34. ITALY AND THE WORLD WAR. A general outline is given under Triple Alliance (q.v.) of the situation of Italy as a partner of Germany and Austria-Hungary from 1882 until the outbreak of the European War in 1914. The circumstances which brought Italy into that alliance are better known than those which led her to denounce the agreement and range herself on the side of the Allies as against her former partners. Since the declaration of Victor Emmanuel as king of Italy on 17 March 1861 and the annexation of Rome in 1870, Italy had become a nation and a great power. But she was the youngest of the "Great Powers° and also the smallest in population and wealth. Her position was not an easy one; she had her own ambitions for influence and empire in the Mediterranean — the traditional home of Italian expansion — and harbored pious aspirations to the heritage of Venice. But she was not quite strong enough to stand alone, and it seemed that she might always be condemned to con stant waiting on the aid of other nations. The new alliance for the moment satisfied her, but it gradually changed its character, for Crispi and Bismarck brought it about that Italy was becoming not an ally but a satellite of Ger many; and when Germany herself came for ward as a rival for power in the Mediterranean and the East, she (Italy) began to see that the alliance compromised the very liberty of movement which she had hoped to attain. Though Crispi was not responsible for the alli ance, which was formed five years before his first premiership, he was its constant defender and regarded it throughout as the corner stone of his foreign policy. The main object of the Triple Alliance, as frequently proclaimed to the world from Berlin, was to keep the peace of Europe by opposing an insuperable barrier against the designs of France on the West and of Russia on the East, to the latter of which both Bismarck and Vienna were even then quite alive. But both Berlin and Vienna had other objects in inducing Italy to join them. Bismarck was anxious at all costs to prevent an alliance between Italy and France, and Austria had her own private reasons, which she expressed from time to time in an unmistakable way. The chief of these was to stop the Ir redentist agitation in Italy; for men like Kal noky were well aware of its seriousness and naturally maintained that a claim for the re turn of Trent and Trieste to Italy, if suc cessful, would be the prelude to similar claims on the part of Austria's Slavonic provinces, which would mean the break-up of the Austrian Empire. Crispi strenuously repressed this agita tion at home, with a view to maintaining a good understanding with Austria, which he regarded as essential to Italy's more immediate interests in the Mediterranean, at that time seriously threatened by France. Other matters might wait; Italy would get her own in time if things went well. He believed in patience and pru dence. "The virtue of prudence led us to Rome,' he said in one of his great speeches in 1889, and at the same time gave it clearly to be understood what he expected hoped would be Italy's ultimate reward for a prudent policy: "The peace of Europe is based upon treaties. We, like honest men, will respect
these treaties, and, should any seek to violate them, we shall know how to do our duty.* The speaker then quoted Marco Minghetti, a former brilliant member of the Assembly, "as regards the question of nationality, it is neces sary to choose the most favorable opportunity, but that, should war result in alterations to the map of Europe, Italy would have little to fear, for while we have nothing to yield, we might have much to gain and receive.° What Italy hoped to "gain and receive° was the re gion known to every Italian as "Italia Ir redenta.* In 1:4 France proclaimed a regency over Tunis, an act deliberately suggested by Bis marck for the purpose of sowing discord be tween France and Italy. The latter had con siderable interests in Tunisia, which she had regarded as likely one day to be, with Tripoli, her share of the North African coast; alarmed at the occupation of the harbor of Bizerta by a great European power, Italy looked about for allies whose interests were opposed to those of France, and the Triple Alliance re sulted, exactly as Bismarck desired. Italy had no objection to Germany, for Prussia had helped her in 1866 and Bismarck had nodded encouragement in 1870. Austria, on the other hand, was the hereditary jailer of thousands of "unredeemed° Italians, and the arch-enemy of the Italian race. However, Italy had to be either the ally or enemy of Austria, hence an alliance would be a protection both against France and Austria herself. As between Italy and Austria, the alliance was an unnatural arrangement, a marriage of convenience which left the Italians cold and inspired only the editorials in the official press. Hatred of Austria is a feeling deeply embedded in the bosoms of Italians, even of those Italians born in provinces which have never known the Austrian yoke. This hatred dates back to the end of 1746, when an Austrian army merci lessly sacked Genoa and was only driven out by the citizens after a five days' bloody battle. By the Treaty of Vienna in 1815 Italy was dis membered and repartitioned: Austria received the state of Lombardo-Veneto, including all of the territory between the Po, Ticino, and the Adriatic; the ancient republic of Ragusa, the valleys of Val Tellina, of Chiavenna and Bormio. The Austrian Ferdinand III of Lor raine was reinstated grand-duke of Tuscany; the archduke Francis II, cousin of the Austrian emperor, received the duchy of Modena and Reggio; Napoleon's second wife was presented with the duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla; Southern Italy, the kingdom of the .Two Sicilies, was handed to a Bourbon prince and the duchy of Lucca to a Bourbon princess, etc. Revolutions against Austrian domination broke out in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1820, and for the next 50 years an almost unin terrupted struggle was maintained by the Italians, suppressed with unspeakable atrocities by the Austrian soldiery (see IzAts). In the minds of Italians the name of Austria is in separably linked with the martyrdom of count less patriots and heroes, butchered women and children, the horrors of Brescia and the dun geons of the Spielberg.