Paolo Boselli (8 June 1838 – 10 March 1932) was an Italian politician who served as the 34th

prime minister of Italy The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Biography

Boselli was born in

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

. Boselli was the first professor of science at the University of Rome prior to entering politics. He served for 51 years as a liberal rightist parliamentary deputy, and as a senator from 1921. Appointed Minister of Education in 1888, Boselli reorganised the Bank of Italy with his next portfolio, as Minister of the Treasury in 1899. He also served in

Sidney Sonnino Sidney Costantino, Baron Sonnino (11 March 1847 – 24 November 1922) was an Italian statesman, 19th prime minister of Italy and twice served briefly as one, in 1906 and again from 1909 to 1910. In 1901, he founded a new major newspaper, '' Il Gio ...

's 1906 government. In June 1916 he was a relatively undistinguished center-right politician and one of the oldest members of the Italian parliament, when he was appointed Prime Minister, following the collapse of the Salandra government as a result of military defeats. His government fell in October 1917 as a result of the military defeat in the

Battle of Caporetto The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Kobarid or the Battle of Karfreit) was a battle on the Italian front of World War I. The battle was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central ...

, in which Italy lost some 800,000 men, all of the conquest made so far in

, as well as

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...

and parts of the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

. Boselli had been a strong supporter of commander-in-chief

Luigi Cadorna Marshal of Italy Luigi Cadorna, (4 September 1850 – 21 December 1928) was an Italian general, Marshal of Italy and Count most famous for being the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army from 1914-1917 of World War I. Early career Luigi Cado ...

, who was also fired in the aftermath of Caporetto. During Boselli's time as prime minister, a decree of August 1917 extended the principle of compulsory insurance against accidents to agricultural workers generally. He died in Rome on 10 March 1932, and was buried in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

References

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