Managing the Army, governing the State: the Italian military élite in national politics, 1882-1915

Authors

  • Jacopo Lorenzini Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v6i11.247

Keywords:

nationalization process, officer corps, élite, military, culture

Abstract

Title: Managing the Army, governing the State: the Italian military élite in national politics, 1882-1915 

Título: Dirigir el ejército, gobernar el estado: la élite militar italiana en la política nacional, 1882-1915 


[EN] Abstract: According to several contemporary witnesses, and many nowadays historians, one of the key instruments used by the Italian social and political élite of the 19th century to secure the national unifica- tion (and the monarchy as the leading institution of the newborn state) was the army. What few of them has noted, however, is that the army and the military who controlled it were more than an in- strument: they were an essential part of the Italian national élite, capable of influencing the nation- building process itself. The Italian army officers, and specifically the general staff ones, attended univer- sity-level military academies where social sciences were taught along with general history, human geog- raphy and foreign languages. They travelled the world and confronted themselves with fellow officers from different social, political and cultural contexts. They took part in politics and local administration, as well as in economical enterprises. Above all, they were well aware of the role the army was supposed to hold in the institutional and symbolic panorama of unified Italy and pre-war Europe. And they wrote about all of this.

The research project is grounded on two main sources. On one hand, the quantitative analysis of the careers and the biographies of 250 general staff officers who attained specific roles of great responsibility and relative autonomy from 1882 to 1915. On the other hand, correspondence, diaries, unpublished memoirs found in several private and family archives – in other words, those unofficial, unseen writings that we think could be more telling than the formal ones in revealing the military personal beliefs and cultural affiliations and influences. Crossing the quantitative and qualitative outputs, we can explore in depth the influence of military in the conception of politics, education, nationalization processes or social relationships in a case study, the Italian one, that is either peculiar and well integrated in the wider belle époque European context.

Keywords: nationalization process, officer corps, élite, military, culture


[ES] Resumen: Según varios testigos de época y muchos historiadores de la actualidad, uno de los instrumen- tos clave utilizados por la élite social y política italiana del siglo XIX a la hora de lograr la unificación nacional (y la monarquía como institución al mando del estado recién nacido) fue el ejército. Sin embar- go, lo que pocos de ellos han visto es que el ejército y los militares que controlaron dicho proceso fueron más que un mero instrumento: ambos fueron una parte esencial de la élite nacional italiana, capaces de influenciar el proceso de construcción nacional en sí mismo. Los oficiales del ejército italiano, y especial- mente los miembros del estado mayor, se formaron en academias militares con un nivel de educación universitario donde se enseñaban ciencias sociales junto con historia general, geografía humana y lenguas extranjeras. Éstos viajaron por el mundo y lidiaron con colegas de diferentes orígenes sociales, políticos y culturales. Tomaron parte en la política y en la administración local, así como también en empresas económicas. Sobre todo, fueron bien conscientes del papel que se suponía que el ejército debía ostentar en el panorama institucional y simbólico de la Italia unificada y la Europa de preguerra, de ahí que escribie- ran sobre todas estas cuestiones.

Este proyecto de investigación está basado en dos fuentes fundamentales. Por un lado el análisis cuanti- tativo de las carreras y las biografías de 250 generales del estado mayor que ostentaron papeles específicos de gran responsabilidad y relativa autonomía desde 1882 a 1915. Por otro lado, correspondencia, diarios y memorias inéditas encontradas en varios archivos privados y familiares –en otras palabras, aquellos escritos no oficiales nunca vistos que pensamos que podrían ser más reveladores que aquellos formales a la hora de revelar el pensamiento del personal militar y sus influencias o filiaciones culturales. Cruzando los resultados cuantitativos y cualitativos podemos explorar en profundidad la influencia de los militares en la concepción de la política, la educación, los procesos de nacionalización y las relaciones sociales en un caso de estudio, el italiano, que es peculiar y que al mismo tiempo se encuentra bien integrado en el con- texto europeo más amplio de la belle époque.

Palabras clave: proceso de nacionalización, cuerpo de oficiales, élite, militares, cultura 



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Author Biography

  • Jacopo Lorenzini, Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici

    Jacopo Lorenzini studied history of institutions at Bologna and Paris before getting his PhD at the University of Siena, January 2016. His doctorate dissertation, Uomini e generali, L’élite militare nell’Italia liberale, was published shortly after. He wrote several articles and essays, mostly centered on war and society in contemporary Italy and Europe, the history of élites, the social and economic consequences of the Great War. He is currently running a research project about the Two Sicilies military élite at the Istituto Italiano di Studi Storici in Naples. 

References

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Published

2017-06-15

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 11 (2017): Guerra y competencia entre Estados en el Mediterráneo Medieval (siglos XIV-XV)

Section

Estudios

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How to Cite

Managing the Army, governing the State: the Italian military élite in national politics, 1882-1915. (2017). Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 6(11). https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v6i11.247

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