Emilio, marquis Visconti-Venosta
Encyclopedia
Emilio, marquis Visconti-Venosta (January 22, 1829 - November 24, 1914) was an Italian
statesman
.
. He studied jurisprudence in Pavia
's university.
A disciple of Mazzini
, he took part in all the anti-Austria
n conspiracies until the ineffectual rising at Milan on 6 February 1853, of which he had foretold the failure, induced him to renounce his Mazzinian allegiance. Continuing, nevertheless, his anti-Austrian propaganda, he rendered good service to the national cause, but being molested by the Austrian police, was obliged in 1859 to escape to Turin
, and during the war with Austria of that year was appointed by Cavour royal commissioner with the Garibaldi
an forces.
Elected deputy in 1860, he accompanied Luigi Carlo Farini
on diplomatic missions to Modena
and Naples
, and was subsequently despatched to London
and Paris
to acquaint the British and French governments with the course of events in Italy. As a recompense for the tact displayed on this occasion, he was given by Cavour a permanent appointment in the Italian foreign office, and was subsequently appointed under-secretary of state by Count Pasolini. Upon the latter's death he became minister of foreign affairs (March 24, 1863) in the Minghetti
cabinet, in which capacity he negotiated the September Convention
for the evacuation of Rome
by the French troops.
Resigning office with Minghetti in the autumn of 1864, he was in March 1866 sent by la Marmora
as minister to Constantinople
, but was almost immediately recalled and reappointed foreign minister by Ricasoli
. Assuming office on the morrow of the Italian defeat at Custoza
, he succeeded in preventing Austria from burdening Italy with a proportion of the Austrian imperial debt, in addition to the Venetian debt proper. The fall of Ricasoli in February 1867 deprived him for a time of his office, but in December 1869 he entered the Lanza
-Sella
cabinet as foreign minister, and retained his portfolio in the succeeding Minghetti cabinet until the fall of the Right in 1876.
During this long period he was called upon to conduct the delicate negotiations connected with the Franco-German War, the occupation of Rome by the Italians, and the consequent destruction of the temporal power of the Pope
, the Law of Guarantees
and the visits of Victor Emmanuel II to Vienna
and Berlin
. Upon the occasion of his marriage with the daughter of the marquis Alfieri di Sostegno, grand-niece of Cavour, he was created marquis by the king. For a time he remained a member of the parliamentary opposition, and in 1886 was nominated senator.
In 1894, after eighteen years' absence from active political life, he was chosen to be Italian arbitrator in the Bering Sea
question, and in 1896 once more accepted the portfolio of foreign affairs in the Di Rudinì
cabinet at a juncture when the disasters in Abyssinia
and the indiscreet publication of an Abyssinian Green Book had rendered the international position of Italy exceedingly difficult. His first care was to improve Franco-Italian relations by negotiating with France a treaty with regard to Tunis
. During the negotiations relating to the Cretan question and the Graeco-Turkish War
he secured for Italy a worthy part in the European Concert and joined Lord Salisbury in saving Greece
from the loss of Thessaly
.
Resigning office in May 1898, on a question of internal policy, he once more retired to private life.
In May 1899 again assumed the management of foreign affairs in the second Pelloux
cabinet, and continued to hold office in the succeeding Saracco
cabinet until its fall in February 1901. During this period his attention was devoted chiefly to the Chinese problem and to the maintenance of the equilibrium in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. In regard to the Mediterranean he established an Italo-French agreement by which France tacitly undertook to leave Italy a free hand in Tripoli
, and Italy not to interfere with French policy in the interior of Morocco
; and, in regard to the Adriatic, he came to an understanding with Austria guaranteeing the status quo
in Albania
.
Prudence and sagacity, coupled with unequalled experience of foreign policy, enabled him to assure to Italy her full portion of influence in international affairs, and secured for himself the unanimous esteem of European cabinets. In recognition of his services he was created Knight of the Annunziata by Victor Emmanuel III on the occasion of the birth of Princess Yolanda Margherita of Savoy (June 1, 1901).
In February 1906 he was Italian delegate to the Algeciras Conference
. The purpose of the conference was to mediate the First Moroccan Crisis
between France
and Germany
, and to assure the repayment of a large loan made to the Sultan in 1904.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
.
Biography
Visconti-Venosta was born at MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. He studied jurisprudence in Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
's university.
A disciple of Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
, he took part in all the anti-Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n conspiracies until the ineffectual rising at Milan on 6 February 1853, of which he had foretold the failure, induced him to renounce his Mazzinian allegiance. Continuing, nevertheless, his anti-Austrian propaganda, he rendered good service to the national cause, but being molested by the Austrian police, was obliged in 1859 to escape to Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, and during the war with Austria of that year was appointed by Cavour royal commissioner with the Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
an forces.
Elected deputy in 1860, he accompanied Luigi Carlo Farini
Luigi Carlo Farini
Luigi Carlo Farini was an Italian statesman and historian.-Biography:Farini was born at Russi, in what is now the province of Ravenna....
on diplomatic missions to Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
and Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, and was subsequently despatched to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to acquaint the British and French governments with the course of events in Italy. As a recompense for the tact displayed on this occasion, he was given by Cavour a permanent appointment in the Italian foreign office, and was subsequently appointed under-secretary of state by Count Pasolini. Upon the latter's death he became minister of foreign affairs (March 24, 1863) in the Minghetti
Marco Minghetti
Marco Minghetti was an Italian economist and statesman.-Biography:Minghetti was born at Bologna, then part of the Papal States....
cabinet, in which capacity he negotiated the September Convention
September Convention
The September Convention was a treaty, signed on 15 September 1864, between the Italian government and Napoleon III, under which:* Napoleon III agreed to withdraw all French troops from Rome within two years....
for the evacuation of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
by the French troops.
