Minister who pushed Italy to switch sides in World War One
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| Sidney Sonnino was an influential figure in shaping Italy's foreign policy |
Sonnino led two short-lived governments in the early 1900s
but it was as Foreign Affairs Minister in 1914 that he made his mark on Italian
history, advising prime minister Antonio Salandra to side with the Entente
powers – France, Great Britain and Russia – in the First World War, abandoning
its Triple Alliance partnership with Germany and Austria-Hungary.
His motives were entirely driven by self-interest. A
committed irredentist who saw the war as an opportunity to expand Italy's borders by reclaiming former territory, he reasoned that Austria-Hungary was
unlikely to give back parts of Italy it had seized previously.
Instead, he sanctioned the secret Treaty of London with the
Entente powers, which led Italy to declare war on Austria-Hungary in 2015.
In the event, although Sonnino backed the winning side, the
promises made in the Treaty of London, namely that Italy would win territories
in Tyrol, Dalmatia and Istria, were not fulfilled. Despite suffering major
casualties, including 600,000 dead, Italy was granted only minor territorial gains.
The perception that prime minister Vittorio Orlando – the third
prime minister during Sonnino’s term as Minister of Foreign Affairs – had been
humiliated as the spoils were divided at the Treaty of Versailles in part paved
the way for Mussolini to capture the imagination of a disaffected nation.
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| At the Versailles summit: Sonnino is on the right with Marshall Foch and premier Clemenceau of France, British PM David Lloyd George and Italy's Vittorio Orlando |
Educated at the University of Pisa, where he graduated in
law, Sonnino had a brief career as a diplomat before teaming up with his friend
Leopoldo Franchetti, who would also go on to have a career in politics, in
conducting one of the first major studies of Sicilian society, and in
particular the workings of the Mafia.
Sonnino was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies for
the first time in 1880 and remained a deputy until he resigned in 1919 in the
wake of the Versailles humiliation.
He was known throughout his career as a sternly intransigent
moralist but praised for his honesty and was seen as incorruptible and an able
diplomat. He was a friend of southern Italy, introducing a number of measures
that helped revive the southern Italian economy.
Sonnino died in Rome in 1922 after suffering a stroke.
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| The Castello Sonnino's clifftop setting on a promontory near Livorno |
The Castello Sonnino stands on a promontory south of Livorno
near the hamlet of Quercianella. It was built in neo-medieval style by Sidney
Sonnino on the site of a 16th-century fort built by the Medici.
Sonnino was said to be fascinated by the rough solitude of that stretch of
Italian coastline. After his death, he
was buried in a cave in a nearby cliff.
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| Pisa's Piazza dei Cavalieri, looking towards the Piazza dell'Orologio |
Pisa’s Piazza dei Cavalieri is the site of many historical
buildings of political importance in the Renaissance, most of which are now
part of the University of Pisa, including the Scuola Normale Superiore building,
designed by the important Italian Renaissance artist and architect Giorgio
Vasari. Look out also for the Palazzo dell'Orologio and the Chiesa di Santo
Stefano, also designed by Vasari.
More reading:
How General Armando Diaz led Italian forces to a decisive victory over the Austrians
The Villa Giusti Armistice and the end of World War One in Italy
Mussolini and the rise of Italian Fascism
Also on this day:
1544: The birth of the great Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso
1851: Verdi's Rigoletto debuts at La Fenice
1924: The birth of mental health pioneer Franco Basaglia
(Picture credits: Castello Sonnino by Luca Aless; Piazza dei Cavalieri by Stephen Sommerhalter)
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