Nobel Prize 1907  for Peace

REASON: For his commitment and the foundation of the
“Lombard Union  for peace and arbitration”

Ernesto Teodoro Moneta  was born in Milan on 20 September 1833. His father was a fiery Italian patriot and in 1848 together with his sons and the fifteen years old Ernesto he took part to the revolt against the Austrians, Aferwards Ernesto Teodoro Moneta  participated to the conclusive irredentist campaigns, he went to battle in 1859  in northern Italy and the following year on the Volturno and in Calabria. Then he extended his term service as an officer in the Italian army  but after the fatal battle of Custoza against the Austrians in 1866 he abandoned the military service and dedicated completely to journalism.

In 1867 he became director of the most important Milanese newspaper” Il secolo ” and directed it for thirty years till 1896.

Thanks to his prominent position among the Italian journalists, Moneta could work on his ideals of pacification and “ Il secolo” was the first European newspaper with a programme of pacification. Moneta devoted himself to a  popular disposition of the troops, according to the Swiss example: using the army only for defence.

He also informed his readers on the progress of peace and arbitration. But his best work was to bring closer France and Italy, Since the first anti-France feelings had burst  in Italy at the beginning of the last ten years of the XIX century, Moneta had fought fiercely from the columns of his newspaper. In 1888 he promoted a meeting in Milan and invited the French and Italian members of Parliament and  that occasion  proved  to be a powerful means  to bring closer the two nations.

Every time the antagonism between the French and the Italians  decreased Moneta was telling his readers about the progress  as he considered  the agreement franc-Italian as an accomplished  fact,Moneta received  signs of gratitude  not only from his fellow citizens but also from the French for his great work. At the same time Moneta has worked to establish a good relationship with Austria and has fought against the ferments of the Italian irredentists  against this country.

Some of his writings and lectures have been republished with a philological detail. His masterpiece is “ The wars”, the insurrections and the peace in the XIX century “ ( Printing Society Popular editor, Milan 1903), an outline of international relations in recent times. That  was a very particular writing, like a series of articles published on “ International life”, never completed  afterwards. They were published in three volumes that consider the events till 1866.