and an advance towards the oases of Regdaline, from which the Arabs were driven on Aug. 16.
Peace negotiations were already being conducted at Lausanne but progress was very slow, and two important actions were fought before a conclusion was reached. On Sept. 2 Gen. Caneva was recalled to Italy, and the command of the troops in Libya was divided, Gen. Ragni becoming governor and commander-in-chief in Tripoli, and Gen. Briccola, who had hitherto been subordinate to Gen. Caneva, being given independent authority in Cyrenaica. Gen. Briccola's first action was to improve the position at Derna, which had been a daily target for a few Turkish shells for more than eight weeks. The Derna garrison had been weakened in order to provide troops for the Rhodes and Misurata expeditions, but early in Sept. detachments were sent from Bengazi, Horns, Zuara and Rhodes, and on the I4th three columns moved out from the lines, and occupied new positions on the high ground to the south. Three days later the Turks and Arabs attacked in force, but though they fought with the most reckless bravery they met with a very severe defeat, and lost some 1,500 men in killed alone. A week later a further Italian advance, both south and east, met with little resis- tance* and a number of unwounded prisoners were taken.
Meanwhile one more blow had been struck near Tripoli. Large numbers of Arabs had concentrated on the far side of Zanzur, and at dawn on Sept. 20 the Italians attacked. The battle, known as Sidi Bilal, followed the same course as that of the Zanzur battle on June 8, large numbers of Arabs and Turks coming up from the south, and the result was the same. The Arabs fought with great determination, and with greater skill than they had shown before, but their bravery was useless. The Turks and Arabs between them lost over 1,500 killed, while the Italian casualty list was nearly 600.
The Arabs of the plains were now convinced that further resis- tance was useless, and the I talian advance in preparation would prob- ably have met with little opposition. But peace was imminent. The Treaty of Ouchy was signed on Oct. 15.
The conduct of the Tripoli campaign, as the narrative of events alone would indicate, was prejudiced, first, by the failure of the Italian Government to judge the situation correctly, and, secondly, by the limitations which were laid upon the military authorities. When it became evident that the original plan of campaign, which provided more for demonstration than for action, had failed, the Government were slow to admit the necessity for a change of policy. It was not possible at once to launch a desert expedition, and the difficulties of an advance to the Jebel, through country largely waterless, may be said to have justified the adoption of a less ambi- tious plan. What is difficult to understand is the practical veto upon action of any kind, which immobilized large forces in Tripoli from Dec. till April, and delayed the carrying-out of the policy which eventually put an end to hostilities, the policy of extending the area of operations and striking a blow whenever the chance offered. It was after long hesitation that the bulk of the native tribesmen joined those who had thrown in their lot with the Turk in the early days of the war. The Arab forces in the Tripolitan plains quadrupled be- tween Dec. and March, the numbers increasing from 5,000 or 6,000 to over 20,000, and the cause of the increase was Italian inaction during that period. The operations of the summer changed the views of the Arabs, but Italian prestige was not wholly restored by the later successes. The policy of the Government bore heavily upon the army, which was the subject of much unfair criticism, and increased the difficulties of those who undertook the administration of the country after the peace. The troubles which were to come with the outbreak of the World War may be traced in part at least to the hesitations and uncertainties of the six months following the first landing. (W. K. McC.)
ITALY (see 15.1*) *. The area of Italy in 1921 was 110,664 sq. m., to which 3,550 had been added for the new territories. In 1919 the pop. was estimated by the statistical department at 36,099,657, or slightly lower than in 1914 (36,120,118.) This does not, however, take into account the very large number of temporary emigrants who returned on the outbreak of the World War, few of whom reemigrated since; some 600,000 should therefore be added to the total. It was estimated that the census on Dec. i 1921 would show a total pop. (including the newly annexed provinces) of about four millions more than at the census of 1911 (34,686,683). The figures for the new territories are: Trentino and Alto Adige 632,380; Trieste 235,509; Gorizia-Gradisca 326,674; Istria 372,117; Zara 18,930. In 1916 the pop. had been 36,546,400. While the immense majority of the pop. are of Italian race and language there are in the old provinces (1911) 87,350 Albanians (Calabria, Puglie and Sicily), 85,960 French in the Val d'Aosta, 9,960 Germans in the same valley and in the Veneto, 40,080 Slavs in the district of Cividale and a
1 Much of the statistical information in this article is drawn from Prof. Giorgio Mortara's Prospetti economiche. Other figures have been obtained from Government publications.
few in the Abruzzi and Molise, 30,290 Greeks in the South, and 11,740 Catalans in Sardinia. The pop. of the new provinces comprises 215,345 Germans in the Alto Adige, 13,920 in the Trentino and a few at Tarvis, 326,715 Slovenes, and 141,663 Croats in Eastern Istria. The non-Italian-speaking peoples in the territories annexed after the war Represent a far smaller percent- age than that of any other victorious nation on the Continent. The religion of the overwhelming majority is Roman Catholicism ; there are 123,253 Protestants, 34,324 Jews, and 874,532 declaring themselves to be without religion.
