Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870–1925 by Christopher Seton-Watson (review)

108 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Of the supporting articles, threedeserve special note.Ragnhfld Hattonskillfully weaves her way through the labyrinth of English andFrenchbribes to Swedish statesmen duringtheNineYears' War. Sheforcefully demonstrates how Anglo-French competition failed to changeSwedish policywhile unwittingly paralyzing Sweden's abilityto mediate a peace settlement. John Rulebrings out clearly thepersonality andkeyroleof Colbert deTorcyin French efforts toend the Spanish succession conflict. He alsoprovides uswith anexcellent picture of thegoverning process andgovernmental factions during thelittleknown years at theendofLouis xav's reign. Andrew Lossky notes Louis xav's addiction inthe1680s to the notion that each statehasits fixed interests.The "ossification" of that idea, combined withamore flexible diplomacy towards theendofthedecade, isgiven as amaior reason fortheconfused, blundering decisions ofLouis x•vontheeveofthe Nine Years' War. A. N. Ryanshows the incompetent, unimaginative efforts by English officers tostem theFrench naval threatinthe1690s. E. S.deBeerprovides information onEnglish newspapers afterlicencing wassuspended in 1695.S.P. Oakley traces Alliedinterception ofenemy diplomatic mailduring theNineYears' War.J. S.Bromley printsanddiscusses Zeeland privateering instructions of 1707. J.H. andMargaret Shennan explore thesordid English politics of1713-15asTories andWhigs accommodated totheaccession ofGeorge I andundermined their political rivals intheprocess. G. C. Gibbs unravels thestory ofhowtheEnglish government managed thenews to forceparliament intoaccepting theQuadruple Alliance. A. LLOYD MOOTE University ofSouthern California Italy fromLiberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925.By CHItlSTOPI-I•R SETON-WATsON. London andToronto: Methuen. 1967.Pp.x, 772.$18.95. UNTILFIFTYYEAR$ AGO, the history of liberalItaly heldlittle interest for nonItalians .Lackingthe dramaof the Risorgimento, the domestic history of Italy afterunification wasratherlikethatof mostEuropean countries except possibly a littlemorecomplicated anda littlemoredisappointing, a chronicle of thefrustrations of a semi-industrial, quasi-great power. Fascism, ontheother hand,dearly haduniversal significance; andit became important in the 1930s to askwhyso startling a phenomenon occurred in Ital Since thewar,Ital's economic miracle Y. Y andcontinuing problems haveadded newinterest to herearlier national history. Mostscholars wouldnowagreethatItaly mayreallyhavesomething to teach aboutthe process of modernization andnation-building; and in thislighther tras•ormismo andthenherangryparties, herslowindustrialization andthecleavagebetween northandsouth, herhighculture andpersistent filiteracy, allacquire a broader significance. This revived interest is reflected in a sizable number of excellent studies of Italianhistory since1870thathaveappeared in English in thelasttwodecades. The newest addition to thiscollection, by Christopher Seton-Watson, isalsothe longest andmostexpensive. A history of liberalItaly, it covers theperiodfrom 1870to 1925in moredetailthananyworkin English andobviously invites comparison to theworkof another Englishman, DenisMackSmith's Italy,whichhas stood aloneamong surveys in English andbeenthesource of continuing controversyin Italy itself.Seton-Watson's workis twiceas longthoughit treatsa somewhat shorter period,andthatfactin itselfsuggests something of itsnature. Bothbooks show theirEnglish roots intheiremphasis upon politics, theirauthors' highstandards of political probity, andtheirawareness of an Italian"tempera- Rv.vmws 109 merit"whichtheytendto findbothfascinating andpolitically lamentable. But MackSmith's workismoreindignant, wittier,andmoredaring; it ismoreinterpretative andthroughout morepreoccupied withthecoming evfiof fascism. By implication, at least,Seton-Watson seesfascism moreas anotherof the almost accidental results of Italianpolitics; andhiscalmer tonemayindicate the balmofpassing time.In otherrespects, however, thisbookseems mucholderthan MackSmith's. Its iudgments aremutedandfair;itscontents detafied, careful, and old-fashioned. For Seton-Watson's is an almost exclusively politicalnarrative in thenineteenth-century style, written in chronological flowbyanexternal observer. Thisispolitical history foritsownsake, because it happened. Andpolitics appears anessentially autonomous worldwhose events aretheseries ofdecisions madeby individuals. Therearethuscapsule biographies of thepersonalities whocross the stage(those, thatis,whoheldoffice), butlittleof theplayof ideas or therole of social forces. Whereas Chabod's greatstudyof the periodconveys the very qualityof Italianlife - the natureof its culture, itseconomic struggles, andits aspirations - Seton-Watson's account could,exceptfor namesand events,be almost anybody's politics. Thetheme hestresses most, theproblem of combining libertyandorder,neverbecomes ananalytic device because nothing in hisframeworkestablishes whylibertywassoinsisted uponorordersodifficult tomaintain. Thishasthevirtue,however, of reflecting theway Italianpoliticians themselves understood theirdifficulties - andin thissense Seton-Watson achieves obiectivity. Little of the author's personality or of hisownanalysis obtrudes, andthefirst halfofthebookinparticular istherefore rather dry,a diligent account ofpolitical actions with few claims for theirsignificance. The treatment of Ciolitti,however, is remarkably fair, and a sense of what he represents in Italian historydoes quietlyemerge. Throughout thebook,thesections onforeign policy- andthey constitute abouta quarterof thewhole- areparticularly good. Thepresentation is clearandbalanced, anddetailis usedeffectively; for thisis a subject thatis illumined by attention to individual decisions, by lucidity,andfairness. Abouthalfthebookisdevoted to theperiodsince1911,andherethemerits of Seton-Watson's approach showmoreconsistently. The discussion is enriched in rangeand precision by the scholarly research of the lastdecade, and the detailseems moreimportant if onlybecause...