Luigi Federico Menabrea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prime Minister of Italy | |
| In office 27 October 1867 – 14 December 1869 | |
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel II |
| Preceded by | Urbano Rattazzi |
| Succeeded by | Giovanni Lanza |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1809-09-04)4 September 1809 |
| Died | 24 May 1896(1896-05-24) (aged 86) |
| Political party | Historical Right |
Luigi Federico Menabrea (4 September 1809 – 24 May 1896), later made1st Count Menabrea and1st Marquess of Valdora, was an Italian statesman, general, diplomat, and mathematician who served as the seventhprime minister of Italy from 1867 to 1869.
Menabrea was born atChambéry, then part of theFirst French Empire. He was educated at theUniversity of Turin, where he qualified as an engineer and became a doctor of mathematics. As an officer of engineers he replacedCavour in 1831 at thefortress of Bard. He then became professor of mechanics and construction at the military academy and at the university of Turin.[1] Among his notable publications:Sketch of theAnalytical Engine Invented byCharles Babbage, Esq.with notes by translatorAda Lovelace (1842), which described many aspects ofcomputer architecture and is considered the first modern example of programming. Both are available onWikisource:
King Charles Albert sent him in 1848 on diplomatic missions to secure the adhesion ofModena andParma toSardinia. He entered the Piedmontese parliament, and was attached successively to the Ministries of War and Foreign Affairs.[1]
Menabrea belonged to the right centre, and until theevents of 1859 he believed in the possibility of a compromise between theVatican and the state. He was major-general and commander-in-chief of the engineers in theLombard campaign of 1859. He superintended the siege works against Peschiera, was present atPalestro andSolferino, and repaired the fortifications of some of the northern fortresses. In 1860 he became lieutenant-general and conducted thesiege of Gaeta. He was appointed senator and received the title of count.[1]
Entering theRicasoli cabinet of 1861 as minister for the navy, he held the portfolio of public works until 1864 in the succeedingFarini andMinghetti cabinets. After the war of 1866, he was chosen as Italianplenipotentiary for the negotiation of theTreaty of Prague and for the transfer ofVenetia to Italy. In October 1867, he succeededRattazzi in the premiership, and was called upon to deal with the difficult situation created byGaribaldi's invasion of thePapal States and by thecatastrophe of Mentana.[1]
Menabrea disavowed Garibaldi and instituted judicial proceedings against him; but in negotiations with the French government he protested against the retention of the temporal power by the pope and insisted on the Italian right of interference in Rome. He was in on the secret of the direct negotiations betweenVictor Emmanuel andNapoleon III in June 1869, and refused to entertain the idea of a French alliance unless Italy were allowed to occupy the Papal States, and, on occasion, Rome itself. On the eve of the assembly of the Oecumenical Council at Rome Menabrea reserved to the Italian government its right in respect of any measures directed against Italian institutions.[1]
He withdrew from seminary students in 1860 the exemption from military service which they had hitherto enjoyed. Throughout his term of office he was supported by the finance minister CountCambray Digny, who forced through parliament the grist tax proposed byQuintino Sella, though in an altered form from the earlier proposal. After a series of changes in the cabinet, and many crises, Menabrea resigned in December 1869 on the election of a new chamber in which he did not command a majority. He was made marquis of Valdora in 1875. His successor in the premiership,Giovanni Lanza, in order to remove him from his influential position asaide-de-camp to the king, sent him to London as ambassador, where he remained until in 1882 he replacedGeneral Cialdini at the Paris Embassy. Ten years later he withdrew from public life, and died atSaint Capin on 24 May 1896.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Menabrea, Luigi Federico".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 108.| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Italy 1867–1869 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1867–1869 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Italian Minister of Public Works 1862–1864 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Italian Minister of the Navy 1861–1862 1867 | Succeeded by |
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