Marriages, which in 1914 were 7-08 per 1,000 inhabitants, fell to 2-72 in 1917, rose to 3-03 in 1918, and to 8-82 in 1919. Births for the same years were: 31-07, 19-45, 17-91 and 21-19, and deaths 17-94, 19-20, 32-29 and 19-01. These figures do not include deaths due to the war. The heavy rise in the mortality in 1918 was due to the influenza epidemic.
The pop. of the chief cities is as follows (1915): Naples 697,917, Milan 663,059, Rome 590,960, Turin 451,994, Palermo 345,891, Genoa 300,139, Florence 242,147, Catania 217,389, Bologna 189,770, Venice 168,038, Messina (1911) 126,557, Bari 109,218, Leghorn 108,585, Padua 105,135, Ferrara 102,550, Brescia 89,622, Verona 86,448.
During the period 1909-13 the average number of emigrants was about 650,000 per annum, to France, Germany, Austria, Switzer- land, Tunisia, and other European and N. African countries (tem- porary emigrants), and to the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and other parts of America (partly temporary and partly permanent). About 500,000 emigrants returned to Italy each year, and the average excess of emigrants over immigrants in 10 years amounted to 1,500,000. The high birth-rate prevented the popula- tion from decreasing, in spite of this heavy drain. In 1914 there were about 6,000,000 Italians residing in foreign countries (2,400,000 in the United States, 1,500,000 in Brazil, 1,000,000 in Argentina, 450,000 in France, 220,000 in Switzerland, 150,000 in Tunisia, Al- geria and Morocco, and 120,000 in Germany). The outbreak of the World War, if it did not absolutely put an end to emigration, greatly reduced it; in 1913, 873,000 persons emigrated, in 1914 the number fell to 479,000, in 1915 to 146,000, in 1918 to 28,000. As soon as the war was over emigration rose again, and in 1919 it was 230,000, in 1920 364,944. More than half of these emigrated to America, and about 150,900 to European countries (of whom 72 % went to France, chiefly for reconstruction work, 14% to Switzerland and only 3% to Germany and Austria). In the first quarter of 1921 81,000 persons emigrated, of whom 71,000 went to America. In 1919 90,000 emigrants returned to Italy. Emigration was in 1921 still restrained by the high wages in Italy, legal restrictions against immigration in the United States and some other countries, the generally unfavour- able conditions of trade almost everywhere, and to some extent by the temporary insufficiency of shipping accommodation. It was estimated that before the war emigrants sent or brought home some 500,000,000 lire a year.
Government. The only important change in the form of Govern- ment is the electoral law of 1919, whereby the 508 single-member constituencies were abolished and replaced by 54 constituencies returning 5 to 20 members each, elected by scrutin de lisle (each voter votes for one or other of the party lists en bloc, but he can add preference votes to any three names within his own list). At the elections of May 1921 the number of constituencies in the old pro- vinces was reduced to 40 somewhat larger ones, returning the same 508 members, while six new ones were added for the Trentino, the Alto Adige, Trieste, Istria, Gorizia and Zara, returning in all 27 members, thus bringing the total number of deputies to 535.
Labour. The war and the epidemics which followed it caused the death or disablement of some 1,250,000 men; even if the normal death-rate for the war period (120,000) and the normal number of men disabled through illness or accident (30,000) be deducted, the war losses above the normal still are over a million. These were, however, made good by the return of large numbers of emigrants and the almost complete suspension of new emigration. On the other hand, the war undoubtedly reduced the capacity and above all the will to work in a large number of men, at least temporarily, although many unskilled workers learned new skilled trades while in the army. The great mass of the working classes after the war felt a positive distaste for work, and demanded ever higher wages quite out of proportion even to the increased cost of living, and ever shorter hours. The strike movement assumed an extent and intensity never before dreamed of, and workmen "downed tools" continually. In 1920 no fewer than 1,781,230 workmen went on strike, with a loss of 21,650,200 working days.
The trade crisis, which began to be felt in the autumn of 1920 and became more extensive early in 1921, had a salutary effect however, on labour, and the workmen began to realize that unlimited strikes did not bring increased prosperity. In April 1921 it was esti- mated that there were about 145,000 unemployed, besides 300,000
' These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.
