Well, this (at least in the intention and i take full responsability for any error, mistake and idiocy) is an add to Wiking TL Conrand waits and depicts how Italy view and reacts to the earth shattering event around her.
and so without further ado we begin.
The first half of the decade was full of important events for Italy:
- A colonial war against one of the oldest empire of Europe and Asia for a place in the sun and an ocean of sand ridden of rebels
- A serious slowdown of the economy.
- The rising of political extremism due to the perception that the liberal state failed at addressing the various problem of society.
So many believed that what the country needed was a period of calm and introspection so to adress her internal problem and digest the newly conquered land, unfortunely history had others plan.
The 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir apparent of the empire and his wife (plus the governor of Bosnia Oskar Potiorek) were killed by a Serbian bomb in Sarajevo so starting the July crisis and the deflagration of the Great War.
Italy as a member of the Triple Alliance was expected to enter the war at the side of Germany and Austria-hungary but the Italian government lead by Antonio Salandra (and with the very experienced marquis of San giuliano as foreign minister) decided to remain neutral giving as reason the defensive nature of the alliance and the fact that her others allies had not informed the italian authorities of their intention towards Serbia if not at the very last minute and even in this case only partially. Except some rather surprised and seemligly furios reaction by the some members of the Austro-Hungarian government (rumors said that the description of the King of Italy done by the Kaiser after reading the comunication of the decision to maintain neutrality was not very kind), everyonelse in Berlin and vienna expected this move, both for military reason (the war in libya seriously depleted the italian army supplies) and political as the relantionships between italy and the a-h empire as increasily worsened in the last ten years for a great numbers of reason, ranging from italy claim on austrian land and the general right of the italian minority to the respective sphere of influence in the balkans, the fact that the just killed heir of throne was perceived as anti-italian and the current chief of staff of the Austro-hungarian armed forces Franza graf Conrad von Hotzendorf hate italy almost at pathologycally level, even proposing a preventive war against the supposed ally in at least two occasion. For this reason Count Berchtold, the Austrian foreign minister, decided to keep Italy out of the loop till the last moment regarding the intention of Vienna towards Serbia, as was feared that the Italians had demanded immediately somekind of compensation.
In this very difficult situation, even if in many Italian military and political circles there were a great propensity to support the triple, the majority of the politicians and in general the population was very cold and ambivalent towards them.
Antonio Salandra - Presidente del Consiglio allo scoppio della Grande Guerra
Internally this decision sparked a heated and frequently violent debate between the interventionists (who greatly supported the Entente cause) and the neutralist (the great majority) who monopolized the political and social scene of Italy for a year. this strange situation created an awkward neutralist alliance between the liberals of giolitti, the great majority of the socialist (who faced a schism between the revolutionaries/interventionist like mussolini on one side and the neutralist), and the catholics, not counting many businessmen who cleary envisioned the possibility to commerce with both side; the most important figure in their side was Giovanni giolitt the great old man of the italian politcs himselfs.
Giolitti reasoning for keeping italy out of the war, was that he greatly believed that this conflict was destined to last years and a country like italy with is limited industry and great dependance to import was ill equipped to fight, so he viewed this occasion as an opportunity for the nation to gain something (or in his opinion precisely what was rightly hers by treaty) with little effort except the flexing of some diplomatic muscle; naturally his historical support for the triple alliance and having lost trust in the capacity of the Italian military after the war with the ottoman empire really helped. One must note that Giolitti in many occasion and in different contest, declared that ‘even if he was for neutrality, he was not for neutrality at any cost or without compensation’
From the beginning this eterogenous group faced an increasily ferouciusly hostile political and media campaign waged by their adversaries (with great financial support of the entente), even them a coalition of very different interest formed by socialist revolutionary, repubblicans and nationalis, chiefs among this group the nationalist poet gabriele d’annunzio and the socialist journalist Benito Mussolini.
Many of the have a plethora of reason for wanting Italy enter the war; some see the conflict as a prelude for an armed revolution destined to overthrow the bourgeoisie (mainly the socialist but even a great numbers of nationalist and anarchist were of this opinion), others instead see this as the perfect occasion to destroy the historical enemy of Italy and finally end the struggle started in the Risorgimento, liberate the Terre irredente and finally unite all Italy, or the more pragmatic who feared that a victorious Germany (and Austria-Hungary) and in control of the continent will have treated an Italy who avoided her duty as Ally like an enemy nations. Finally there were the ones who see the war as a mean to achieve glory and forge the national character, and so describing war as the ‘only hygiene of the world’ like Gabriele D’Annunzio and the Futurist Movement.
