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120-566: He was a master in the political art of Trasformismo , the method of making a flexible, centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the left and the right in Italian politics after the unification. Depretis was born at Bressana Bottarone, near Stradella , which at the time was a province of the French Empire of Napoleon and now is in the province of Pavia , Lombardy . After Napoleon's defeat and restoration of

240-635: A 46- hectare concession from China in Tianjin (see Italian concession in Tianjin ). These foreign colonies and lands came under Italian control at different times and remained so over different periods. The Kingdom of Italy was a constitutional monarchy . Executive power belonged to the monarch , who governed through appointed ministers . The legislative branch was a bicameral Parliament comprising an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies . The kingdom maintained as its constitution

360-574: A European mandate to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina . A few months later the attempt of Giovanni Passannante to assassinate King Humbert I at Naples on 12 December 1878, caused Cairoli's downfall. Depretis was appointed prime minister by the king; his cabinet was formed by members of the Left and of the Right. On 24 June 1879 the Italian Senate approved, with significant amendments, the bill on

480-412: A burden on finances or a change in territory required the approval of the chambers to be effective. The king appointed to all state offices, sanctioned and promulgated the laws, which as well as the government acts had to be countersigned by the responsible ministers, and issued the decrees and regulations necessary for the execution of the laws. Justice was administered in his name, and he alone had

600-491: 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

720-682: A government of "national conciliation" that included members both form the Right and the Left. On 20 June, Depretis was appointed Minister of the Navy , on the same day the Third Italian War of Independence began. After the Italian defeat in the Battle of Custoza , Depretis insisted with admiral Carlo Persano on the attack against the island of Lissa , as a revenge for Custoza. But he also refused to give to admiral Persano detailed orders about

840-494: A huge gap between politicians and their constituents. The system brought almost no advantages, as illiteracy remained the same in 1912 as before Unification, and backward economic policies and poor sanitary conditions continued to prevent the country's rural areas from improving. The Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci described trasformismo as a strategy to prevent the formation of an organized working-class movement by coopting and neutralizing its ideas and leaders within

960-930: A leading member of the Axis Powers in 1940 and despite initial success, was defeated in North Africa and the Soviet Union . Allied landings in Sicily led to the fall of the Fascist regime and the new government surrendered to the Allies in September 1943. German forces occupied northern and central Italy, established the Italian Social Republic , and reappointed Mussolini as dictator. Consequentially, Italy descended into civil war , with

1080-523: 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

1200-693: A member of the Left , continued the process. He moved to the right and reshuffled his government to include Marco Minghetti 's Liberal-Conservatives. Depretis had been considering that move for a while. The aims were to ensure a stable government that would avoid weakening the institutions by extreme shifts to the left or the right and to ensure calm in Italy. At the time, middle-class politicians were more concerned with making deals with one another than with political philosophies and principles. Large coalitions were formed, and members were bribed to join them. The Liberals,

1320-405: A method of making a flexible centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the left and the right . The process was initiated in 1883, when he moved to the right and reshuffled his government to include Marco Minghetti 's conservatives. This was a move Depretis had been considering for a while before 1883. The aim was to ensure a stable government that would avoid weakening

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1440-476: A new cabinet; it was the last political act of the king who would die after few months. Depretis failed in stopping the contrasts within the Left. He was criticized for having abolished the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce and having established the Ministry of Treasury in order to achieve greater control over state budget. On 11 March 1878, Depretis resigned from his office, when his candidate lost

1560-631: A result, Italy accepted the British invitation to join the Allied Powers during World War I , as the western powers promised territorial compensation (at the expense of Austria-Hungary) for participation that was more generous than Vienna's offer in exchange for Italian neutrality. Victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations , but it did not receive all

1680-429: A ruling coalition. Gramsci cited Giolitti's attempt to forge an alliance with the industrial workers of northern Italy under the banner of protectionism as one example of this method. On this account, trasformismo is connected to the process of passive revolution , by which capitalism can be developed in a particular country without the need for overt mobilization of the people. Drawing upon Gramsci's observations,

1800-512: The Risorgimento . That process was influenced by the Savoy -led Kingdom of Sardinia , which was one of Italy's legal predecessor states . In 1866, Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia and, upon its victory, received the region of Veneto . Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power . In the last two decades of

