From neutrality to the intervention in the war
Although its official status as member of the the
Triple Alliance (1882) together with
Germany and
Austria-Hungary, in the years before the outbreak of the conflict the Italian government had enhanced its diplomatic efforts towards
United Kingdom and
France.
This because the Italian government had grown convinced that a support to Austria (which had been also the traditional enemy of Italy during the 19th century Risorgimento) would not grant to Italy the lands the country was aiming to for its territorial expansion: Trieste, Istria, Zara and Dalmatia were all Austrian possessions. In fact, a secret agreement signed with France in 1902 practically nullified Italy's membership in the Triple Alliance.
A few days after the outbreak of the conflict, on August 3, 1914, the government, led by the conservative Antonio Salandra, declared that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that the Triple Alliance had only a defensive stance, whereas Austria-Hungary had been the aggressor. In reality, both Salandra and the minister of Foreign Affairs, Sidney Sonnino, started diplomatic activities to probe which side was ready to grant the best reward for Italy's entrance in the war. Although the majority of the cabinet (including former Prime Minister
Giovanni Giolitti) was firmly contrary to the intervention, numerous intellectuals, including
socialists such as
Ivanoe Bonomi,
Leonida Bissolati and
Benito Mussolini, declared in favour of the intervention, which was then mostly supported by the Nationalist and the Liberal parties.
The diplomatic moves led to the London Pact (April 26, 1915), signed by Sonnino without the approval of the Italian Parliament. By the Pact, in case of victory Italy was to be given Trento and its territory up to the Brenner Pass, the cities of Gorizia, Trieste and Gradisca d'Isonzo, Istria (but not Fiume) and part of Dalmatia. Other agreements concerned the sovereignty of the port of
Valona, the province of
Antalya in
Turkey and part of the German colonies in
Africa.
Germany and Austria had offered only part of the
Trentino and
Friuli, without Gorizia and Trieste. The offer of the French colony of
Tunisia was deemed unsatisfactory.
In April 1915 Italy joined the
Entente and on
May 3,
1915 officially rejected the Triple Alliance. In the following days Giolitti and the neutralist majority of the Parliament fought to keep Italy out of the conflict, while the nationalists demonstrated in the squares in favour of entrance into the war (the nationalist poet
Gabriele D'Annunzio defined them
le radiose giornate di Maggio - "the sunny days of May"). On
May 13 Salandra presented his resignation to King
Victor Emmanuel III. Giolitti, fearful of a further blow to governing institutions, declined to succeed as prime minister and also resigned.
Italy thenceforth entered the war under the impetus of a relative minority of its population and politicians.