1. Giovanni Giolitti “Laws are applied to enemies, but only interpreted as regards friends.”

2. Background Giovanni Giolitti was Prime Minister 5 times, between 1892 and 1921, making him the second-longest serving Prime Minister. He created an accepted government which adopted elements of the extreme sides of the politically right and left. He was a left-wing liberal with strong ethical concerns. Whilst in office he implemented a wide range of progressive social reforms, improving living standards. He was a master of the political art of Trasformismo – making a flexible coalition of government including both the left and right. The term ‘Giolittan Manner,’ was used to refer to Giolitti’s well-known tactics of manipulation and control over party combinations.

3. Leader dates & parties First Term – 1892-93 Second Term – 1903-05 Third Term – 1906-09 Fourth Term – 1911-14 Fifth Term – 1920-21 He was part of The Left party, until 1913 when he formed The Liberals (an alliance between the Left and the Right, merged into a single Liberal coalition)

4. Strengths of PM tenure Improved social issues – banned child labour Introduced male suffrage Gained Libya in Italo-Turkish war Gained Catholic support

5. Weaknesses of PM tenure F irst term full of problems – Banks struggled due to france conflict L iquidation of Banca Romana – corruption, forced resignation I gnored strikes – chaos and disruption L ost socialist/nationalist support due to war/social improvements

6. Why Giolitti left in 1921 G iolitti opposed Italy entering WW1 in 1915, as he believed Italy’s military was unprepared. I n 1919 he accused the aggressive minority of dragging Italy into the war, opposing Fascists who supported the war. G iolitti believed that fascists would become more moderate, so allowed their support and did not attempt to stop their violent actions. H e called for new elections in 1921 but poor results led to him stepping down. H e later withdrew his support for the fascists in 1924, voting against a law that restricted press freedom.