CHAPTER VIII ITALY
"What will Italy do?" The question is often repeated in the newspapers of the capitals of Europe. The interest in the attitude of Italy, the only Great European Power which has not, to the time of writing, taken a part in the war, seems to increase every day.
For one who is here, in Rome, the answer can hardly be doubtful. Italy looks very much like a country getting ready for war; like a country that understands to the utmost that this is an occasion on which to fulfil her national ambition—an occasion that will never return.
When the war broke out, Italy found herself in a peculiar position. Bound by the decrepit Triple Alliance to Austria and Germany, but with her interests, feeling, and sympathies on the side of the Entente, Italy did not, unfortunately, feel strong enough to take a decision straight away. Her army, especially the artillery, was in need of much material; the Tripoli war, the plan and conduct of which was marred by the very same mistakes England committed in the South African War, had swallowed up more money and men than had been expected. Her diplomats, though warned of the approaching storm, did not believe that it would break so soon, and under such a condition of things, neutrality seemed for the moment the only possible attitude.
Italy fully realised that if she wanted to take her part in this war, or at least if she wanted to safeguard her own interests, she had to get ready first. The large quantity of guns, which had been ordered at Krupp's, was not supplied, and Italy had to make good the deficiencies with her national industrial resources. Nearly all the large metal-works in Italy started making guns under the supervision of artillery officers; new uniforms, new boots, ammunition, sanitary necessities, etc., have been prepared in very large quantities. The fortresses on the Alps and the eastern frontiers have been reinforced, and a number of regiments generally quartered in South and Central Italy have been moved steadily to the northern towns.
This as far as the Government goes. As for the spirit of the army, it could not be keener. In the barracks the old songs of the "Risorgimento" have been resurrected and have taken the place of the Neapolitan melodies.
Many officers told me that their men kept asking, "When are we going to fight?" just as if Italy was already at war. The aspiration to the possession of Trento and Trieste, which, during the last twenty years seemed to have weakened considerably, has now reawakened as strong as ever, and the many inhabitants of Dalmatia and Istria, who have left their homes for Italy during the last months, to escape persecutions and vexations of all kinds, are carrying on an active propaganda.
Almost every day there are demonstrations in favour of going to war. The university towns of Italy are like powder-magazines ready to explode at the first spark of war, and the professors have to use all their authority to keep their students quiet and to prevent them running away to enlist in France or Montenegro. Before the war the most educated Italian classes gave to Germany a place of honour amongst the cultivated nations of the world. Now this feeling has completely disappeared and its place has been taken by disgust and hate for the country which has disguised her incurable barbarism under a mask of more or less real culture. German people in Italy have never got on very well with the majority of the population, but now they are having a very hard time. Everybody tries to avoid them, in the way of business and relations of all other kinds, and most of those who did not go back to fight for their country have left for America, or have become naturalised Italian citizens.