1920-674: 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

2040-596: The Italian Co-belligerent Army and resistance movement contending with the Social Republic's forces and its German allies. Shortly after the surrender of all fascist forces in Italy , civil discontent prompted an institutional referendum , which established a republic and abolished the monarchy in 1946. The Kingdom of Italy covered and at times exceeded the land area of present-day Italy. The Kingdom gradually extended its area through

2160-592: The Italian unification until 1870. In 1919 it annexed Trieste and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol . The Triple Entente promised to grant to Italy – if the state joined the Allies in World War I – several regions, including former Austrian Littoral , western parts of former Duchy of Carniola , Northern Dalmatia and notably Zara , Šibenik and most of the Dalmatian islands (except Krk and Rab ), according to

2280-603: 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

2400-629: The Kingdom of Sardinia , Depretis graduated in law and started working as lawyer . From early manhood he was a disciple of Giuseppe Mazzini and affiliated with the La Giovine Italia . He took an active part in the Mazzinian conspiracies and was nearly captured by the Austrians while smuggling arms into Milan . Elected deputy in 1848, he joined the Left and founded the newspaper Il Diritto , but he held no political offices. In

2520-598: The Lateran Treaties , which granted independence to the Vatican City . The following decade presided over an aggressive foreign policy , with Italy launching successful military operations against Ethiopia in 1935, Spain in 1937, and Albania in 1939. This led to economic sanctions, departure from the League of Nations , growing economic autarky , and the signing of military alliances with Germany and Japan . Fascist Italy entered World War II as

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2640-582: The Statuto Albertino , the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible solely to the king. However, by this time, a king couldn't appoint a government of his choosing or keep it in office against the express will of Parliament. Members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected through a plurality voting system in single-member districts. A candidate needed

2760-615: The electoral campaign of 1865 and at the beginning of the 9th legislature he was elected vice president of the Chamber of Deputies . In 1866, in anticipation of the war with the Austrian Empire , after the signing of the Italo-Prussian alliance, Ricasoli was appointed prime minister by the king to replace General Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora , who would lead the Italian troops during the war. The king wanted to established

2880-569: The pardon and mitigation of punishment. The first state coat of arms of the kingdom was adopted from Sardinia-Piedmont. It included the coat of arms of the House of Savoy in the middle and four Italian flags dating from 1848. On 4 May 1870, by royal decree, two lions in gold , which now carried the shield , a crowned knight's helmet, which bore the Military Order of Savoy , the Order of

3000-468: The railway system and initiated colonial policy by the occupation of Massawa ; but, at the same time, he increased indirect taxation, corrupted the parliamentary parties, and, by extravagance in public works, impaired the stability of Italian finance. He argued that a wider suffrage would give citizens a moral dignity and sense of responsibility. Despite an insistent gout , Depretis remained Prime Minister until his death. More and more often he gathered

3120-572: 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

3240-405: 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

3360-563: 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

3480-593: The 1930s, Professor Frank H. Underhill of the University of Toronto also argued that Canada's two major political parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, operated in similar ways by advancing the same policies appealing to the same variety of sectional/regional and class interests. In doing so, Canada had perfected the two-party system and had marginalized liberalism and radicalism . Underhill argued

3600-589: The 19th century, Italy developed into a colonial power , and in 1882 it entered into a Triple Alliance with the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire , following strong disagreements with France about their respective colonial expansions. Although relations with Berlin became very friendly, the alliance with Vienna remained purely formal, due in part to Italy's desire to acquire Trentino and Trieste from Austria-Hungary. As

3720-735: The Canadian historian Ian McKay has suggested that trasformismo also played an important role in Canadian politics . He portrayed the MacDonald–Cartier coalition , the basis of the Conservative Party , which dominated Canadian federal politics in most of the second half of the 19th century, and the Liberal Party , which dominated Canadian politics in the 20th century, as examples of a Canadian variant of trasformismo . In

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3840-515: The Chamber of Deputies. The highest state administration was divided into the following ministries, with their headquarters in Rome: Due to the war, a number of other short-lived ministries were created during the First and Second World War . The Court of Auditors of the Kingdom had an independent status. The King of Italy was formally the holder of state power, but he could only exercise

