Umberto I of Italy

Ascending the throne on the death of his father (9 January 1878), Umberto adopted the title "Umberto I of Italy" rather than "Umberto IV"[1] (of Savoy), ignoring his three ancestral namesakes, Umberto I, Umberto II, and Umberto III.[3] He consented that the remains of his father should be interred at Rome in the Pantheon, rather than the royal mausoleum of the Basilica of Superga.[1] While on a tour of the kingdom, accompanied by Queen Margherita and the Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli, he was attacked with a dagger by an anarchist, Giovanni Passannante, during a parade in Naples on 17 November 1878. The King warded off the blow with his sabre, but Cairoli, in attempting to defend him, was severely wounded in the thigh.[1] The would-be assassin was condemned to death,[1] even though the law only allowed the death penalty if the King was killed. The King commuted the sentence to one of penal servitude for life,[1] which was served in a cell only 1.4 meters (4 ft 7 in) high, without sanitation and with 18 kilograms (40 lb) of chains. Passanante would die three decades later in a psychiatric institution.[8]

The Royal family of King Umberto I

Wearing the robes of the Order of the Garter

In foreign policy, Umberto I approved the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and the German Empire, repeatedly visiting Vienna and Berlin. Many in Italy, however, viewed with hostility an alliance with their former Austrian enemies, who were still occupying areas claimed by Italy.[9] The Alliance was later renewed with the addition of commercial treaties.[9] A strong militarist, Umberto loved Prussian-German militarism.[9] On his visits to Germany, his favorite activity was to review the Prussian Army and he was greatly honored to be allowed to lead a Prussian hussar regiment on field maneuvers outside of Frankfurt.[10] Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany told him during one visit that he should strengthen the Regio Esercito to the point that he could abolish parliament and rule Italy as a dictator.[10]

A major criticism of the policies carried out by the Prime Ministers appointed by Umberto was the continued power of organized crime in the Mezzogiorno (southern Italy), with the Mafia dominating Sicily and the Camorra dominating Campania.[11] Both the Mafia and the Camorra functioned as "parallel states" whose existence and power was tolerated by successive governments in Rome as both the Mafia and the Camorra engaged in electoral fraud and voter intimidation so effective that it was Mafia and Camorra bosses who decided who won elections.[12] As it was impossible to win elections in the Mezzogiorno without the support of organized crime, politicians cut deals with the bosses of the Camorra and Mafia to exchange toleration of their criminal activities for votes.[12] The Mezzogiorno was the most backward region of Italy with high levels of poverty, emigration and an illiteracy rate estimated as high as 70%.[13] The deputies from the Mezzogiorno always voted against more schools for the Mezzogiorno, thus perpetuating southern backwardness and poverty as both the Mafia and the Camorra were opposed to any sort of social reform that might threaten their power.[13] However, the king preferred heavy military spending rather than engaging in social reforms and every year, the Italian state spent 10 times more money on the military than on education.[14] Umberto, an aggressive proponent of militarism, once said that to accept cuts in the military budget would be "an abject scandal and we might as well give up politics altogether".[15] At least part of the reason why Umberto was so opposed to cutting the military budget was because he personally promised Emperor Wilhelm II that Italy would send 5 army corps to Germany in the event of a war with France, a promise that the king did not see fit to share with his prime ministers.[15]

Umberto was also favorably disposed towards the policy of colonial expansion inaugurated in 1885 by the occupation of Massawa[1] in Eritrea. Italy expanded into Somalia in the 1880s as well. Umberto's preferred solution to the problems of Italy was to conquer Ethiopia, regardless of overwhelming public opposition. He supported the ultra-imperialist Prime Minister Francesco Crispi who in May 1895 spoke of "the absolute impossibility of continuing to govern through Parliament."[16] In December 1893, Umberto appointed Crispi prime minister despite his "shattered reputation" due to his involvement in the Banca Romana scandal together with numerous other scandals that the king himself called "sordid".[17] As Crispi was heavily in debt, the king secretly agreed to pay off his debts in exchange for Crispi following the king's advice.[17]

