Umberto I.

King Umberto I of Italy (1882)

Umberto I (German also Humbert I ), whose full name was Umberto Rainerio Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoia (born March 14, 1844 in Turin , † July 29, 1900 in Monza ), came from the House of Savoy and was from King of Italy from 1878 to 1900 .

Origin and youth

Umberto was born on March 14, 1844 in Turin as the eldest son of Crown Prince Viktor Emanuel and his wife Adelheid of Austria . His father ascended the throne of the Kingdom of Sardinia as Victor Emanuel II in 1849 and Umberto, who was just five years old, became the new Crown Prince. As a result, he received a modern and befitting education. The private lessons were under the direction of the writer Massimo d'Azeglio and Pasquale Stanislao Mancini .

As crown prince

Corso Umberto I in Caltanissetta: bronze monument to Umberto I (from 1910, 1922 placed here)

In March 1858, the 14-year-old Crown Prince joined the Piedmontese-Sardinian army as a captain and began an officer career under the guidance of Agostino Ricci . And soon Umberto had to prove himself as an officer in the Italian wars of unification. In the course of the Italian unification movement ( Risorgimento ), at the head of which his father and Prime Minister Camillo Benso von Cavour sat, there was a military conflict with Austria . In 1859 Umberto took part in the victorious battle of Solferino . Through this decisive weakening of Austria, his father was able to officially proclaim himself King of Italy in Turin on March 17, 1861 , and Umberto rose to become Crown Prince of the united country.

The newly created nation-state was not yet pacified; In 1866 there was the Third War of Independence against Austria, which Italy fought alongside Prussia . In the Battle of Custozza , Crown Prince Umberto commanded the 16th Division on the far right wing. When an Italian defeat became apparent at Villafranca, Umberto and his units covered the retreat of the 3rd Corps of General Enrico Morozzi della Rocca and thus prevented high Italian losses. Ultimately, Austria had to cede Veneto to Italy. In September 1870, the Kingdom of Italy captured the Papal States and Rome . Now almost all Italian populated areas were under Italian sovereignty. In gratitude for his excellent military achievements Umberto was promoted to lieutenant general by Viktor Emanuel II and appointed commander in chief of the Roman garrison.

Umberto also became increasingly important politically. His visit with his wife Margarethe at the imperial court in Berlin for the christening of the youngest daughter of the German Crown Prince in June 1872 paved the way for a friendly relationship between the Hohenzollern and Savoy dynasties as well as the German and Italian people.

Marriage and offspring

The wedding of Umberto I and his cousin Margarethe took place on April 22nd, 1868 in Turin Cathedral.

The search for a befitting wife for Umberto turned out to be problematic, as the old European aristocratic houses initially refrained from any connection with the “upstart” . The conflict with the papacy, which was inflamed after the dissolution of the papal state, also contributed to this. For Umberto only a few Catholic brides came into question, so that on April 22, 1868 he finally had to marry his first cousin, Margaret of Genoa (* November 20, 1851, † January 4, 1926). With her he had a son, heir to the throne Viktor Emanuel (later King Viktor Emanuel III ).

As king (1878 to 1900)

After the death of his father on January 9, 1878, Umberto ascended the throne as King of Italy and Duke of Savoy. He did not take the title Umberto IV of Savoy, but called himself Umberto I. He agreed that the remains of his father should be buried in the Pantheon and not in the royal mausoleum in the basilica of Superga near Turin. This was taken as a sign that Rome was becoming the new capital of Italy. Umberto's attitude towards the Holy See was not willing to compromise, but declared Rome to be “untouchable” and affirmed the permanence of Italian ownership of the “Eternal City” , which for him was a symbol of national unity.

As the newly crowned king, Umberto made a tour of his country and came to Naples on November 17, 1878 . During the parade through the city, he and Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli were attacked with a saber by the anarchist Giovanni Passannante . The king was only slightly injured and the assassin was sentenced to death, although the law only allowed the death penalty if the king was murdered. Umberto I. converted the sentence into life imprisonment.

Domestic politics

Umberto I around 1895

Umberto I ruled strictly constitutionally in the spirit of his father, but restored the financial order in the civil list and, along with his wife, was considered an example of "the finest education and truly noble, noble demeanor."