From a purely military point of view during this time Italy don’t stayed idle as in december, with the permission of the other powers, begin to deploy an expeditionary force in Albania for both humanitarian and strategic reason, as at the time that nation was plagued by the conflict betwee is first King ( Wilhelm of Wied) and his prime minister Essad Pasha, throwing the nation in total disarray; so without a goverment and hit by an outbreak of cholera the tiny balkan country was a very tempting target for Greece ,Serbia or, as thing were developing, for Austria-Hungary; and to prevent this the Italian military occupied first the isle of saseno and later the port of Vlore (so gaining the control of a vital position for controlling the Adriatic); on the other side of the Meditterean the army continued the pacification of Libya but with mixed results as the Senussi revolt (done with some Ottoman help) and the defeat of Brach demonstrated.
Italian Carabinieri in the isle of Saseno - October 1914
The war initially bringed some hard hit at the italian economy as the emigration (even seasonal) in France was stopped or at least great dimished plus the general augmented difficulty in importing resources due to the war; at the same time the government begin to increase the reserve of grain and others strategic materials, it even started the issue of national bond at very profitable terms for the buyers and with much fanfare (they were the first that a woman can buy without her husband permission).
The neutralist front faced a great loss with the death of the marquis of San Giuliano the 16 October of 1914 and with Salandra keeping pro-tempore the role of foreign minister and taking over the negotiation with the Triple Alliance, at least till a proper substitute (who will be Sidney Sonnino) was chosen. The inexperience of Salandra in this field and the perceived more urgency in closing the talking with the Central Powers due to the string of Austrian victories against Serbia and Russia (and the following rumours, later revealed false, of Russia making a separate peace) bring a fateful decision in Giolitti, earlier he decided to not become involved directly in the negotiation as he thinked that his notorious pro-CP attitude will had created problems at the Italian government, but with the situation in danger to spin out of control he changed idea and put all his political weight beyond this high level negotiation and begin to create a direct line with the Austro-Hungarian government. (1)
This move was seen by Salandra as an insufferable interference in his diplomatic work and more importantly in his secret negotiation with the Entente, but at the moment it was impossible to refuse the ‘help’ of Giolitti as it was greatly favoured by the public and the political clout of the men was so great that only the King himself had the power to make him desist and his majesty was silent on the argument.
The first national bond issued during the Great War
(1) – This is the PoD regarding Italy, in OTL Giolitti worked more beyond the scene giving his approval as elder statist to the neutrality policies; he don’t participate at the negotiation because he was worried that Vienna will not give up the maximum possible if him was involved as he was a strong supporter of the alliance with Vienna and Berlin. Here with a better CP performance the sense of urgency is so great that he gives up any qualms and decides to intervene as Salandra is too inexperienced (and not enough flexible) in foreign policy.
and so without further ado we begin.
The first half of the decade was full of important events for Italy:
- A colonial war against one of the oldest empire of Europe and Asia for a place in the sun and an ocean of sand ridden of rebels
- A serious slowdown of the economy.
- The rising of political extremism due to the perception that the liberal state failed at addressing the various problem of society.
So many believed that what the country needed was a period of calm and introspection so to adress her internal problem and digest the newly conquered land, unfortunely history had others plan.
The 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir apparent of the empire and his wife (plus the governor of Bosnia Oskar Potiorek) were killed by a Serbian bomb in Sarajevo so starting the July crisis and the deflagration of the Great War.
Italy as a member of the Triple Alliance was expected to enter the war at the side of Germany and Austria-hungary but the Italian government lead by Antonio Salandra (and with the very experienced marquis of San giuliano as foreign minister) decided to remain neutral giving as reason the defensive nature of the alliance and the fact that her others allies had not informed the italian authorities of their intention towards Serbia if not at the very last minute and even in this case only partially. Except some rather surprised and seemligly furios reaction by the some members of the Austro-Hungarian government (rumors said that the description of the King of Italy done by the Kaiser after reading the comunication of the decision to maintain neutrality was not very kind), everyonelse in Berlin and vienna expected this move, both for military reason (the war in libya seriously depleted the italian army supplies) and political as the relantionships between italy and the a-h empire as increasily worsened in the last ten years for a great numbers of reason, ranging from italy claim on austrian land and the general right of the italian minority to the respective sphere of influence in the balkans, the fact that the just killed heir of throne was perceived as anti-italian and the current chief of staff of the Austro-hungarian armed forces Franza graf Conrad von Hotzendorf hate italy almost at pathologycally level, even proposing a preventive war against the supposed ally in at least two occasion. For this reason Count Berchtold, the Austrian foreign minister, decided to keep Italy out of the loop till the last moment regarding the intention of Vienna towards Serbia, as was feared that the Italians had demanded immediately somekind of compensation.
In this very difficult situation, even if in many Italian military and political circles there were a great propensity to support the triple, the majority of the politicians and in general the population was very cold and ambivalent towards them.
