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Paolo Boselli (Italian:[ˈpaːoloboˈzɛlli]; 8 June 1838 – 10 March 1932) was an Italian politician who served as the 34th prime minister of Italy during World War I.[1]
Boselli was born in Savona, Liguria. Boselli was the first professor of science at the University of Rome prior to entering politics.[2] He served for 51 years as a liberal rightist parliamentary deputy, and as a senator from 1921. Appointed Minister of Education in 1888, Boselli reorganised the Bank of Italy with his next portfolio, as Minister of the Treasury in 1899. He also served in Sidney Sonnino's 1906 government.
In June 1916, he was a relatively undistinguished center-right politician and one of the oldest members of the Italian parliament, when he was appointed prime minister, following the collapse of the Salandra government as a result of military defeats.[3] Boselli formed an ideologically broad coalition composed of one Catholic, one republican, two reformist socialists, two radicals, five left-wing liberals, and six conservative-liberals.[4]
His government fell in October 1917 as a result of the military defeat in the Battle of Caporetto, in which Italy lost some 800,000 men, all of the conquest made so far in World War I, as well as Friuli and parts of the Veneto. Boselli had been a strong supporter of commander-in-chief Luigi Cadorna, who was also fired in the aftermath of Caporetto.
During Boselli's time as prime minister, a decree of August 1917 extended the principle of compulsory insurance against accidents to agricultural workers generally. He died in Rome on 10 March 1932, and was buried in Turin.