Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Italian prime minister who led the country to victory after Caporetto but failed to win its territorial claims at the peace conference
Born in Palermo, he became a renowned law professor and from 1897 sat in the Chamber of Deputies as a Liberal. When the government fell after the defeat at Caporetto in October 1917 he became prime minister, dismissed Cadorna and rebuilt the army, and the victory of Vittorio Veneto in 1918 earned him the name “Premier of Victory”. At the peace conference he demanded Dalmatia, promised by the Treaty of London, and Fiume, obtained neither, walked out in April 1919 and resigned in June. The “mutilated victory” helped Mussolini’s rise. He at first supported Mussolini but broke with him after the murder of Matteotti in 1924. He died in Rome in 1952.
Career timeline
- 1897–1925Deputy for Partinico
- 1907–1909Minister of Justice
- 1916Minister of the Interior
- 1917–1919Prime minister of Italy
- 1919One of the Big Four at the Paris Peace Conference
- 1946Member of the Constituent Assembly