Antonio Salandra - Presidente del Consiglio allo scoppio della Grande Guerra
Internally this decision sparked a heated and frequently violent debate between the interventionists (who greatly supported the Entente cause) and the neutralist (the great majority) who monopolized the political and social scene of Italy for a year. this strange situation created an awkward neutralist alliance between the liberals of giolitti, the great majority of the socialist (who faced a schism between the revolutionaries/interventionist like mussolini on one side and the neutralist), and the catholics, not counting many businessmen who cleary envisioned the possibility to commerce with both side; the most important figure in their side was Giovanni giolitt the great old man of the italian politcs himselfs.
Giolitti reasoning for keeping italy out of the war, was that he greatly believed that this conflict was destined to last years and a country like italy with is limited industry and great dependance to import was ill equipped to fight, so he viewed this occasion as an opportunity for the nation to gain something (or in his opinion precisely what was rightly hers by treaty) with little effort except the flexing of some diplomatic muscle; naturally his historical support for the triple alliance and having lost trust in the capacity of the Italian military after the war with the ottoman empire really helped. One must note that Giolitti in many occasion and in different contest, declared that ‘even if he was for neutrality, he was not for neutrality at any cost or without compensation’
From the beginning this eterogenous group faced an increasily ferouciusly hostile political and media campaign waged by their adversaries (with great financial support of the entente), even them a coalition of very different interest formed by socialist revolutionary, repubblicans and nationalis, chiefs among this group the nationalist poet gabriele d’annunzio and the socialist journalist Benito Mussolini.
Many of the have a plethora of reason for wanting Italy enter the war; some see the conflict as a prelude for an armed revolution destined to overthrow the bourgeoisie (mainly the socialist but even a great numbers of nationalist and anarchist were of this opinion), others instead see this as the perfect occasion to destroy the historical enemy of Italy and finally end the struggle started in the Risorgimento, liberate the Terre irredente and finally unite all Italy, or the more pragmatic who feared that a victorious Germany (and Austria-Hungary) and in control of the continent will have treated an Italy who avoided her duty as Ally like an enemy nations. Finally there were the ones who see the war as a mean to achieve glory and forge the national character, and so describing war as the ‘only hygiene of the world’ like Gabriele D’Annunzio and the Futurist Movement.
From a purely military point of view during this time Italy don’t stayed idle as in december, with the permission of the other powers, begin to deploy an expeditionary force in Albania for both humanitarian and strategic reason, as at the time that nation was plagued by the conflict betwee is first King ( Wilhelm of Wied) and his prime minister Essad Pasha, throwing the nation in total disarray; so without a goverment and hit by an outbreak of cholera the tiny balkan country was a very tempting target for Greece ,Serbia or, as thing were developing, for Austria-Hungary; and to prevent this the Italian military occupied first the isle of saseno and later the port of Vlore (so gaining the control of a vital position for controlling the Adriatic); on the other side of the Meditterean the army continued the pacification of Libya but with mixed results as the Senussi revolt (done with some Ottoman help) and the defeat of Brach demonstrated.
Italian Carabinieri in the isle of Saseno - October 1914
The war initially bringed some hard hit at the italian economy as the emigration (even seasonal) in France was stopped or at least great dimished plus the general augmented difficulty in importing resources due to the war; at the same time the government begin to increase the reserve of grain and others strategic materials, it even started the issue of national bond at very profitable terms for the buyers and with much fanfare (they were the first that a woman can buy without her husband permission).
The neutralist front faced a great loss with the death of the marquis of San Giuliano the 16 October of 1914 and with Salandra keeping pro-tempore the role of foreign minister and taking over the negotiation with the Triple Alliance, at least till a proper substitute (who will be Sidney Sonnino) was chosen. The inexperience of Salandra in this field and the perceived more urgency in closing the talking with the Central Powers due to the string of Austrian victories against Serbia and Russia (and the following rumours, later revealed false, of Russia making a separate peace) bring a fateful decision in Giolitti, earlier he decided to not become involved directly in the negotiation as he thinked that his notorious pro-CP attitude will had created problems at the Italian government, but with the situation in danger to spin out of control he changed idea and put all his political weight beyond this high level negotiation and begin to create a direct line with the Austro-Hungarian government. (1)
This move was seen by Salandra as an insufferable interference in his diplomatic work and more importantly in his secret negotiation with the Entente, but at the moment it was impossible to refuse the ‘help’ of Giolitti as it was greatly favoured by the public and the political clout of the men was so great that only the King himself had the power to make him desist and his majesty was silent on the argument.
The first national bond issued during the Great War
(1) – This is the PoD regarding Italy, in OTL Giolitti worked more beyond the scene giving his approval as elder statist to the neutrality policies; he don’t participate at the negotiation because he was worried that Vienna will not give up the maximum possible if him was involved as he was a strong supporter of the alliance with Vienna and Berlin. Here with a better CP performance the sense of urgency is so great that he gives up any qualms and decides to intervene as Salandra is too inexperienced (and not enough flexible) in foreign policy.
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