3960-501: The Chamber. The king, after the failed attempt by Quintino Sella to establish a new cabinet, appointed Depretis once again prime minister to form his third government . On 20 May 1882, Depretis signed the Triple Alliance , a secret military agreement between Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary to oppose the power of France and Russia . Italy sought support against France shortly after it lost North African ambitions to

4080-548: The Crown of Italy , the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and the Order of the Annunciation around its collar, were added. The motto FERT was deleted. The lions carried lances that held the national flag. From the helmet fell a royal cloak, which was supposed to protect the nation. Above the coat of arms was the star of Italy (Italian Stella d’Italia ). The newly adopted national coat of arms of 1 January 1890 removed

4200-547: The Fascist Party an absolute majority of the Chamber seats. Between 1925 and 1943, Italy was a quasi- de jure Fascist dictatorship, as the constitution formally remained in effect without alteration while the monarchy formally accepted Fascist policies and institutions. In 1928 the Grand Council of Fascism took control of government administration, and in 1939 the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations replaced

4320-458: The French. Each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any other great power. The treaty provided that Germany and Austria-Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation. In turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France. In the event of a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Italy promised to remain neutral. In domestic policy, 1882 saw

4440-515: The Gotthard tunnel 90% of miners came from northern Italy, while at the Lötschberg tunnel 97% were Italian, chiefly from the south. In addition to the now completed nationalization of the railways, the planned nationalization of insurance was tackled and thetrade war with France, which had lasted since 1887, ended. Giolitti thereby interrupted Crispi's pro-German foreign policy and thus enabled

4560-603: 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 . Garibaldi was elected in 1871 in his home city of Nice to the French National Assembly , where he tried to promote the cession of the city from France to the newborn Italian unitary state. He

4680-624: 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 ,

4800-510: 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 Risorgimento , emerged to unite Italy consolidating the different states of the peninsula and liberate it from foreign control. A prominent radical figure

4920-711: 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

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5040-425: The Kingdom of Sardinia, the last territorial conquest before the creation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861. The sea venture was the only desired action that was jointly decided by the "four fathers of the nation" Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel II , and Camillo Cavour, pursuing divergent goals. The various groups participated in the expedition for a variety of reasons: for Garibaldi, it

5160-576: The Left. Minghetti accepted the suggestion but his efforts to agree with Depretis were vain. Minghetti and Sella were involved into an ambitious program of budget which needed a strong majority, for which they tried to oblige the Independents to choose their side, beginning to build a two-party system as in the United Kingdom . However, in the Italian non-partisan political system, hugely affected by localism and corruption , their bet

5280-440: The Liberals did not develop as a structured party and were a series of informal personal groupings with no formal links to political constituencies. However, trasformismo fed into the debates that the Italian parliamentary system was weak and failing, and became associated with political corruption and was perceived as a sacrifice of principles and policies for short-term gain. The system was loved by few and seemed to be creating

5400-633: 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

5520-590: 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

5640-467: 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

5760-541: The Thousand toward Sicily . The Expedition was formed by corps of volunteers led by Garibaldi in order to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , ruled by the Bourbons . The project was an ambitious and risky venture aiming to conquer, with a thousand men, a kingdom with a larger regular army and a more powerful navy. The expedition was a success and concluded with a plebiscite that brought Naples and Sicily into

5880-444: The abolition of the tax on the mill . However, on 3 July, the Chamber rejected the law and voted down the government; third cabinet of Depretis therefore had to resign after only six months of troubled political life and the next government was again led by Cairoli, on 14 July. Following the French occupation of Tunis on 11 May 1881, in view of popular indignation Cairoli resigned in order to avoid making inopportune declarations to

6000-499: 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

6120-473: The approval of the electoral reform of which Depretis had also become the main spokesman and on 22 January the parliament approved what the Prime Minister had called "the only possible universal suffrage ". All men of at least 21 years of age who had attended at least the first two years of elementary school or who contributed an annual tax of no less than 19.80 lire were entitled to vote. the voting age

