Orlando thus restored a measure of social peace. But the Italian war effort remained under a cloud of political uncertainty due to the manner in which the country had entered the conflict.13 Parliament had not been appraised of the details of the London Treaty, but rumours were enough to suggest that Italy’s political leaders, above all Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino, had made their country complicit in an odious example of old world imperialism. On 13 February 1918 these fears were fully confirmed when the full text was read out in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The effect was explosive.
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