Luigi Albertini
Luigi Albertini (born October 19, 1871 in Ancona , † December 29, 1941 in Rome ) was an Italian publicist and politician.
Life
Since 1896 Albertini worked as a journalist for the Milan daily Corriere della Sera . In 1900 he became its director and co-owner. Under his leadership, the Corriere became the most important Italian newspaper and one of the most liberal papers in Europe.
In 1914 and 1915 he called for Italy to join the First World War on the side of the Entente . At the disarmament conference in Washington in 1921 he was a member of the Italian delegation. On December 30, 1914, he was appointed senator by the king .
When Mussolini marched to Rome in 1922 and seized power, Albertini openly opposed fascism . As a result, he was forced to hand over the management of the newspaper to his brother Alberto in 1925 . Since then he has mainly worked in historical journalism, especially on the outbreak of the world war, and published time-critical political writings.
In his work Le origini della guerra del 1914 , which was translated into English in the 1950s, he blamed all European statesmen for the First World War, but he saw Germany as the driving force in the July crisis of 1914, under whose pressure Austria- Hungary had seen it induced to take military action against Serbia . Klaus W. Epstein summarized Albertini's position on the question of war guilt :
“He holds the Serbian government jointly responsible for the assassination attempt in Serajewo and shows the sharply anti-Serbian policy of Austria understanding; yes, he even criticizes Austria's renunciation of a preventive war between 1908 and 1914. He criticizes Germany's unconditional support for Austria in the Berlin meetings on July 5, 1914, the illusion of a localization of the Austro-Serbian conflict, the inability of Moltke, Bethmann and Wilhelm, and the whole conception of the Schlieffen Plan. […] He criticizes the Entente's inaction towards Austria from July 5th to 23rd, Poincaré's complete support for Russia, and the passivity of English politics under Gray. He believes that with a little more energy and wisdom on the part of Bethmann, Sazonov and Grays the disaster could have been avoided, perhaps with the formula: 'Stop in Belgrade!' "
Albertini was awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy .
Trivia
In the 1930s Albertini acquired the Castello di Torre in Pietra winery, which he repaired with his son Leonardo and son-in-law Nicolò Carandini and which is now run by his grandson.
Fonts (selection)
-
Le origini della guerra del 1914 , 3 volumes, Bocca, Milan 1942–1943.
- The Origins of the War of 1914 . Translated by Isabella M. Massey. 3 volumes, Oxford University Press, London [et al.] 1952–1957.
- Venti anni di vita politica . 5 volumes, Zanichelli, Bologna 1950–1953.
- Luciano Monzali (Ed.): I Giorni di un Liberale. Diari 1907-1923 . Il mulino, Bologna 2000.
literature
- Gaspare De Caro: Albertini, Luigi. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 1: Aaron – Albertucci. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960.
- Klaus Epstein: Review of Albertini, Luigi, The Origins of the War of 1914. Vol. 3. The Epilogue of the Crisis of July 1914. The Declarations of War and Neutrality, London 1957 . In: Historische Zeitschrift 186, 1958, pp. 382–386.
- Ottavio Barié: Luigi Albertini . Turin, Unione tipografico-editrice torinese, 1972
Web links
- Entry in the Senatori dell'Italia liberale database of the Historical Archives of the Italian Senate
Individual evidence
- ^ Klaus Epstein: Review of Albertini, Luigi, The Origins of the War of 1914. Vol. 3. The Epilogue of the Crisis of July 1914. The Declarations of War and Neutrality, London 1957 . In: Historische Zeitschrift 186, 1958, pp. 382–386, here p. 383.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Albertini, Luigi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian publicist and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 19, 1871 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ancona |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 29, 1941 |
| Place of death | Rome |