Domestically, however, the reign of Umberto I was a time of social upheaval under the sign of the “social question.” Social tensions in the newly founded kingdom came to light. The socialists stood in opposition to the foreign policy expansion policy. Prime Minister Francesco Crispi financed the Italian colonial policy with tax increases and state austerity measures, which intensified the opposition to the workers. The Conservative government responded by curtailing civil liberties. That is why leftists, anarchists and even some liberals loathed the king. These contradictions culminated in the Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan . On May 7, 1898, there were mass demonstrations in Milan because of the constantly rising price of bread. General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris put down the demonstration by force of arms, which depending on the information claimed between 82 and 300 deaths. Umberto congratulated the general in a telegram and awarded him a medal, which led to great indignation in large parts of the population.

On January 1, 1900, at the turn of the century , Umberto I issued an amnesty for crimes against public security and press laws, for offenses against freedom of work and for political crimes.

Foreign policy

In terms of alliance politics, Italy was part of the Triple Alliance with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. The monarch repeatedly visited Berlin and Vienna in order to consolidate good relations with Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph I. The connection with Austria-Hungary provoked criticism, since the Habsburgs occupied South Tyrol and Istria areas that Italy claimed.

Nationalist circles saw Italy's unification as not yet complete ( irredentism ); they demanded South Tyrol , Trieste and Istria from Austria-Hungary . Not least in order to divert this nationalist agitation in another direction, Umberto pushed the colonial expansion of Italy. He was a representative of imperialism and demanded colonies overseas for his kingdom in order not to have to lag behind the other great powers of Europe.

In 1885 Italian troops occupied the city of Massaua and thus laid the foundation for what would later become the colony of Eritrea . From here the Italians expanded their influence on Somalia and Umberto was said to be aiming for the establishment of a great empire in northeast Africa. However, the catastrophic defeat of the Italian invading forces at the Battle of Adua in Abyssinia in 1896 dampened these ambitions. Thereupon King Umberto intervened in the government contrary to the restrictions imposed on him by the constitution. In the summer of 1900, the Italian Navy was part of the Eight Nations Alliance that put down the Boxer Rebellion in the Chinese Empire . This resulted in a trading concession for Italy with the Chinese city of Tianjin .

Galleria Umberto I shopping arcade in Naples (around 1890)

assassination

On July 29, 1900, King Umberto visited the city of Monza . On the way he was in an open carriage when the anarchist Gaetano Bresci fired four times with a revolver at the king from the cheering crowd at the roadside and hit him three times. On the same day Umberto I succumbed to his injuries and died at the age of 56. The assassin said his behavior was an act of revenge against Umberto's handling of the Bava Beccaris massacre.

Umberto I was buried on August 9, 1900 in the Pantheon in Rome , at the side of his father. He is the second and last Savoy who was buried there. His son, Victor Emanuel III. , died in exile in Egypt in 1947, was buried there and, like his wife, Queen Elena, was transferred to the Santuario di Vicoforte (Piedmont) in 2017 .

obituary

Burial place in the Pantheon in Rome

Fritz von Ostini , the chief editor of the Munich magazine Jugend , dedicated an obituary to Umberto I in August 1900 (issue 33, p. 567) - sonnet :

“A pure person who won every heart!
A prince full of majesty, noble, strong and simple,
Who never thought about other things, because about his duty
and his country's happiness and peace!

Who helped where good will can help
And worries broke where love breaks worries!
The selfishness has never blinded and is not
intoxicated in power - every inch a man! -

And yet a murderer has approached him, a wild
fool whose raw misunderstanding has annoyed the
royal crown from the light of light!

The deed is so ugly without limits,
That the pain hardly found tears
because anger and astonishment closed their fountains. "

Web links

Commons : Umberto I.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf Lill : History of Italy from the 16th century to the beginnings of fascism . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1980, ISBN 3-534-06746-0 , p. 236.
2. ^ Adolphus William Ward , George Walter Prothero , Stanley Leathes (eds.): Riots at Milan . In: The Cambridge Modern History , Vol. XII, The Latest Age. University Press, Cambridge 1910, p. 220.
3. ^ Zeno: Lexicon entry on "Italy". Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 10. Accessed July 24, 2020 . 
4. ^ Rudolf Lill : History of Italy from the 16th century to the beginnings of fascism . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1980, p. 214.
5. ^ Rudolf Lill : History of Italy from the 16th century to the beginnings of fascism . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1980, p. 207.
6. ^ Rudolf Lill : History of Italy from the 16th century to the beginnings of fascism . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1980, p. 238.

predecessor	Office	successor
Victor Emmanuel II	King of Italy 1878–1900	Victor Emmanuel III