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6240-427: 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 Società Anonima Italiana Darracq . In 1910, the company brought the first successful model onto

6360-481: 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

6480-415: The challenges of bureaucratic coordination. 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

6600-537: The completion of the Simplon Tunnel in 1906. Shortly after the railway began its triumphal march through Switzerland , each region wanted its own north-south connection and with the construction of the railway tunnels on the Gotthard 14,998 km (1872–1880), Simplon 19,803 km (1898–1906) and Lötschberg 14,612 km (1907–1913), three major Alpine crossings were realized that were important for Switzerland and neighboring European countries. The workforce of these monumental projects were largely Italians: at

6720-455: The conservative government of Giovanni Lanza fell, beaten by a vote that saw the Depretis's moderate Left united with a large part of the Right, no longer in support of the Minister of Finance Quintino Sella ; in fact Sella abandoned the proposal of a further fiscal tightening in order to achieve a balanced budget . Victor Emmanuel II then asked the conservative Marco Minghetti to form a new government, inviting him to include also members from

6840-418: The construction of the new Italian ocean liner SS  Rex , 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

6960-421: The disadvantaged regions of the south followed. However, their implementation mostly failed due to the resistance of the large landowners. Nevertheless, there was a significant improvement in the economic situation of smallholders . In 1911, 55.4% of the Italian population worked in agriculture and 26.9% in industry . Strong social tensions came to light, Italy's social legislation took last place in Europe,

7080-427: The election to become president of the Chamber of Deputies; the following cabinet was led by another prominent leftist member Benedetto Cairoli . In November 1879, Depretis joined the Cairoli cabinet as Minister of the Interior . In the same period, a general irritation was caused by Cairoli and Count Corti 's policy of clean hands at the Berlin Congress , where Italy obtained nothing, while Austria-Hungary secured

7200-487: The end of World War II colonies, protectorates, military occupations and puppet states beyond its borders. These included Eritrea , Italian Somaliland , Libya , Ethiopia (annexed by Italy from 1936 to 1941), Albania (an italian protectorate since 1939), British Somaliland , part of Greece , Corsica, southern France with Monaco , Tunisia , Kosovo and Montenegro (all territories occupied in World War II) Croatia (Italian and German client state in World War II), and

7320-429: 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. Nevertheless, there was a slight economic upswing in the south afterwards. The government, which had initially discouraged emigration to avoid labor shortages , now gave its approval to the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Italians from

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7440-416: The expedition in the Adriatic Sea against the fleet led by Wilhelm von Tegetthoff . However the Italian Regia Marina ("Royal Navy") was soundly defeated. To quell the public outcry after the two defeats, Depretis called for process Persano, who was judged by the Italian Senate , condemned for incompetence in 1867 and cashiered from duty. However the war ended in an Austrian defeat, with Austria conceding

7560-405: The export of fruit, vegetables and wine to France. He also boosted the cultivation of sugar beets and their processing in the Po Valley and encouraged heavy industry to gain a foothold in the south as well. However, the latter was not very successful. In 1908, some laws limiting working hours for women and children up to 12 hours were passed with the support of the Socialist MPs. Special laws for

7680-412: The extremes of the political left and the political right in Italian politics after the Italian unification and before the rise of Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism . The policy was embraced by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , and the Historical Right upon Italian unification and carried over into the post- Risorgimento liberal state. Agostino Depretis , the prime minister in 1883 and

7800-429: The fall of the Rattazzi government, therefore, it was easy to predict the end of Depretis's political career, when Crispi was elected leader of the Left. Depretis remained on the sidelines during the 8th legislature (1863–65), but he regularly participated in the parliamentary works, intervening regarding the laws for administrative unification and declaring himself hostile to regionalism . He was particularly active during

7920-481: 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

8040-446: The first round a candidate needed an absolute majority of the votes cast and to receive a number of votes equivalent to at least one-eighth of the number registered voters. If a second round was required, the number of candidates going through was double the number of seats available. In the 1882 general election the Left emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 289 of the 508 seats; the Right arrived second with 147 seats. Depretis