Resigning office with Minghetti in the autumn of 1864, he was in March 1866 sent by la Marmora
Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora
Alfonso Ferrero, Cavaliere La Màrmora was an Italian general and statesman. His brother Alessandro La Marmora founded the branch of the Italian army now called the Bersaglieri.-Biography:...
as minister to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, but was almost immediately recalled and reappointed foreign minister by Ricasoli
Bettino Ricasoli
Bettino Ricàsoli, 1.º Barone Ricàsoli, 1.º Conte di Brolio was an Italian statesman.-Biography:...
. Assuming office on the morrow of the Italian defeat at Custoza
Battle of Custoza (1866)
The Battle of Custoza took place on June 24, 1866 during the Third Italian Independence War in the Italian unification process.The Austrian Imperial army with the old Venetian Army, led by Archduke Albert of Habsburg, defeated the Italian army led by Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora and Enrico Cialdini,...
, he succeeded in preventing Austria from burdening Italy with a proportion of the Austrian imperial debt, in addition to the Venetian debt proper. The fall of Ricasoli in February 1867 deprived him for a time of his office, but in December 1869 he entered the Lanza
Giovanni Lanza
Domenico Giovanni Giuseppe Maria Lanza was an Italian politician and the tenth Prime Minister from 1869 to 1873.Lanza was born in the Piedmontese city of Casale Monferrato...
-Sella
Quintino Sella
Quintino Sella was an Italian statesman and financier.-Biography:Sella was born at Sella di Mosso, in the Province of Biella....
cabinet as foreign minister, and retained his portfolio in the succeeding Minghetti cabinet until the fall of the Right in 1876.
During this long period he was called upon to conduct the delicate negotiations connected with the Franco-German War, the occupation of Rome by the Italians, and the consequent destruction of the temporal power of the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, the Law of Guarantees
Law of Guarantees
After the occupation of the Papal States in 1870, Italy's Law of Guarantees accorded the Pope certain honors and privileges similar to those enjoyed by the King of Italy, including the right to send and receive ambassadors who would have full diplomatic immunity, just as if he still had temporal...
and the visits of Victor Emmanuel II to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Upon the occasion of his marriage with the daughter of the marquis Alfieri di Sostegno, grand-niece of Cavour, he was created marquis by the king. For a time he remained a member of the parliamentary opposition, and in 1886 was nominated senator.
In 1894, after eighteen years' absence from active political life, he was chosen to be Italian arbitrator in the Bering Sea
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
question, and in 1896 once more accepted the portfolio of foreign affairs in the Di Rudinì
Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì
Marquis Antonio Starabba di Rudinì was the 18th and 21st Prime Minister of Italy between 1891 and 1892 and from 1896 until 1898.-Biography:...
cabinet at a juncture when the disasters in Abyssinia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and the indiscreet publication of an Abyssinian Green Book had rendered the international position of Italy exceedingly difficult. His first care was to improve Franco-Italian relations by negotiating with France a treaty with regard to Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
. During the negotiations relating to the Cretan question and the Graeco-Turkish War
Greco-Turkish War (1897)
The Greco-Turkish War of 1897, also called the Thirty Days' War and known as the Black '97 in Greece, was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and Ottoman Empire. Its immediate cause was the question over the status of the Ottoman province of Crete, whose Greek majority long desired union...
he secured for Italy a worthy part in the European Concert and joined Lord Salisbury in saving Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
from the loss of Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
.
Resigning office in May 1898, on a question of internal policy, he once more retired to private life.
In May 1899 again assumed the management of foreign affairs in the second Pelloux
Luigi Pelloux
Luigi Gerolamo Pelloux was an Italian general and politician, born of parents who retained their Italian nationality when Savoy was annexed to France....
cabinet, and continued to hold office in the succeeding Saracco
Giuseppe Saracco
Giuseppe Saracco was an Italian politician, financier and Knight of the Annunziata.-Biography:Giuseppe Saracco was born at Bistagno ....
cabinet until its fall in February 1901. During this period his attention was devoted chiefly to the Chinese problem and to the maintenance of the equilibrium in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. In regard to the Mediterranean he established an Italo-French agreement by which France tacitly undertook to leave Italy a free hand in Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, and Italy not to interfere with French policy in the interior of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
; and, in regard to the Adriatic, he came to an understanding with Austria guaranteeing the status quo
Status quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
.
Prudence and sagacity, coupled with unequalled experience of foreign policy, enabled him to assure to Italy her full portion of influence in international affairs, and secured for himself the unanimous esteem of European cabinets. In recognition of his services he was created Knight of the Annunziata by Victor Emmanuel III on the occasion of the birth of Princess Yolanda Margherita of Savoy (June 1, 1901).
In February 1906 he was Italian delegate to the Algeciras Conference
Algeciras Conference
The Algeciras Conference of 1906 took place in Algeciras, Spain, and lasted from January 16 to April 7. The purpose of the conference was to find a solution to the First Moroccan Crisis between France and Germany, which arose as Germany attempted to prevent France from establishing a protectorate...
. The purpose of the conference was to mediate the First Moroccan Crisis
First Moroccan Crisis
The First Moroccan Crisis was the international crisis over the international status of Morocco between March 1905 and May 1906. Germany resented France's increasing dominance of Morocco, and insisted on an open door policy that would allow German business access to its market...
between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and to assure the repayment of a large loan made to the Sultan in 1904.
Sources
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.