Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele

Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele (b. 19 May 1860, d. 1 Dec. 1952). Prime Minister of Italy 1917–19 Born in Palermo, he became an expert in public law and administration, and accepted professorships at Modena (1885), Messina (1886), Palermo (1889), and Rome (1901–31). He participated in various governments as Minister of Education (1903–5), of Justice (1907–9, 1915–16), and of the Interior (1916–17). On account of his good standing among those sections of the population which were opposed to Italy's participation in World War I (Catholics, socialists, and some liberals) he formed a government at the height of the disastrous Battle of Caporetto. He led his country to victory in the war, but failed to realize Italian territorial claims at the Paris Peace Conference, i.e. over the port of Fiume. As a consequence he resigned in June 1919. In 1922 he tried twice to form a stable coalition government, but his failure to do so persuaded him to accept Mussolini's coming to power following the March on Rome. Disappointed by the growing radicalism of Italian Fascism, he openly broke with the movement in 1925 and resigned from the Chamber of Deputies. To avoid swearing an oath of allegiance to the Duce, he resigned his chair at the University of Rome in 1931. One of Victor Emanuel III's advisers in the coup that ousted Mussolini after a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council, he became President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1944 and in 1946 became a member of the Constituent Assembly. In 1948 he was made a senator for life.