Topic One (1.1): Problems Facing Italy After the First World War

Introduction

In this module, you will consider the impact of the First World War on Italy, and how this created or increased divisions and conditions which Mussolini would exploit in his rise to power.

Overview

The First World War destabilised Italy. The weak Italian army was ill-prepared for war with Austria and included volunteers such as Mussolini. This was followed by conscription to create an army of 5 million men. Many of these conscripts were poorly educated peasants from the South or militant industrial workers from the North. Many of the new soldiers were badly trained with poor weapons, fighting a war in extremely difficult conditions, but they held the line at the River Isonzo until the rout of 700,000 men at Caporetto in 1917 created a sense of defeatism and social division. The dramatic victory at Vittorio Veneta and collapse of the Dual Monarchy produced a counter-surge of nationalism. The disappointment in Italy at the terms of the peace treaties led many to regard the result as a ‘mutilated victory’.

The war further emphasised the weakness of the Italian economy. The Italian economy was not ready for war in 1915 and the government tried to create a war economy. New firms, such as Fiat, expanded rapidly and workers were forced to work up to 75 hours per week, whilst women joined the workforce for the first time. M. Blinkhorn in Mussolini and Fascist Italy (1984) concluded that ‘war brought profound changes to Italy herself. The most significant was the rapid growth of those industries linked to war production such as engineering, shipbuilding and production of cars.’ Government spending escalated rapidly, leading to heavy borrowing from their allies and a significant increase in both the national debt and inflation.

With the return to peacetime conditions, the war economy had to be dismantled and 5 million soldiers were demobilised. Inflation and war debts led to a post-war economic crisis

By 1918-19 state expenditure was three times the size of income. Inflation ran ahead of wages. According to one price index, prices rose by 250% between 1914 and 18, and then nearly doubled again between 1918 and 1922. The war had widened the existing North-South divide, but after the war, industrial workers in the North suffered from the collapse of the wartime industries, whilst the South experienced poverty and agricultural problems. The result was a wave of strikes by industrial workers, especially in 1919-20, reaching a climax in September with 500,000 northern workers organised under self-constituted workers’ councils. In the countryside, there were agricultural strikes exploiting the labour shortage and peasant seizures of land.

The First World War had divided Italy politically and damaged its economy, but it had, nonetheless, ended up on the winning side. The Italian government and its people expected to be rewarded despite its poor war effort, and politicians such as Mussolini expected the gains promised under the Treaty of London to be delivered without delay. However, as talks started as part of the Paris Peace Settlement, the US President Wilson and his 14 Points would have a fundamental bearing on how Italy fared in the peace treaties, particularly the Treaty of Saint-Germain relating to Austria. The Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando, felt ignored by the so-called ‘Big Three’ at the Paris negotiations (Wilson, Lloyd George and Clemenceau), and he had responded to the pressure from Italian nationalists by demanding more territory for Italy than had been promised in 1915, such as Fiume. When the Italians were advised of the draft terms of the peace settlement in relation to Italy, which would in fact have delivered less territory than promised in the Treaty of London, their delegation, led by Orlando, walked out in protest at this humiliation. The actions of Orlando achieved nothing, and the Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed on 10 September 1919. However, the treaty was attacked by many in Italy who felt cheated by their former allies. Orlando signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain despite his dissatisfaction and then resigned as Prime Minister in November 1919 over the ‘mutilated victory’ issue.

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