Umberto openly called Parliament a "bad joke" and refused to allow Parliament to meet again lest Crispi faced difficult questions about the Banca Romana scandal. Crispi only avoided indictment because of his parliamentary immunity.[16] When the king was warned that it was dangerous for the crown to support someone like Crispi, Umberto replied that "Crispi is a pig, but a necessary pig", who despite his corruption, had to stay in power for "the national interest, which is the only thing that matters".[16] With the support of the king, Crispi governed in an authoritarian manner, preferring to pass legislation by having the king issue royal decrees as opposed to getting bills passed by Parliament. On 25 June 1895 Crispi refused to allow a parliamentary inquiry into the bank scandal, saying that as a prime minister he was above the law because he had "served Italy for 53 years".[18] Umberto I was suspected of aspiring to a vast empire in northeast Africa, a suspicion which tended somewhat to diminish his popularity after the disastrous Battle of Adwa in Ethiopia on 1 March 1896.[1] After the Battle of Adwa, public frustration with the deeply unpopular war with Ethiopia came to the fore, and demonstrations broke out in Rome with people shouting "death to the king!" and "long live the republic!".[19]

Menelik II's victory over Italians at Battle of Adwa

Umberto's coat of arms as a knight of the garter

Despite the defeat at Adwa, Umberto still harbored imperialistic ambitions towards Ethiopia, saying: "I am what they call a warmonger and my personal wish would be to strike back at Menelik and avenge our defeat."[20] In 1897, the prime minister, Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì tried to sell Eritrea to Belgium on the grounds that Eritrea was too expensive to hold onto, but was overruled by the king who insisted that Eritrea must stay Italian.[21] Rudinì attempted to reduce military spending, citing a study showing that since 1861 military spending constituted over half the budget every year, but was again blocked by the king.[21] In 1899, Foreign Minister Felice Napoleone Canevaro dispatched a Regia Marina squadron to China with an ultimatum demanding that the Chinese government hand over a coastal city to be ruled as an Italian concession in the same manner as other Western imperial powers in China.[22] Prime Minister Luigi Pelloux and his fellow cabinet ministers stated that Canevaro had acted without informing them, and it was widely believed that the king was the one who had given Canevaro the orders to acquire a concession in China.[22] After the Chinese government refused, Canevaro threatened war, but was forced to back down. He settled for breaking diplomatic relations with China.[22]

In the summer of 1900, Italian forces were part of the Eight-Nation Alliance which participated in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in Imperial China. Through the Boxer Protocol, signed after Umberto's death, the Kingdom of Italy gained a concession territory in Tientsin.

Umberto's attitude towards the Holy See was uncompromising. In an 1886 telegram, he declared Rome "untouchable" and affirmed the permanence of the Italian possession of the "Eternal City".[1]

Umberto I in his later years

The reign of Umberto I was a time of social upheaval, though it was later claimed to have been a tranquil Belle Époque. Social tensions mounted as a consequence of the relatively recent occupation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the spread of socialist ideas, public hostility to the colonialist plans of the various governments, especially Crispi's, and the numerous crackdowns on civil liberties. The protesters included the young Benito Mussolini, then a member of the socialist party. On 22 April 1897, Umberto I was attacked again, by an unemployed ironsmith, Pietro Acciarito, who tried to stab him near Rome.

During the colonial wars in Africa, large demonstrations over the rising price of bread were held in Italy and on 7 May 1898, the city of Milan was put under military rule by General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris, who ordered rifle-fire and artillery against the demonstrators. As a result, 82 people were killed according to the authorities, with opposition sources claiming that the death toll was 400 dead with 2,000 wounded.[23] King Umberto sent a telegram to congratulate Bava Beccaris on the restoration of order and later decorated him with the medal of Great Official of Savoy Military Order, greatly outraging a large part of the public opinion.

• Knight of the Annunciation, 30 January 1859;[26] Grand Master, 9 January 1878[27]
• Grand Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, 30 January 1859; Grand Master, 9 January 1878
• Gold Medal of Military Valour, 1866[28]
• Grand Master of the Military Order of Savoy
• Grand Master of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• Grand Master of the Civil Order of Savoy
• Commemorative Medal of Campaigns of Independence Wars
• Commemorative Medal of the Unity of Italy