Agostino Depretis

Agostino Depretis

Agostino Depretis (born January 31, 1813 in Mezzana near Stradella, † July 29, 1887 in Stradella ) was an Italian lawyer, landowner and statesman. He was President of the Council of Ministers for the following periods:

• March 25, 1876-24. March 1878
• December 19, 1878-14. July 1879
• May 29, 1881-29. July 1887

Life

He was a supporter of Giuseppe Mazzini since his youth and joined the boy in Italy . He took an active part in the movements initiated by Mazzini, so that he was often in danger of being captured by the Austrians, for example when he tried to get weapons for the Milan rebels. After his election as a member of the Piedmontese parliament in 1848, he joined the group of Sinistra storica and founded the newspaper Il Diritto . He did not take any official office until he was appointed governor of Brescia in 1859 . In 1860 he went on a mission to Sicily to shuffle between the viewsCavours and Garibaldis to convey. The former demanded the immediate annexation of the island to the Kingdom of Italy while the latter wanted to postpone the referendum for ratification until after the planned liberation of Naples and Rome . Although he was appointed provisional dictator of Sicily, Depretis was unable to bring about an agreement.

After accepting the post of Minister of Public Works in the government of Urbano Rattazzi in 1862, he continued to work as a middleman with Garibaldi in preparation for the disastrous move to the Aspromonte . Four years later, at the beginning of the war with Austria , he entered the government of Bettino Ricasoli as Minister of the Navy . His decision to appoint his predecessor, Admiral Carlo Persano, to commander the fleet contributed to the defeat at the Battle of Lissa in 1866. His supporters claim, however, with good reason that as a civilian without military experience he would never have been able to make major changes in the Kriegsmarine and was forced to follow the decisions of his predecessors due to the upcoming hostilities.

With the death of Urbano Rattazzis , Depretis rose to head of the Left (i.e. Left Liberals ) in 1873 and led this political group for the first time in government responsibility for a longer period in 1876. In March 1878 he was overthrown by his inner-party rival Benedetto Cairoli because of the controversial introduction of a grain tax, triumphed over Cairoli the following December and was again President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister). On July 3, 1879, he was ousted a second time by Cairoli, but later reconciled with the latter and in November 1879 entered the government as Minister of the Interior. In May 1881 he became Prime Minister for the third time and this time remained so until his death in 1887.

During that long period he carried out four cabinet reshuffles; first he excluded the leaders of the left Zanardelli and Alfredo Beccarini in order to accommodate the right , then he appointed Ricotti , Robilant and other conservatives, bringing the political process later known as Trasformismo to an end. A few months before his death he regretted these changes and called Crispi and Zanardelli back into his government.

Other notable government acts were the abolition of the grain tax, the extension of voting rights, the expansion of the railway network, the accession to the Triple Alliance and the occupation of Massauas in Eritrea , with which the colonial policy of Italy was founded. On the other hand, the governments under his leadership increased indirect taxes sharply without overcoming the chronic crisis of the Italian national budget. The transformismo destroyed the original political party structures that arose at the end of the Risorgimento and replaced them with the personal followers of individual leaders.

literature

• Depretis, Agostino . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 8 : Demijohn - Edward . London 1910, p. 61 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

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