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43-723: Different to its Right counterpart, the Left was the result of coalition who represented Northern and Southern middle class , urban bourgeoisie , small businessmen, journalists and academics. It also supported a right to vote and the public school for all children. Moreover, the party was against the high tax policies promoted by the Right. After the 1890s, the Left began to show more conservative tendencies, including advocating breaking strikes and protests and promoting an aggressive colonialist policy in Africa . The Left originated from

86-676: A centrist group called the Connubio . D'Azeglio was forced to resign in November 1852 and Cavour was appointed by the King as the new prime minister, ending the Sardinian phase of the Right. In 1861, Italy was united as a Kingdom under the House of Savoy . Cavour, who was Prime Minister of Sardinia since November 1852 with brief interruptions, became the first Prime Minister of Italy . During

129-471: A guest of King Umberto in the royal palace of Capodimonte near Naples. Cairoli was one of the most conspicuous representatives of that type of Italian public men who, having conspired and fought for a generation in the cause of national unity, were despite their valour little fitted for the responsible parliamentary and official positions they subsequently attained; and who by their ignorance of foreign affairs and of internal administration unwittingly impeded

172-583: A parliamentary group inside the Sardinian Parliament as the opposition to the right-wing government of the Marquess of Azeglio . It was not a structured party, but simply an opposition divided in two tendencies: The cooperation between Rattazzi and Cavour grew strong and the two plotted to oust D'Azeglio from office. After the 1851 self-coup of President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in France,

215-647: A strong central government , obligatory conscription and during the Cavour era the secular Law of Guarantees , causing Pope Pius IX 's Non Expedit policy of abstention. In foreign relations , their goal was the unification of Italy , primarily aiming for an alliance with the British Empire and the French Empire , but sometimes also with the German Empire against Austria-Hungary . In

258-482: A structured and organized party, but simply a coalition of both Northern and Southern conservatives like Sidney Sonnino , Luigi Luzzatti and Pasquale Villari who rejected perceived opportunism and Depretis' protectionist policies. After ten years in opposition, the Constitutionals gained the majority thanks to an agreement with dissident Left Giovanni Nicotera and radical Felice Cavallotti and Rudinì

301-574: The Crimean War , which Rattazzi opposed, caused the decline of the Left–Right coalition in 1855. After pressions by now-Emperor Napoleon III over Cavour in 1858, Rattazzi was forced to resign as Minister of the Interior because he was reputed to be too nationalist and intransigent about Italian unification, which Cavour intended only as a Sardinian–Piedmontese expansion. Despite the exclusion from

344-636: The Sicilian Fasci , a powerful rising socialist protest in Sicily, but also several nationalist groups. After two years, Rudinì was ousted from office after his unpopular ceding of Kassala to the United Kingdom. Constitutional politicians like Luzzatti and Sonnino later formed their own governments, but they were short, and were weakened by the newborn Italian Socialist Party and the first organized political parties. The awareness of that forced

387-594: The general elections , Depretis proclaimed that anyone who was willing to become a progressive would be accepted into his government. Surprisingly, Minghetti agreed with this, causing various individuals in the Right to join the Left. After this event, the rest of the anti-compromise Right was called the Liberal Constitutional Party or "Constitutional opposition" led by former Finance Minister Quintino Sella and Interior Minister Antonio Starabba, Marquess of Rudinì . The Constitutionals were not

430-891: The right-wing groups of the 20th century, was an Italian conservative parliamentary group during the second half of the 19th century. After 1876, the Historical Right constituted the Constitutional opposition toward the left governments . It originated in the convergence of the most liberal faction of the moderate right and the moderate wing of the democratic left. The party included men from heterogeneous cultural, class, and ideological backgrounds, ranging from British-American individualist liberalism to Neo-Hegelian liberalism as well as liberal-conservatives, from strict secularists to more religiously-oriented reformists. Few prime ministers after 1852 were party men; instead they accepted support where they could find it, and even

