The long Great War of the Italian statisticians

Abstract

For Italian statisticians, Word War I represented a decisive turning point. During the war itself, they lent their talent and skills to their country and became thoroughly involved in the management of the war effort. In the immediate postwar period, they were equally active in the various commissions and conferences concerned with the reconstruction of Italy and of the new world order. At the same time, the Great War became for them an object of study and speculation, at a time when Italy was moving from the twilight of its liberal regime to the advent of Fascism. On the whole, the decade 1915–1925 saw the encounter between a group of academic scientists and a government that could offer them attractive bureaucratic and technocratic perspectives.