The weakness of the liberal state in Italy in 1919 was mainly caused by WW1. How far do you agree?

by lanasami (student)

The weakness of the liberal state in 1919 was mainly caused by ww1. How far do you agree?

The liberal state in Italy had many weaknesses and faced many problems in 1919. Many were caused by WW1 such as, social, political and economic issues, several existed before the war such as the weaknesses of the political system already in place and the dividing legacy of unification. However these problems came about, their effects became apparent in the 1919 Liberal Party elections, where they were a serious minority and their power over Italy was being threatened.

The first of many problems caused by WW1 was that it worsened political divisions that existed in Italy. The division was between the nationalists, the socialists the Pope and Catholics. The socialists were very against the war. Workers were forced under strict military discipline in factories and suffered poor conditions there, including long hours and low pay. When the war ended the discipline ended with it, bringing a wave of angry strikers, and the socialist party members rose from 50,000 to 200,000 from 1914 to 1919. Talk of a socialist revolution spread, inspired by the Bolshevik revolution in the Soviet Union in 1917. The Pope also criticised the war, claiming it was a useless slaughter. However on the other hand the Nationalists strongly supported the war, with the idea that Italy would gain land, meaning more power and pride for the country. However, after the war the Nationalists felt they had been subject to a ‘mutilated victory’, since Italy did not receive much of the land they were promised at the peace treaty of Versailles and London. They believed the liberal government failed to defend the nation’s interests. This led to ‘aggrieved nationalism’, the liberal government losing one of its only forms of support. To make matters worse, the nationalists blamed the socialists and the weak parliamentary system for the lack of success in the war. The pope also criticised the war, claiming it was useless slaughter. The tensions between these three main political groups and the anti-war attitude that they all adopted meant that support for liberal Italy declined even more during the war.

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The divisions between political groups led to social problems arising due to the war. When conscription was enforced, there was clear resentment towards it, mainly because many of the soldiers fighting either didn’t agree with the causes they were fighting for, or didn’t even understand what they were fighting for. In fact, out of 5 million conscripts, only 8000 were volunteers. In the army the soldiers were frustrated by appalling conditions, including poor rations, low pay, and sever-often lethal- punishments from cruel officers. In total, 650000 soldiers were killed and almost 1 million were wounded. The army suffered humiliating defeat at the Battle of Caporetto, but the soldiers got blamed for not being patriotic enough, which only increased the resentment further. The army consequently blamed the weak government for its failings. Moreover, when the soldiers returned they were greeted with high unemployment, while learning of industrialists who had manipulated the war to make them richer, and peasants whose positions had improved due to the increase in the demand for weaponry etc. (industry). These social divides led to increased resentment towards the liberal state, which now secured a weak and powerless government.

Furthermore the war had a significant effect on the economy. During the war, there was mass inflation, where wholesale prices increased by 400%. While this was happening real wages not only could not keep up with inflation, but in fact decreased by 25% between 1915 and 1918. This led to ordinary people not being able to afford consumer goods. Inflation also destroyed any savings the poor had. While certain war-related industries experienced massive expansion during the war like Fiat and Pirelli, many industries collapsed after the war. This was due to the sudden drop in demand for products like weapons and machinery. Overall the war cost 148 billion lire this was money that Italy simply did not have, and as a result national debt increased from 16 billion lire in 1914 to 85 billion lire in 1918. The liberal government became the perfect scapegoats to blame these economic issues on, in addition to the running of the country becoming increasingly difficult for them, due to the overwhelming frustration from the Italian population.

On the other hand, there were many problems that existed before the war that also contributed to the weakness of the liberal state in 1919. The unification of Italy was really only Piedmont’s expansion, with policies enforced on other parts of Italy that were not wanted by those territories, and were against the will of the majority of people. In addition the legacy of unification remained strong in people’s minds, for instance the economic north-south divide; with many southern areas of unified Italy still suffering from economic difficulties and more backwards methods in industry. The liberal government that took over following complete unification therefore did not have a large amount of support that they needed.

Additionally, this newly forced liberal government had a weak political system in many ways. Trasformismo was a technique used by many in the parliament (for example Giolitti). It was a scheme that involved much bribery, corruption and politicians only putting forward laws that would benefit themselves, without thinking about the will of the rest of the country. The government was made up only of Piedmonts superiority, so was not a true representation of the will of the population and was not a true democracy. As a result, resentment built towards the new liberal government. Furthermore, only 2% of the Italian population could vote, and these were wealthy middle class citizens, so peasants and the working class had little say in politics and therefore felt excluded. The liberal government had already established an ineffective and corrupt political system before the war even began.

In conclusion I think that the weaknesses of the liberal state were mainly caused by WW1, this is because firstly, the decision to go to war was not unanimous; it was only decided by a few politicians, without consulting the population or even parliament. It therefore didn’t have the support of the majority of people. Secondly the war not only created economic problems, it also worsened those that already existed in Italy. These problems may have been resolved if the war had not occurred. The war only highlighted the incompetence and weaknesses of the liberal state.

How far do you agree that the political elite (liberal politicians, king) were responsible for Mussolini’s appointment as Prime Minister in 1922?