This links into the title point that Mussolini had a wide support base and that it was growing. This aslo links to andother factor of his appointment, Mussolinis tactics, he used the dual stratagy, which is the threat of violence but staying within the political system. The nationalists, who wanted a stronger Italy, would have been used as a threat of violence and rebellion. Another factor from the war was the demobalistaion of 5 million troop, this created high unemployment, both were seeking jobs and recognition for their part in the war. The troops would have felt let down as well, so therefore wanted reform and supported Mussolinis violence tactic.
How Far Does the North South Divide in Italy Explain the Weakness of the Liberal State in 1896-1914 (30 marks) Italy was fully unified in 1870 this was just 40 years before the first world war. The Liberal State governing it was weak for a number of reason such as several opposition groups, the North South and problems from the unification. However the most important reason was the political system itself and the actions of the liberals including the foreign policy and corruption. At the time Italy used a proportional representation (PR) voting system. This meant that every vote counted and the parliament was proportional to them.
The weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914 The creation of liberal Italy in 1870 after the merging of each separate state lead to many political, social and economic issues which lasted and were subsequently added to until the breakdown of liberalism itself. By focusing on issues created by unification itself as well as problems that existed before the creation of the liberal government this essay will outline the main weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914. Firstly, economic problems were one of the main weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914. The state of Italy’s economy pre 1870 was poor; this only proceeded to worsen after unification itself, as the cost of this large scale project brought with it huge debts as well as little or no solutions to pre existing problems. The fact that Italy had a very limited industry and lack of an efficient infrastructure also meant that hardly any money was being created to pump into the economy to keep it running or pay for these debts.
“To what extent was the unification of Italy due to the weakness of Austria?” Throughout Europe between 1815 and 1848 swept feelings of nationalism and a desire for unification, including the states collectively known as Italy. This lack of identity was underlined when Count Metternich said “Italy is just a geographical expression.” Nationalism promoted the belief in one language, one culture and the pride in one’s identity. Before unification, life in Italy was frustrating for those who wanted unification. The North and the South states were economically different; the pope influenced the central states. Nevertheless, the process began from 1861 and by 1871 boundaries had been settled.
(Robson, 1992)” However, reviewing the economical, social and political issues this was not to be. After the Unification of Italy in 1870, despite some modernisation occurring, the country still fell behind the other major powers of Europe. The state of the Italian economy was a major problem facing the new Kingdom. It was in huge debt that it had inherited from the states that had been unified to make Italy. The Liberal’s did nothing to make it look like they would attempt to transform the economy, which remained backward and unprepared for World War 1.
The years of 1896 – 1914 are those of Liberal Italy, the country of ‘Italy’ as we know it today had come about roughly between the years of 1870 to 1871, the significance of this is that by 1896 the newly formed country had not been unified by any means for a great amount of time, meaning unification was likely to be strained because bringing large regions together takes time, as we see in the years prior. A great significance that did not support United Italy was language. 2% of the population at the time spoke ‘Mainstream’ Italian, which would lead to massive hold ups in any coalition. This is broken down into two problems, direct communication and problems with allegiance. Spoken communication was a small factor, as only a certain population had a large reason to speak it in the first place; lowly or poor people had little say in political matter making their language less relevant.
They also had more troops than the Italians had 75,000 troops to Italy’s 30,000 troops. The revolutions in Italy only had a chance to success when Austria was busy concentrating on the revolutions back home. After the failure of the Austrian revolutions, the Austrian army had even more troops to use against the Italian army. Austria also had the advantage of the leadership of Radetzky who was a skilful general. The leadership of Radetzky was important to the Austrian army as his guidance was much better than that of Charles Albert’s.The Austrian army was also very well equipped with weapons while the Italian army was not.
The Unifications of Germany and Italy In the late 19th century, Germany and Italy had quickly gained power with their almost instantaneous unification. Germans had been governed by France, the Holy Roman Empire and Austrian Empire; the country divided into dozens of states sought power and saw unification as the means. Italy also separated into many duchies, kingdoms and principalities; lead by many greater countries also sought some independence and power. Both counties were lead into nationalistic views to fight for what they wanted, However, not everybody can get what they want, the unification of the countries had changed the stances of most other power countries, who wanted to remain in power. They saw the quickly growing countries as a threat, this all lead to the First and Second World War.
Cavour did many things and has many contributions to Italy. But the main aim was not unified Italy. He hoped that Piedmont would be strong enough to assume the leadership of Italy in the event of another wars with Austria, France and the House of Hapsburg of Austria. Many facts and evidence could see that Cavour did not want a unified Italy. He tried to prevent it and the "unification" was only Piedmontization (tried to extent the influence of Piedmont).
The well-trained modern Italian forces had been defeated by backward, poorly equipped Abyssinian tribesmen. It was absolutely humiliating to have such a military record, revenge and final defeat would restore Italian pride. This would also be a distraction to the people of Italy, to take their mind of the Great Depression, which at this point was in full swing. Though Italy was not suffering nearly as much as countries such as USA, but they were still struggling. This war would give them purpose, and a sense that they were indeed moving forward, that this economic crisis was not their end.