Ernesto Teodoro Moneta Italian journalist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 1907 together with E. Root. Date of Birth: 20.11.1833 Country: Italy

Biography of Ernesto Teodoro Moneta

Ernesto Teodoro Moneta was an Italian journalist and co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1907, alongside E. Rutt. He was born into an aristocratic family and spent his childhood in his parents' country house, where they lived a simple life due to financial constraints. Moneta received his education at the Brera and Parini lyceums in Milan.

At the age of fifteen, in 1848, he participated in a rebellion against Austrian rule, fighting alongside his father and brothers. This early experience of a failed uprising had a profound impact on Moneta's future worldview. Fearing repression, he fled to the independent Kingdom of Piedmont, where he joined the military academy and became a member of a secret society dedicated to the independence and unification of Italy.

In 1859, with the start of the war between Piedmont and Austria, Moneta and his brothers joined Garibaldi's army and took part in the battles of Volturno and Calabria. He later served as an adjutant in General Sirtori's headquarters. Disillusioned by the failures of the Italians in the 1866 military campaign, he ended his military career and returned to civilian life, settling in Milan and dedicating himself to journalism.

Biographers note that Moneta was an affable, good-natured, and cheerful person who enjoyed horse riding, participating in amateur theatrical performances, and writing theater reviews for the newspaper "Il Secolo." When two of his friends acquired the newspaper, they offered Moneta the position of editor-in-chief. He held this position for 28 years, from 1867 to 1895, transforming the newspaper into one of the most influential in Italy. As an intellectual, pacifist, and uncompromising journalist, Moneta gained widespread recognition in this role, setting the tone for the Italian press.

Although he remained a Catholic, under his leadership, the newspaper adopted an anti-clerical position, despite the personal tragedy of his wife being unable to forgive him for this change in attitude towards the Italian Church, which caused a deep rift in their relationship. While Moneta understood and sympathized with the military, he called for army reforms on the newspaper's pages, advocating for a public struggle against meaningless militarism and the improvement of the army's quality through the creation of a local pre-war training system instead of long military service for recruits.

In the last three decades of the 19th century, marked by significant international events, Moneta was inspired to create his monumental work, "Wars, Insurrections, and Peace in the 19th Century" (Le guerre, le insurrezioni e la pace nel secolo XIX), published in four volumes between 1903 and 1910. The first volume, in particular, focuses on the development of the international peace movement throughout the century. Moneta's work gives primary attention to the military aspects rather than the social and economic aspects. The leitmotif of the book is the theme of the inefficiency of wars and militarism in achieving specific goals.

Having established himself as one of the most prominent Italian nationalists during his tenure as editor-in-chief of "Il Secolo," Moneta also advocated for peace and international arbitration (remaining opposed to cosmopolitanism). This earned him the unofficial title of "militant pacifist." The fact that Moneta did not see a contradiction between the uncompromising struggle of the people for national self-determination and the establishment of stability in international relations led to mixed opinions when he was chosen as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1907.

In 1890, with the aim of promoting pacifist ideas, he began publishing the annual almanac "Friend of Peace" ("L'amico della pace"). After stepping down as editor-in-chief of "Il Secolo," Moneta founded another publication in 1898 called "International Life" ("La vita Internationale"). The magazine's prestige was ensured by the quality of its articles on peace and arbitration issues, as well as its administrative success—while many other journals and newspapers of that period went bankrupt due to lack of funding or reader interest, "La vita Internationale" was published regularly and without interruption. In 1895, Moneta became Italy's representative in the International Peace Bureau. He was a founding member and supporter of the Lombard Union for Peace and International Arbitration (l'Unione lombarda per la pace e l'arbitrato internazionale), and in 1887, he founded the Society for International Peace and Justice (Società per la pace e la giustizia internazionale). He also taught at the new Italian People's University. In 1906, he planned and built the Pavilion of Peace for the Milan International Exhibition, where he presided over the 15th International Peace Congress.

From 1900, Moneta suffered from glaucoma and underwent treatment for blindness. His illness prevented him from attending the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in 1907. He passed away in Milan in 1918 at the age of 85 from pneumonia.

His works include "Le guerre, le insurrezioni e la pace nel secolo decimonono, Compendio storico" in four volumes published between 1903 and 1910; "Irredentismo e gallophia" published in 1903; and "L'ideale della pace e la patria" published in 1913.