Economy and Society in the Early 20th Century
New stable banking system created
1894
- Giolitti founded the bank of Italy (Banca Commerciale Italiana) in 1893
- Drew money from Austria + Germany
- Helped to cause investment in industry + technology
Annual budget surplus
1896 - 1910
- Sidney Sonnino cut public spending + raised taxes on raw materials in the form of tariffs
- 25 lire / 1 pound
- encouraged investor confidence
- more investment in Iron + steel
50,000 kilowatts created from new Hydroelectric power in Alpine Valleys
1898
- free from importing coal
- more sustainable
- Improve people's lives - 930,000 tons in 1913
Economic Expansion in North
1899 - 1914
Iron + steel industry grew
- Fiat establishing in Turin in 1901 expanding into other forms of vehicles by 1908
1,500 strikes involving nearly 350,000 workers
1901 - 1911
- Due to poor treatment in North and South
- Need reform
1,000 locomotives built
1905 - 1908
- more people/businesses attracted to Italian life
600,000 Italians living in N.Y. from South
1910
Income per head great in the North than South
1911
Standard of living lower in the south than north
1911
- most Italians poor, unsanitized and increasingly frustrated
- 25,000 died due to cholera between 1910 - 1911
Political System in the Early 20th Century
29 changes in PM
1870 - 1922
- shows government is unstable and short lived
- politicians withdraw support of PM if offered a better deal - 'transformismo'
Pope Pius IX makes decree forbidding standing or voting in national elections
1886
- election turnout poor
- 'Roman question' fears increased as Catholic church refuses to legitimise the unified nation
Battle of Adwa
1 March 1896
- Humiliation accentuated anger between political class
- 5,000 troops died
- Catalyst of mass protests
100 killed in Milan
May 1898
- Government crackdown on protests against political system
- Encouraged anarchism - KIng Umberto I killed 2 years later
200,000 southern Italians left on average every year
1901 - 1913
- Gov encouraged development in Naples, S. Italy
- Failed: relied to heavily on emigration for S people to get good jobs
North - South Divide in the Early 20th Century
25,000 died in Naples due to Cholera epidemic
1910 - 1911
- fact to show how S. Italy was the one of the most impoverished area in Europe
- 1/2 of the population was illiterate also
Industrial economic expansion in areas of Bologna, Turin + Milan
1911
- Impact from politicians not acting upon 'the southern question'
- Increased southern poverty as agriculture stagnated
- Due to more people moving to North (who could)
Italy as a 'great power' in the Early 20th Century
France + Britain claim Tunisia for themselves
1881
- shows that Italy had no strong military
- In a weak position to claim land
Battle of Adwa
1 March 1896
- worst defeat suffered by European power in Africa
- 5,000 troops killed
- Showed Italy was far from a great power, both in reality and perceived by it's citizens to be
