Political problems were also high, the weak liberal government failed to join together as the PPI and the PSI failed to co-operate. Even before the war the country and the government had been undecided about whether to join the war and afterwards many Italians wanted a new beginning. However as the government had finished the war the hopes of new territories were dashed as neither Dalmatia nor Fiume was gained and neither were the colonies, which were promised. This aroused anger towards the government and the people then felt that the war had turned out to be a ‘mutilated victory’. Considerable bitterness towards the state was aroused here.
Also when D’Annunzio took control of Fiume the government proceeded to do nothing about the situation for a year. This showed the governments inadequacy. The Italian people were also provided with a contrast between the vigorous defence of the country by D’Annunzio and the poor performance of the liberal government at the peace treaties.
People also felt aggrieved towards the government because of the social problems, which the war brought. For example long 75-hour weeks were being demanded and real wages fell approximately 25%. The government did nothing to help the people cope with inflation and unemployment was rising.
Overall the war left Italy in a dire situation with problems right across the board, which the government needed to deal with. Belief in them as very low at this time because of all of these problems and so socialist uprising looked more and more likely. The liberal regime was under attack from the left as the socialist uprising recently in Russia had inspired many socialists in Italy to try to gain support. Soldiers who had returned from the war took back land sometimes, which was unoccupied, but sometimes land was stolen from landowners. The government’s inadequate display in dealing with this action caused landowners to fell angry and threatened towards the government and much support was lost. The socialists also inspired the growth of unions that increased in power and made the industrialists feel very threatened and worried. In 1919 and 1920 a wave of strikes were initiated in Agriculture and Industry. There was also considerable success for the PSI (the socialist party in Italy) as they won some seats in local elections and increased in power. The socialist followers that caused problems for industry and also for the government as money was being lost all the time also occupied factories. However the government still did not do anything and even gave peasants land to try to stop the occupations. This angered the industrialists and many other groups and the government were shown to be weak.
In 1919 the mass governments also (PPI and PSI) gained a majority and yet they failed to form a government.
I think that after looking at all of these problems it is clear that many people would find the problems caused by the war to be the most threatening to the government. They may think this because of the economic problems, which it left on the country. The government failed to deal with these problems and so they got worse. This inspired unrest and anger towards the government and the problems got larger. Inflation for example raged from 1913 right up until 1920 and the government’s inadequacy to deal with this posed many problems for them. The lack of territorial gains and false promises of a ‘great Italy’ also aroused anger within the population as soldiers felt they had died for nothing and people saw the war as a ‘mutilated victory’. This was a huge problem for the state as they were shown to be weak (also with D’Annunzio’s occupation of Fiume) and lost a lot of support from ex soldiers amongst other groups.
However many others my have seen socialism to be the biggest threat to the liberal state in 1919. The two red years had inspired huge support amongst workers for the socialists who were boosted in their efforts by the recent successful Russian socialist uprising. Many strikes were brought together and unions became stronger and more powerful. This increased tension between the workers and employers and as they went on strike also between the government and the employers as the government did nothing about it. This caused a lot of lost hope with the liberals amongst the elite, as they were worried that the state was not doing anything to help them and so the socialists were a threat to the liberals.
However in conclusion I think that without doubt the problems that were caused by the First World War were undoubtedly the ones, which posed the greatest problems. I think this because although the socialists did pose major problems at the time with hindsight it is shown that the socialists were not organised enough to pose a real threat of a revolution, they failed to take their opportunities and all they succeeded in the end was to simply frighten the elite. However the Great War produced long-term larger problems such as inflation, unemployment and general unrest. These problems were also far harder to deal with and provided much unhappiness within the population for a variety of reasons such as the lack of territories gained in the ‘mutilated victory.
Overall this is which I feel that the Great War caused greater problems and posed a greater threat to the Liberal State than Socialism.