8160-414: The fleet, and that in view of the impending hostilities he was obliged to accept the dispositions of his predecessors. On 17 February 1867 Depretis was appointed Minister of Finance in the second cabinet of Ricasoli; however after few months, on 10 April, Ricasoli resigned and Depretis returned to be a simple deputy. Upon the death of Rattazzi in 1873, Depretis became leader of the Left. On 25 June 1873,

8280-454: The fur coat and the lances and the crown on the helmet was replaced by the Iron Crown of the Lombards . The whole group stood under a canopy , crowned with the Italian royal crown, above which was the banner of Italy. The flagpole was carried by a golden crowned eagle . On 11 April 1929, Mussolini replaced the two Savoy lions with lictor's bundles . Only after his dismissal in 1944 was the old coat of arms from 1890 restored. The birth of

8400-466: 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

8520-475: The government after it refused to intervene in the financial problems of Florence . The government was defeated on a vote on nationalising railways on 18 March 1876 and Minghetti was forced to resign. As a result, Depretis became prime minister, with 414 of the 508 MPs supporting the government. The fall of the Minghetti's cabinet was called, by political commentators, the "parliamentary revolution". On 25 March 1876, Depretis sworn in as prime minister; his cabinet

8640-440: The government in the living room of his house, at Via Nazionale in Rome. Transferred to Stradella due to the aggravation of the disease, he died there on 29 July 1887, at 74 years old. After the funeral he was buried in the cemetery of his home town. He was replaced at the head of the Left and at the head of the government by Francesco Crispi. Depretis was the founder and the main proponent of Trasformismo ("Transformism"),

8760-645: The government of Albert de Broglie , favorable to clericals positions, sworn in Paris. The government however had to face the violent attacks against the Minister of the Interior Nicotera, who was considered guilty, according to a part of the majority, of abuses and illegality; unable to cope with the crisis, Depretis decided to resign in December 1877. The king, gave again to Depretis the task of forming

8880-448: The government was the school one that took its name from Minister Coppino and was presented on 15 July 1877. The law introduced compulsory, secular and free primary education for children aged six to nine. On the other hand, while maintaining the electoral promises, Depretis raised the minimum exemption for the mobile wealth tax from 250 to 800 lire , granting greater deductions for industrial income. Important, although not very effective,

9000-588: The industrial and technological progress the state had made under the Fascists. 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

9120-844: 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

9240-700: The institutions by extreme shifts to the left or right. Depretis felt that a secure government could ensure calm in Italy. At this time middle class politicians were more concerned with making deals with each other and less about political philosophies and principles. Large coalitions were formed, with members being bribed to join them. The liberals, the main political group, was tied together by informal "gentleman's agreements", but these were always in matters of enriching themselves. Indeed, actual governing did not seem to be happening at all, but since only 2 million men had franchises, most of these wealthy landowners did not have to concern themselves with such things as improving

9360-567: The intent of annexing it into the Kingdom of Italy . In the battle, which took place a few kilometers from Gambarie , Garibaldi was wounded and taken as prisoner. Rattazzi's policy of repression towards Garibaldi at Aspromonte , caused lot of public protests and the Prime Minister was forced to resign in September 1862. Moreover, Francesco Crispi accused Depretis of having mounted the Mazzinian riots in Sarnico in May 1862 to discredit Garibaldi. After

9480-516: 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,

9600-420: The liberation of Naples and Rome. Depretis replaced Garibaldi's close councilor Francesco Crispi as pro-dictator ( prodittatore ) of Sicily, during the dictatorial government ; however he failed in his attempt to win round Garibaldi and his comrades to the idea of immediately incorporating Sicily into the new Italian kingdom, and resigned in September 1860. After Cavour's death king Victor Emmanuel II gave

9720-480: The lives of the people they were supposedly representing democratically. However trasformismo fed into the debates that the Italian parliamentary system was weak and actually failing; it ultimately became associated with corruption . It was perceived as the sacrifice of principles and policies for short term gain. The system of trasformismo was little loved and seemed to be creating a huge gap between 'Legal' (parliamentary and political) Italy, and 'Real' Italy where

9840-475: The main political group, was tied together by informal gentleman's agreements, but they were always in matters of enriching themselves. Actual governing did not seem to be happening at all, but the limited franchise led to politicians not having to concern themselves with the interests of their constituents. One of the most successful politicians was Giovanni Giolitti , who succeeded in becoming Prime Minister on five occasions over twenty years. Under his influence,

