel III nominally remained King until shortly before the
1946 Italian institutional referendum on whether to remain a monarchy or become a republic. On 9 May 1946, he abdicated in favour of the Crown Prince, who then ascended as King
Umberto II. However, on 2 June 1946, the republican side won 54% of the vote, and Italy officially became a republic, a day celebrated since as . This was the first time that Italian women voted at the national level, and the second time overall considering the local elections that were held a few months earlier in some cities. The table of results shows some relevant differences in the different parts of Italy. The peninsula seemed to be drastically cut into two as if there were two different homogeneous countries: the North for the republic (with 66.2%); the South for the monarchy (with 63.8%). Some monarchist groups claimed that there was manipulation by northern republicans, socialists and communists. Others argued that Italy was still too chaotic in 1946 to have an accurate referendum. Umberto II decided to leave Italy on 13 June to avoid the clashes between monarchists and republicans, already manifested in bloody events in various Italian cities, for fear they could extend throughout the country. He went into exile in
Portugal. From 1 January 1948, with the entry into force of the
Constitution of the Italian Republic, the male descendants of Umberto II of Savoy were banned from entering Italy; the provision being repealed in 2002.
Aftermath ,
first republican
Prime Minister of Italy and one of the
founding fathers of the European Union The
Republican Constitution, resulting from the work of a
Constituent Assembly formed by the representatives of all the
anti-fascist forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the
liberation of Italy, was approved on 1 January 1948. Under the
Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947,
Istria,
Kvarner, most of the
Julian March as well as the
Dalmatian city of
Zara was annexed by
Yugoslavia causing the
Istrian-Dalmatian exodus, which led to the emigration from 1943 to 1960 of between 230,000 and 350,000 local ethnic
Italians (
Istrian Italians and
Dalmatian Italians), the others being ethnic Slovenians, ethnic Croatians, and ethnic
Istro-Romanians, choosing to maintain Italian citizenship. Later, the
Free Territory of Trieste was divided between the two states. Italy also lost its colonial possessions, formally ending the
Italian Empire. The Italian border that applies today has existed since 1975, when
Trieste was formally re-annexed to Italy. Fears of a possible Communist takeover proved crucial for the first universal suffrage electoral outcome on
18 April 1948, when the
Christian Democrats, under the leadership of
Alcide De Gasperi, obtained a landslide victory. Consequently, in 1949 Italy became a member of
NATO. The
Marshall Plan helped to revive the Italian economy which, until the late 1960s, enjoyed a period of sustained economic growth commonly called the "
Economic Miracle". In the 1950s, Italy became one of the six founding countries of the
European Communities, following the 1952 establishment of the
European Coal and Steel Community, and subsequent 1958 creations of the
European Economic Community and
European Atomic Energy Community. In 1993, the former two of these were incorporated into the
European Union. ==Maps of progressive territorial formation of the Kingdom of Italy==