Some very complicated negotiations with both belligerent camps ended in the signing at London of a secret treaty with England and France in April 1915. The popular feelings and desires were not entirely reflected in the government’s diplomatic maneuvers. Some of them, in fact, wanted to join England and France a fight that would get Trento and Trieste for Italy. It was also quite agreeable to the mass of the Italian people, who wanted to stay out of the war altogether. This it was entitled to do under the terms of the alliance, because Austria was the aggressor against Serbia. Immediately on the outbreak of the first World War, Italy declared its neutrality. Italian patriots had not given up hope that some day they could be wrested away from Austria to complete the process of national unification. The Italian-populated cities of Trento and Trieste and their surrounding provinces (not all of Italian population) were still under Austrian rule. On the other hand, Austria was known among the Italian people as “the secular enemy.” Before 1870 it had long been dominant in Italian affairs, always working against unification. With France, the other “Latin sister,” all conflicts of interest that had pushed Italy into the Central Powers camp had been settled. On the one hand, friendship for England was the cornerstone of Italian foreign policy. WHEN THE WAR broke out in 1914, Italy was, and since 1882 had been, an ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
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