473-516: The Constitutionals to join in the Liberal Union in 1913, a political alliance between various liberal politicians, many of whom were previously opposed to each other. Benedetto Cairoli Benedetto Cairoli (28 January 1825 – 8 August 1889) was an Italian politician , who served as Prime Minister of Italy for 2 years. Cairoli was born at Pavia , Lombardy . From 1848 until the completion of Italian unity in 1870, his whole activity

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516-697: The Countess Elena Sizeo of Trent, he permitted the Irredentist agitation to carry the country to the verge of a war with Austria. General irritation was caused by his and Count Corti 's policy of clean hands at the Berlin Congress, where Italy obtained nothing, while Austria-Hungary secured a European mandate to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina . A few months later the attempt of Giovanni Passannante to assassinate King Humbert at Naples (17 November 1878) caused his downfall, in spite of

559-545: The German general Alfred von Waldersee his desire to annex the Austrian Trentino and French Nice . Despite his successes, Crispi lost the parliamentary confidence in 1891 after a failed attempt to reduce state expensens and prefecture against the interests of many politicians. During the momentary isolation of Crispi, the former Treasury Minister Giovanni Giolitti took over the Left leadership. By contrast with

602-702: The Giolitti ministry did not survive long and after nine months of stability in January 1893 the Banca Romana scandal erupted, which involved many politicians of the Left, including Giolitti and Crispi. After months of polemics, Giolitti resigned in December 1893. After that short parenthesis, Crispi was re-nominated Prime Minister despite the critics for his involvement in the Banca Romana scandal. One of

645-631: The Parliament, D'Azeglio was appointed as Prime Minister of Sardinia by King Victor Emmanuel II . However, there were tensions inside the group caused by D'Azeglio's assertiveness towards the Catholic Church and the King. The tensions caused the group to split into two separate factions: In May 1852, Cavour and his supporters left the Right group and moved toward the moderate Left led by Urbano Rattazzi . The duo Rattazzi–Cavour made an alliance (pejoratively called "a marriage"), forming

688-432: The Right group like Luigi Farini, Bettino Ricasoli and Marco Minghetti . Starting in 1861, the Right's government pursued a policy of a balanced budget , maintained with austerity and high taxation. The taxes, especially the tax on grains, were unpopular among the rural and middle classes. As a result, the Right progressively lost its support. With that, the Right was split, with the original Northern liberals supporting

731-423: The Right, opposed to the railways nationalization project. King Victor Emmanuel II verified the impossibility for the Right to gain confidence and nominated Depretis as Prime Minister, who formed a Left-only government. In November 1876, the legislative election confirmed the stability of the Left that gained the 56% of votes. The Depretis ministry realized a tax reform and tried to align Italy with Germany against

774-505: The Right, put the government into a minority because of the tax on grains' question, which damaged the rural economy. Ironically, many Right politicians who sided now with Left were from the North. Since this moment, the Right fell into opposition and Agostino Depretis , leader of the Left, was appointed as the new prime minister. After the fall of Minghetti, the Right progressively saw splits and disbanded. On 8 October 1882, some weeks before

817-477: The courage displayed and the severe wound received by him in protecting the king's person on that occasion. Agostino Depretis became his successor (details here ). On 3 July 1879 Cairoli returned to power, and in the following November formed with Depretis a coalition ministry, in which he retained the premiership and the foreign office. Confidence in French assurances, and belief that Britain would never permit

860-596: The currently conservative France and Austria-Hungary , but after strong criticism for his decision to abolish the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade he resigned and was substituted by his rival Benedetto Cairoli in 1877. Differently by the pragmatic Depretis, Cairoli was a strong opponent of trasformismo , an irridentist and Francophile . Isolated by the European powers at the Congress of Berlin , Cairoli

903-595: The difficult relationship with Austria that showed an anti-Italian attitude despite the common adhesion to the Triple Alliance with Germany, and ended the Italian international isolation. Another problem was the rupture with the radical-progressive Left led by Giuseppe Zanardelli and Francesco Crispi , who formed with other dissidents The Pentarchy , allied with the Historical Far Left , forcing

