Antonio Salandra Bust

Antonio Salandra was prime minister when Italy chose to enter World War I. His government initially declared neutrality in 1914, then negotiated with competing powers before committing to the Allied side. The decision involved territorial calculations and a fierce domestic struggle over whether the country should fight.

Salandra, born in Troia in 1853, was a jurist and a conservative politician. With Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino, he pursued the negotiations that produced the secret Treaty of London in 1915. Opposition in Parliament briefly brought his resignation that May; support from the king and pressure from interventionist demonstrations helped return him to office.

Italy entered the war against Austria-Hungary later that month. Salandra remained prime minister until 1916, when military difficulties undermined his government. His later accounts of neutrality and intervention defended choices whose costs and constitutional implications remained controversial.

He subsequently supported the early Fascist government. His career therefore includes decisions that weakened the parliamentary system in which he had risen, as well as the wartime leadership for which he was commemorated.