9960-470: The major party, but were unable to form a government in a parliament split among the three factions of Socialists, Christian populists , and classical liberals . Elections took place in 1919, 1921 and 1924: on this last occasion, Mussolini abolished proportional representation, replacing it with the Acerbo Law , by which the party that won the largest share of votes got two-thirds of the seats, which gave

10080-495: 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

10200-459: 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 ( braccianti ). Farmers without a steady income were forced to subsist on meager food. Disease spread rapidly and

10320-442: 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

10440-428: The politicians became increasingly isolated. This system brought almost no advantages, illiteracy remained the same in 1912 as before the unification era, and backward economic policies, combined with poor sanitary conditions, continued to prevent the country's rural areas from improving. Trasformismo Trasformismo was the method of making a flexible centrist coalition of government which isolated

10560-494: The presence of both chambers. According to the law of 17 March 1861, his title was: " By the grace of God and by the will of the nation, King of Italy and King of Albania (only from 1939 to 1943) and Emperor of Ethiopia (only from 1936 to 1943)". He awarded the five Orders of Knighthood of Savoy and exercised constitutional sovereign rights. He commanded the land, sea and air power; he declared wars, concluded peace, alliance, trade and other treaties, of which only those that entailed

10680-418: The previous right-wing governments, whose members were largely aristocrats representing rentiers from the north of the country, and held moderate political views including loyalty to the crown and low government spending, the left-wing government represented the bourgeoisie of the south of the country and supported low taxation, secularism, a strong foreign policy and public jobs. The main reform proposed by

10800-462: The proportion employed in agriculture fell below 50% around the turn of the 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

10920-421: The region of Venetia to Italy. Italy's acquisition of this wealthy and populous territory represented a major step in the process of Italian unification. On 17 February 1867, Depretis resigned as minister of the Navy. His tenure as minister was quite controversial; his apologists contend, however, that, as an inexperienced civilian, he could not have made sudden changes in naval arrangements without disorganizing

11040-657: The result was a pervasive poverty in Canadian political culture. Not coincidentally, Underhill was centrally involved in the formation of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation , a farmer-labour coalition born during the Great Depression which became Canada's first successful federal third party, the social-democratic New Democratic Party . Kingdom of Italy (1861%E2%80%931946) The Kingdom of Italy ( Italian : Regno d'Italia , Italian: [ˈreɲɲo diˈtaːlja] )

11160-533: The right of legislation in conjunction with the national parliament, and the government was de facto responsible to parliament. According to the Salic Law , the throne was inherited in the male line of the royal House of Savoy . The king and his house professed allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church . He came of age at the age of 18 and, upon assuming power, took an oath to the constitution in

11280-691: 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

11400-667: The same period he strongly opposed the policies of the Piedmontese Prime Minister Camillo Benso di Cavour and voted against the main reforms that he presented, including the bill regarding the Piedmontese participation to the Crimean War . Despite their struggles, after the annexation of Lombardy by the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1859, Cavour appointed Depretis governor of Brescia . In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed with his Expedition of

11520-660: The secret London Pact of 1915. After the refusal by President Woodrow Wilson to acknowledge the London Pact and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, with the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920 Italian claims on Northern Dalmatia were abandoned. During World War II, the Kingdom gained additional territory in Slovenia ( province of Lubiana ) and Dalmatia ( Governatorate of Dalmatia ) from Yugoslavia after its breakup in 1941. The Kingdom established and maintained until

11640-515: 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

11760-463: 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

11880-466: The south. This was motivated by fear of increasing social tensions and monetary instability. In 1906 the government lowered the national interest tax rate from 5% to 3.75%. This move eased the burden on the state's required finances, reduced the fears of state bondholders , and encouraged the growth of heavy industry . The subsequent budget surplus made it possible to finance major government work projects which massively reduced unemployment , such as

12000-430: The state and its creditors. It consisted of a president, three section presidents, 24 councilors of state and the service staff, and was appointed by the king on the proposal of the Council of Ministers. There was brief experimentation in 1882 with multi-member districts, and after World War I proportional representation was introduced with large, regional, multi-seat electoral constituencies. The Socialists became

