Vittorio Emanuele Orlando

Italian politician, prime minister (1917–19), and jurist, born in Palermo, Sicily, S Italy. He lectured in constitutional and administrative law and became a parliamentary deputy in 1897. He held a number of ministerial posts and was instrumental in sealing the Gentiloni agreement to ensure the Catholic vote. Made prime minister after the Caporetto defeat (1917), he successfully put Armando Diaz in command of the Italian army, but resigned after the Versailles conference because of President Wilson's opposition to the Italian claims on Fiume (1919). He briefly flirted with Fascism and was included in their 1924 electoral list, but soon dissasociated himself from the regime and lost his university post in 1931. He was a deputy in the Constituent Assembly in 1946 and a senator from 1948. As a jurist he was instrumental in outlining the scientific principles of Italian administrative law.

After the Italian military disaster at Caporetto on October 25, 1917, which led to the fall of the Boselli government, Orlando became Prime Minister, and continued in that role through the rest of the war. Although, as prime minister, he was the head of the Italian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Orlando's inability to speak English and his weak political position at home allowed the conservative foreign minister, Sidney Sonnino, to play a dominant role.

Preceded by: Paolo Boselli

Prime Minister of Italy 1917-1919

Succeeded by: Francesco Nitti