Evening star., 1919-07-27
TALY,DISSATISFIED,M MAY
SEEK GERMAN ALLIANCE
Secret Treaty Promises, Demanded by
Her, But Refused by Peace Conference. u
Conflict With President's Ia Points.
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.

|
in Europe depends upon the pol
! icy pursued by the Italian people,
and it is manifest that alone OF
the four western powers associated IN
the victory over Germany. Italy is not
only dissatisfied, but frankly getting
back toward her old German alliance
and thereby pointing the way to re-
organization of Europe under that
system of rival alliances which led in
evitably to the world war.
ANY examination of the Italian sit
uation necessitates turning backward
little to the conditions under which
Italy entered the war and indeed the
conditions under which Italy at last
became a unified nation and a great
power. When in 1870. following the
French defeats, Napoleon Ill with
drew his troops from Rome and the
Italians entered the Eternal City. the
unif1cation of Italy was mainly
achieved. After fifteen hundred years
of servitude to alien masters, after in
Vulnerable divisions and parcelments
Of their patrimony, the people of the
Italian peninsula found themselves
once more possessing their own coun-
try from the Alps southwark. save in
the northeast corner, where Austria
still maintained the Trentino menace
and an mistaken grip upon Trieste.
Between Italy and Austria there
survived, therefore, not alone bitter
ness born of ancient Italian wrongs.
but also an everlasting animosity
growing out of Austrian possession
of Italia Irredenta. In the very ma
ture of things it seemed inevitable
that Italy would ally herself with
France and that the two Latin ma
tions, supported in time perhaps by
the British. would stand against the
central empires and seek ever to re-
gain '1ost provinces" and conquer un-
redeemed lands.
French-Italian Jealousy.
This did not happen. On the con-
trary. jealousy between the French
and the Italians as members Of the
same Latin family. promptly devel-
oped. The French bitterly resented
the failure of the Italians, for whose
liberation French armies had recently
fought. to support France in her
hour of peril. Italy on her part saw
France turning from Europe to
northern Africa and to lands which
had once been the scene of success
full Latin colonization, and there re-
building an empire The seizure OF
Tunis by the French in 1881 was the
signal for an outburst in the penin-
sula which had as a consequence the
construction of that triple alliance
of Austria, Germany and Italy under
the clever manipulation of Bismarck
which henceforth for a generation
was to be the dominating factor or
the continent of Europe.
Meantime, eager to demonstrate
the right to be considered a great
power, and jealous Of the progress
, made by her neighbors, Italy plunged
into colonial ventures which led to
. disaster in Abyssinia, while between
France and Italy there was fought a
commercial warfare ruinous to the
new Italian state. Not until the
opening of the twentieth century
when Bismarck had left the helm
did Italy begin herself insensibly to
drift away from the central powers
The creation of the entente cordiale
between France and Great Britain
the development of this understand.
the situation entirely for the Italians
Were they to participate in a gen
eral war against France and Great
| Britain, Italian coasts, Italian ports
| Italian fleets would be destroyed, nc
| matter what were the results of the
northern Africa and without Anglo
| French agreements were dividing
northern Africa and without nglo-
French consent Italy could not hope
to acquire even that Tripolitan rem
nant which remained.
At Algeciras, therefore, Italy was
found siding with France and Great
Britain rather than with Germany
and her reward was permission to
occupy Tripoli. Still, in the penin-
sula there was strong anti-French
sentiment German industry and Ger
man finance continued to increase
their holdings in industrial northern
Italy, and had it not been for the still
unsettled question of Trieste and the
Trentino it is hardly to be doubted
that Italy would have been found in
the world war standing with her
allies. But this was an insurmounta-
BILE barrier.
When the world war came in Au-
gust, 1914, Italy promptly proclaime ed
her neutrality. She decided justly
that the war was a war of aggression
not of defense, and she was bound to
the central powers only in case they
were attacked. But Italy did more
than proclaim her neutrality. She no.
titled France and Great Britain OF
iher neutrality so promptly that France
was able to recall from the Alps those
army corps which just sufficed to win
the battle of the Marine.
! For many months after the out
break of the war there ragged in
Italy a tremendous battle between
those who desired that the Savoy
monarchy should remain neutral and
those who advocated entrance on the
allied side. In an endeavor to preserve
Italian neutrality Germany sent her
ablest diplomat, Prince Won Bulow
to Rome, and he in his turn endeav-
ored, by offering Italy most of the
|Trentino, to keep her neutral
Italy's Bargain With Allies
The battle was lost. Italy decided
to join the western powers, who could
offer her and did offer her not limited
areas in the Trentino alone, but all OF
1.-THE coveted territory. together with
Trieste, the northern half of Dalma-
tia, the Greek islands in the Aegean
Turkish territory in Asia Minor and
in addition promises of still further ac-
cessions in Africa.
j, We have to consider. therefore, in
lIweighing the Italian arguments, the
{a1 fno hof toll <soy int fn he