Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Italy 1896 - 1914
- Economic
- italy was poor and economically underdeveloped
- agricultural labourers earned under 50p a week
- income per head was under £8 a year
- Compared with £31 in Britain
- Industrial Developement
- limited due to lack of raw resources
- iron
- coal
- Political
- The Catholic Church
- after unification the church had significantly less political influence
- The Pope locked himself away in the Vatican City in prtest
- The next pope (Benedict) allowed Catholics to participate in national elections in 1919
- No pope acknowledged the kingdom of Italy until 1929
- liberal governments were constantly locked in conflict with the powerful church over political disagreements
- source of instability until the fascists came to power
- Pope HAD BEEN the ruler of the Papal states (covered much of central Italy)
- most of this land was taken from him (left with Vatican City)
- Liberalism was a sin
- allowed religious freedom
- Catholics could not vote in national elections
- didn't like the socialists
- disregarded religion
- pope allowed Catholics to vote AGAINST socialism to prevent an uprising
- The Monarchy
- NOT CONSTITUTIONAL - King could rule by decree
- Head of the army
- played a role in foreign policy
- selected the PM
- approved appointments of government ministers
- BUT
- parliament had to approve the taxes for the army and government
- Kings character limited his power
- (1896) King Umberto
- not intelligent, strong, or popular
- rarely in government
- The King in power following unification was from Piedmont
- The Army
- during peacetime compromised of 215,00 soldiers
- just a third of all available men
- trained for three years following 18th birthday
- taught a sense of national identity
- most of the 15,000 officers were from Piedmont to keep the army loyal to the monarchy
- Transformismo
- 1896, no strong political parties
- groups of politicians would do deals amongst themselves
- they tried to win enough support from deputies to form a government
- this might mean winning over former opponents
- they would offer certain jobs, favours, or other services to win over constituencies
- "corrupt and ineffective"
- politics was all about deals
- Crispi (politician, 1890's) - "utter pandemonium"
- increased the sense of alienation from the South
- corruption
- governments appointed "prefects" would ensure that government-supported candidates won elections
- bribery was widespread
- discredited the Liberal system
- gulf between "legal Italy" and "real Italy"
- copied the British parliamentary system after seeing how well it worked for them
- BUT
- the vote was only given to the wealthy + educated elites
- did not represent the masses
- the initial plan was to spread the wealth and education across Italy
- BUT
- the government had to focus on balancing the budget + building up Italy's military
- many knew little of what went on outside their villages
- Social
- agriculture was the biggest employer
- 60% of the population worked in agriculture
- compared with 10% in Britain
- unification challenged the old class structure
- aristocracy had to share power with the new middle class elites
- intention to build new networks of independant and wealthy peasant farmers never realised
- feudal laws were abolished
- lawyers and local governments benefited
- The North/South Divide
- industrially developed+ wealthy north
- the north held the political power and wealth
- nobles
- 7387 noble families
- considerably more than Britain
- Sicily alone had 208 princes
- nobility did not = wealth
- some relied on income from jobs such as army officers
- (not very well paid)
- some owned large estates
- after unification there were over 200,000 landowners and businessmen
- nobility had to share power with them
- doctors and lawyers were landowners
- dominated local government
- poor and agricultural south
- didn't feel connected to the new italy
- disease
- malaria killed 15,000 anually
- water was often infected
- cholera
- poor diet
- mostly polenta
- couldn't afford luxury foods - tomatoes and cheese
- living conditions
- large families = 1 - 2 bedroom house
- shared with animals
- "primitive"