Agostino Depretis
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Agostino Depretis
(born Jan. 13, 1813, Mezzana Corti, Kingdom of Italydied July 29, 1887, Stradella, Italy) Italian politician. In 1848 he was elected to the first Piedmontese parliament and was reelected thereafter until his death. After Italy was unified, he served in several cabinet posts (186267). He became premier in 1876 and was the dominant force in Italian politics until 1887. Among his notable achievements were the signing of the Triple Alliance and his government policy of trasformismo, bringing together members of different parties in the same cabinet.
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Depretis, Agostino (ägōstē'nō dāprĕ'tēs), 1813-87, Italian premier. An early supporter of the revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini, he entered the Sardinian parliament after 1848 and was a leader of the opposition to Camillo Benso di Cavour. He soon became a supporter of monarchism, however, and held several cabinet posts after the foundation (1861) of the Italian kingdom. As leader of the moderate left in parliament, he was premier three times (1876-78, 1878-79, 1881-87). He maintained himself in power by heading coalitions of the moderate elements, a policy he called transformisimo. For many, however, Depretis was an uninspired, opportunistic leader who governed by avoiding problems rather than resolving them and by sometimes corrupt political manipulation. To an important degree, the disillusionment with politics among the elite and the cynicism and antiparliamentarianism that characterized later decades in Italy originated during Depretis's period of ascendancy.
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Agostino Depretis
| Agostino Depretis | |
|---|---|
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| 12th, 14th and 16th Prime Minister of Italy |
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| In office March 25, 1876 – March 24, 1878 |
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| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel II Umberto |
| Preceded by | Marco Minghetti |
| Succeeded by | Benedetto Cairoli |
| In office December 19, 1878 – July 14, 1879 |
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| Monarch | Umberto I |
| Preceded by | Benedetto Cairoli |
| Succeeded by | Benedetto Cairoli |
| In office May 29, 1881 – July 29, 1887 |
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| Monarch | Umberto I |
| Preceded by | Benedetto Cairoli |
| Succeeded by | Francesco Crispi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 31, 1813 Stradella |
| Died | July 29, 1887 (aged 74) Stradella |
| Political party | Democrat (Historical Left) |
Agostino Depretis (January 31, 1813 – July 29, 1887) was an Italian statesman.
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Biography
Depretis was born at Bressana Bottarone, near Stradella, in the province of Pavia (Lombardy).
From early manhood a disciple of Giuseppe Mazzini and affiliated with the La Giovine Italia, he took an active part in the Mazzinian conspiracies and was nearly captured by the Austrians while smuggling arms into Milan. Elected deputy in 1848, he joined the Left and founded the journal Il Diritto, but held no official position until appointed governor of Brescia in 1859. In 1860 he went to Sicily on a mission to reconcile the policy of Cavour (who desired the immediate incorporation of the island in the kingdom of Italy) with that of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who wished to postpone the Sicilian plebiscite until after the liberation of Naples and Rome.
Though appointed pro-dictator of Sicily by Garibaldi, he failed in his attempt. Accepting the portfolio of public works in Urbano Rattazzi's cabinet, in 1862, he served as intermediary in arranging with Garibaldi the expedition that ended disastrously at Aspromonte. Four years later, on the outbreak of war against Austria, he entered the Ricasoli cabinet as minister of navy, and he insisted with admiral Carlo Persano in the attack to the island of Lissa as a revenge for the Italian defeat of Custoza, in this occasion he also refused to give to admiral Persano detailed order about the expedition in the Adriatic Sea against the fleet led by Wilhelm von Tegetthoff. His apologists contend, however, that, as an inexperienced civilian, he could not have made sudden changes in naval arrangements without disorganizing the fleet, and that in view of the impending hostilities he was obliged to accept the dispositions of his predecessors.
Upon the death of Rattazzi in 1873, Depretis became leader of the Left, prepared the advent of his party to power, and was called upon to form the first cabinet of the Left in 1876. Prior to this, Depretis "was a journalist-politician who had allied himself in parliament with the Left. When he came into power it was as the leader of the Left, and as such he ruled as prime minister, save for a brief interlude, for most of the eleven years from 1876 to 1887."[1] Overthrown by Benedetto Cairoli in March 1878 on the grist-tax question, he succeeded, in the following December, in defeating Cairoli, became again premier, but on July 3, 1879 was once more overturned by Cairoli. In November 1879 he, however, entered the Cairoli cabinet as minister of the interior, and in May 1881 succeeded to the premiership, retaining that office until his death.
During the long interval he recomposed his cabinet four times, first throwing out Giuseppe Zanardelli and Alfredo Baccarini in order to please the Right, and subsequently bestowing portfolios upon Cesare Ricotti-Magnani, Robilant and other Conservatives, so as to complete the political process known as trasformismo. A few weeks before his death he repented of his transformist policy, and again included Francesco Crispi and Zanardelli in his cabinet.
During his long term of office he abolished the grist tax, extended suffrage, completed the railway system, aided Mancini in forming the Triple Alliance, and initiated colonial policy by the occupation of Massawa; but, at the same time, he vastly increased indirect taxation, corrupted and destroyed the fibre of parliamentary parties, and, by extravagance in public works, impaired the stability of Italian finance.[1]
Depretis (a Freemason, incidentally) and Conte di Cavour, Italy's first prime minister, are the only Italian prime ministers who died in office.
References
| Preceded by Marco Minghetti |
Prime Minister of Italy 1876–1878 |
Succeeded by Benedetto Cairoli |
| Preceded by Luigi Melegari |
Prime Minister of Italy 1877–1878 |
Succeeded by Luigi Corti |
| Preceded by Francesco Crispi |
Italian Minister of the Interior 1878 |
Succeeded by Giuseppe Zanardelli |
| Preceded by Benedetto Cairoli |
Prime Minister of Italy 1878–1879 |
Succeeded by Benedetto Cairoli |
| Preceded by Benedetto Cairoli |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1878–1879 |
Succeeded by Benedetto Cairoli |
| Preceded by Giuseppe Zanardelli |
Italian Minister of the Interior 1878–1879 |
Succeeded by Tommaso Villa |
| Preceded by Tommaso Villa |
Italian Minister of the Interior 1879–1887 |
Succeeded by Francesco Crispi |
| Preceded by Benedetto Cairoli |
Prime Minister of Italy 1881–1887 |
Succeeded by Francesco Crispi |
| Preceded by Pasquale Mancini |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1885 |
Succeeded by Carlo Felice Robilant |
| Preceded by Carlo Felice Robilant |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1887 |
Succeeded by Francesco Crispi |
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Agostino Depretis |
- Glenn DePretis
- Discorsi parlamentari di Agostino Depretis Vol. I
- Discorsi parlamentari di Agostino Depretis Vol. I
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