Agostino Depretis
Agostino Depretis ( born January 31, 1813 in Mezzana; † July 29, 1887 in Stradella ) was an Italian statesman. He was Prime Minister in the following periods:
- March 25th 1876-24. March 1878
- December 19 1878-14. July 1879
- May 29 1881-29. July 1887
Life
Since his youth he was a follower of Giuseppe Mazzini and joined the Young Italy. He took an active part in the movements initiated by Mazzini, so that he often was in danger of being captured by the Austrians, about when he tried to Milan insurgents to procure weapons. After his election as an MP in the Piedmontese parliament in 1848, he joined the group of Siniestra storica and founded the newspaper Il Diritto. He took no official position until he was appointed governor of Brescia in 1859. In 1860 he went on a mission to Sicily to negotiate as a middle man between Cavour and Garibaldi's views. The former demanded the immediate annexation of the island to the Kingdom of Italy, while the latter wanted to postpone the referendum for the ratification until after the planned liberation of Naples and Rome. Although he was appointed provisional dictator of Sicily, it did not succeed in reaching an agreement.
After he accepted the post of Minister of Public Works in the government of Urbano Rattazzi in 1862, he continued working as a middle man with Garibaldi in the preparation of catastrophic train in the Aspromonte. Four years later, at the beginning of hostilities with Austria, he joined the government of Bettino Ricasoli as Minister of Marine. His decision for keeping the Admiral Carlo Persano as commander of the fleet, contributed to the defeat at the Battle of Lissa 1866. However, his supporters say not without reason, that he as a civilian with no military experience never big changes in the Navy could have run and was forced due to the impending hostilities to follow the decisions of his predecessors.
With the death Urbano Rattazzis 1873 prepared Depretis, now head of the left, the power increase of his party in front of what should happen in 1876, when he was called upon to form the first left-wing government of the new Kingdom of Italy. Disempowered by Benedetto Cairoli in March 1878 because of the introduction of the controversial tax on grain, won the following December over Cairoli and was again prime minister, however, he was overthrown on July 3, 1879 again from Cairoli. In November 1879, he resigned as interior minister in the government again Cairoli and acquired in May 1881, the Office of the Prime Minister, which he retained until his death (July 29, 1887).
During this long period he held four cabinet reshuffles; First he closed the top leaders of the Left Zanardelli and Alfredo Beccarini out to meet the right on which he appointed Ricotti, Robilant and other conservative top leaders, which he led the later designated as trasformismo political process to end. A few months before his death he repented of these transformations and called Crispi and Zanardelli again in his government.
Other notable proposals were the abolition of the grain tax, the extension of voting rights, the expansion of the railway network, joining the Triple Alliance and the cast Massauas in Eritrea, with the colonial policy of Italy was established. On the other hand, to write him a big increase in indirect taxation, the destruction of the original, created at the end of the Risorgimento political party structures and also the serious financial crisis in Italy that were created by controversial decisions in public works, too.