Salandra, Antonio
Salandra, Antonio
(äntô`nyō sälän`drä), 1853–1931, Italian premier (1914–16). He entered parliament as a moderate conservative (1886), held various cabinet posts from 1891 to 1910, and succeeded Giolitti as premier in 1914. He initially declared Italian neutrality in World War I but undertook active military preparations. After the failure of his negotiations with Austria, he signed the Treaty of London (1915) with Great Britain, France, and Russia, denounced the Triple Alliance, and finally declared war on Austria. He resigned in 1916 after the Italian retreat in the Trentino. Salandra was a delegate at the Paris Peace Conference (1919) and was the Italian delegate to the League of Nations. He at first supported Fascism, but then opposed it. In 1928, however, he was made a senator.Salandra, Antonio
Born Aug. 13, 1853, in Troia, Fog-gia; died Dec. 9, 1931, in Rome. Italian state and political figure. Right liberal. Lawyer and professor (University of Rome).
From 1886 to 1925, Salandra was a member of the Chamber of Deputies; he adhered to an emphatically conservative line. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, he was a member of a number of cabinets. In March 1914, after the liberal course directed by G. Giolitti failed and Giolitti retired, Salandra headed the government that proclaimed Italy’s neutrality in World War I. However, after diplomatic bargaining with both warring sides, Italy joined the Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary. Salandra’s cabinet fell in June 1916, after the Austrian Army had broken through the front at Trentino and as a result of Salandra’s oposition to a declaration of war on Germany.
Salandra was a member of the Italian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919–20. He repeatedly declared his support of Italian fascism. In 1925 he joined the opposition. Salandra was made a senator in 1928.