Sidney Sonnino

Sidney Sonnino (after 1910)

Baron Sidney Costantino Sonnino (born March 11, 1847 in Pisa , † November 24, 1922 in Rome ) was an Italian politician and statesman and was from February 8 to May 27, 1906 and from December 11, 1909 to March 31 1910 President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister).

Life

Sonnino was born in Pisa to a father of Jewish origin who converted to Anglicanism and a Welsh mother. He was raised in the Anglican faith by his family. His grandfather had emigrated from the Livorno ghetto to Egypt, where he made a large fortune as a banker.

At the age of 20, Sonnino devoted himself to the diplomatic career and worked in Madrid , Vienna and Paris . After leaving the diplomatic service in 1873, he was elected member of the Camera dei deputati in the constituency of San Casciano in Val di Pesa in 1880. He was a member of the Chamber until September 1919, from the XIV. To the XXIV. Legislative period. He supported universal suffrage . With a study of the living conditions of Sicilian farmers, which he published in 1876, he sparked a broad discussion of social issues in Italy. Sonnino's thesis was that the state had to set up aid programs for southern Italy and Sicily in order to fight socialism. In parliament he led the left wing of the conservatives.

Sonnino was finance minister in two governments of Francesco Crispi , was 1906 and 1909 Premier and Foreign Minister in the government of Antonio Salandra 1914. In the latter capacity he tried mainly Italian territorial claims to enforce and spoke out in 1915 opted for Italy's entry into the First World War from after the Allies signaled support for Italian expansion to the north and east and confirmed this in the London Treaty in April 1915.

Sonnino is the author of the Libro verde ( Green Book ), which deals with the secret negotiations between Italy and Austria-Hungary . In the last years of his life he also campaigned for the failed annexation of Dalmatia after the end of the war and was considered a supporter of fascism in the liberal camp.

Since March 1919 honorary member of the Accademia dei Lincei , in June 1921 he was also accepted as a member of the Florentine Accademia della Crusca .

Web links

Commons : Sidney Sonnino  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sonnino, Sidney Costantino, barons. In: Enciclopedie on line. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
• Entry in the Portal Storico of the Camera dei deputati
• Newspaper article about Sidney Sonnino in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Remarks

1. ↑ Annuario 1993, p. 385
2. ^ Membership list of the Crusca