How Secure was Liberal Italy in 1914?

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How Secure was Liberal Italy in 1914?

        In 1914, Italy was in a delicate position, with the advances that had been made at risk of being undermined by the mounting problems that the country was facing.  As the beginning of the First World War approached, the divisions between the North and the South of Italy and its many local regions were widening.  The Liberal government was facing increasing opposition from both the Left and the Right, who aimed to take advantage of the fact that the Liberal’s could not even decide on issues between themselves, and accompanied by a weak industrial and economical situation, security looked a long way off for Italy.

        

It is arguable that Italy was in a more secure position in 1914 than is commonly accepted, and that the obvious problems the country was facing were in fact not particularly serious and completely manageable.  Even if the people of Italy had negative feelings towards the government, the state had existed for 50 years.  For a new country this was quite an achievement, and some people were of the opinion that the state was now in a position to develop.  The Liberals had sponsored education for the masses, and slowly a more educated Italy was being formed.  The government was able to display propaganda at schools to make children more aware of their plans to have a united Italy.  It is fair to say that the potential lack of unity was because of the Italian public’s feelings, and so consequently if the next generation of people were in favour of a new Italian era then it would be possible to eradicate the problems caused by the divisions between the people.  The government believed that if people from a young age felt that a united Italy was a possibility, any attempts in the future to make it a reality would not seem farfetched to a large proportion of the masses.  As well as this, the growing levels of literacy meant Italy’s labourers were now better educated and more effective and had led to a more urbanised country, and a more economically advanced Italy was becoming a possibility.  This was shown by the fact that a national economy had been formed, linked by roads and railways and making interaction between all areas of the country possible.  

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This growing unity even meant that the Italian language had become a lingua franca.  This was a language used for communication between people of different mother tongues, and was therefore spoken by people in the army and towns when trading.  Ultimately, this evolved to approximately six or seven million people speaking the language, and it was hoped that eventually all Italians would speak the language.  And the advancement did not stop at a potentially common language spoken by the whole country, with institutions such as Trade Unions being set up.  This showed that there was more care for the average ...

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