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946-408: The door to Depretis, who was chosen to form a new government. During this long term from 1881 to 1887, the Left led by Depretis achieved a series of success, like the manhood suffrage toward the low-educated citizens and the adoption of protectionism to favour the development of textile, iron and steel industries while facing many internal and international troubles. Particularly, the executive faced

989-596: The extension of French influence in North Africa , prevented him from foreseeing the French occupation of Tunis (11 May 1881). In view of popular indignation he resigned in order to avoid making inopportune declarations to the chamber. Thenceforward he practically disappeared from political life. In 1887 he received the knighthood of the Annunziata , the highest Italian decoration, and on 8 August 1889 died while

1032-499: The fake rumors about a same decision by the government caused the fall of D'Azeglio in 1852, orchestrated by Cavour and Rattazzi with the final goal of took the power, with Cavour becoming Prime Minister while Rattazzi became President of the Chamber of Deputies . This unusual coalition between Left and Right was sharply nicknamed Connubio Rattazzi–Cavour (literally "marriage") by conservative opposition. The Sardinian intervention in

1075-585: The first act of the government was the reduction of state expenses together with income , land , salt and treasury bill taxes to face the economic crisis. Despite the initial Left tendencies, Crispi got worried about the Italian Socialist Party and after the suppression of the labour movement of the Fasci Siciliani the executive changed the electoral law, permitting the vote only to the literate citizens, excluding 800,000 voters. At

1118-629: The first year after unification, Cavour became more conservative as many radicals and republicans refused to recognize the new government, but instead recognize the Southern Army led by Giuseppe Garibaldi . Fearing a democratic revolution, Cavour became near to the new Right group in the Italian Parliament and led it until his premature death in June 1861. The Cavourian policies were partially continued by his successors aligned with

1161-459: The government, the Left and Rattazzi, thanks to his friendship with Rosa Vercellana , mistress of the King , rapidly gained Victor Emmanuel II 's favour. During the 1860s after the Italian unification, the Left was in opposition, but the turmoils of that age were also reflected inside the group, which was now divided into three main factions: After the death of Rattazzi in 1873, Depretis took over

1204-523: The governments of the Historical Right during the 1860s included leftists in some capacity. The Right represented the interests of the Northern bourgeoisie and the Southern aristocracy . Its members were mostly large landowners , industrialists and people related to the military . On economic issues, the Right supported free trade and laissez-faire policies while on social issues it favoured

1247-482: The heroic conduct of their mother. His refusal of all compensation or distinction further endeared him to the Italian people. When in 1876 the Left came into power, Cairoli, then a deputy of sixteen years' standing, became the parliamentary leader of his party. After the fall of Depretis , Nicotera and Crispi , formed his first cabinet in March 1878 with a Francophile and Irredentist policy. After his marriage with

1290-537: The impairment of many members of the majority after the Banca Romana scandal, confirmed the end of the Left. The Left's remnants now constituted the Ministerial bloc inside the Parliament led by Giolitti, who finally realized the fusion between Right and Left in the Liberal Union in 1913. Historical Right Defunct The Right group ( Italian : Destra ), later called Historical Right ( Italian : Destra storica ) by historians to distinguish it from

1333-406: The last decades of its history, the Right was often referred to as Constitutional Opposition . The origins of the Historical Right are in the right-wing faction of the Sardinian Parliament , established in 1849. The Right was at the time led by Massimo d'Azeglio , who was also a representative of the moderate movement that tried to unify Italy as a federation of states. As the Right dominated

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1376-495: The law of motion, the occurrence of transformations. This statement was the basis of the phenomenon of trasformismo (literally transformism), which consists in a constant changing of political faction motivated by opportunity rather than ideals. In 1876, the Right Prime Minister Marco Minghetti lost parliamentary confidence thanks to an agreement between Depretis and liberist factions of