12120-415: The support of 50% of votes and 25% of all enrolled voters to be elected in the first round of ballots. Seats not adjudicated on the first ballot, were filled through a runoff held shortly after the first ballots. In addition to this, there was a Council of State , which had consultative powers and decided on conflicts of jurisdiction between administrative authorities and courts, as well as on disputes between

12240-511: The task to form a new government firstly to Bettino Ricasoli and then to Urbano Rattazzi ; Rattazzi was the leader of the Left and created a cabinet composed by both political groups. On 3 March 1862, Depretis was appointed Minister of Public Works , and served as intermediary in arranging with Garibaldi. However, in August 1862 the Royal Italian Army defeated Garibaldi's army of volunteers, who were marching from Sicily towards Rome , with

12360-492: The territories it was promised . In 1922, Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy, ushering in an era of National Fascist Party government known as " Fascist Italy ". Authoritarian rule was enforced, crushing all political opposition while promoting economic modernization, traditional values, and territorial expansion . In 1929, the Italian government reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church through

12480-658: 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 . A major challenge for the prime ministers of the new Kingdom of Italy was integrating

12600-406: Was a state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy , until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished, following civil discontent that led to an institutional referendum on 2 June 1946 . This resulted in a modern Italian Republic . The kingdom was established through the unification of several states over a decades-long process, called

12720-401: Was confirmed prime minister by the king. During his long tenure Depretis recomposed his cabinet four times, first throwing out Giuseppe Zanardelli and Alfredo Baccarini in order to please the Right, and subsequently bestowing portfolios upon Cesare Ricotti-Magnani , Robilant and other Conservatives, so as to complete the political process known as Trasformismo . Depretis also completed

12840-401: 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

12960-515: 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

13080-563: 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),

13200-560: Was equivalent to an all-in that afterwards they lost. The 1874 election did not give to Minghetti the advantage he was hoping, especially for the high support to Depretis's opposition in Southern Italy . Minghetti's government survived, but the bipolarisation of the Parliament he had imposed, strengthened the Left so that it could take the leadership of the country. Two years later, MPs from Tuscany became dissatisfied with

13320-575: Was lowered from 25 to 21 and the tax requirement lowered from ₤ 40 to ₤19.80, whilst men with three years of primary education were exempted from it. This resulted in the number of eligible voters increasing from 621,896 at the 1880 elections to 2,017,829. The electoral system was changed from one based on single-member constituencies to one based on small multi-member constituencies with between two and five seats. Voters had as many votes as there were candidates, except in constituencies with five seats, in which they were limited to four votes. To be elected in

13440-473: 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

13560-696: Was prevented from speaking, 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 Mezzogiorno ) 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

13680-687: 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 ( terre irredente ), 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

13800-463: Was the decree of 25 August 1876 which regulated the office of the prime minister with the will to contain the monarchical power and above all the conflict of ministers. The foreign policy of his first government was prudent, similar to that of the cabinets which had preceded it. His policies created criticisms from the progressives who were pushing for an approach to German Empire to fight France . This francophobic attitude increased in May 1877 when

13920-499: Was the first one to be composed only by members of the Left. Prominent ministers were Giovanni Nicotera , Pasquale Stanislao Mancini , Michele Coppino , Giuseppe Zanardelli and Benedetto Brin . To strengthen his position, Depretis called for new election in November . For the first time, the left-wing won an election, gaining almost 70% of votes and taking 414 of the 508 seats, of which 12 were extreme left-wingers. As opposed to

14040-501: Was the patriotic journalist Giuseppe Mazzini , member of the secret revolutionary society of Carbonari 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

14160-438: 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

14280-489: Was to achieve a united Italy; to the Sicilian bourgeoisie, an independent Sicily as part of the kingdom of Italy, and for the mass farmers, land distribution and the end of oppression. In 1860 Depretis went to Sicily on a mission to reconcile the policy of Cavour, who desired the immediate incorporation of the island in the Kingdom of Italy, with that of Garibaldi, who wished to postpone the Sicilian plebiscite until after

14400-411: 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,

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