1419-407: The leadership of the Left. In 1862, Depretis was briefly Minister of Public Works in a government led by Rattazzi with both Left and Right ministers. He justified the agreement with the Right by stating the following: We cannot allow that majorities must remain unchangeable [...]. Ideas grow up with actions, and like science advance and the world moves, so parties are transforming. They also undergo

1462-474: The longtime Depretis died in office and Zanardelli and Crispi were favoured for the succession. King Umberto I finally chose the radical Crispi because he was more favourable to an alliance with Germany rather than progressive Zanardelli. Internally, Crispi reformed justice, supporting a law against administrative abuses and introducing the Zanardelli Code (named after the now Justice Minister), expanded

1505-587: The majority to fully embrace the trasformismo , opening the government to the Right. Depretis was also unable to start a colonial empire in Africa after the defeat in the Battle of Dogali in 1887. Despite the victory in the election of 1886 , the Left was tested by decline of traformismo , with many opportunist Right politicians who joined in the Liberal Constitutional Party , causing the necessity of Depretis to find an agreement with Crispi and Zanardelli. In 1887,

1548-519: The negotiations with Bismarck , during which the German chancellor is alleged to have promised Italy possession of Rome and of her natural frontiers if the Democratic party could prevent an alliance between Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon . The prestige personally acquired by Benedetto Cairoli was augmented by that of his four brothers, who fell during the wars of the Risorgimento , and by

1591-585: The same time, Crispi tried to re-obtain popular support prosecuting a colonialist policy in Africa, consolidating the acquisition of Somaliland and Eritrea and starting the First Abyssinian War in 1894. Despite the initial successes, the Italian campaign resulted disastrous, with ruinous defeats at Amba Alagi in 1895 and Adwa in 1896. The last confirmed the end of the Crispi's political rule, who resigned from office. The Crispi's resignation and

1634-408: The statist Crispi, Giolitti was a liberal like Zanardelli and did not support colonialism and militarization. After the fall of the conservative government of the Marquess of Rudinì in 1892, Giolitti was designated to form a new government. As Prime Minister, Giolitti tried to introduce a progressive taxation and stop the trasformismo with the establishment of an organized political party. However,

1677-683: The suffrage for the communal voters, obtained more executive powers for the government, established undersecretaries in the several ministries and created the Health Superior Council . Despite Crispi being more leftist than Depretis, he was also a strong nationalist and rapidly became near to German chancellor Otto von Bismarck and the Germanophile King Umberto II. Crispi wanted reunite all the Italian-speaking territories in one nation, revealing to

1720-435: The taxation and the newly arrived Southern conservatives who opposed the modernization and taxation. In the 1870s, in a time of rising tensions inside the Right governments, the group split into different factions for specific goals and territorial composition: On 25 March 1876, Prime Minister Marco Minghetti was forced to resign after the so-called Parliamentary Revolution. The Left , together with dissident members from

1763-524: Was charged to form a new government in substitution of Francesco Crispi . During his short government, overthrown after one year, Rudinì worked to reduce to public expenditure , limit the rising imperialist sentiment and keep Italy aligned with the Triple Alliance . Rudinì was recalled in office after the political fall of Crispi, following the defeat in the First Italo-Ethiopian War . During this second term, Rudinì worked to repress

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1806-546: Was devoted to the Risorgimento , as Garibaldian officer, political refugee, anti-Austrian conspirator and deputy to parliament. He commanded a volunteer company under Garibaldi in 1859 and 1860, being wounded slightly at Calatafimi and severely at Palermo in the latter year. In 1866, with the rank of colonel, he assisted Garibaldi in the campaign in the County of Tyrol , in 1867 fought at Mentana , and in 1870 conducted

1849-641: Was forced to resign in 1878 after a failed life attempt to King Umberto I and after lesser than nine months of government. Despite a short break with a new Depretis cabinet (survived eight months), Cairoli formed a new executive with Depretis support in 1879. Despite the Left's electoral success in the election of 1880 , the Cairoli ministry was unable to prevent the French conquest of the Beylik of Tunis in 1881 that resulted his political death, becoming unpopular with both Left and Right. The decline of Cairoli opened

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